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Postal Palace
A postal service in Mexico existed before the Spanish arrival, expanded through colonization, and endures in modern society. The natives of Mesoamerica created their postal service with men who were…
The Pirates of Campeche
You are awakened by the sound of gunfire. You stumble outside to a night sky filled with the suffocating smell of smoke. More gunshots ring out in the distance, as a harmony of pained, panicked…
Tulum's Great Reef
The second largest reef in the world is located in the Caribbean Sea. The Mesoamerican Reef borders the countries of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. “Stretching nearly 700 miles from the…
Mural of the Drinkers
Drinking was a large part of the Mesoamerican culture. Not only used as an enjoyable pastime, the Maya would drink to get closer to their gods and to communicate with them. The Mural of the Drinkers,…
The Jewel of Oxtankah
What was once thought to be a single piece of a Maya ritual outfit, is now found to be only a small piece of what was once a full body suit. The piece, a ritual garment that resembles an oversized…
Oswald in Mexico
On November 22, 1963, a Dallas police officer arrested Lee Harvey Oswald in connection to the public assassination of President John F. Kennedy that had taken place less than two hours before. Two…
The Maya 2012 Phenomenon
In 2009, Roland Emmerich directed the action-disaster movie 2012. The movie focused heavily on themes of apocalypse and the way that people can and should treat each other in times of crisis. Little…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…