Every March 13th, one of the most important moments in Mexican history is commemorated: the founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, the great city that would later become the heart of the Aztec Empire. According to historical tradition, the city was founded on March 13, 1325, corresponding to the year 2 Calli (Two Houses) in the Aztec calendar. […]
Twenty-five years after the looting of the archaeological treasure of Mitla
On November 30, 2000, the night before President Vicente Fox Quezada’s inauguration, at midnight, residents near the Frissell Museum in the magical town of Mitla heard loud noises coming from inside. Many people gathered and, to their astonishment, saw men smashing all the museum’s display cases and removing the artifacts, loading them onto a flatbed […]
This is the oldest house in Mexico City: walls that tell how the city has been inhabited since pre-Hispanic times
The oldest house in Mexico City is hidden in the streets of La Merced, and its foundations tell us why the chilangos lived in neighborhoods. The oldest house in Mexico City is currently the Casa Manzanares 25 Cultural Center, but its origins date back to pre-Hispanic times and the sixteenth century, making it the oldest house that is recorded in the city. […]
The “Club Álamos”: the oldest cantina and its anecdotes
There are places where they don’t just serve drinks… they serve stories. And in Álamos, if those walls could talk, they’d surely ask for another round. That place is Club Álamos. Although its adobe facade might suggest a colonial feel, it actually began in 1915—likely as a shoe factory—and ended up becoming, in 1965, the […]
Politicians, military personnel, and artists: illustrious figures that Álamos has produced
When Álamos is mentioned, the echo of its arcades immediately brings to mind two names that shine brightly: the poise of María Félix and the prodigious voice of Alfonso Ortiz Tirado. But this city was not only the cradle of divas and tenors. Álamos was, and continues to be, a breeding ground for power, thought, […]
When faith is not “a theoretical thing”: Congress organized to commemorate 100 years since the Cristero War in Mexico
Cancun will host the first Cristero Congress, organized to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Cristero War in Mexico, a period in which Catholics took up arms against the brutal religious repression carried out by the Mexican federal government. The congress will be held at the Church of San José Luis Sánchez […]
A predictive model thousands of years old: new evidence from the Dresden Codex reveals the effective method the Maya used to predict solar eclipses
For decades, the so-called Eclipse Table of the Dresden Codex has been one of the most persistent enigmas of Mayan astronomy. Although it was known since the early 20th century that its pages included predictions of solar eclipses, its mathematical foundations and the process of its creation remained a subject of debate. A recent study […]
Tardan, the store where Porfirio Díaz, Zapata, and Villa bought their hats, still exists.
The Historic Center of Mexico City is one of the areas richest in cultural treasures, some of which go unnoticed. This is the case of the hat shop Tardan, whose history dates back to the 19th century. It was a favorite tailor shop of important historical figures, undoubtedly influencing the creation of its imposing character. […]
Day of the Dead: the not-so-pre-Hispanic origin of the Mexican tradition
Mexicans eagerly await the Day of the Dead each year. Papel picado (cut paper decorations), marigolds, chocolate and sugar skulls, pan de muerto (bread of the dead), water, salt, candles, and the favorite foods of their ancestors fill altars in homes and public spaces with the sole purpose of remembering them and welcoming them back […]
The ch, the coolest phoneme in Mexican Spanish
The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) tells us that a Spanish speaker is someone whose mother tongue or native language is Spanish. While it is the third most spoken language in the world, the Spanish we speak in our country is unique for several reasons, one of which is the use of the ch. Spanish is […]