Mexico City Gay Pride

In 2015 Mexico City's Pride Parade will be on Sun, 28 June, celebrating its 37th edition! This amazing event dates back to 1978, when activists struggled to organize a demonstration for civil rights, in memory of Stonewall events and other local problems that the gay community have faced. During the 1980's the AIDS issue involved many of the slogans and organizations were looking to bring attention to support those in trouble, and looking to modify negative social attitudes towards the disease, while in 1990's many people were also looking to protest against homophobia and crimes on homosexuals as well. At the same time, some individuals managed to gain public spaces in the local congress. By 1999 the parade gains popularity, reaching several thousand people gathered along Reforma Avenue and demonstrating at Mexico City main square.

From its origins, the Pride Parade has involved some sort of carnival like mood, that eventually surpass its protest character. But there is always a political aspect in every expression, slogan and groups participating in the event. It also has a commercial side, since several gay bars, magazines, condom brands and even department stores have provided floats and platforms for go-go dancers and merchandizing their products, cherishing up the event with cute guys and drag queens, in a similar way these events have evolved in Europe and the USA. These staging strategies bring attention and produce media impact to the protest, but sometimes it also obscures the original purpose. Nevertheless, Mexico City's Pride has its own special flavor, given by cowboys on beautiful horses, Tehuana dressed guys, handsome Latino guys, comedians (like "SuperMana") and lots of spontaneous supporters.
Mexico City Pride starts at Independence Monument, drives along Reforma Ave., marching in front of Alameda Park with a stop at Juarez Monument (a sort of preachers corner) and then entering Historic Downtown to gain Main Square for the closing festival. Fun slogans are a hilarious part of the parade, yelling at politicians or inviting passive pedestrian watchers to join, or incorporating their political view. No registration is needed to participate in the party, but marching along with an organization makes it more powerful and effective.

Each decade the Parade has incorporated other groups, adding another letter to the collective name that initially was only gay. Today it is called LGBTTT, referring to all those gender identities connected or affected by discrimination. Every year, participants show their enthusiasm, imagination and artistic creativity in their outfits, body makeup, colors and letter signs, used to show their origin, identity, adding their particular hue to the colors of the rainbow flag. Mexico City Pride is always an opportunity to socialize, make friends, and laugh at our human condition.

The god of drunkness in Tepoztlan

Tepoztecatl is the god of a beer produced from the agave plant called pulque, therefore god of drunkenness and fertility. The deity was also known by his calendrical name, Two-Rabbit. According to Aztec myth, Tepoztecatl was one of the four hundred children of Mayahuel, the goddess of the agave plant, and Patecatl, the god that discovered the fermentation process. As a deity of an alcoholic drink, Tepoztecatl was associated with fertility cults and the rain god, but also with the wind, hence deriving an alternative name of "Son of the wind". On top of Tepozteco mountain, in the Mexican the town of Tepoztlan, there is an archaeological site named after the deity. This site has a small pyramid built on a platform 9.5 meters high, overlooking the town of Tepoztlan. In order to get there you'll enjoy climbing a half-mile steep and rocky path, but it is worth the effort.
On September 8th. the town celebrates the moment when its chief was converted to Christianity in the place where he was baptized. The image of the Virgin Mary is also carried on shoulders through the town to celebrate the event. Then starts a procession until reaching the town's main square accompained with brass-band music. The festival commemorates the trial made by the neighbor chiefs claiming to Tepuztecatl in native language. The party goes on, celebrating with pulque drink.
Several months before the feast, the artists of Tepoztlan design an incredible seed-made porch, set in front of the main temple's atrium door. Every year, there is a different topic, on September 8, 2012, will be shown in its splendor devoted to Mayahuel, the goddess of the marvelous agave plant (maguey, in Spanish). Mayahuel is the woman who found out how to transform the juice of the maguey into an intoxicating beverage –a drink to the joy for men and women and accepted by the gods as an equal in their pantheon. As a goddess she is depicted mostly sitting in the middle of a maguey, sometimes with a suckling child on her lap the milky honey water. One myth out of various different versions of the traditions, relates that together with Quetzalcoatl in his appearance of the wind god Ehecatl, she runs away from her celestial home chased by the dangerous star demons. Accompanied by Quetzalcoatl she hides disguised as branches of a tree. But she is found and torn to pieces by the pursuers. Quetzalcoatl buries her remains from which the first maguey grows. Enjoy this festival with a guided excursion.

Olmec Jade at the Anthropology Museum

Jade figurines were being made the Olmec peoples (about 1500 - 500 B.C.), located at La Venta site since the 1940s. They represent human figures, human-animal composite depictions, a sort of ritual axes, and necklaces. In the image shown here, found in La Venta, there is a group of masculine figurines gathered around an odd one. An ancient men's ceremony?

Though small in scale, the pieces show an extraordinary carving and polishing command. Olmec jade objects were of translucent blue green in color and were never reached in the ancient Mesoamerica for compact, symmetrically balanced, three-dimensional form, and elegance of surface detail. The jade sculptures include feline and avian elements as well as abstract human faces features. The value of jade beads went beyond its material (actually several chemical compounds of jadeite, like sodium aluminium silicate). Raw jadeite is white, but the inclusion of iron, chromium, or aluminium it acquires a green shades.

Perhaps because of its color, mirroring that of water and vegetation, it was symbolically associated with life and death and therefore possessed high religious and spiritual importance. Important sources of jadeite in Mesoamerica are the lowland Motagua River valley and the Guatemalan Pacific Coast, where the Olmecs exploited and distributed the stones through their metropolitan area. Since then, jadeite figures were considered of the highest value and used in rich burials.

Enjoy the museum with a guided tour.