By Jorden Suarez
Walking up to the Templo de la Ciudad de México, one would believe that they were about to enter a Maya temple from the pre-Columbian Era. It must be shocking then when they realize that this Maya-style building is actually a religious temple for The…

By Kristina Coen
Tamales are a simple mixture of corn masa (dough) – sometimes filled with sweet or savory fillings and then wrapped in banana leaves or corn husks for cooking. In the hustle and bustle of today’s modern society, the tamale maintains a revered…

By Kristina Coen
The mysterious people that built the ancient city of Teotihuacán are still revealing their secrets to us today. The ruins of that historic urban center are located approximately 25 miles northeast of the sprawling metropolitan center of Mexico City.…

By C. J. Cervantes
The federal government oversees all archaeological sites and most of the museums in Mexico. The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (otherwise known as INAH) is charged with maintaining and caring for these locations. INAH, which is…

By Eleanor Parker
In 2009, Roland Emmerich directed the action-disaster movie 2012. The movie focused heavily on themes of apocalypse and the way that people can and should treat each other in times of crisis. Little attention was paid to science and even less to the…

By C. J. Cervantes
At the northern end of Mexico City, the streets Avenida John F. Kennedy and Adolfo López Mateos sit parallel with each other. The proximity of these two streets highlight the close relationship between their namesakes cemented fifty-eight years…

By Eleanor Parker
On November 22, 1963, a Dallas police officer arrested Lee Harvey Oswald in connection to the public assassination of President John F. Kennedy that had taken place less than two hours before. Two days after his arrest, Dallas nightclub owner Jack…

By Helenna Ignatovich
Over the last century, Mexican fashion designers such as Armando Valdés Peza, Henri De Châtillon, and, most remarkably, Ramón Valdiosera created a legacy that still influences Mexican fashion today. However, two out of three of those designers…

By Helenna Ignatovich
On October 18, 1916, fashion designers flocked to the Museum of Natural History in New York City and declared that the “art of the Red Man…[is] a field of remarkable possibilities for all those American designers, artists, and textile men who avail…

By Jason John Current
José Antonio Migangos met with the Mexican consul, Buenaventura Vivó, in Havana on March 12, 1849. He represented 135 other Yucatec Maya men, women, and children forced to sign labor contracts for their alleged involvement in the Caste War. The…

By Jason John Current
Japanese in Mexico did not face the intense discrimination other Asians did during the first half of the twentieth century. Mexican intellectuals were impressed with Japan in the late nineteenth century and encouraged Mexicans to embrace Japanese…

By Heather Howsmon
During the summer of 2018, I participated in a month-long study-abroad experience in Mexico. My group from Sam Houston State University traveled more than 1,500 miles from Cancún and Merida, to Palenque and Oaxaca, and on to Puebla and Mexico City.…

By Itzel Almaguer
This entry will purpose as an educational article about the emerging conflict between the Chichén Itzá site and the Maya Vendors that occupy the site. Although an arrangement to the benefit of both the site and the vendors has existed for a site in…

By Itzel Almaguer
The Yaxche, as the Maya referred to it, was the representation of what is known in vast ancient civilizations as the tree of life. In the Maya civilization the Yaxche is represented by the Ceiba pentandra, known as the Kapok tree in English, that is…

By Jordan Gregory
Hierarchy is established in military systems to provide organization. Orders can be sent through the ranks by those of higher rank or status to their inferiors who will carry them out without question. For the Aztec this was no different, but with…

By Kevin Ryan Monk
The Pyramid of the Moon is located in the ancient city of Teotihuacan some thirty miles northeast of Mexico City. Although smaller than the site's famous Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon predates it. According to A.R. Williams, the…

By Andrea Smith
While walking in El Gran Museo Del Mundo Maya de Mérida, my attention was caught by a very large book. It was much larger than others I had seen in museums, and newer. It was the “Cordemex Maya Dictionary”. Coordinated by Alfredo Barrera Vázquez,…

By Claudia Garcia
Henequen also known as sisal is raw fiber from the henequen plant. The plant’s long leaves are soaked to soften and dried in order to gather the fiber which is mainly used to produce rope or sacks but could also be used in other numerous ways.…

By Claudia Garcia
Textiles are one of the oldest forms of art known to mankind because every civilization has their own unique way of approaching this art. Many societies use textiles in many different ways according to their culture and religion and other factors.…

By Janie M. Stewart
We arrived in the morning and there is a strange kind of quiet in the plaza. The sounds of the modern world do not dwell here. The sun is shining and beating down on the unprepared in the quiet of the morning. Even this far in from the coast you can…

By Daisy Ramirez
The purpose of this entry is to give a better understanding of the political parties that exist in Mexico and the current candidates. This year's presidential election is controversial because the people are tired of the unjust and corrupt government…

By Daisy Ramirez
Built in 1520 by the Spanish, San Gabriel Convento in Cholula is known for being the oldest religious temple in the Americas. This temple was built on the ruins of a previous temple honored to Quetzalcoatl who was a God known as the feathered…

By Heather Howsmon
Izamal or Zamná which means "Dew that descends from heaven" was a place of pilgrimage and religious significance to the Maya people. There were at least 7 pyramids in this region, many were respected and left untouched by the Spaniards, others were…

By Kevin Ryan Monk
The city of Uxmal is located in the hilly Puuc region of the Yucatan peninsula. It was first established around 500 C.E. and controlled the entire area from roughly 850 to 950 CE. Today, the ruins of the city feature ornately crafted artwork,…

By Jordan Gregory
When one enters the Aztec exhibit at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City there is an immediate sense of ancient power radiating from the artifacts in the room. To the left a beautiful representation of Moctezoma the Second’s plumed crown,…

By Andrea Smith
A major center for religion, politics, and economics of the Rio Bec region, Becán is a fascinating city of the ancient Maya during the Classic Period. It depicts the Rio Bec style, and has representations of two of their gods: Kinichna and the Witz…

By Andres Rendon
Monte Albán has existed for thousands of years. It was known to the natives as Danibaan, or “Sacred Mountain.” It received its new alias from being named after 17th century Spanish nobleman Don Montablan. It had been occupied in succession by the…

By Alexander J. Dodd
Like many marvelous structures and phenomena in Mesoamerica, the story of the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe begins with an indigenous wanderer stumbling upon a site of future significance. A native named Gualpa also stumbled upon a chunk of…

By Alexander J. Dodd
The Museo de la Medicina Maya is located in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. On Avenida Salomón González Blanco 10 this site is marked by an arch leading into what appears to be a small hamlet. The area is populated with indigenous Tzotzil Maya.…

By Janie M. Stewart
Many explorers have travelled throughout Mexico searching for ruins of early Mesoamerican civilizations and historical sites. A fascination with our early origins has led to many explorations. The belief that ancient Israelites and Christ himself…