Temporada Spring 2012

The 2011 Fall Season for Orquesta Sinfonica de Yucatan

www.sinfonicadeyucatan.com.mx

Under the Direction of Juan Carlos Lomonaco (www.juancarloslomonaco.com)

January

Program 2: January 27 and 29
Between Spain and France, dances and foot stamping! The exotic and famous Dance Bacchanal from the opera presented at the end of the season, Samson and Delilah, by C. Saint-Saens, tells the party that held the Philistines to capture Samson after the treacherous Delilah takes the strength he had in his long hair. Back in his homeland, Cecilio Perera interprets the Concierto Madrigal joined on second guitar by Jaime Marquez, currently director of Festival International Cervantino. Spanish composers Manuel and Rodrigo de Falla, capture the essence of Spanish dances, the fandango and foot stamping like the French Maurice Ravel, with his haunting and mesmerizing Bolero.

February

Program 3: February 3 and 5
Here is a program that features Romantics from Poland. The soloist will play Chopin and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3, both which bear the stamp of Poland. The program begins with the Academic Festival of German composer, Johannes Brahms, a romantic work that uses a dozen motifs. There will also be four student pieces.
The Polish pianist Józef Olechowski, founder and artistic director of, Sociedad Cultural Federico Chopin de México will perform one of the most romantic pieces for piano, Concerto No. 1 op. 11, composed by Chopin in 1830. Finally, he will also perform the Polish Symphony No. 3 by Tchaikovsky.

Program 4: February 10 and 12

From the German composer of operas, Richard Wagner, we have an extraordinary legacy. The Flying Dutchman Overture is an example of the power used in his instrumental compositions. Later in the program, there will be a woman as guest director. Gabriela Diaz is the first director of a Mexican orchestra, the Symphony of the IPN. A Mozart flute concerto is interpreted by Joaquin Melo, principal flutist of the OSY, sure to immerse us in the beauty of classicism. Lastly, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, composed in 1806 during a quiet period in the life of tempestuous composer, will be performed.

March

Program 5: March 2 and 4
This is a program almost entirely classical. Mozart composed over 600 works, covering all musical genres of his time. The overture of the opera Don Giovanni appears as number seven in the list of operas most performed around the world. Our talented concertmaster Christopher Collins will play the Violin Concerto No. 3 by the same composer and will perform the piece with an actual violin that belonged to Mozart’s father, Leopold, who inspired one of the characters in Don Giovanni. Another piece in this program, the Classical Symphony by Sergei Prokofiev, is a tribute to classicism, full of energy and vitality, and is a virtuous and joyful work. Finally, Capricho Español by Russian Rimsky-Korsakov is based on Spanish melodies and will be performed to round out the program.

Program 6: March 9 and 11
This program takes us from Romanticism to Russia. The Egmont Overture is a piece that represents the tragedy of the same name by Goethe in 1788. The soloists will be a duet of great talent and brilliance, the Georgian cellist Inna Nassidze and concertmaster Manuel Lozano from the Xalapa Symphony. They will play one of the most famous concert for two instruments, composed in 1887. Variaciones sobre un tema de Haydn by Brahms is a masterpiece of this composer. Another piece played in this program, Polovetsian Dances, is the most famous piece from the opera Prince Igor by A. Borodin. It is often interpreted as a separate part in concerts and is one of the most popular in a classical repertoire.

Program 7: March 16 and 18
The young Spanish director Santiago Serrate has a growing career and has been assistant to renowned directors Pedro Halffter and Antoni Ross Marbá. For this program, he will conduct one of the most famous works of Felix Mendelssohn, Dream of a Summer Night. One of the best known themes is the Nuptial March, which is usually played at weddings. In the first part, the program is characterized by the virtuosity and lightness of Rossini, in the popular William Tell Overture, the composer’s last opera. The program also includes Variations for Clarinet by the talented Fernando Dominguez, who is part of Trio Neos and ONIX Ensemble for contemporary music. He will also play the Concertino for Clarinet by Weber, an entertaining piece played on the clarinet.

Program 8: March 23 and 25
From the beautiful country of Russia, this program contains three major works of three great composers. The Slovenian March was composed by Tchaikovsky in just five days to commemorate the Russian soldiers who died in support of the Serbian government during the war against Turkey. In the twentieth century, Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Second Piano Concerto (1957) for the birthday of his son Maxim, who premiered the work at his graduation from the Moscow Conservatory. Aaron Sanchez, winner in the junior category of the Jacinto Cuevas First Piano Competition, will perform this work. In the same century, ten years earlier, Stravinsky revised his version of the ballet Petrushka, which tells the life of a puppet that comes to life and develops emotions. It is one of the most important works of the composer and part of the Russian music revolution of the twentieth century that captured the rest of the world.

April

Program 9: April 20 and 22
The Sicilian Vespers is about the historical event of the killing of the French in Sicily in 1282, an event which caused the disappearance of the domain of Charles I of Anjou on the island. This is a powerful overture and will be heard in Merida for the second time. Also, “The Campanela” will be directed by the concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City, the Polish-Mexican Sebastian Kwapisz, who will demonstrate the virtuosity and melodic style of gypsy music. About the Suite No. 3, Tchaikovsky wrote "My intention was to write a symphony, but the title does not matter." Composed in 1884, this piece was very well received by critics and has universal popularity. The final movement, Theme and Variations, is a wonderful example of the creative of the genius composer. This piece was performed by the Russian dancer Balanchine and immortalized with his exceptional choreography.

Program 10: April 27 and 29
With an entirely American program, the symphony takes us to the worlds of movies and Broadway. Cuban Overture by Gershwin was originally titled Rumba, and was inspired by the Cuban dances the composer heard in the clubs and streets of Havana in 1932. John Williams described to Leroy Anderson as "one of the great American masters of light orchestra music" composed the Piano Concerto, strongly influenced by the music of Gershwin. The program will include the Yucatan pianist Eli Maria Sosa. Also on the bill, Outdoor Overture is a popular piece with optimistic temper and enjoys a definite appreciation among young American audiences. Symphonic Dances from West Side Story was a musical innovation in its time for the dances with Latin rhythms, jazz riffs and love songs of great melodic beauty, as well as the theme that recalls the history of Romeo and Juliet.

May

Program 11: May 11 and 13
Bach’s Suite No. 3 is one of his best known orchestral works. The second movement contains some of the finest passages that Bach wrote. This is also known as Aria in G. Instrumentation is small and includes violins, violas, cellos, double basses, two oboes, three trumpets, timpani and harpsichord. The next piece will transport us one hundred years later and with baroque orchestration, the orchestra will grow significantly in size to present Mahler’s First Symphony, Titan, composed in 1888. This piece was conceived as a long symphonic poem and is Mahler’s most popular piece due to its melodic richness. The Funeral March, undoubtedly the most famous movement, moved Mahler himself when he led the symphony in New York twenty years after its release.

Program 12: May 18 and 20
For this program we will have the luxury of a guest conductor, Canadian Marc David, director of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and l’Symphonique de Longueuil in Quebec. This program will be devoted to major overtures from the history of music. The first belongs to the opera The Magic Flute, by W. A. Mozart. Similar in importance and popularity is the opera The Barber of Seville, one of the great masterpieces of comedy in music. Beethoven wrote four overtures to Fidelio, his only opera. The first overture, Leonora, was dismissed even before the premiere of the opera. Leonora No. 2 was written for the premiere of 1805. For the re-release of 1806, Leonora Overture No. 3 was a great musical achievement and very popular. The overture to The Mastersingers was performed long before the completed Wagner opera. It consists of an opening and a closing, the stately procession of the Meistersinger interludes evoking Walter and Eva’s love. The Overture Romeo and Juliet by Tchiakovsky is based on the work of Shakespeare and is the final piece in the program.

June

Opera Samson and Delilah: June 15,17,19, 22, 24 and 26

Samson and Delilah is an opera in three acts by French composer Camille Sain-Saens and with a libretto in French by Ferdinand Lemaire. It premiered in Weimar, Germany on December 2, 1877. 
The opera is based on the biblical story of Samson and Delilah from Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. In the mid-nineteenth century, there was a revival of interest in choral music throughout France and Saint-Saëns, an admirer of Handel and Mendelssohn’s oratorios, began the composition of an oratorio on the subject of Samson and Delilah. His librettist, Ferdinand Lemaire, convinced him of its potential for opera. The music is extraordinary, full of colors and beauty. Carla Dirlikov returns to grace us with her amazing presence and Rodrigo García Arroyo will accompany her in her return after her previous performance in Carmen.

All Concerts have this in common:
Location: Teatro Jose Peon Contreras, Calle 60 x 57
Dates and Times: Fridays at 9:00 PM and Sundays at 12:00 Noon
Admission: $60, $80, $100 and $150 pesos.

Opera: $300, $500, $550 and $600 pesos. All concerts provide a 25% discount for children from 6 to 12 years of age, and for INAPAM members.

Time: 8:00 PM

Buy your tickets online at the Symphony website.

A Christmas Season Rain Check

Last year, we were invited to a Christmas posada with our Yucatecan friends, but family events north of the border kept us away. This year, as the holidays approached, we remembered our promised posada and called in our rain check.

As part of a company where most of the workers are Yucatecan, we often find ourselves the token extranjeros (foreigners). As the evening began, we felt this role clearly, as we found ourselves surrounded by people who had been to dozens of posadas… but this was our first one.

What Is a Posada?

We don’t have posadas in our shopping bag of traditions. We have Christmas parties and family get-togethers. We have tramped around a snowy neighborhood singing Christmas carols in exchange for hot chocolate or sung carols on the back of hay wagons. We have spent the obligatory hours in office parties, trying to drink enough to have fun but not so much that we embarrass ourselves. We have watched or starred in school Christmas pageants and attended midnight masses in faraway places. This year, we discovered that the Mexican posada brings elements of all these experiences together into one unique tradition that is familiar to nearly all Mexicans.

A posada is heavily steeped in religious story and tradition. Apparently, though it started as a Catholic tradition, the posada ritual is also honored by non-religious Mexicans. The word posada itself means “inn”, and the story that is enacted during the event is the story of Mary and Joseph being turned away when looking for a place to rest and give birth to the baby Jesus. In smaller and more traditional towns in Mexico, groups of people will actually dress up and put a Mary on a donkey and walk through the streets, searching for a place to stay. Scores of villagers will turn them away from each door, as they sing the traditional posada song, which has 18 verses (nine each for the petitioners and the refusers). The last two stanzas welcome the lodgers into what we know today as the nativity scene.

In urban and more modern areas in Mexico, the posada event includes a more abstract version of this story. We were attending our posada in San Ramon Norte, one of the northern residential areas in Merida. The attendees to this event ranged in age from three-year-olds to us, in our mid-fifties. The majority, including our host and hostess, could be said to belong to the upwardly-mobile middle class of Mexico. They were all beautifully dressed, bilingual and most of them also well-traveled. There wasn’t a live donkey in sight, but there were two animatronic reindeer and a jolly Santa alongside the brightly-lit Christmas tree.

Our Posada Gets Underway

After the hour of arrival, during which attendees slowly drifted in and exchanged kisses and greetings, the rituals began. The words to the posada song had been printed and copied and were distributed, and we don’t think it was JUST for the attending extranjeros. The party was divided in half by the host. Half of the attendees gathered inside the modern living room, while the other half gathered outside the sliding glass door between the house and the swimming pool, with its swim-up, sunken bar.  This was hardly a re-enactment of wandering through Bethlehem, but it was sufficient for our purposes, and from what we understood, pretty typical for this part of Merida.

The song was sung perfunctorily by some and enthusiastically by others… just like a Christmas carol. The children (there were four at this party, all under the age of eight) could hardly contain their excitement and enjoyed listening (and learning) while the adults sang to pedir posada (ask for shelter). The children really came alive when the song ended and the piñata was lowered from the second story balcony of the house.

The piñata was one of those glittery affairs that you only see this time of year in Mexico, and during this time, you see them everywhere. (We once tried to help a hotel owner decorate with these seven-pointed star piñatas, but were told they are only made during Christmas time… and no amount of money was going to make it otherwise.) These piñatas, by the way, are allegorical. Each of the seven points stands for one of the Seven Deadly Sins, so Catholics and agnostics alike can feel motivated to bang away with that baseball bat.

Of course, with this piñata on this night, the children went first. The two girls attending seemed a lot more interested in taking photos than in hitting the piñata. (So much so that we have requested their resumes as future Yucatan Living reporters!) Even at the ages of seven and eight, the two boys already appeared practiced at the art of piñata abuse. After a few more hits from eager adults, it was obvious why someone needs to be on the other end of the rope, raising and lowering the piñata to keep clever strikers from figuring out where the piñata is located and ending the game a little too soon.

Eventually, of course, the Seven Deadly Sins were overcome and victory was declared in a lluvia de dulces, a shower of colorful candy, collected by children and adults alike. Each of the vanquished points of the star, by the way, makes a handy collection bucket for all the little goodies.

Rama Rama, Novena, Posada

For many years around this time, we have enjoyed the nightly visits of neighbor children singing the Rama, Rama song in exchange for a few pesos. The night of our posada we learned that this tradition is a rather provincial one, common in the southern states from Veracruz to the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, we were told, in the 60’s and 70’s, the people of Yucatan didn’t do much in the way of posadas… The main traditions were the Rama, Rama visits and novenas. The Rama, Rama visits in many towns are a way that children save up money for a posada, and the visits end when the novenas and posadas begin.

Novenas are devotional prayer rituals performed on nine consecutive days, and they symbolize the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy.  Those nine consecutive days are the nine days leading up to Christmas. Most Meridanos celebrate Christmas Mass on the evening of December 24th, and December 25th is a day of rest and visiting with family. It is not traditionally a day to exchange gifts. In fact, the day for gifts is really just for the children, and the gifts are distributed  on the very last day of the Christmas season, January 6, called Tres Reyes, Three King’s Day. Until that day, a Mexican Christmas is not over.

How Do Meridanos Celebrate Christmas?

Around the first of December, most Meridano families will set up their Christmas trees with a nativity scene, or crèche, in their house. When they do this, they take the opportunity to explain to the children the Christmas story. As you walk the streets of Merida centro at night during this time of year, you can see elaborate set-ups in many homes, complete with lights and candles and hundreds of figurines collected over the years.

In Merida, you will see celebrations, parties, altars and novenas from December 3rd to the 12th, but those are for La Virgen de Guadalupe, the Empress of America. Children may visit your door singing the Rama, Rama song in the first weeks of December. Christmas novenas and posadas start on the 16th and continue to the 25th.

On the table during the month may also be the Advent wreath, decorated with four candles, one for each Sunday before Christmas. There are three purple candles and a pink candle for the last Sunday. Each candle has a meaning. The first one stands for Hope, the second one for Preparation, the third for Joy and the fourth for Love.

Pastorelas

Another Christmas tradition that Merida partakes in is the pastorela. These were described to us as Christmas pageants, plays accompanied by music that is funny, sometimes irreverent, but still always full of teaching moments about the Christmas story. Pastorelas also include piñatas, and often include more traditional food and drink like tamales, atole, ponche and other goodies. Pastorelas are more of a Mexican than a Yucatecan tradition, but are performed in many schools throughout the Yucatan Peninsula.

At the party, talking to our casual Yucatecan experts over dinner, we wondered if the Mexican traditions of this time of year were going the way of Dia de Los Muertos; if they were being replaced by North-of-the-Border Christmas traditions the way that Halloween is taking over on October 31st in some parts of Mexico. We learned that there is some of that, but that schools and parents are also doing their best to instill the Mexican traditions continually. Apparently, pastorelas, ramas and posadas are so much fun, there isn’t a danger anytime soon of losing this part of the Mexican culture. We aren’t sure we can put novenas in that category, but certainly if our neighborhood is any indication, novenas are also alive and well. Every night, in someone’s garage or living room, groups of (mostly) ladies are gathering, singing, praying and visiting in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Villancicos, Too!

Another word we learned during our posada evening was villancico, which is roughly equivalent to a carol. The original meaning of the word has to do with original songs and poems created from the 15th to the 18th Century in Spain and Portugal, but now the word pretty much means “Christmas Carol”. From what we have learned, villancicos are songs to have fun with, to be creative with and are vehicles for integrating local customs, cultures and languages with the traditions and stories of the Catholic Church. And did you know that Merida has an annual villancico contest?  The local diocese of Yucatan, located in Itzmina, holds a contest every year. Participants come from all around the Yucatan Peninsula, including all the outlying towns like Peto, Motul and others. The contestants compete to see who has the most creative, funniest and lyrical songs, all of which must be related to the Christmas story. The finals are held this year on December 20 and 21, and when the contest is ended, they will release a CD with the songs of all the winners.

Dinner Is Served

After the piñata at our posada this year, a delicious dinner was served buffet-style, and the drinks continued to flow. The warmth and generosity of the evening was palpable to us. We were surrounded by the people we work with on a daily basis all year long (the staff from Yucatan Living and YES), as well as their children and spouses. The children were well-behaved in the way that we have come to expect and love about the children of Mexico… full of life and energy, with obvious respect and love for and from their parents. The twenty-somethings, similar in age to our own children, were also bright-eyed, happy and generous with their time, attention and conversation.

Around the dinner table at our posada, we saw a beautiful collection of now-familiar faces. Food, drinks, candy and piñata parts littered the table, as good-natured laughter and conversation abounded. The night was warm, the stars were out, the children were happy and the adults were relaxed. Despite the economic woes of many, here in Merida and in this group, we could all agree that we had a good-enough year.  No one was making a fortune, but no one was hungry.  

Welcome Home

We eventually bid them all buenas noches, and as we were leaving, we realized that we too had once  been weary travelers. Our friends in the Yucatan had accepted and welcomed us, and here we are, many years later, feeling very much like we belong.

And for that, we are grateful.

*****

The meaning of the Advent Candles
Posada in New Mexico, run by a priest born in Yucatan
More about the Rama Rama tradition
Posadas in Cancun (Check out The Posada Blog Hop at the bottom of the page)

This year, we thought you might like a quick rundown on all the events that are happening this year at the Xmatkuil State Fair. For more information, go to the State website about the Xmatkuil Yucatan State Fair. Besides all these wonderful events, there is 4D cinema (including rain, bubbles, snow and more!), a giant insect jungle and a magic show.

Teatro del Pueblo

This list is of groups that will be providing entertainment at Teatro del Pueblo. There are a few extra special events in the list so be sure to read it all.

• November 12: Grupo Censurado: 2:00 PM
• November 12: Miguel Gomez El Avenurero Mayor: 3:30 PM
• November 13: Body Building and Fitness Competition: 12:00 PM
• November 13: Grupo La Elite: 3:30 PM
• November 14: Grupo Chiken y sus Comandos: 7:00 PM
• November 15: Grupo Los Hermanos Ruz: 7:00 PM
• November 16: Grupo Los Nuevos Aragon: 7:00 PM
• November 17: Grupo Carisma: 7:00 PM
• November 18: Grupo Los Autenticos: 7:00 PM
• November 19: Grupo Censurado: 2:00 PM, Grupo Euforia Musical: 3:00 PM, DJs Mini Groove: 8:00 PM
• November 21: Maria Jose: 9:00 PM
• November 22: Reconditos: 9:00 PM
• November 23: Furia Latina: 9:00 PM
• November 24: Primos de Durango: 9:00 PM
• November 25: Traditional Vaqueria: 7:00 PM
• November 28: Banda Carnaval: 9:00 PM
• November 29: Millonario y W. Corona: 8:30 PM, Cartel de Santa: 9:00 PM
• November 30: AAA Wrestling match: 8:30 PM
• December 1: Junior Klan: 9:00 PM
• December 2: Regional Theater: Hanal Pixan: 8:30 PM
• December 3: Electro Kiss Festival: 3:00 PM – 10:00 PM
• December 4: Grupo Sipse with la Comandre: 12:00 PM, Grupo K-fe: 1:00 PM, Grupo Los Mendez: 2:00 PM

Location: Palenque

All performances are at 11:45 PM

• November 12: Edith Marquez
• November 17: Ninel Conde
• November 18: Cristian Castro
• November 19: Yurida
• November 25: Aleks Sintek
• November 26: Mijares
• December 1: Nany Namu y Mamie Blue
• December 3: Reyli

Location: Pista de Calificaciones

• November 12: Concert: Throne of Mexico and Grupo Mojado: 9:00 PM
• November 19: Tecate Rodeo: 8:00 PM
• November 20: Tecate Rodeo: 7:00 PM
• November 21: Tecate Rodeo: 7:00 PM
• November 25: Tecate Rodeo: 8:00 PM
• November 26: Tecate Rodeo: 8:00 PM
• November 27: Tecate Rodeo: 8:00 PM
• December 1: Equestrian Competition: 4:00 PM
• December 2: Equestrian Competition: 4:00 PM
• December 3: Concert: Group Calibre 50: 9:00 PM
• December 4: Concert: Gloria Trevi: 7:00 PM

Location: Lienzo Charro

These are the Charro events, involving horses and well-trained and beautifully-decked-out riders.

• November 12: Finals in State Lasso Tournament: 4:00 PM
• December 3: First, Second and Third Charreada Semifinals: 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM
• December 4: Closing Events: Parade, Fair and Champions 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM

Plaza Monumental

• November 12: Transmission Boxing: 8:00 PM
• November 13: Gran Corrida (mixed events, includes bull fight): 4:00 PM
• November 18: Grand Finale of the Goal Bull Fight Tournament: 8:00 PM
• November 19: Boxing: 8:00 PM
• November 20: Gran Corrida (mixed events, includes bull fight): 4:00 PM
• November 26: Boxing: 9:00 PM
• November 27: Great Run of Javelin: 4:00 PM
• December 2: Rodeo: 8:00 PM
• December 3: Rodeo: 8:00 PM

In case you are wondering how to get to Xmatkuil, here is a link to the Google map that shows the Xmatkuil Fairgrounds. There are buses running all day to the Xmatkuil Fair. Catch the bus in the centro on Calle 69 between Calle 58 and Calle 60, just two blocks from San Juan Park.

The Story Begins

Chelsea Wills first contacted us almost a year ago, when her Semillas Tzucacab project was just getting off the ground. We were busy, things happened, we forgot… until now. As it turns out, the timing is perfect and the project has come full circle. The first cycle of investigation and reporting has completed, and Chelsea, Devon Sampson and their Mayan student researchers have something to show the world about what they have been doing.

Unique in Yucatan

The work they are doing is unique in the Yucatan, as far as we can tell. Marrying science and art is something we do all the time making websites, but this is bringing science and art into the fields, so to speak. They have been using a technique called Photovoice,"a participatory action research methodology in which people with a unique and underrepresented point of view in life use photography to express their particular lived experience.  It involves technical training in photography, and also a process of inquiry and reflection about how participants represent their lived experience.    The result is a showcase of photography accompanied by short captions that together provide a glimpse into lives that otherwise remain invisible to most people. " On the Photovoice website (linked at the end of this article), they call what they do "Participatory Photography for Social Change."

Chelsea and Devon, both graduates of California Universities, have taken the Photovoice practice, and brought it to a small, agricultural community in Yucatan. And not just to the community, but to a group of graduating teenagers, young people who are just beginning their adult lives at a time of monumental change here and around the world. The change seems particularly huge and fraught with peril for a young Mayan, growing up in a rural environment but with television and cel phones. Chelsea writes that the questions they face cannot be answered by either Art or Science alone. We think perhaps that could be taken even a bit further… that some of the questions that arise for these young people are most likely not answerable by art or science… and perhaps are only answerable by Life as it is lived.

Young Researchers

Still, this project attempts to teach and learn both science and art, in service to both research and the future of these young researchers. Devon Sampson is a graduate student at University of California at Santa Cruz. He is doing this project as his fieldwork for a PhD. in environmental studies there. Chelsea Wills calls herself a ‘social practice artist’. She likes to work with art to shed light on issues within a community. Chelsea is herself a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, where she obtained her B.F.A., and has her Master’s degree from UC Berkely in Education. She describes what she is doing and why this way:

In her work in the Yucatan she is exploring “visibility/invisibility” of young people living in rural Mayan communities. She sees these young people as holding a unique position, one in which they face an intersection of the forces of globalization and tradition as real choices in their lives. This work aims to support the voices of young people as they navigate the complexities of these issues.

The following is Chelsea’s introduction to their work:

We work with a group of recent graduates of an agricultural high school in the town of Tzucacab, in the southern part of Yucatan state. The people of Tzucacab are indigenous Mayans and most families make their living from some mix of traditional agriculture and other sources of income. The Semillas project is a participatory action research project that focuses on people’s relationship to biodiversity and to the changes in climate, political economy, and culture happening today. Like all high school students, their lives are at a turning point, and they are working to make sense of both their lives so far and their futures. This group in particular has a unique point of view. They are Mayan, and have grown up with Mayan language, traditions, and ways of making a living, and must decide how to carry that heritage on in their lives. They are also Mexican, and are dealing with coming of age in a place where many people their age or a little older are deciding to emigrate, to the United States or to Caribbean Coast to make a living. In addition, this group have focused their studies on agriculture, a way of making a living that has an incredibly rich history and foundation in their community, but is more and more seen as a career that has no future.

Chelsea explains how their idea for this project came about:

As we started working in Tzucacab, the most interesting questions we were confronted with seemed to fall outside of the realm of either art or science. That is, we doubted that we could get satisfactory answers to the big questions we wanted to ask using either scientific or artistic inquiry on their own.

The Semillas project has been undertaken over a period of four months. The two Californians recruited a group of high school graduates that they called "youth researchers". They then trained these young people to conduct biodiversity inventories in the home gardens of sixty local families. They also spent two months teaching the youth researchers how to use digital cameras, upload and download photos and how to use the PhotoVoice methodology to explore their community and issues important to them.

The PhotoVoice exhibition is the culmination of four months of work with the youth researchers, and both the scientific and artistic work they will have done will be on display. The knowledge and experience gained in doing biodiversity inventories in the gardens of sixty families in their community will show up in the photographs. Their experience photographing the people, places, and issues of their community will inform their analysis of our data. Both methodologies strengthen their development of leadership skills and critical thought, and we hope both will lead to a powerful look at their communities.

After the presentation in Tzucacab on October 1st, the two California researchers will bring a display of the photos to Merida at the English Language Library starting November 14th. They also hope to display them in several other venues around the Yucatan. As Chelsea explains, she has dreams of taking the exhibit beyond the Yucatan borders as well:

The photos and analysis we do has particular relevance here, but we also think that the what we learn will be both interesting and relevant for a global audience. We hope to exhibit the photos beyond Yucatan.

Follow Along

If you are interested in this project, feel free to follow its progress at the Semillas blog linked below. Chelsea will be bringing the photos and results of the research to the Merida English Library, where the exhibit will start on November 14 and stay there for about two weeks. She (and possible others) will also be giving talks in Merida… on the 12th of November at the Slow Food Market and on the 17th of November at the Merida English Library.

****

Photovoice

The Semillas Tzucacab Blog (all photos are from here…)

Map to the Slow Food Market (it meets Saturday mornings)

Merida English Language Library website

Editor’s Note: Here’s an article we’re republishing for today about Days of the Dead. Enjoy!

From my perspective as a Canadian, at first glance, the images customarily associated with this time of year — skeletons, skulls, ghostly spirits, fire, graveyards, tombstones and jack-o-lanterns– always signal the second largest celebration in North America next to Christmas– Halloween. Halloween, also known as Witches Night, Samhain, Summer’s End or All Hallow’s Eve, is a holiday that is celebrated annually in North America on the night of October 31, the eve originally calendared by the Irish, as the night before the onset of winter.

But if you’re in Mexico, this autumnal celebration conjures up a ghost of a slightly different color…or colors. While many of the images are similar, the festival celebrated in Mexico, from October 28 to November 2nd, called Day of the Dead, pre-dates Halloween by a couple of centuries. The essence of Day of the Dead can perhaps best be described by what it is not. It is not a morbid fascination with death. It is not mournful. It is less of a macabre mockery of death with the spooky costumes and pranks of Halloween revelers, and more a celebration of life. Or the natural cycle of life, to be more exact. Indigenous peoples here believe that souls do not die – they simply go to a place of rest (Mictlan) where they continue to live on. The Day of the Dead is the annual celebration where those souls of our loved ones are welcomed back for a merry old visit.

Is Day of the Dead simply a Mexican version of Halloween? The short answer is Yes… but with an important twist.

Is Day of the Dead Related to Halloween?

The modern celebration of Halloween is a descendant of the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, meaning Summer’s End. Samhain was the first day of winter, and the end of one pastoral year. It was the time when the night became longer than the day, the last apples were picked, and the year began again with its dark winter half. It was marked like the other key annual Celtic festivals – with fire. The Celts believed that during this time the normal order of the universe was suspended and the barriers between the natural and supernatural worlds temporarily thinned to allow spirit interlopers.

When the Romans conquered the Celts, their festival Feralia, a commemoration of the passing of the Dead, melded naturally with the fire celebrations.

By the seventh century, the Roman Catholics had designated November 1 as All Saints Day, and November 2nd as All Souls Day (so as not to leave anyone out), both being an attempt to replace the paganistic Celtic festival of the dead with a church-sanctioned holiday. The whole shebang took its name from Middle English ‘All Hallows’ meaning ‘All Saints’ (or souls) and added their word for ‘eve’ – ‘een’. Hallow’een embraced the paganistic aspects, incorporating big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, & devils.

By the 15th century, when the Spanish Conquistadores landed in what is now Mexico, they discovered the Aztecs had a ritual that seemed to pay tribute to death. In existence for over 3000 years, what was later coined Dias de los Muertos, was a celebration to honor the dearly departed, those beloved folk who had passed on to the ‘other side’ of existence. The celebration implied that death was not an ending, but a continuation of life. Skulls were used to symbolize not only death but re-birth. They were used as emblems of respect, and wisdom. Instead of fearing death, the natives embraced it, for it was only in death did they become truly aware and all-knowing. In spite of the Spaniards efforts to quell this pagan ritual, the Day of the Dead refused to die. So, the best they could do was wrangle it in by shortening the previous month long event into a few days, changing the date so it coincided with the Roman Catholic All Saint and All Soul’s Days.

Day of the Dead Today

Today, the Day of the Dead remains one of the most celebrated traditions in Mexico, in parts of the USA, and Central America. While it may seem strange for us to accept the fact that “death” and “festivities” can go hand-in-hand, for most Mexicans, the two are inextricably entwined.

The familiar Halloween-esque images are everywhere, in the markets and on the streets as the Mexican people collect items they need to pay homage to their relatives both at gravesites, in schools and at home.

From Folklore to Art

Some of the popular symbols have become iconic in recent years, such as the legendary Catrina (elegant lady skeleton in her oversize, festive hat). An entire craft industry has emerged around the Catrina image. Find yourself at any mercado and you can buy, year round, those plastic woven shopping satchels (sabucanes) adorned with her visage. Artist Ladislao Loera has made it his life’s work to explore and create paintings and art objects founded in this milieu. He explains his passion: “Dia de los Muertos art is meant to show the duality of life, which is that it can only exist surrounded by death. This is reality, not superstition. The artwork is meant to show this and make death a part of life, to be accepted and acknowledged instead of feared.”

This is not just a festival for the grown ups. The duality of life is importantly instilled in children at a young age. Fear of death is expelled through the use of toys like the calavera (skulls). Loera points out: “The first toys I can remember were a plastic skeleton and winged devil, gifts from my grandmother. Other kids had GI Joes or Batman action figures but I was never envious of them. My toys allowed my imagination to stretch its boundaries and make friends with the very things that gave other children nightmares.”

Altars for the Dead

Nowadays, during the period of October 28 to November 2nd, in most homes, the focal point of the tributes is an altar — erected on a cloth-covered table. It is festooned with photographs of the dearly departed, and all manner of items that will comfort, feed and nourish the traveling souls, including a wash basin and soap for freshening up. There will be zempasúchil (marigold flowers), copal incense, candles and perhaps trinkets they may have loved during their time on this plane. Sometimes they’ll make a trail of marigold petals leading into the house to the altar, or here in the Yucatan, a cross on the floor in front of the altar made with marigold petals and chalk. The room might also be decorated with implements or tools the deceased may have used during their lives. Drinks for children, such as horchata – the almond rice milk, or chokó sakam, a protein rich, thick beverage made from maize will be served alongside bottles of Tequila and Mescal for the adults. Tamales and Pan de Muerto (a fragrant egg bread) are traditional food offerings as well as candied delicacies like sugared skulls. Of course, the favourite snacks of the deceased, themselves are ever present, so you may see all kinds of strange things on an altar.

Every Day is a Dance With Death

If you live in Mexico, it comes as no surprise to learn that each region of this complex and glorious country has its own unique approach to celebrating Day of the Dead. In the highlands of Michoacan it is known as Jimbanqua — the party honoring the people who died that year with flowers. In San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and the southern part of Oaxaca they call it Xantolo, which stands for “a communion between man and nature or man and god”. In the Yucatan it is known as Hanal Pixan which means “the path of the soul through the essence of food”.

By whatever name it is called, Dias de los Muertos is at the core of the culture of the Mexican peoples. For many of us in other cultures, death imparts a feeling of pain and loss especially for those who have not known their purpose or their path in life.

But, in Mexican culture, as the old saying goes: “Every day is a dance with death.” And death is transcendence, transformation and even resurrection.

Hispanic-American Rebecca M. Cuevas De Caissie sums it up this way: “I will once again come face to face with the gift my culture has given me and my family. The ability to love without the fear of losing. The ability to live without the fear of dying. The ability to remember predecessors without the fear of being forgotten. We will remember by celebrating El Dia de los Muertos.”

Frieda Kahlo’s Day of the Dead Tamales

• 3/4 cup cubed cooked zucchini
• 3/4 cup cooked peas
• 3/4 cup cubed cooked carrots
• 3/4 cup cubed cooked potatoes
• 3/4 cup cut-up cooked green beans
• 1-1/2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 tablespoon lard
• 3/4 cup tomatoes pureed with 1/2 large onion and 3 jalapeno chiles pickled in vinegar, drained
• 1/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Salt

Masa Dough

• 2 pounds masa harina (corn flour)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• Salt
• 1 pound pork lard
• 40 to 50 dried corn husks, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes and drained well (or fresh if available)

To make the picadillo filling: Combine the cooked vegetables with the chicken. Heat the lard in a large skillet, add the pureed tomatoes, and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the vegetable-chicken mixture, the chiles, almonds, raisins, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, and salt to taste. Cook for a few minutes to blend the flavors.

To make the masa: Combine the masa harina with the broth, sugar, and salt to taste. Beat well for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, beat the lard until spongy. Combine with the masa harina and beat for 2 minutes more.

To put all together: Place a heaping tablespoonful of masa on each corn husk. Top the masa with picadillo. Fold the long edges toward the center to enclose the filling. Fold the ends of the husk to wrap the tamale and give it shape. If you like, tie the tamales with a strip of corn husk.

Place a bed of corn husks on the bottom of a tamalera or line a large large steamer and pour in 4 cups of water. Stand the tamales upright around the edge. Cover and cook for 1 hour, until the tamales are cooked through and the filling pulls away easily from the husks.

Buen Provecho!

Editor’s Note: This article and the recipe are brought to you by Patti Murphy, one of the founders of The Little Mexican Cooking School in Puerto Morelos on the Mayan Riviera. Photos were taken by Ellen Fields at Merida’s Corridor of the Souls celebration on Calle 66, Friday night, October 29.

Want to read more? Here are more articles about Día de Los Muertos!

Hanal Pixan in Merida

Day of the Dead in 2008 in Merida

Day of the Dead in 2007 in Yucatan

About Mucbil Pollo, the Day of the Dead food in Yucatan