La Flor de Nochebuena

The cuetlaxochitl, a plant whose leaves turn bright red, is native to Mexico. Moctezuma cultivated it, and for the Aztecs it symbolized the "new life" of those who died in battle or were sacrificed. Its leaves turn a beautiful bright red in December and so the missionary friars used it to decorate their Nativity scenes, and it came to be called the Flor de Nochebuena (Christmas Eve Flower). Its botanical name is euphorbia pulcherrima (you Latin scholars know this means "most beautiful"). The first U.S. ambassador to Mexico (1825 - 1829), Dr Joel Poinset, imported it to the U.S. and it came to be known as the poinsettia.

In the weeks before Christmas these beautiful plants embellish the city. They ring the Alameda and form a carpet along the museum area of the Reforma. Here's a poinsettia "tree" at the Monumento a la Revolucion.



Over 8.5 million poinsettias are sold in Mexico in the weeks before Christmas; I assume that number doesn't include plants exported. The chinampas of Xochimilco are especially suitable areas for the cultivation of Nochebuenas; we bought ours at a display along the Reforma. Instead of a Christmas tree, we have a dozen poinsettias, a piñata, and a couple of nacimientos (Nativity scenes); it seems more appropriate somehow this year.

Ice Skating in the Zócalo!

No, I haven't missed cold weather enough to imagine an ice rink in the heart of Mexico City! Instead, the government of the Distrito Federal has constructed a 3200 square meter open-air rink in the Zócalo, another one in the Alameda Sur and a third in the Bosque de San Juan de Aragón as part of the Invierno en la Capital 2007 (Winter in the Capital) events. Skates and skating are free of charge to 1000 skaters at a time who skate for 45 minutes; 500 spectators can watch from risers. How are they going to keep all this ice from melting? And did they import Zambonis? The temperature was 55 when we left for our bike ride this morning; it's maybe 85 right now - hot enough to wilt the poinsettias in our windows.

To get into the rink, people get color-coded bracelets at a taquilla (ticket booth)that faces a sculpture depicting the Aztecs founding their capital Tenochtitlan on this site.
They had been a nomadic tribe, probably originating north of the Rio Grande, and their founding legend says they should keep wandering until they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a snake. Sign spotted, they settled on a island in Lake Texcoco (long since dried up) and built a temple on that very site in 1325.

In the 1500's, the Spanish used stones from the temple to build their cathedral and pave the plaza in front of it, now known as the Zócalo.

It's a huge space, measuring 200 meters on each side. Open, but never empty, it's the scene of ever-changing, kaleidoscopic images of Mexico City.


Here's a list of some of the things we've observed in the Zócalo over the last three months: markets, vendors, shamans, Aztec dancers,
Independence Day fireworks, huge crowds of people, a coffee fair, a book fair, an enormous ofrenda for Día de Muertos, gigantic seasonal decorations on the surrounding buildings, protests, police in riot gear, parachuters landing, the finish line of the Mexico City Marathon, and now an ice rink! Bill just got back from his second attempt at skating today; he couldn't get near the rink and reports crowds as big as for Independence Day festivities.

Noise

In face-to-face relationships, Mexicans are among the most considerate, courteous people in the world, with a finely tuned deference to the other person in their immediate presence. People trying to sleep, however, are out of sight, out of mind. There's no point in trying to go to bed before 11, because the tamales vendors will soon make their rounds on bicycles outfitted with stands carrying big pots of steaming tamales. By this time of night they must be tired of chanting their sales pitch, because they have a recording blaring in the sing-song cadence of hawkers, "Tamales oaxaqueños, tamales calientitos..." And it goes on and on. I joked with some students that I didn't think I would be able to get to sleep without this chant when we return to the US. They said, "Don't worry. We can download it as a ring tone for you."


Organ grinders perform on busy streets; it's picturesque for people passing by and we even sometimes put coins in the hat of our favorite one, a man with a very pleasant smile. But last weekend, an organ grinder stationed himself on our corner to take advantage of a crowd lined up for a performance at the Metropolitan. He might as well have been right inside my ear! We wondered how much we would have to tip him to get him to stop, but instead just left the apartment for awhile.

We often stop for lunch in Chapultepec, in an area full of food stalls, most selling the same food, all with one or two hawkers rattling off their menus. Last weekend we went to a national park, el Desierto de los Leones, to ride bikes. Here's a photo of the ex-convento in the park.
There they were, the same menu-rattling hawkers, same cadence. I wonder if it really brings in more business?

The worst noise pollution comes from drivers. Mexicans drive with one hand on the wheel and the other on the claxon (horn). Should the first car at a stop light not move forward the instant before the light turns green, all the others will lay on their horns. And every Mexican seems to know that the best way to get a traffic jam cleared is to toot horns. Maybe that signals the policemen standing on the busy corners to give loud blasts on their whistles.

I don't have to set my alarm here. The man selling ice comes early and shouts, "Hielo" in a way that makes this short word last for minutes - well, at least several seconds. And the cacophony starts all over again.

Piñatas

My Spanish classes used to make piñatas for the kindergarten classes in Hampden, and we always had piñatas for Dan's birthday parties when he was young. They've almost become a part of our culture too. And yet I didn't know the history of piñatas until I picked up a booklet about Las Posadas at a church store in Morelia. Las Posadas is a custom that sort of combines Christmas caroling and the pageant: a group of people carrying the peregrinos (images of Joseph and Mary) go in solemn procession seeking lodging (posada). They sing a song about their search, answered by others in the house of their destination. After some give-and-take they enter, and the mood changes from solemn to festive, complete with mariachis and piñatas. The early missionary friars introduced piñatas to illustrate the idea of the rewards of resisting sin. The beautiful piñata represents sin; the stick we break it with, Jesus; the goodies that fall to the ground, the rewards of resisting sin. The most traditional piñatas are stars with seven cone-shaped points - the seven deadly sins. The patio of the Museo de Arte Popular has been decorated for Christmas with piñatas from a contest, including the guajolote (turkey) that follows. They're far too beautiful to break!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sunday Surprises

On Sundays we ride our bikes through the city to Chapultepec Park because the streets are closed to cars. Without fail, we find something of surprising interest. Today it was the Jardín de la Tercera Edad - a part of the park set aside for senior citizens - with interesting sculptures and danzón (beautiful, romantic, danceable music). We, of course, were on our bikes so an official very courteously told us that bike riding wasn't allowed here. He joked, "This part of the park is full of viejitos (oldsters) and there's no repair shop in case of collision." When I told him we would return sans bikes next weekend he was so very gentlemanly shocked that we qualified for admission that I think we'll take him up on his offer to give us dance lessons!
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Museo de Arte Popular, which is less than a block from our apartment. Hope you enjoy the photos of both places.

Cruz Azul 4, Pachuca 0

Raul invited us to go with him and his daughter Diana to the opening game of the tournament to support his favorite team, Cruz Azul. It was a great introduction to soccer, Mexican style. Pachuca is the cuna (cradle)of soccer; around 100 years ago some Brits introduced soccer there and Mexicans have loved soccer ever since. Raul and Diana were wearing their Cruz Azul shirts - Diana's with the name of Cesar Delgado, nicknamed Chelito; Diana had a Cruz scarf, and Raul bought a big flag to wave whenever his team scored. And score they did! Chelito scored the first goal and then la maquina celeste scored three more goals to zip for Pachuca. Can't wait for the next game!

La Alameda

I've mentioned the Alameda often, so you might wonder why it's so important. For one thing, it's the oldest park in Mexico City, built around 1595 on the site of an Aztec tianguis (market), and it's so beloved that every city in Mexico also has a Parque Alameda. (The DF actually has two: the Alameda Central and the Alameda Sur.)At one time the "important" people of the city, led by a man named Revillagigedo (the name of the street we live on), tried to keep the "common" people out, without success. The Alameda has pathways that lead to several beautiful fountains and the usual food, trinkets, shoeshine, newspaper and magazine stands that all parks seem to have. At one side of the park is the Museo Mural Diego Rivera, which houses the mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday afternoon in the Alameda Park), a mural painted for a hotel that was destroyed in the 1985 earthquake. Miraculously, the mural was unharmed and later moved to this site. Every day groups of men play chess in front of this museum. At the other end is Bellas Artes, and facing Avenida Juárez is a very large white marble monument to el Benimérito Benito Juárez, first Indian President of Mexico.

Special events take place in the Alameda every weekend: sometimes music and dance, markets of artesania or foods, last weekend a combination tent revival and health care booths. The police who patrol the Alameda on horseback wear cowboy outfits and sombreros.



The mural is very interesting. Rivera painted many people important in the history of Mexico (among many others: Juárez, Sor Juana, Porfirio Díaz, Cortés, even Winfield Scott, the American general who occupied the city in the 1840's) and himself as a young boy and Frida as a young woman standing beside La Catrina, the skeleton figure created by Guadalupe Posada, who is to her left. Fine art, popular art, history and holidays are interwoven here. Last weekend we went to the Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum in the south of the city. An elaborate Día de Muertos ofrenda there included a life-size reproduction of the mural with the figures as skeletons in papier mache.

Protests

In a city that sees protests at least weekly, if not daily, groups must resort to extreme measures to gain attention. For several weeks now, a banner has been at the base of Cuauhtemoc's statue, naming names and demanding restitution. This statue is at the intersection of two major streets, el Paseo de la Reforma and Insurgentes. On traffic islands nearby, people representing 400 pueblos of Veracruz have set up an encampment of tarp tents. They say that they were dispossessed of their lands by a former governor (now a senator) and two other senators. Men with strategically placed mug shots, accompanied by drum beats, protest on the sidewalks and sometimes into the streets. Women, stark naked as if to demonstrate the severity of their dispossesion, walk between the lines of traffic. A Google search turned up an article with some details about their struggle. It began fifteen years ago, and the manifestaciones in the DF have been going on for five years. Why nude? They tried a hunger strike, but the Senate went on vacation without hearing their demand, so now they say, "We're campesinos. We use the only weapon we have."

Tenochtitlan and Xochimilco

Mexico City (est. 1524)was built over the site of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan(est. 1325), which was founded on an island in a shallow lake, where the wandering people saw the sign they had been seeking - an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent. The descriptions of Tenochtitlan given by Hernán Cortés and the other conquistadores show their awe at having discovered such a city, bigger than most cities they knew, more advanced in such things as plumbing, with a highly developed society,impressive architecture, and a lot of gold. And then they destroyed it.

About 24 kilometers away was Xochimilco, founded around 900 BC by the Xochimecos, who were never completely subjugated by either the Aztecs or the Spanish. They had developed an ingenious method of farming: they built up artificial islands (chinampas) in their lake where they were able to produce three crops a year. The conquistadores weren't just impressed by this; they recognized its usefulness to them. And so they didn't destroy it.

The chinampas, full of nurseries (viveros) are still there, connected by canals. Every weekend families and groups of friends float through the canals in trajineras, flat-bottomed boats lined with chairs and a table in the middle - perfect for a Sunday picnic. No need to bring your own food; vendors float by selling their own particular product - corn (elote)cooked over coals, beer, tacos and other antojitos, candy, even flowers for your table or plants to take home. No need to bring you own music either; other boats float by with mariachis, norteño bands or marimba. No need even to bring a crowd of companions; strike up a conversation with people on other boats as they float by.

Don Juan Tenorio

For over one hundred years the play Don Juan Tenorio has been performed the first week of November in theaters all across the Spanish speaking world. Yes, THE Don Juan. Well, the first play with the Don Juan character was El Burlador de Sevilla by Tirso de Molina (1630) and Tenorio by José Zorilla came later (1844). The final scene in a cemetery gains the play its spot on the calendar. Don Juan is such a dissolute that he not only seduced many women (for which he is so well-known in the English speaking world) but he also won a bet that he, rather than his friend Don Luis, would kill more men in one year. The statue of the last man he killed, the father of Doña Inés, the girl he was intended to marry, comes "alive" when Don Juan visits the cemetery, grabs him and pulls him toward hell. Does virtuous Doña Inés (who had died of sorrow) redeem him and pull him to heaven instead? As I recall from lit class, this is still being debated.
We saw the play last weekend in the Teatro Hidalgo, just across the Alameda from us. The scenery, costumes, and acting were all fine, but the curtain call even better. It was the final performance for an actor who had played the role of Don Juan for forty-six years! (Another actor played the younger Don Juan.) His emotional address to the audience made us all even more glad that we had played a part in carrying on the tradition. Ars gratia artis.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

On Friday we went to a concert of Sephardic music and music from the viceregal era in the Ex-Convento de San Jerónimo, founded in 1585. This is the convent where the poet and nun Sor Juana (1651-1695),one of Mexico's great icons, lived and died. In an age when most women did not learn to read, she taught herself Latin in a matter of weeks, accumulated a large library, and had scientific instruments. When her unorthodox views on women's rights to education and dissent ran afoul of the church, she was forced to stop writing, sell all her books, and live in isolation. She was extraordinary for any age, especially the 17th century.

The Ex-Convento is now the home of the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, a school that emphasizes the arts and humanities. The concert was given in the context of Día de Muertos, and a very beautiful ofrenda (altar/tribute)to Sor Juana was still in place. A skeleton figure of Sor Juana was by the entrance. Ten identical figures stood in a semicircular background on the stage, with garlands of cempasuchl(yellow, aromatic flower for Muertos) hanging over them.


In the next room, surrounding her tomb, was a tribute done in aserrín (colored sawdust); the aserrín artwork also edged the room. As we entered the auditorium (formerly a chapel), we saw cempasuchl petals strewn along the floor. An ancient, traditional belief holds that the aromas of cempasuchl and incense, the flickering flames of candles, and favorite foods and memorabilia of the deceased will guide their spirits back home. This belief pre-dates Christianity, but it melded with All Souls' Day and is now celebrated on November 1 and 2. A photo of the deceased is usually placed on the ofrenda; the portrait of Sor Juana hung on the back wall of the stage. If her spirit was there, she surely enjoyed the tribute and the music.

Día de Muertos

Día de Muertos, like much else in Mexico, has both Indian and Spanish roots and is totally Mexican. Since ancient times, people in Mexico have held the belief that the spirits of the dead can find their way back home more easily if enticed by the smoke of incense, the aroma of flowers, and the light of candles. To make them feel comfortable after they arrive, they find some of their favorite things on the ofrenda. Even though I've talked about it every November for years as a Spanish teacher, I really didn't understand how important and beautiful it is until I experienced it here.

We went to Morelia in the state of Michoacan, near Pátzcuaro, where one of the most traditional celebrations takes place. We never did make it to Pátzcuaro but were completely enthralled by what we saw in Morelia and the DF. Driving to Morelia, we saw truckload after truckload of flowers - the yellow cempasuchl, a large wine-colored flower, sprays of small white flowers, all used to decorate the ofrendas. Arriving on Wednesday, we got to see people constructing a very large ofrenda and then passed by it on Thursday night to see it come to life with all the candles and prayers.







The first thing you need to know about Día de Muertos is that it is not Halloween, Mexican-style, not spooky-scary, not weird. Instead, it is a tender, beautiful, communal and personal way for people to honor and remember their loved ones. People build ofrendas, offer prayers, light candles, visit the cemeteries. In some places families spend the entire night of Nov. 1 in the cemetery.

I hope the photos convey some of the beauty, but you will have to imagine the aromas, the sounds. We went into the inner courtyard of a building in Morelia and saw many ofrendas, each one built by a different grammar school. Children filled a stairwell, enjoying an ice cream snack. We got there just as the chorus of another school was setting up for a concert.
It was wonderful to be there, to see their smiles, the proud families enjoying and photographing the event. One father slipped up behind his daughter and held his cell phone by her; I imagine her grandparents were on the other end. Above all, Dia de Muertos is about family.

Agave

The agave is an amazing plant indigenous to Mexico. Near Teotihuacán, a guide explained its many uses. Tequila may be the first thing that comes to mind, but only the blue agave produces the liquid that is distilled to make tequila. Blue agave grows in western Mexico in an area between Guadalajara and the coast. Its production centers in Tequila, a town which, along with its countryside full of the blue agave, has just been added to UNESCO's World Heritage sites, so important is tequila. The agave that we examined produces two other alcoholic drinks, mezcal and pulque, a very nutritious drink full of protein and vitamins whose popularity among the indigenous lessened when beer was introduced. Two liters of fluid are produced daily, and pulque (with 5% alcohol content) ferments in one day. The agave also produces a fiber that can be woven into fabrics or baskets; but, if you cut off the thorny tip and leave fiber attached, you have a handy needle and thread. One layer within the plant can be peeled off, providing a sheet that looks and feels like synthetic plastic. By slicing open the agave and rubbing the moist inside, you can find a substance that can be used as soap or aloe vera.

Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan, built between 100 BC and AD 250 and inhabited until about AD 750, is one of Mexico's most important pre-Hispanic
archaeological sites and was the dominant civilization of Mesoamerica in its day. (My Latin students should note that it was flourishing around the same time as Rome.) In my opinion, it's even more impressive than the Yucatan's Chichen Itzá, recently proclaimed one of the seven wonders of the "modern" world. Among the unknowns of Teotihuacan: who built it, what language they spoke, what they called their city. Later the Aztecs named it Teotihuacan, the place where gods are born. Two pyramids dominate the site - the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.




The structures were originally covered in a sort of stucco and painted with murals. Here are some murals from inside one of the buildings. The plume coming out of one figure's mouth indicates speaking. The bottom image of a man being tortured or sacrificed (along with other recent studies) points to a more violent civilization than scholars previously thought.

The Ten 2007 - 2008 Fulbright Teachers in Mexico

Many of you have heard of Fulbright, the program begun by Sen. Fulbright to promote mutual understanding between the US and other countries by exchange of scholars and teachers. In Mexico the exchange is under the auspices of Fulbright/Garcia Robles and is administered by COMEXUS, the Commission Mexico / US for Educational and Cultural Exchange. Last week COMEXUS organized a meeting of all ten 2007-2008 Fulbright teachers in Mexico. We spent Monday through Wednesday together, comparing experiences, enjoying the camaraderie of peers, and experiencing the hospitality and support of COMEXUS. Each of us is experiencing a different Mexico.
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Margaret (from Maine) lives in 110 degree Ciudad Obregón with her five-year-old daughter Lucy. She teaches five classes of around 45 students each in a preparatoria (high school). Jan (Montana) teaches similar numbers in a middle school in Cuernavaca, where he lives with his wife and two children. David (Minnesota), in Ensenada, Baja California Norte also has very large classes. He teaches science and English, and lives there with his wife and two children. Anna (Virginia)is on the other side of the Baja in Mexicali. Elizabeth (New York) has embraced the indigenous people and culture of Huehuetla in the Sierra de Puebla, living in one room (with a bath but no kitchen) with her daughter Rachel, who is spending her high school senior year abroad with her mom, volunteering to teach English. Nancy (New Mexico) teaches two college classes in Jalapa. Billy (with Minnesota/NY/Vermont roots), Cecilia (Colorado), Melissa (Minnesota) and I all teach at the Instituto Politécnico in Mexico City. Billy lives in the Condesa with his wife and three children; he teaches English to students in the tourism program at a different campus from the rest of us, who are teaching three classes each of business English at the Santo Tomas campus. Melissa has her daughter Graciela with her. The families with children enrolled in different schools are seeing an even broader spectrum of Mexican life, and even those of us in the DF have widely varied experiences since we live in different colonias (neighborhoods). All ten report great satisfaction with life in Mexico; each of us seems to have a genuine love of the people and country, combined with an attitude of optimism and flexibility and the support of adventurous families.



We stayed at the Hotel Geneve in the Zona Rosa; the hotel earned our high recommendation (but eat somewhere else). COMEXUS treated us to a lovely reception where we met former Fulbrighters and US embassy staff, lunch at La Casa de la Sirena in the centro historico, a tour of Teotihuacan with lunch at La Gruta, a farewell breakfast at Kondotori. Great food at all three restaurants! La Gruta is especially fine because of its unusual location: it's actually in a cave and has been in operation for over 100 years, proudly boasting that General Porfirio Díaz once dined there. Since we were there on Oct. 31, we also saw the ofrenda (altar to the deceased)placed in honor of its founder for Día de Muertos.