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Posts Tagged ‘Oaxaca’

Oaxaca is alive with street art these days — even more than usual and that’s saying a lot!  As part of their Hecho en Oaxaca (Made in Oaxaca) exhibition, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca) invited a dozen well-known and accomplished urban artists to transform the walls of the museum and the Historic District of the city.

A lifetime ago, prior to becoming a librarian, I was a registered nurse, first working in a hospital and then as a visiting nurse.  The current MACO exhibit reminded me of one of the primary reasons why I much preferred the latter — it was the creativity needed in creating treatment plans to provide care in a patient’s often-times challenging home environment.

The imagination and inventiveness required to create art on crumbling walls with windows, doors, meters, and electrical boxes, never ceases to amaze me.  As you can see below, even in MACO, that same vision is evident in the use of the museum’s many rooms and courtyards — including incorporating doorways, window sills, and colonial era frescos.

 Yescka

Retna

Dr Lakra

Swoon

Saner

If you love Oaxaca’s street art, get yourself to MACO.  The exhibition runs through the first week of October 2013.

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Some rare good news from Florida…

Team photo

Two young Triqui basketball teams qualified to participate in the International Tournament YBOA (Youth Basketball of America) in Orlando, Florida this month.  They are from the Academia de Baloncesto Indígena México (ABIM), an athletic project founded by professor Sergio Zúñiga, with the mission of “rescuing the youth of the Triqui communities of Oaxaca from the extreme poverty and violence that they live in… to better the lives of these kids through sports and education.”  Read their story, including why they play barefoot, HERE.

The tournament has ended and, though they did not win the tournament championship, they won hearts and (one can only hope) minds.  To me, these young ambassadors were winners in the important ways that matter.  ¡Felicitaciones!

For video of the team playing and information about the documentary that is being made about these kids, take a look at the blog, Mexico’s Barefoot Champions.

October 2013 update:  They came and saw and conquered: Triqui sweep in World Basketball

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We returned to Teotitlán del Valle on Tuesday and Wednesday for performances of the Danza de la Pluma, a ritual re-enactment of the battles between the Aztec and Spanish.  According to OaxacaWiki:

The origin of this dance goes back to the spiritual and physical conquest of Mexico by the Spanish – La Guerra de Conquista. The dance originated in the town of Cuilpam de Guerrero where Martin Cortes (son of Cortes) celebrated the first baptism of his child. Martin played the role of his father and the locals played the roles of the conquered indigenous peoples.

The story is told in 41 bailes (dances) and lasts from early afternoon into the night.  Selected years in advance, it is an honor to be a dancer and they perform their roles for 3 years.  This week, during the multi-day fiesta honoring Preciosa Sangre de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, we saw the first performances by the new cast and they looked great!

Presenting the Cast of Characters

Montezuma

Doña Marina (hat) and Malinche (headdress)

2 Subalternos

16 Danzantes:  Teotiles (2), Capitánes (2), Reyes (4), and Vasallos (8)

They are going to be fun to watch during the next 3 years.   (By the way, the costumes may change from day-to-day, but the cast remains the same.)

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Monday, we returned to Teotitlán del Valle for the Fiesta titular a la Preciosa Sangre de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo — the pueblo’s most important festival of the year.  While special masses have been celebrated at the Templo de la Preciosa Sangre de Cristo (the village church) since June 30, Monday’s convite (procession) by the unmarried women in the village, kicked off the more public events.

Lovingly decorated canastas (baskets) waited in the church to be reclaimed by their owners, placed on their heads, and carried through the streets.

Crowds gathered in the plaza in front of the church and sidewalks and streets along the route.

And then it began — with solemn drum beats, fireworks, church bells, marmotas (cloth balloons on a pole), and a band.

Little boys (and a few girls) carrying model airplanes (don’t ask me why), paper mache lambs, and turkeys followed.

And then came the neatly organized rows of girls and young women.

For over an hour they wound their way up and down and around the streets of Teotitlán del Valle.  The weather was perfect, no late afternoon thunder showers this year, and it was glorious.

Stay tuned, the festivities continue all week.  And, check out Oaxaca-The Year After this week for blogger buddy Chris’s photos and commentary.

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Sunday is market day in Tlacolula.  The sounds and sights…

piles of gourds

The smells and tastes…

Chicken on a grill

And, most of all, the people…

Woman carrying tlayudas on head

Much needed chicken soup for my soul.

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Ahhh…  I’m back in my new and improved Casita Colibrí.  Friday night, with lightning flashing all around the Embraer, my fellow passengers and I bounced our way across Mexico and back to Oaxaca.  Gracias, Hurricane Erick for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride!  With appreciation and relief, spontaneous applause erupted when the little plane landed.

There have been many changes in the 7 weeks I’d been gone…  Juan finished the screens on my doors and windows; they are beautifully made and not a single mosquito has been seen or heard!  I left at the end of the dry season; golden-brown hills and fields and a constant coating of dust dulled nature’s and human-applied colors.  I returned to the lush green hills and fields of the rainy season and the lustrous green leaves and red-orange blossoms of my African tulip trees.

And, new street art gleamed…

Oaxaca in technicolor!

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Winging my way south!

bird painted on wall of building

A wall on Antonio de León in Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca.  Ahhh…

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Basketball is big in Oaxaca and  was big news to me!

In Teotitlán del Valle, located in the valley Oaxaca, there is a tradition of climbing El Picacho on Día de la Santa Cruz (May 3).  I’d also heard celebrations also included an annual basketball tournament.  Sure enough, the sound of a play-by-play announcer, ref’s whistle, and buzzer occasionally floated up to our perch on the top of the mountain.  When we descended El Picacho via a different route, we came to a basketball court a few blocks from the village center, and an intense game in progress, with other teams waiting in the wings — in this case, the road!

Basketball game with mountain in background

Eight days later, we drove up into the Mixe in Oaxaca’s Sierre Norte for the Fiesta de Mayo in Santa María Tlahuitoltepec.  Once there, we were directed to a basketball court (did we hear correctly?) at the center of town — the mercado off to one side; church on another side; municipal buildings off to another.  We had expected folkloric dancers or ceremonial presentations, but were surprised to find a basketball tournament in progress.  It eventually ended and the expected dancing began.

Partially covered basket ball court.

According to Hoop Dreams in Oaxaca:

Any proper town in Latin America has a church facing a plaza — except the towns of the Sierra Norte region of Mexico, where Jorge Santiago is from.

“In my part of the Sierra, the basketball courts are like the zócalo in the colonial city,” Mr. Santiago said, using a Mexican word for “plaza.” “It’s really the most important part of the town. A respectable town has a church, and a basketball court in front of the church.”

Read full article HERE.

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I adored my maternal grandmother.  She was short and plump with a crown of white hair framing a broad round face.  Her life wasn’t easy and years of hard work lined her face, but it was a face dominated by wise and remarkably kind eyes.  I see the same strength and wisdom and loving presence in the abuelas of Oaxaca.  Across years and miles, they bring a little of my grandma back and it makes me smile.

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And, speaking of Oaxaca’s awesome abuelas…

Mexican grandmother graduates from primary school at age 100

By Luc Cohen

MEXICO CITY | Wed Jun 26, 2013 11:30pm IST

(Reuters) – You’re never too old to learn: Mexican grandmother Manuela Hernandez has finally graduated from primary school – at the age of 100.

Born in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in June 1913, the year before World War One began, she left primary school after just a year to help her poor family with household chores.

Hernandez only resumed her studies in October at age 99 at the recommendation of a grandchild, and she was handed her diploma at a celebration on Saturday.

“I liked school very much, but I could not continue studying,” she told Uno TV. “By the next year I could already wash and iron.”

Hernandez will continue her studies in secondary school.

More than half of Oaxaca state residents older than 15 have not completed primary education, the second-highest rate in the country behind neighboring Chiapas, a state education official said. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Simon Gardner and Cynthia Osterman)

You might want to also take a look at this brief video of Manuela Hernandez explaining why she had to leave school as a child.

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Oaxaca’s annual Guelaguetza festival honoring the traditions of costume, dance, and sharing of the eight regions of the state of Oaxaca is less than a month away.  There will be competitions leading up to the choosing of Goddess Centeotl to preside over the festival and parades by the delegations through the city on the two Saturdays that precede the July 22 and 29 programs at the Guelaguetza Auditorium on Cerro Fortín.

There will official and alternative celebrations in the city and surrounding villages.  According to yesterday’s press conference, more than 70 events are scheduled and Lila Downs will be the official Guelaguetza 2013 ambassador.  Hmmm… I wonder what that means?  Surprise Lila Downs performances?  It’s Oaxaca, so you just never know!

To get everyone in the spirit, here’s a few photos from another of Oaxaca’s wonderful urban art covered walls.  It celebrates the heritage of Oaxaca and can be found at José López Alavez 1406, in the Xochimilco neighborhood of the city.

By the way, this past Sunday, San Francisco’s North Bay residents got an early and small flavor of Guelaguetza.  Oaxacan dances, dishes and costumes in Santa Rosa entertained over 1,000 spectators and, no doubt, the hearts of the Oaxaqueños participating and in the audience swelled with pride.  If I’d only known about it in advance, I would have gladly extricated myself from the complexities and minutiae of getting my grandparents’ house ready to sell and driven up there for a taste of Oaxaca.  They were even serving tlayudas!

Oh well, this time next month I will be happily back in Oaxaca and, no doubt, be exhausted, exhilarated, and pouring through hundreds of photos from the first week of Guelaguetza activities.

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In Oaxaca, a molino is an indispensable business in every village.  Dried corn, cacao beans, chiles, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds are brought to the molino to be ground so they can be turned into the staples found on Oaxaca’s tables — tamales, tortillas, tlayudas, tejate, mole, Oaxacan chocolate, and much mouth-watering more!  Below is a miller of corn in Tamazulápam del Espíritu Santo, in the Mixe region of Oaxaca.

Sign painted on side of building "Molino de Nixtamal"

In Mill Valley, Molino is a colorful place-name, a street and a park, that recalls California’s Spanish and Mexican past.

Wooden sign: "Welcome to Molino Park"

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them. ”  —Bill Vaughan

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This wall in Oaxaca says it all.  Have I mentioned, I’m counting the days until my return?!!

Small at top of big wave.

Here’s hoping Cameron Conaway is right and this is, “The storm before the calm.” (Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet)

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It’s the annual fathers (and a couple of grandfathers) of Oaxaca slideshow…  I never tire of seeing these guys with their hijas and hijos.

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To loving and responsible fathers everywhere, may you continue to do what you do.   And a special shout-out to my son!

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A recent article from California’s Merced Sun-Star addresses an issue many in Oaxaca’s ex-pat community have been discussing.

Exchange student learns sustainable gardening

By RAMONA GIWARGIS – rgiwargis@mercedsunstar.com

MERCED — In the small town of Mitla Oaxaca in Mexico, a little girl drew inspiration from her grandmother’s colorful garden more than 10 years ago.

Though the family wasn’t very wealthy, the dinner table was always filled with fresh and nutritious foods.

“When I was young, my grandma always had a garden,” said Xochitl Juarez, now 26. “She was really poor, but she always had fresh fruits and vegetables.”

(photo by BEA AHBECK - bahbeck@mercedsunstar.com) Xochitl Juarez of Mexico planted a 10,000-square-foot garden in the shape of a circle because 'everything in life is a cycle,' she said.

(photo by BEA AHBECK – bahbeck@mercedsunstar.com)  Xochitl Juarez of Mexico planted a 10,000-square-foot garden in the shape of a circle because ‘everything in life is a cycle,’ she said.

After falling in love with agriculture at a young age, Juarez sought to help her community learn new farming techniques to become more sustainable.

“A lot of people that come here are from small towns and they have to grow their own food,” she said. “If they have the opportunity to be sustainable, we’ll have a better life with more healthy foods and better nutrition.”

Juarez left her hometown of about 10,000 people and traveled to the United States for the first time as part of the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture program.

[Click HERE for full article]

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One can see his art all over the city.  I’d first been wowed by the scale, symbolism, and style of his work early last year, when walking up Matamoros to meet a friend who was staying at Hotel Azucenas.  At Calle Prof. M. Aranda, I was stopped dead in my tracks — the entire front of the building next to the hotel had been transformed. Using a roller, not brush or spray can, the artist known as Sanez turned it into a work of art.

In September 2012, Sanez again worked his magic on this tired old building — this time creating “El Canto del Agua” (The Song of Water).  According to the article, Mesoamerican Peoples Express their Solidarity by Jonathan Treat, using “symbols of the Aztec god of rain, fertility and water—Tláloc, and corn, forests, animals, campesinos and campesinos and traditional Oaxaca fiestas… Sánez honors indigenous peoples struggling to defend their territories:  [The mural is] ‘Dedicated to the peoples who organize to defend their commons and the common good—Mexico and Canada.’”

Another close encounter with the work of Sanez occurred last month when I ventured across Republica into Barrio de Jalatlaco.  Besides its un-city-like tranquility and quaint tree-lined, but treacherous, cobblestone streets, this bucolic neighborhood always has great street art.  However, I didn’t expect to find the restaurant, Fuego y Sazón, playing host to the unmistakeable style of Sanez.  Wow!

And then…  Just a few days before this current trip to California, I was at Gorilla Gallery (Crespo 213) talking to Jason Pfohl (glass artist and guiding spirit behind Gorilla Glass) when Sanez came in.  He came to discuss plans for his live painting on glass event at the gallery.  Alas, I was already in the US on May 31, when it occurred.  However, if you are currently in Oaxaca, you can see the finished piece at the gallery on Thursdays between 2 and 8 PM.  Besides the immense glass canvas, the gallery is featuring prints by Sanez — and I’m sure Jason would be happy to discuss the distinctive tattoo work of Sanez.

In addition, you might want to slow down when driving along Constituyentes behind Mercado de Abastos — that giant billboard mural towering above the weeds and refuse is another of Sanez’s masterpieces.

 

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