Mexico

20 March 2009

Some glimpses of the National Anthropological Museum

As promised, I wanted to show you a little bit from our visit to the anthropological museum in Mexico City earlier this month. I have a lot of pictures – I’ll try to post some in the photo gallery eventually. Meanwhile, here’s a taste of what we saw.

Naturally there were a lot of artifacts from past civilizations of Mexico. For example, this (on the right) I believe was from the Aztec period. It’s a teponaztli – a kind of a sacred drum or xylophone. It was believed that one of the gods was banished to earth in the form of this type of drum (more on Aztec music here).

Besides all the ancient history, there was room after room with information on the peoples of Mexico today. Some of the information about religious belief was fascinating.

Sometimes when people hear that Mexico is a "Roman Catholic" country, they think that’s like Roman Catholicism in Canada or the USA. But it’s actually very different, due to the syncretism that has taken place – the mixture of Christian beliefs with the ancient beliefs of the Mexican peoples. What this looks like varies greatly between different groups, city, country, different regions, and so on, but it is everywhere present.

Take for example this group (pictured left), who like most Mesoamerican peoples had different gods for different purposes. When the new tools and beliefs came from Europe, they needed new gods for the new things. Today, many in these communities think of Christ as being mainly the creator of cattle, metal tools and money.

Many peoples in villages have beliefs based around the cycle of the crops. The Christian festivals that they emphasize are the ones that correspond with the stages of cultivation. The rituals that they do on these holidays (ie Christmas, the Day of the Holy Cross, etc) are designed to bring success to the crops.

Today, these festivals are livened up with things like modern sound systems and pyrotechnics. Below is an example of one ritual (I believe from Oaxaca).

This next one is, I think, from the mountains of the state of Guerrero. The altar pictured below is meant to ask for rain for the crops. Certain people of "power" are considered especially close to the forces of nature. They can drive away bad spirits and use their magic to make it rain. Behind those flowers are crosses.

In this particular ritual, the white vulture is called on to make it rain, make the lightning kind, etc.

Remember, this isn’t ancient times – these are current beliefs. Remember also that in all these groups, Christian language is used. Talking to them, you might not catch the beliefs that are underlying the rituals, other than the fact that they are praying to God for their needs. But it’s much more than that.

As I’ve said, the beliefs and practices vary a lot from place to place. In the cities, you find people from all over the country, bringing beliefs from their villages and forefathers, and mixing them with what they find in their new home. And it is quite a mix.

18 March 2009

2020 Olympic Games – in Mexico?

Jim Mexico, News and current issues, Video Blogs 0

Hey look! The city of Monterrey, Mexico wants to host the 2020 Summer Olympics! Of course, they face some pretty fierce competition – Toronto Canada wants the games too. 😉

Via ¡Pure Vida!

13 March 2009

Mexico City, Safety, and our latest visit

Jim Mexico, Missions 1

A few thoughts on Mexico, Mexico City, safety, and all stuff like that there.

While Hannah and Nathanael enjoyed some time with the Smiths in Texcoco, we went into downtown Mexico City for the night and a day.

You went where?!

I know there’s some confusion – yes, we do live in Mexico City, the greater metro area. But we still talk about going to Mexico City when we head into the Distrito Federal, the Federal District. Mexico City actually covers two states, D.F. and Mexico. (To make it even more confusing, most often when people around Mexico City go to Mexico City, they simply say they’re going to "Mexico".)

Current Mexico City phone books. No, not a phone book and the yellow pages – just the white pages. One is A to LL, the other M to Z.
Anyway, I know some of you are thinking – Mexico City? Isn’t that … *gasp* dangerous??

It might be hard to explain to someone who’s not here, but I’m going to try. I think we walk a fine line, because we do want you to know that there are serious issues in Mexico right now, and we need your prayers.

On the other hand, I don’t want you to get the impression we’re here dodging bullets, because we’re not.

Safety in Mexico City

Last night we stayed right close to downtown in Mexico City. We walked in the streets after dark. We drove around after dark. Yes, we do need to be wise and careful, but that goes without saying in almost any city in the world.

I’m especially concerned because I’ve heard through the grapevine that some groups who were planning to come to Mexico to serve the Lord have actually changed their plans because of what they’re hearing on the news.

Please, talk to the people in the area where you’re going, and think carefully before you change your plans. We need people willing to serve in Mexico, long term and short term. Who knows how many more opportunities we’ll have to reach people here with the hope that is in Jesus?

I recently read an article about statistics of safety in Mexico. It was geared toward the US crowd, but it applies to anyone. The author looked at the numbers, and discovered this:

Assuming you’re not a criminal or trying to buy drugs, you’re more likely to die in a plane crash than to get killed in Mexico, and almost as likely to be killed by flesh-eating bacteria. Further, that only applies if you’re in the three most dangerous cities in Mexico (hint: all these are border towns, Mexico City is not one of them!). If you’re outside of these, the chances are next to nothing, kind of like your chances of dying of bubonic plague.

If you’re still wondering if you should visit Mexico City, this writer living here provides a helpful quiz to calculate your chances of being a victim of violence.

So please, do pray for our safety, and keep praying for Mexico. But when you hear headline news about the death of a Canadian (or insert your nationality here) in Mexico, remember that over a million Canadians travel to Mexico every year, not including tens of thousands that live here. Then compare that with the deaths in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, etc.

Come on down!

March is a beautiful month to visit Mexico City. The weather is warming up, but not too hot. We just got a little rain to get the dust down and green things up (although we may not get another shower for a few weeks, since it’s still dry season). The Jacaranda trees are in full bloom. There’s lots going on. And some great deals on flights! 🙂

And if you’re willing to serve the Lord, there are opportunities like there never have been before in history.

Thanks to Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the articles cited above

9 March 2009

Canadian and Mexican traditional wisdom

Jim Food, Just for fun, Mexico 1

I’ve made this a topic of conversation lately with some of my Mexican friends, so I thought I should share it with a wider audience.

A few weeks ago we were standing around after a worship service on a Sunday morning. One of the young guys (Alberto) at the church had a little bowl of ice cream of sherbet or something, and he offered some to Nathanael. Nathanael, of course, was happy to have some.

A few minutes later I was chatting with Alberto and happened to mention that Nathanael had been sick and was just getting over it.

Alberto’s eyes opened wide and this look of horror came over him.

Why?

I don’t know about you (fellow Canadians), but when I was young and got sick and had a sore throat, one of the best things to have was ice cream. Ah, soothe the cool, burning inflammation with that nice smooth cold creamy stuff. Great idea! Anything cold on the throat felt great.

In stark contrast, here in Mexico the common belief is that cold is the worst thing for you. In fact, it might have made you sick in the first place.

Canadians actually stand between two extremes. People from the US typically like to fill their glass with ice. Mexicans, on the other hand, will often have no ice at all. That cold could make you sick! Canadians typically avoid either extreme in this case. But from what I’ve seen, when a Canadian is sick they’re more likely to have something cold.

Poor Alberto thought that he had made the problem worse by giving sick Nathanael ice cream.

Who’s right? I’ll leave the doctors and scientists to check it out. Meanwhile, I don’t eat ice cream as much as I used to, since it’s so hard to find any with actual "cream" as a major ingredient!

5 March 2009

Butterfly Homework

Jim Family, Just for fun, Mexico 0

At the beginning of every month, there’s a sudden peak in homework for both Hannah and Nathanael. Part of the reason is that they each have to make title pages for all their notebooks – for every subject that they’re taking at school. That’s on top of whatever other homework they have.

This month they ended up doing the same thing – butterflies for March! Hannah drew her own butterflies, and Nathanael coloured some. Here are some of their notebooks completed. How many butterflies do you see?