Culture
& History
Our journey to Mexico
City gave us a better perspective on the culture that shaped the country.
Some of the sites we visited on the trip included the National Museum
of Anthropology, the National Palace, the Basilica of Guadalupe, the
Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, Coyocatan Market, the museums of Frida
Khalo and Leon Trotsky, the floating flower gardens of Xochimilco, and
the Chapultepec Zoo. Through our pictures we have captured the beauty
of Mexico and the impressive legacy the Mexican people embrace.
Cultural Background
The National Museum
provides an excellent overview of three of the greatest Mexican indigenous
cultures: the Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztecan. Each of these
civilizations played an important part in the creation of today’s
Mexico.
The Teotihuacan
civilization not only built the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, but also
had a large multi-ethnic settlement and created a model for cultures
that subsequently inhabited the area.
The Toltec established
an elaborate trading system and maintained a strong military control
over the region.
The Aztec Empire
was built by the Mexica people of central Mexico. The Mexica were recognized
for their ball games played with a small rubber ball, their ceremonial
sacrifices of noble warriors and their Sun Stone Calendar. It was from
these peoples that Mexico received its name.
It is believed that
an Aztecan myth facilitated the eventual conquest of Mexico by the Spanish.
Once a ruler of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was believed to have become
a feathered serpent. It was this myth that convinced Montezuma II, the
then-ruler of Tenochtitlan (at the present site of Mexico City), that
Cortez was really Quetzalcoatl returning to his people and enabled the
quick subjugation of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.
Traditions and
Customs
Despite the Spanish
invasion, the indigenous traditions of Mexico are deeply set in the
mind of the Mexican people. After the Spanish inquisition, the Catholic
Church did not permit Mexicans to practice the rituals of their forefathers.
Despite these prohibitions, many of the descendents of the indigenous
peoples of Mexico now practice these previously forbidden customs at
the same church altars that once forbade them.
Our class also learned
about the many traditional uses of the pulque plant. This desert plant,
similar to the aloe, grows well in the arid region and provides for
many of the needs of the local people including needles, paper, thread,
food and drink. One Aztecan legend states that whoever drinks the fermented
beverage from the pulque plant may experience the “one thousand
rabbits,” a figurative way of saying drunkenness.
In Taxco, we watched
artisans create beautiful pieces of jewelry from silver mines first
opened by Hernan Cortez. The craftspeople of this area create magnificent
jewelry using many of the same techniques handed down from generation
to generation.
Throughout the trip,
the class witnessed that the customs and traditions live through the
people in their daily lives. The colors and flavors they give to the
world is a direct result of the indigenous and colonial influences of
the Mexican people.
Churches
The churches in
Mexico City and Taxco have an enormous amount of meticulous detail in
their ornate structures. Following years of earthquakes and neglect,
the buildings of these cities are finally getting a well-deserved facelift.
The Basilica of Guadalupe was sinking so much that they had to build
another.
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