Morelos
This year in one of my classes on culture, I learned something that I’ll bet not too many people know.
If you live outside of Mexico, you may not heave heard the name José María Morelos. But he’s a famous guy down here. We see him often, as a matter of fact – well, images of him. Our state is named after him (Morelos). There’s a huge statue of him in downtown Cuernavaca. His face can be seen on the 50 peso bill. He’s got a city named after him (the city where he was born, now called Morelia). He’s in paintings, on monuments – this is one important guy in Mexican history.
Morelos was a priest. He became a leader in Mexico’s struggle for independence from Spain, which makes him a national hero today. You can read more about him in this article by Wilbert H. Timmons
Morelos is usually pictured wearing a bandana wrapped around his head. But many people don’t know why. He’s wearing it because he has a migraine.
That’s right. Mexico’s hero suffered from terrible migraine attacks. He wrapped a cloth tightly around his head to try to dull the pain (not an unheard of treatment, by the way).
Morelos is a very unique migraineur because you can still see him wearing the badge of the pain he had to go through. Here you can see a painting of him from the Palacio de Justicia (Palace of Justice) in Morelia (photo courtesy of eperales). Below is a 1 peso coin (no longer in circulation) (photo courtesy of TFDuesing). Finally, I’ve posted a photo of the statue that’s downtown here in Cuernavaca (photo courtesy of apparentbliss).
So there you go, a fellow migraineur who’s a lot more famous than me. And now you know the rest of the story.