Mexico Lindo: Newsletter-Noticias: June 2009

             News ~ Noticias ~ June 2009

¡Fun, Films and Games!

¡Greetings Friends of Mexico Lindo! June is here at last and we have been busy with lots of folks shopping for weddings, graduations and other important rites of passage. Although this is the time of the year when most people want to be outdoors as much as possible, we have some great new items that you'll enjoy in the likely event of Spring  showers.



            The 2013 Oracle card set, $29.95       Folk Art Toy Theatre: $28         1000 pc. Huichol jigsaw puzzle, $18
                                                          Below: Assorted 20 Notecard Sets: $20 each



Just arrived: five beautiful and educational DVD's from filmaker Pacho Lane and Ethnoscope Films! These award winning documentaries cover a wide variety of topics. Each DVD will be $26.95 each and some contain more than one film. In the first: " Butterflies and Violins", Deborah Welker visits the famed Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Mexico and takes us first to the lovely old mining town of Angangueo, in Michoacan state, jumping-off point for the El Rosario and Sierra Chincua sanctuaries. We visit the impressive town square, check the hotels and restaurants, then follow the spectacular road up to the 10,000 foot El Rosario sanctuary. And of course, the sanctuary itself is glorious! We see the Monarchs leave their clusters as the sun warms their wings, then rest on gorgeous flowers to sun themselves before flying down to drink from a shallow stream. This DVD also includes a film on Juan Reynoso, the wonderful folk violinist from Guerrero.



Secondly: Two Films about Tepoztlan: "A Defender of His People" examines how the legend of El Tepozteco serves as a source of identity and a behavior model for the tepoztecos.Tepozteco is not just a legendary figure: he is actively present in the lives of his people. His voice is heard in the wind, and when necessary he appears in person. He is credited with driving away a federal SWAT team, and on one occasion even wrote a letter asking the tepoztecos to care for the environment.
The third film, "The Eagles' Children" explores "La Danza de la Conquista del Gran Tenochtitlan", also known as "Danza Azteca" & "Danza Chichimeca",which traces its origins to pre-Columbian Nahua ("Aztec") roots. Its adherents are organized into dance groups, each led by a "Capitan de Danza", who must obey one of the "Generales" who head distinct lineages and claim to pass traditional lore down from before the Spanish invasion of Mexico. The "Danzantes" must take part in a complex series of "obligaciones" throughout the year. At the great annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Chalma, thousands of "Danzantes" from Mexico and the US gather for four days of ritual and dance. This DVD includes a film on the amazing seed portals which are constructed each year to decorate the entrance to the churchyard and take 10000 hours to make.
The fourth film,"Los Voladores" (the Flyers) is a 1500 year-old rite sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the Morning Star. From its origins on the Gulf coast of Mexico, the ritual spread throughout Mesoamerica: a special square was reserved for it in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and a variant is still known among the Quiche' Maya in Guatemala. Today "Los Voladores" is best known in its original home in the Huasteca region, especially among the Totonac, who have lived in the area for millenia. The version shown in the film is from Huehuetla, in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The film opens with images from the Nuttall, Laud, and other Codices, and poetry from "Cantares Mexicanos", a collection of pre-hispanic Nahuatl verse from Texcoco. Combining ritual, dance, music, poetry, and art, "The Tree of Life" is a meditation on the mystery at the heart of human life. It calls us to keep the world in balance with our lives. This DVD contains two additonal films that are recorded in Huehuetla.

Speaking of the Voladores, you can see two of our own little videos of them on our Facebook page. One video is of the little Voladores toy that we sell here at the store and the other is taken of the Voladores as seen outside of the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.

The fourth DVD is entitled: "Muxes–Authentic, Intrepid Seekers of Danger", and is directed by Alejandra Islas. Among the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, boy babies who are born in a certain position, or little boys who prefer to play with girls, are raised as women, and are known as Muxes (pronounced "Mooshays"). In the town of Juchitán, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Muxes have an important role to play in the life of the community, because they are raised as women. The Muxes of Juchitán are proud of their identity, enjoy their lives, laugh at themselves as well as at "straight" society, and admit their own foibles freely. They call themselves "Authentic, Intrepid Seekers of Danger," and have banded together to lead the fight against AIDS in Oaxaca. They talk frankly about their experiences of acceptance and rejection, and their successes in finding freedom, love and delight in their special identity.

Of interest to Pittsburghers, ArtUp presents: Corpo Illicito: The Post-Human Society #69. A new performance project by Roberto Sifuentes and Guillermo Gómez-Peña, third in the Mapa-Corpo series. Using their performance bodies as sites for political reinvention and poetic prophesying, La Pocha Nostra members, Gomez-Pena and Sifuentes explore both the legacy of fear of the "Other", the criminalization of the brown body inherited by the Bush administration, and the emerging culture of hope, imagination and faith that has developed in response to the former world order. The piece premiered in Belgium in April and goes up for the first time in the US this June, for Three Rivers Arts Festival's 50th anniversary.

Where:    937 Liberty Ave (Bricolage Space, first floor), downtown Pittsburgh
When:   June 6th, 8:00 PM, tickets $10, call 412-381-6999 or tami@webbricolage.org

and also don't miss: Homeland Insecurity:

Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Roberto Sifuentes of the performance art troupe La Pocha Nostra (www.pochanostra.com ), based in San Francisco's mission district, will be running a performance workshop for local Pittsburgh artists. The artists, curated into the workshop by Tavia La Follette, present a final expose of their own, works discovered during the La Pocha Nostra workshop.

where: 937 Liberty Ave (Bricolage Space, first floor), downtown Pittsburgh
when:    June 11th, 12th and 13th, every night at 8 PM, tickets $10, call 412-381-6999 or tami@webbricolage.org

For more information go to www.artup.org or call Tavia: 412-443-8132

Hope to see you soon...until next time, saludos!



¡Go Penguins!

Mexico Lindo Home


News ~ Noticias ~ June 2009 ¡Fun, Films and Games! ¡Greetings Friends of Mexico Lindo! June is here at last and we have been busy with lots of folks shopping for weddings, graduations and other important rites of passage. Although this is the time of the year when most people want to be outdoors as much as possible, we have some great new items that you'll enjoy in the likely event of Spring showers.

The 2013 Oracle card set, $29.95 Folk Art Toy Theatre: $28 1000 pc. Huichol jigsaw puzzle, $18 Below: Assorted 20 Notecard Sets: $20 each Just arrived: five beautiful and educational DVD's from filmaker Pacho Lane and Ethnoscope Films! These award winning documentaries cover a wide variety of topics. Each DVD will be $26.95 each and some contain more than one film. In the first: " Butterflies and Violins", Deborah Welker visits the famed Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Mexico and takes us first to the lovely old mining town of Angangueo, in Michoacan state, jumping-off point for the El Rosario and Sierra Chincua sanctuaries. We visit the impressive town square, check the hotels and restaurants, then follow the spectacular road up to the 10,000 foot El Rosario sanctuary. And of course, the sanctuary itself is glorious! We see the Monarchs leave their clusters as the sun warms their wings, then rest on gorgeous flowers to sun themselves before flying down to drink from a shallow stream. This DVD also includes a film on Juan Reynoso, the wonderful folk violinist from Guerrero. Secondly: Two Films about Tepoztlan: "A Defender of His People" examines how the legend of El Tepozteco serves as a source of identity and a behavior model for the tepoztecos.Tepozteco is not just a legendary figure: he is actively present in the lives of his people. His voice is heard in the wind, and when necessary he appears in person. He is credited with driving away a federal SWAT team, and on one occasion even wrote a letter asking the tepoztecos to care for the environment. The third film, "The Eagles' Children" explores "La Danza de la Conquista del Gran Tenochtitlan", also known as "Danza Azteca" & "Danza Chichimeca",which traces its origins to pre-Columbian Nahua ("Aztec") roots. Its adherents are organized into dance groups, each led by a "Capitan de Danza", who must obey one of the "Generales" who head distinct lineages and claim to pass traditional lore down from before the Spanish invasion of Mexico. The "Danzantes" must take part in a complex series of "obligaciones" throughout the year. At the great annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Chalma, thousands of "Danzantes" from Mexico and the US gather for four days of ritual and dance. This DVD includes a film on the amazing seed portals which are constructed each year to decorate the entrance to the churchyard and take 10000 hours to make. The fourth film,"Los Voladores" (the Flyers) is a 1500 year-old rite sacred to Quetzalcoatl, the Morning Star. From its origins on the Gulf coast of Mexico, the ritual spread throughout Mesoamerica: a special square was reserved for it in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and a variant is still known among the Quiche' Maya in Guatemala. Today "Los Voladores" is best known in its original home in the Huasteca region, especially among the Totonac, who have lived in the area for millenia. The version shown in the film is from Huehuetla, in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The film opens with images from the Nuttall, Laud, and other Codices, and poetry from "Cantares Mexicanos", a collection of pre-hispanic Nahuatl verse from Texcoco. Combining ritual, dance, music, poetry, and art, "The Tree of Life" is a meditation on the mystery at the heart of human life. It calls us to keep the world in balance with our lives. This DVD contains two additonal films that are recorded in Huehuetla. Speaking of the Voladores, you can see two of our own little videos of them on our Facebook page. One video is of the little Voladores toy that we sell here at the store and the other is taken of the Voladores as seen outside of the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City. The fourth DVD is entitled: "Muxes–Authentic, Intrepid Seekers of Danger", and is directed by Alejandra Islas. Among the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, boy babies who are born in a certain position, or little boys who prefer to play with girls, are raised as women, and are known as Muxes (pronounced "Mooshays"). In the town of Juchitán, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Muxes have an important role to play in the life of the community, because they are raised as women. The Muxes of Juchitán are proud of their identity, enjoy their lives, laugh at themselves as well as at "straight" society, and admit their own foibles freely. They call themselves "Authentic, Intrepid Seekers of Danger," and have banded together to lead the fight against AIDS in Oaxaca. They talk frankly about their experiences of acceptance and rejection, and their successes in finding freedom, love and delight in their special identity. Of interest to Pittsburghers, ArtUp presents: Corpo Illicito: The Post-Human Society #69. A new performance project by Roberto Sifuentes and Guillermo Gómez-Peña, third in the Mapa-Corpo series. Using their performance bodies as sites for political reinvention and poetic prophesying, La Pocha Nostra members, Gomez-Pena and Sifuentes explore both the legacy of fear of the "Other", the criminalization of the brown body inherited by the Bush administration, and the emerging culture of hope, imagination and faith that has developed in response to the former world order. The piece premiered in Belgium in April and goes up for the first time in the US this June, for Three Rivers Arts Festival's 50th anniversary. Where: 937 Liberty Ave (Bricolage Space, first floor), downtown Pittsburgh When: June 6th, 8:00 PM, tickets $10, call 412-381-6999 or tami@webbricolage.org and also don't miss: Homeland Insecurity: Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Roberto Sifuentes of the performance art troupe La Pocha Nostra (www.pochanostra.com ), based in San Francisco's mission district, will be running a performance workshop for local Pittsburgh artists. The artists, curated into the workshop by Tavia La Follette, present a final expose of their own, works discovered during the La Pocha Nostra workshop. where: 937 Liberty Ave (Bricolage Space, first floor), downtown Pittsburgh when: June 11th, 12th and 13th, every night at 8 PM, tickets $10, call 412-381-6999 or tami@webbricolage.org For more information go to www.artup.org or call Tavia: 412-443-8132 Hope to see you soon...until next time, saludos!
¡Go Penguins!
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