Just another day, just another walk.
Just another wall of street art.
Just another April Fools Day (2012) mural.
Muchisimas gracias, KAD, for bringing a smile…
and leading us into the void.
Posts Tagged ‘photos’
A walk into the void
Posted in Creativity, Culture, tagged graffiti, KAD, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, street art, wall art on May 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Little handkerchief garden
Posted in Buildings, Churches, Parks & Plazas, Places, tagged Gurrion, Jardín del Pañuelito, Little Hankerchief Garden, Mexico, movie set, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, public spaces, Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, wedding procession on May 21, 2012| 3 Comments »
The public spaces of Oaxaca are well-used. The cobblestone-paved Jardín del Pañuelito (Little Handkerchief Garden), that borders the south side of the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, complex is no exception.
Especially on Saturdays, when it is often used for wedding processions…
Occasionally, it is converted into a conference venue…
Frequently, a stage is set up and a concert ensues…
And, last year it was transformed into a movie set!
Countdown to colibríes
Posted in Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged African tulip tree, Casita Colibrí, colibrí, Flame of the Forest, Flame Trees, hummingbird, Mexico, nature, Oaxaca, photo, photographs, photos, plants, Tulipan on May 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Just before this afternoon’s rains came, Casita Colibrí’s first African tulip tree blossom of the season.
And that means, colibríes (hummingbirds) won’t be far behind!
Thinking of you, mom
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged Chiapas, costume, dance, folk dancing, Guatemala, Mexico, mothers, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Tehuana, Tehuantepec, traje, travel, women, Zinacatán tunic on May 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
My mom was a folk dancer. She had studied ballet, tap, and acrobatic dancing when she was young and brought that training and muscle memory along with her when she took up folk dancing in her mid thirties. I spent many hours over the years watching her dance; the Kamarinskaya from Russia, Swedish Hambo, Fandango from Portugal, Mexico’s Jarabe Tapatio, and so many more. In addition to being a talented dancer, she made her own costumes. A dressmaker’s dummy was a permanent fixture in her bedroom, yards of colorful cotton fabric and braid were piled next to the sewing machine, and in the evenings her hands and eyes were often occupied embroidering pieces for a new costume.
Mom died in 1989, but not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. So, on this Mother’s Day, this is for you mom…
Guatemala
Zinacatán, Chiapas, Mexico
Zinacatán, Chiapas, Mexico
San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Oaxaca, Mexico
Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
Let’s hear it for the mothers!
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, History, Holidays, tagged Día de la Madre, Liza Bakewell, Madre: Perilous Journeys With a Spanish Noun, Mexico, Mother's Day, mothers, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, women on May 10, 2012| 3 Comments »
Today, May 10, is Día de la Madre in Mexico and it is celebrated in much the same way as in el norte.
The celebration migrated south from the USA in the early 20th century and was embraced and promoted by the Catholic Church AND the anticlerical Revolutionaries. As for their reasons, I will quote from Liza Bakewell’s book, Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun.
… around the 1850s the Liberals… were nervous about women’s growing participation in the public sphere. Establishing motherhood as venerable and the home as sanctified… would give women a sphere of their own where they could be boss. Also, it would keep them off the streets and out of the workplace where they had begun to compete with men for jobs.
Under their watch, everyday motherhood became an exalted madre-hood…. The twentieth-century Revolutionaries who succeeded them took the idea and ran with it, adding in 1922 a ritual, Mother’s Day… [p. 84]
Needless to say, the women of Mexico have not stayed home! As I write, hundreds of women are marching on Mexico City, participating in the March of National Dignity: Mothers Looking for their Sons and Daughters and Searching for Justice. And, as for the workforce, according to a report citing the 2010 census, 33.3% of women work and this doesn’t even include those working in family operated enterprises.
However distasteful the reasons behind the establishment of Mother’s Day in Mexico, it does nothing to diminish the need to honor these beautiful, hardworking, formidable, and loving women.
¡Feliz Día de la Madre mis compañeras!
Feliz cumpleaños MACO
Posted in Buildings, Celebrations, Culture, Exhibitions, Travel & Tourism, tagged Contemporary Art Museum of Oaxaca, MACO, Mexico, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, numbers, Oaxaca, photographs, photos on May 4, 2012| 2 Comments »
A belated Happy 20th Birthday, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca!
As the theme of the birthday celebration on February 28th said, Say ‘Coma’ Twenty Times,
COMA, COMA, CO-MACO, MACO, MACO…
Come say, Feliz Cumpleaños MACO, in person!
May Day in Oaxaca
Posted in Celebrations, Economics, Holidays, Labor, Protests, tagged Confederación de Trabajadores de México, CTM, Día de los Trabajadores, Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, demonstrations, holiday, International Workers' Day, labor, May Day, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, workers on May 1, 2012| 4 Comments »
Like 80+ countries in the world, International Workers’ Day is a national holiday in Mexico. Early this morning in Oaxaca, streets were closed as contingents began gathering and then marching toward the city center. And for hours, they poured into the Zócalo and Alameda for speeches, music, and bottle rockets, all of which will, no doubt, continue for hours more.
FYI: CTM stand for the Confederación de Trabajadores de México, the largest confederation of Mexican labor unions. Think, AFL-CIO in El Norte (though with some significant differences).
¡Feliz Día Internacional de los Trabajadores!
Update: For a more nuanced view of yesterday’s march, see the report by longtime resident, Nancy Davies.
Children’s Day
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, tagged children, Children's Day, costumes, Día del Nino, kids, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, traje on April 30, 2012| 2 Comments »
When I was a child and asked, “If there is a Mother’s Day and a Father’s day, why isn’t there a Children’s Day?” My mother’s usual reply was, “Everyday is children’s day!” Hmmm… I never did buy her explanation, until I had kids of my own. However, here in Mexico, there is a day to celebrate children and today is that day — Día del Niño, a day when children are made to feel special.
Schools organize parties with games and treats instead of lessons, parents may give their niños y niñas gifts, and special community activities for kids are organized. Yesterday, here in the city, the Service Workers Union threw an all day party for 5,000 children in the annex of the Eduardo Vasconcelos baseball stadium. There were box lunches, candy (of course), a petty zoo, games, shows, and even a raffle for new bicycles.
So, here’s to the girls and boys of Oaxaca…
To their good humor.
Their pride in celebrating their communities…
Their beauty…
Their amazing patience…
Even when they are shy and tired.
And, especially to the street children, who, despite the challenges of their lives, seem to find ways to “just be kids.”
And, then there were fireworks!
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, History, Holidays, tagged 480th anniversary, birthday, celebrations, fireworks, fuegos artificiales, Happy Birthday Oaxaca, history, Mexico, Oaxaca, photos on April 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Tonight, instead of candles…
Fuegos artificiales exploded from the Alameda de León…
As Oaxaca celebrated her 480th birthday!
¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Oaxaca!
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, History, Holidays, tagged 480th anniversary, calendas, celebrations, Happy Birthday Oaxaca, history, Mexico, Oaxaca, photos on April 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Today is Oaxaca’s 480th birthday as a colonial city . Of course, among other events, a calenda (parade) marked the date.
In 1532 Spanish settlers (their bloody way paved by Hernán Cortés and his conquistadores) successfully petitioned the Queen of Spain for a land grant of 1 square league. The colonists had already established their own town on the site of Huaxyacac, renamed it Antequera (after an old Roman city in Spain) and received a Royal Charter from King Charles I of Spain.
However, Cortés had successfully gotten the entire Valley of Oaxaca (hundreds of thousands of acres) declared as his own private marquisate and, his greed knowing no bounds, kept trying to evict the colonial townspeople. By obtaining the queen’s charter, this end-run around Cortés insured the rights of the townspeople to the land.
Thus, April 25th continues to be celebrated as Oaxaca’s birthday. ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
My cup runneth over…
Posted in Celebrations, Culture, tagged calenda, Children's Guelaguetza, Costa, costume, culture, Guelaguetza, Infantil Guelaguetza, Istmo, Mexico, Mixteca, Oaxaca, Papaloapan, parade, penachos, photographs, photos, traditional regional dances, traje, Tuxtepec, Valles Centrales de Oaxaca on April 21, 2012| 6 Comments »
Friday was a delightful day… a late morning and early afternoon spent in leisurely conversation with one of my closest friends over desayuno at Cocina Economica Isabel, a stop at the Merced mercado to pick up some pan dulce, and a stroll through the Zócalo, before returning home. I envisioned a late afternoon and evening of visiting with my neighbor before she is heads north for a USA visit, catching up on email, and watching a movie. Perfection, I thought! Who could ask for more?
“More” came via my email inbox; notice of the 10th Guelaguetza Infantil, with a calenda (parade) from Santo Domingo de Guzmán to the Zócalo beginning at 6 PM. This definitely called for a change of plans! And, sure enough, as I got closer to Santo Domingo, there they were; delegations of children representing the regions of Oaxaca.
Istmo de Tehuantepec couple (a young Frida Kahlo, perhaps?) posing for photos.
There were several bands playing and it got a little too loud for this girl from the Istmo.
However this girl, representing the Papaloapan, didn’t seem to mind and was ready to toss candy to the crowd. She wasn’t alone — once the calenda started, candy began flying fast and furious and the pockets of the kids watching on the sidelines began bulging!
Girls from the Costa region received last-minute instructions.
Costa boys were charged with holding up their school banner.
The girls representing the Papaloapan clutched plastic pineapples, ready for the always popular Flor de Piña dance from Tuxtepec.
A little cross cultural comparing of notes (actually, cell phone games) was happening between the Istmo and Papaloapan.
All the while, the dancers from the Mixteca danced their way down the Álcala.
And, the young Danza de la Pluma danzantes, representing the Valles Centrales, carefully balanced their penachos (headdresses).
Tonight at 5 pm, these 300 kids from 52 preschools, will perform traditional regional dances in the auditorium of the Universidad Regional del Sureste, Rosario campus in San Sebastián Tutla.
Día de la Virgen de Dolores 2012
Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, tagged altar, animal figurines, Chia Pets, Día de la Virgén de Dolores, Mexico, Oaxaca, Our Lady of Sorrows, photos, popular travel destinations, virgen de dolores, Virgin of Sorrows on March 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Today, the 6th Friday of Lent, is El Día de la Virgen de Dolores, the Virgin of Sorrows.
Altars have been set-up in courtyards and businesses around town, including this one at Hotel Las Mariposas (butterflies).
It commemorates the pain suffered by the Virgin Mary on the death of her son.
By the way, note the “chia pets.” This is where the US entrepreneur originally got the idea in the late 1970s for the terracotta animal figurines planted with Salvia Hispanica.
Tonight, I’m headed to a special Día de la Virgen de Dolores program, including a concert of sacred music performed by the Coro de la Ciudad (chorus of the city of Oaxaca), at the Templo del Carmen Bajo.
(ps) Ooops! Apparently, the concert is tomorrow night.
Touch and go
Posted in Buildings, Libraries, People, Places, Signs, tagged Biblioteca Infantil, blind, Braille, Francisco Toledo, Jorge Luis Borges, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, street names, street signs, visually impaired on March 11, 2012| 3 Comments »
About two months ago, new street signs began appearing in Oaxaca on each side of each street corner. Eight signs per each 4-way intersection, in Spanish and Braille, are at hand touch and wheelchair eye level, and provide arrows to make it clear if the traffic flows this way…
… or that.
By the way, Oaxaca has a library for the blind and visually impaired — the Biblioteca Jorge Luis Borges, housed in the Biblioteca Infantil in the Barrio de Xochimilco. Named after the blind Argentine writer, the library was founded in 1996 by world-renowned Oaxacan artist, Francisco Toledo. It houses his collection of books in Braille, a permanent workshop teaching Braille, computers with special programs for the blind, and scholarships to outstanding visually impaired students.
Frangipani, ahhh…
Posted in Gardens, tagged Casita Colibrí, flowers, frangipani, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, plumeria on February 7, 2012| 4 Comments »
Full moon hiding; overcast tonight. Sheesh, I’ve been cold all day! However, my Frangipani is blooming…
Going forth and multiplying
Posted in Animals, Gardens, Nature & Science, tagged Araneidae, Argiope, Casita Colibrí, Mexico, Oaxaca, orb weaver, photographs, photos on January 13, 2012| 4 Comments »
Remember Argiope, from my September 20 and October 8 posts? She has continued to hang around, catch flies, and do all manner of spidery things. However, four days ago, her web was abandoned…
Apparently, my screen door is the perfect place, in her mind, to lay her eggs!
A friend asked, how do I feel about having hundreds of little Argiopes hatch practically INSIDE my apartment?
I’m trying not to think about it, says I.
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