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Not Ready to Play Ball: Mexico's Muted Embrace of the Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition of 1937
“An international celebration of peace and good will in the Americas,” reads an advertisement announcing the harmonious theme of the Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition of 1937…
Thomas C. Mann and El Chamizal
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Laredo, Texas native, Thomas C. Mann, as the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from Texas. Long a proponent of settling a fractious border dispute involving…
Calakmul Stela 51
Located in the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula, Calakmul sits within an ecological preserve of 819,000 acres, surrounded by a buffer zone of an additional 968,000 acres. Together, this vast…
Calakmul
Located in the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula, Calakmul sits within an ecological preserve of 331,397 hectares, surrounded by a buffer zone of an additional 391,788 hectares. Together, this…
The Birth of the Feathered Serpent
The religious art in Pre-hispanic Mesoamerica featured an abundance of iconographic deities that resembled the most important fauna in the region. It was common to combine the characteristics of…
Oaxaca's Guelaguetza Festival
In the Zapotec language, the word “guelaguetza” means mutual cooperation, which is based on the idea of reciprocity–“today for you, tomorrow for me” (Bonfil Batalla, 1996, p. 30). The Guelaguetza…
Alberto Lhuillier and Pakal's Tomb
Archaeologist, Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, was born in France on January 27, 1906. He moved to Mexico, becoming a nationalized Mexican on September 3, 1940. Ruz took much pride in his Mexican identity and…
The Rise and Fall of Chan Santa Cruz
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…
Japan and Mexico - Before 1939
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…
Echoes of Pyramid B: Understanding Toltec Inspiration at Chichén Itzá
Along the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, there was once a mighty city described by Father Diego de Landa as “as great as gold and silver”[1]. It was a center of trade and religion for the Mayas of…
The Quiet of Edzná
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…
Archaeology in Chiapa de Corzo
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…
Baja California Scheming: The American-Led Filibusters of 1888 and 1890
It was gold that caused the settlement of Alta California. History is repeating itself in Baja California, that New Italy, which is indeed the colophon (Kalifornia) of that great book—the world. The…
Chichén Itzá Vendors
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…
Yaxche: The Tree of Life
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…
Cochineal: Red Dye for the World
The cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus, can be found on the pads of the nopal cactus. The crushed bodies, fresh or dried, make a bright red dye. Cochineal cultivation is very hard work and requires…
Maya Bloodletting and Piercing
Throughout the various empires and cultures in ancient Mesoamerica, the act of human and animal sacrifice was a common occurrence. The Maya practiced human and animal sacrifice as well, but had more…
Tacos Al Pastor: A Mexican Dish
Tacos Al Pastor are widely popular throughout Mexico as well as other countries, such as the United States. This dish typically consists of shaved spit-roasted pork, pineapple, onion, and cilantro all…
Mexican Nationalism and Fashion
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.…
Appropriating Indigenous Culture
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…
Mexico, the Agave, and the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893
There was a strange sight to behold on the shore of Lake Michigan, in Chicago, days before the May 1 opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. An agave plant in night caps was inside the…
Mayan Ritualistic Use of Tobacco
Balamkú cave in Chichén Itzá holds high numbers of Maya artifacts. The connection between the Maya and the Underworld being intertwined in the inner earth is not a new revelation, but what rituals…
Nation Building in Mexico
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…
The Catholic Church: 400 Years After Conquest
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…
The Remains of Hernán Cortés
After touring many opulent cathedrals in Mexico, the Church and Hospital of Jesús Nazareno seemed unusually plain. There were no frescos covering the walls, no grand carved marble alters, or organ…
Elizabeth Catlett and the Cold War
Elizabeth Catlett, an African American Artist at the height of the Cold War, chose to leave possible persecution in the United States. With this decision in mind, she settled in Mexico to work with a…
Leopoldo Méndez’s Revolution: Social Activism through Graphic Art
Born on June 30, 1902, in Mexico City, Leopoldo Méndez would become one of Mexico’s most significant and beloved graphic artists of the twentieth century. Méndez was one of eight children in a poor…
Tzompantli
In the midst of the ruins of Chichén Itzá, there is a wall covered entirely in skull carvings known as a tzompantli (or skull rack, wall of skulls, skull banner, etc.). However this is just one…
Camazotz: The Mayan Bat God
Templo Mayor, located in downtown Mexico City, has an adjacent museum that proudly displays artifacts and renditions of items from the Mesoamerican civilizations. The top floor of this museum contains…
Warrior Cults of the Aztec Empire
In the midst of downtown Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, there is an Aztec site lying in ruin known as Templo Mayor. This site is home to the House of Eagles, which was a sort of barracks for the…