Mexico Cooks!

It's Back! It's Back! The Toritos de Petate Parade in Morelia is With Us Again...

Morelia's 2009 Festival del Torito de Petate starred "El Michoacano" featuring as its theme Morelia's own Fuente Las Tarascas (the Tarascan fountain on Av. Madero).  The huge creations were originally made of petate (the word for this woven palm mat, similar to a Japanese tatami, comes from the Náhuatl), but today they can be made of almost anything.


Here's a photo of me with a petate that I had made about a year ago.  The petate can be used as a simple floor covering in a home, or as a sleeping mat, or in smaller sizes as a mat for kneeling on the ground or on a floor while one uses the metate for grinding.  Its symbolism is profound--the petate is considered to be the place where dreams are born, where sleep and wakefulness meet, where life and death are connected.

Morelia's annual Festival del Torito de Petate (literally, festival of the little bull made of woven reeds) will once again have a presence here in the city.  For the last two years of the pandemic, there has been no parade--but this year, it's happening again!  These "little bulls" are hardly little, and are hardly made of woven reeds.  Some measure as high as five meters (more than 15 feet) and weigh in at more than 110 kilos (nearly 250 pounds).  Built today by group members from Morelia's working-class neighborhoods, the danza del torito de petate stems from dances that date back as far as 1586, just a bit more than 50 years after the Spanish arrival in the land that today is Mexico.

The towering Torito Azteca incorporates inventive components of pre-hispanic design.  You can see the little bull's red eyes, white nostrils and red tongue near the bottom center of the photograph.

This intricate guacamaya (macaw) measures at least five meters tall.  A strong young man carries the heavy torito on his shoulders and performs a several-minute-long dance.  Cheering crowds and a tumultuous local band urge him and his costumed companions to ever faster spins.

Children absolutely love the Festival del Torito de Petate.  The little boy on the left is wearing a horse costume held up by suspenders.  He's whipping his steed in more and more frenzied circles.  The taller boy in the center has a bull costume mounted on his shoulders; Mexico Cooks! could only capture a shot of the bull's tail as the boy whirled to the music.

Sixty neighborhoods participated in one of the last pre-pandemic editions of Morelia's Festival del Torito de Petate.  Mexico Cooks! watched the line of elaborately colorful creatures as it formed alongside Plaza Valladolid; the giant toritos were accompanied by crowds of whoop-it-up well-wishers, cheerleaders, and frenetic dancers.

Mexico Cooks! asked this young man why his face was painted half orange, half black.  "It matches our torito," he explained.

"I represent the devil, but you know it's not for real.  It's just for the toritos dance." 

Little ones perched high up on Dad's shoulders for a great view.


The parade of the toritos de petate and its fans and attendees is the best possible excuse for people-watching.  Everyone is watching you, of course, and vice versa!  

Every age celebrates when the toritos come out.  The toy this woman is holding is also a torito de petate.  Strolling vendors set up all over the parade route to hawk these little toritos to the crowd of thousands.

Let's all go next year!  I'll let you know when the dates are announced. 

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El Istmo de Tehuantepec :: Tierra del Mar, Tierra del Sol, Tierra del Buen Comer, y Tierra de Sorpresas

Along the 2-lane highway between Tlacolula and the Isthmus, Chef Silvana and I stopped to have the gas tank filled.  (In Mexico, a gas station attendant performs that chore.  There's no self-serve here.)  In a little nicho between the men's and women's bathrooms, this figure on his miniature golden throne caught our attention.  El Niño Dios de Pemex patiently awaited a visit from anyone who cared to visit him.  He looks very sweet in his Pemex uniform--compete with company patch!--and straw hat.


Entering the city of Tehuantepec, this sculpture of a tehuana--the symbol of the region--greeted us.  She's dressed in full tehuana vestido de gala, including her resplandor, the lace headdress.


Another sculpture of La Tehuana, with a silver over copper mask and resplandor of actual lace, electroplated with silver.  Work of Mexican sculptor Ana Pellicer, Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.

A glorious hand-embroidered made-to-measure velveteen huipil (regional Istmo de Tehuantepec blouse) created by fabulous costurera (seamstress) Sra. Nancy González at Taller Bizuudi, 16 de septiembre #99, Ixtepec, Oaxaca.  That's her handsome son behind her.  The highly colorful embroidered huipil (blouse) and its companion enagua skirt, the characteristic dress of the women of the Istmo, are available in a range of quality and price in the markets and shops of the Istmo.  


Here's a good look at the traje de gala (fancy dress) of the tehuanas--the women of the Istmo de Tehuantepec.  Chef Silvana and I were invited to this dance--more about that in a minute!

The Isthmus (Istmo, in Spanish) of Tehuantepec is the largest region in the state of Oaxaca, connecting the southwestern part of the state of Oaxaca with the western part of the state of Chiapas.  Part of the Istmo is on southern Oaxaca's Pacific Ocean coast, part is inland to the north and east.  Prior to the building of the Panama Canal, the Istmo was the shortest land trade route between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico; if you look at a map of Mexico, you'll see that the Istmo is the narrowest part of Mexico's "waist".  Fairly distant from more populated parts of Oaxaca, the Istmo has its own cultures, its own manners of dress, and its own foods.  Several distinct indigenous groups live in the Istmo, each with its own language.


The first night we were in Tehuantepec, we enjoyed wonderful tlayudas at Cenaduría Juanita, an outdoor supper stand near our hotel.  The tlayuda is one of the iconic foods of Oaxaca; made from a very large corn tortilla (actually called tlayuda), the dish can be eaten for desayuno (breakfast), comida (Mexico's main meal of the day), or cena (late-evening supper)--or any time in between!  These were absolutely wonderful, maybe the best tlayudas I've eaten.  


Here are a lot of tlayudas--the simple tortilla--pressed, toasted, and ready to be prepared as tlayudas--the meal.  These measure about 13-14" in diameter.  Each one will be spread with asiento (the delicious brown fat at the bottom of a pot of newly rendered pork lard), then layered with smoothly blended black beans, then with tasajo (seasoned semi-dried beef) or cecina (seasoned semi-dried pork) or chorizo (spicy pork sausage) or even with shredded chicken.  Then one adds shredded quesillo (you might know it as Oaxaca cheese), then shredded fresh cabbage, slivers or slices of green chile (either fresh or pickled), sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado, fold it in half, and toast it on a griddle or a grill till the cheese melts.  Add the salsa that you like best and get your mouth ready for a taste of heaven.  Any tlayuda recipe is very forgiving: add this, leave this out, put more of this or that, add (as in the picture above this one) pickled red onions, turn your avocados into guacamole and add that.  However you prepare them, the only "requirement" is that you start with that freshly toasted tlayuda base.


Chef Silvana holds a memela.  A small, freshly toasted tortilla is the base for a smear of asiento, a smear of creamy black beans, maybe some tasajo or cecina, a lot of queso fresco (fresh crumbly white cheese), some sliced avocado, and then topped with either red or green salsa.  These Oaxaca-style memelas are usually about four inches in diameter.


The next morning, we went to the Tehuantepec market to see what it had to offer.  Mid-market, we met the delightful María del Carmen Suárez, who sells her famous home-made budín (in this case, a type of flan that she makes with breadcrumbs) and her excellent pickled vegetables.  We spent quite a while chatting with her; she sells at the market several days a week.  She did tell us that she'd be working the following day, but not the day after that.  We didn't ask why, but we later found out.  Remember that photo (up there ^^) of the tehuanas dancing?  The plot thickens.


María del Carmen's budín.  It was very good, with no indication of bread crumbs in its texture other than a pleasantly slightly thicker consistency than normal flan.


So: the surprise!  Silvana and I had been out the entire day, driving among several small towns around the city of Tehuantepec.  Mid-evening, we pulled back into town and parked, intending to go find something to eat.  Wait--music!  Drums!  Shouting!  Flags and banners!  What's that coming toward us?  A PARADE, and not just any parade--dancing down the street came a contingent of laughing, shouting muxes, the "third sex" of the Istmo world.  Much associated with the city of Juchitán, muxes also live and work--and play--in Tehuantepec.  These gorgeous creatures beckoned to us: "Vénganse!  Vénganse!  Vénganse con nosotras al Baile del Barrio!"  ("Come on!  Come on!  Come with us to our Neighborhood Dance!")  We scurried out into the street, linked arms with some of the beautiful muxes, and paraded through town, backed by flags, banners, flowers, and music. 

A few blocks outside Tehuantepec's Centro Histórico, we were led to a blocked-off street covered with a lona (tarp), decorated with papel picado (cut paper streamers), and alive with joyful, dressed for the gala muxes, their companions, and people handing out plates of food, pouring tequila, passing around bottled beer, and hugging everyone who came along--including us.  We were invited to sit down, invited to eat, invited to drink.  And then, shouts of, "A bailar!  A bailar!"  ("Get up and dance!  Get up and dance!")


And suddenly we heard a scream: "Amigaaaaaaas!  Amigaaaaaaaas!"  We turned around to see--María del Carmen, from the market!  She grabbed both of us and hugged us hard.  "AMIGAAAAAAS!"  So this was why she didn't work today--she had to get ready for the Baile del Barrio!  "María del Carmen, why didn't you tell us the other day?"  "Bueno--bueno, I wasn't sure..."  We laughed and hugged and were so glad that we actually had met someone before who was at the dance.  She looked beautiful, in her traje de gala.


Our delicious dinner: Tehuantepec-style chicken in a flavorful, spicy sauce, served with macaroni salad and a pile of tortillas.  "Is that enough?  Do you want more chicken?  More tortillas?  Another beer?  Wait, here's another shot of tequila!  No, wait, let's dance first!"  The people at the dance made us feel entirely welcome and totally at home.   

We had the best time ever!


EVER!  I'm grinning ear to ear just looking at these pictures.  Such sweet, beautiful memories we made, all of us together.


Beautiful young women, beautiful older women--nothing separated us during this magical evening.  I know for sure that the next time I go to the Istmo de Tehuantepec, someone will scream out, "AMIGAAAAA!" and she will be a friend from this night, connected by the joy of music, dance, and by our shared experience of a chance encounter that meant the world to all of us.

Next week, further travels and surprises around the Istmo.  Come along!  Get up and dance!

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De Vaga en Veracruz, Tierra Jarocha :: Vacation Wanderings in Veracruz, Part I

On the malecón (pier) in the port of Veracruz.  Mexican president Venustiano Carranza used this lighthouse building, built at the turn of the 20th century, as the Palacio Nacional (federal government offices) from 1914 to 1915. During that short period, the city of Veracruz was the nation's capital. Today, the Faro Venustiano Carranza (lighthouse of Venustiano Carranza) serves as part of Mexico's naval headquarters. All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

Directly across the street from the lovely old building in the photo above, the hyper-modern port of Veracruz receives and sends enormous quantities of goods to and from everywhere in the world.

Vacation!  And not just vacation, but vacation in Veracruz, one of Mexico's most beautiful states--I was so excited at the prospect of re-visiting the Puerto de Veracruz (port city), where I had not been since about 1994.  Two friends and I carefully chose two weeks for travel that would not be too hot, not be too humid: the temperatures along the Veracruz coast can range as high as more than 100ºF, with humidity equally high. Even during the second and third weeks of December, the high temperatures were in the mid-80s and the humidity was in that same range or higher.  Did we get used to it?  Not so much, but we definitely enjoyed a most fascinating trip together.  From the Puerto to the mountain towns of Xalapa, Coatepec, and Xico, and from the Córdoba flanks of the Pico de Orizaba (Mexico's highest mountain, an inactive volcano) to Papantla, the land of vanilla's origin, we traveled and learned.  And ate. And ate some more. Come along!


One of our group seriously craved and insisted on breakfast at La Parroquia.  In researching the trip, I'd read that this old-time restaurant was muy de caída (had gone a long way down hill), but oh my goodness, our first breakfast in Veracruz was fantastic.


La Parroquia is most noted for its ritual lechero--freshly brewed Veracruz-grown coffee, poured from on high to the level you prefer in your glass, the glass then filled (again, from on high) with steaming hot milk.  This first morning, the coffee wowed all three of us.


Hot milk from the heights!  Photo courtesy Mexico Destinos.


The place was jam-packed for breakfast; there was no sign of a down-hill slide in quality or quantity the late-morning we were at La Parroquia.  Best of all, our server, don Galindo, was a real treasure-trove of knowledge about the area.  He directed us to--well, we'll go there next week on Mexico Cooks!.


Among many other regional specialties on the breakfast menu, the house special tortilla parroquia intrigued us. It's a tortilla española (Spanish-style omelet with egg and potato), cooked and then submerged in rich turkey broth. It's topped with shredded turkey, grilled onion, and chile serrano toreado (lightly fried in oil until the skin blisters and the chile is soft).  Doesn't it sound odd?  We were entranced by the flavor combination!  Just writing about it makes me want another one right now!  


Gorda negra with cheese, from La Parroquia.

We also requested other Parroquia specialties: gordas negras (corn tortilla dough combined with finely ground cooked black beans), patted out or pressed to form tortillas a bit thicker than usual.  These are then fried in oil until they inflate and are served with salsa and cheese or cream. We also ordered gordas dulces (corn dough mixed with a little flour, a pinch of baking soda, and quite a bit of brown sugar), patted out and fried the same as the gordas negras, and served with thick grated mild white cheese and salsa.  We also asked for what turned out to be a perfect plate of huevos motuleños, specialty of the Yucatán peninsula.  We relished everything, shared among us, along with freshly squeezed super-sweet orange juice (the state of Veracruz produces nearly 40% of the oranges grown in Mexico) plus a second glass of lechero filled us to the brim.


That night, we enjoyed watching danzón in the Puerto de Veracruz zócalo.  The group of both dancers and spectators was small but happy. Danzón is the official dance of Cuba and also very, very popular in Mexico.  

Just to show you the dance form, here's a danzón video from Guadalajara, where one can danzón (or take inexpensive danzón classes) every Sunday evening in the plaza just in front of the Templo Expiatorio, at the corner of Calle López Cotilla and Av. Enrique Díaz de León.  


In our meanderings close to the port city, we happened upon an island restaurant in tiny Mandinga-Alvarado. "Happened upon" is, of course, a euphemism for "asked everybody in the general area where to find it".  Once we found the town of Mandinga, population approximately 1500, we stopped at the town taxi stand and asked a cabbie for directions to the restaurant, Isla Paraíso.  He had no idea! Another fellow approached the car and said he'd guide us; he went running down the street ahead of our car and led us right to this bridge.  We walked across into a world apart: Isla Paraíso opened nearly 40 years ago and is still going strong.  


Mandinga is famous world-wide for its oysters.  The oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is harvested throughout the entire Eastern coast of North America, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, including huge daily harvests from the Mandinga lagoon.  Of course we had to eat a plateful.


The specialty of the house at Restaurante Isla Paraíso, oysters cooked in various ways and, in this case, served as an appetizer.


The restaurant owner, Patricia Waters Mújica, is British. Her Mexican husband, who passed away just a few years ago, met her in England and moved her and their family to Puebla, then to Australia, then to the Puerto de Veracruz--and ultimately to Mandinga, after many fascinating life adventures.  They opened the restaurant, and Patsy has lived in tiny Mandinga all that time, raising their two daughters and running the restaurant. It was a delight to spend the afternoon and evening hearing her story.  


Our last morning in the Puerto de Veracruz, we once again had breakfast at La Parroquia.  This time, the restaurant unfortunately lived up to its current way-down-hill reputation.  Almost everything we ordered, including this repeat plate of huevos motuleños, was far, far below the quality of what we ate the first morning.  Even the coffee was disappointing. We shared the opinion that had this been our initial breakfast, we wouldn't have returned.  

Next week, come back for much more de vaca y de vaga (vacation and wandering around) in central Veracruz.

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The Joy of the Purépecha Language in Michoacán, Part 2

Adolescent boys walk the length of Santa Fe de la Laguna's Purépecha vocabulary-teaching wall.  See the sombrero (hat) to their right?  In Purépecha, it's kájtsikua.  Just as in Spanish, a written accent over a letter in a word means that the stress of pronunciation falls on that letter.  KAJ-tsi-kua.

Last week, Mexico Cooks! taught you the Purépecha names of various animals and insects.  Today, we're going into the home and its garden to learn a few more words for common household items.  All photos by my travel companion, Pamela Gordon, unless otherwise noted.


Native Mexican comestibles from the milpa (family food-growing parcel of land) include the calabaza (squash).  In Purépecha, it's purhu.


Purépecha cooking includes the use of several varieties of yellow, red, white, or blue corn, all native to Michoacán and all grown in the milpa for family use. Each portion of the corn plant from tassel to stalk has a name; this elote (fresh ear of corn) is tíriapu. 


Many species of wild mushrooms appear during Michoacán's summer rainy season.  Here's an hongo silvestre (wild mushroom)--terekua--a common ingredient in soups and Purépecha guisados (stew-like dishes).


Handmade cucharas de madera (wooden spoons)--yurhesï--are some of the most-used utensils in a Purépecha cook's battery of equipment.  Remember that the umlaut over the letter 'i' changes the pronunciation of the letter 's' to 'sh'. Yurhe-shi.


Here's a hand-carved bastón (cane).  Now you know that in Purépecha, it's a t'óndasï.  This type cane is commonly used by people who need aid for their balance or gait, and by dancers who use canes as part of their costumes.


Michoacán's iconic dancers, complete with t'óndasï: la Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Little Old Men). Photo courtesy Google Images.


A rendering of the Purépecha woman's typical rebozo (rectangular fringed shawl): in Purépecha, atache.  The atache has multiple uses: wrap yourself in it for warmth, fold it and put it on top of your head for shade, use it as a scarf, and wrap it around yourself in different ways to carry firewood, purchases from the market, large and bulky items, and most especially, a baby.  Babies are wrapped close to their mothers' bodies from the time they're born until they are mid-toddler age.  The legend of this rebozo tells us that the blue is the blue of the Spanish eye, the black is the black of the Spanish hair, and the white is the ray of the sun.


You know the old adage: a new escoba (broom) sweeps clean.  In Purépecha, it's a p'ankua.  This charming painting lets you believe that the brand-new broomstick still has a leaf attached!


Ah, kawikua (hard liquor)!  In Michoacán, we make and drink charanda (a very strong sugar cane liquor), mezcal (made from maguey cactus), and to a lesser degree, tequila. Here's an old Mexican toast to repeat as you raise and lower your glass, and before you sip your kawikua: Arriba! Abajo! Al centro! Adentro! (Up!  Down! In the middle!  And down the hatch!)  Today, we're toasting the Purépecha language.

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La Feria del Chile (The Chile Fair) in Queréndaro, Michoacán

This article, originally published in September 2008, is current once again.  The Feria del Chile de Queréndaro is happening this weekend, August 9-11, 2013.  If you're in the vicinity of Queréndaro, Michoacán, by all means get there.

We fell in love with these wee ballet folklórico performers, children no more than four years old.

For the last seven years, just around the late July-early August harvest time, the town of Queréndaro, Michoacán, has celebrated the Feria del Chile (chile fair).  The center of town fills with rides for children, booths specializing in all sorts of food, games of chance, a big stage for daily ballet folklórico and nightly music, and all the usual whoopdedoo of fiesta time.  The star of the fiestas is, of course, the chile chilaca.

In Queréndaro, Michoacán, daily work is all about locally grown chiles chilaca.

About 3 thousand acres of chile chilaca are planted in the central Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Zacatecas and Michoacán.  Many of the residents of Queréndaro, Michoacán commercially cultivate this particular chile. 

All work and no play is no good, though.  This sign on a Queréndaro grocer's door says, "Beer and wine for the road".

These chiles chilaca matured to their ripe, deep-red color before harvest.

The chile chilaca also has other names such as negro (black), prieto (dark), or, particularly here in Michoacán, chile para deshebrar (chile to tear in small strips). High quality chilaca is long, slender and undulated. Each chile can measure a foot long.  Before its fully-ripe state the chilaca is inky blue-green, with color and flavor similar to the chile poblano.  Here in Michoacán, where there are at least two names for every growing thing, the fresh chile chilaca is coloquially known as the cuernillo (little horn).  

Most of the locally grown deep-red chiles chilaca are dried in the sun.  These are spread out along a main street in Queréndaro.  The chiles are drying on petates, mats made of woven lake reed.

The chilaca turns dark reddish-brown when it's allowed to ripen on the bush.  When ripe and then dried in the Queréndaro sun, the chilaca becomes very dark red and is called chile pasilla.  If the seeds are removed from the dried chile, its name is chile capón.  Chiles capones literally means 'castrated' chiles.  This vegetable castration refers to the removal of the seeds prior to cooking.

Some chilacas are sold bottled, either en escabeche (pickled in vinegar) or as chiles capones (dried, seeded, soaked, toasted, and then cooked with onion), to be used as a botana or condimento (appetizer or condiment). 

These are chiles chilaca rellenos--chiles capones stuffed with tomates verdes (tomatillos), onion, and garlic.  The chiles in the photo, prepared for carry-out at the Alberto Gómez family booth , still needed to be topped with shredded Oaxaca cheese.

The Barajas family of Queréndaro offered this variety of freshly harvested chiles at their booth at the Feria del Chile.  Clockwise beginning with the dark green chiles at the bottom of the basket, they are:

• chiles poblano............14 pesos per kilo
• chiles güero...............14 pesos per kilo
• chiles chilaca verde......12 pesos per kilo
• chiles cola de rata........50 pesos per kilo (for dry chiles; the booth was out of fresh)
• chiles poblano rojo.......14 pesos per kilo

Mexico Cooks! bought a kilo of fresh mature (red) chiles chilaca.  We've been preparing them in various dishes.  The flavor they add is deeply sweet and deadly hot.  So far, our favorite recipe is with potatoes, onions, and flor de calabaza (squash blossoms).  Here's what to do:

Papas con Flor de Calabaza y Chile

Ingredients
3 large white potatoes, russets if you can get them
1 medium white onion
2 fresh mature chiles chilaca
1 large clove garlic
2 bunches fresh flor de calabaza (squash blossoms)
Flour
Vegetable oil or freshly rendered lard
Water
Sea salt

Utensils
Large pot
Colander
Griddle
Small plastic bag
Large plastic bag
Large sauté pan
Spatula

Procedure
Peel and cube (approximately 3/4") the potatoes.  Bring salted water to boil in a pot large enough for them.  Boil the potatoes until tender (approximately 15 minutes) and strain.  Allow the potatoes to dry for 30 minutes or more.

Wash and rough-chop the squash blossoms.  Discard their stems.

Dice the onion to approximately 1/2".  Mince the garlic.

Heat the dry griddle and roast the chiles until they are blackened.  Put them in the small plastic bag, twist it closed, and allow the chiles to "sweat" for about 10 minutes.  Peel and seed.  Slice the chiles in 1/2" rounds.

Heat the oil or lard in the sauté pan.  While it heats, put approximately 1/2 cup flour and a teaspoon of sea salt into the large plastic bag.  Add the potatoes to the bag and shake until the potatoes are dredged with flour and salt.

Sauté the onions, garlic, and chiles.  Add the potatoes and continue to sauté until the potatoes are golden brown.  Add the squash blossoms and sauté briefly--the blossoms will wilt.  Add sea salt to taste.

Serves 3 or 4 as a side dish.

¡Provecho!

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Pastorela in Cuitzeo: Devil Take the Hindmost

This article, originally published at Christmastime 2007, has been extremely popular every Christmas since then.  We think you will enjoy this slightly updated version...

A Seattle Christmas pageant, circa 1953.  Thanks, Sandy in Seattle!

My school put on a Christmas pageant when I was in the third grade, back in the days before the law specified generic holiday greetings.  Remember how Joey and Jimmy, Ralphie and Bobby, were the shepherds in their father's striped terrycloth bathrobes, the sashes tied three or four times around their waists?  Chuck got to be Joseph and that prissy little Amy got to dress in blue and white as the Virgin Mary when everybody KNEW it should have been you up there nuzzling the Baby Jesus.  Here's a sweet little reminder:  

A 19th Century pastorela photograph showing Bartolo, the indolent shepherd who overslept and missed his chance to go to Bethlehem to see the Niño Dios.

In Mexico, a Christmas pageant, like almost everything, is different from Christmas plays North of the Border.  Called a pastorela, the Mexican Christmas play is part very naughty topical comedy, part traditional drama, part Sunday school lesson, and 100% morality play.  Pastorela means pastoral, or a play that takes place in the countryside, and concerns the activities of pastores, or shepherds. First introduced to Mexico by Franciscan missionaries in the 1500's, pastorelas continued to grow in favor here.  Today the plays are one of the most popular Christmastime entertainments.  The theme portrays the eternal conflict between good and evil. The plot revolves around the pilgrimage of the shepherds to Bethlehem to see the newborn Niño Dios (Christ Child).

The devil is not ordinarily associated with Christmas. In Mexico, however, Satanás plays a very solid role in the holiday festivities. He is actually the star!  Lucifer works all his worst wiles to detour the shepherds away from their destination.  Costumed as various alluring personages, Satan and his associate devils do their best to trick the shepherds into abandoning their journey to redemption.  At the end, Satan is trumped, good triumphs, the shepherds meet the Holy Family, and all is well.

Mexico Cooks! recently spent a week or so looking for a pastorela to be presented at a time we could attend.  Last week, Judy noticed an article in the newspaper about a pastorela that was being offered that very night in Cuitzeo, a small town about an hour north of Morelia.  The title of the play (El Ermitaño.com: The Hermit.com) was intriguing, the photo of the performers in costume looked exciting, and the timing was right.  We called our friend Bunny, who jumped at the chance to accompany us to the evening performance, and we were off to Cuitzeo.

Cuitzeo reached the status of Mexican Pueblo Mágico, the third in Michoacán, in 2006.   The requirements for the Pueblo Mágico designation are:

• a town or city rich in tradition
• located in an area of high interest to tourists
• that it have a strong history
• that it have ready access from major highways

You'll see in this video that Cuitzeo easily meets Pueblo Mágico criteria.

Our pastorela took place outside, on the grounds of the Ex-Convento de Santa María Magdalena, a 16th Century Augustinian convent.  Judy, Bunny, and I stopped first in the church to see the Christmas decorations.

Cuitzeo's 17th Century Virgin Mary wears a charming straw sombrero, carries a lace-trimmed basket, and rides a donkey as she and Joseph travel to Bethlehem.

The presentation of El Ermitaño.com was sponsored by Adopt a Work of Art, the Michoacán Secretary of Tourism, the Cuitzeo city government, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, and the newspaper La Voz de Michoacán.  We discovered that this pastorela was not a simple country town's Christmas caprice.  It is a sophisticated, professional play of great good humor.

According to Miguel Sabido, the creator of El Hermitaño.com, "The culture which distinguishes Mexico is both vast and rich, but it's composed of more than our country's admirable buildings.  Mexico has its greatest patrimony in its popular rituals, and its recipes like the pinole cookies that are only made here in this region, and the pastorelas.  These are Mexico's legacies and we must make a commitment to spread her traditions."

The pastorela characters mounted the stage dancing, singing, and rejoicing.

Adam and Eve were the first to take the devil's bait: Adam bit the apple and all hell broke loose.

Still singing, the shepherds, in typical indigenous Purhépecha dress, started their trip to Bethlehem.

El ermitaño (the hermit), portrayed as a post-elderly (think 200 years old) fellow, leads the shepherds (in this case, indigenous Purépecha from Michoacán) on the long trip to Bethlehem.  The Archangel Michael warns them that they'll see the devil in the disguise of famous and fascinating people.  When Satan begins to tempt the simple shepherds, they easily fall into his traps.

El ermitaño (the hermit) co-starred with Satan.

Famously rival Mexican soccer teams, a drunken debauch complete with Caribbean dancers in flounced skirts and turbans, and an angelic choir are all devils in disguise.  In every encounter, Archangel Michael has to intervene to prod the shepherds on their way.  Topical jokes ran wild, references to the famous and the infamous flew, and we loved it all.

Finally, Bethlehem!  The Virgin Mary holds the Niño Dios as St. Joseph and the shepherds look on.

The pastorela story was typically good conquers evil, but what a production!  Acted, danced, and sung by professionals, the morality play kept the crowd (packed into bleachers on two sides of the open stage) laughing, clapping, booing and hissing, and singing along with Mexico's treasured and iconic villancicos (Christmas carols). 

Listen to this lovely version of Los Peces en el Río.  Can you hear the lyric 'la Virgen lava pañales'?  It means 'the Virgin is washing diapers'!

Mexico Cooks! wishes everyone a very joyous New Year, filled with good health, great happiness, and many delights.

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World Cultural Tourism Fair (Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural) in Morelia, Michoacán

The World Cultural Tourism Fair logo, all lit up for the fair's opening night at Morelia's Teatro Ocampo.

For the second year in a row, Morelia, Michoacán was chosen as the site of the Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural: the World Cultural Tourism Fair.  Hot on the heels of Mexico City's FITA (International Tourism Fair of the Americas) at the end of September, Morelia captured a world-wide crowd of numerous exhibiting countries--including Indonesia, Slovakia, and Japan--plus twenty Mexican states, and several corporate exhibitors, all designed to attract tourism and travel both to Mexico and to their own venues.

Mexican federal tourism secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo with Mexico Cooks!, photographed at the Feria Mundical de Turismo Cultural opening night cocktail party.  The party, held in the central patio of Morelia's beautiful mid-17th century Palacio Clavijero, included music, folkloric dancing, drinks, food, as well as great opportunities to make new acquaintances and hug old friends.

The delightful president of CONACULTA (Mexico's Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes--the national arts council), Dra. Consuelo Sáizar, spoke to inaugurate the FMTC, along with national tourism secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo, Michoacán's Governor Leonel Godoy, Michoacán and local Morelia tourism directors, and other state and national dignitaries. 

The objective of the annual world cultural tourism fair is to offer a platform for global tourism industry operators, including travel agents, state and national tourism representatives from various international countries and Mexican states, and to ensure growth in this arm of the tourist industry.  National Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo assured the attendees that the event would enrich and strengthen the goals of the Mexican national tourism agreement, particularly in its sixth strategic pillar.

Michoacán state tourism secretary Lic. Thelma Aquique (right, in yellow) takes time out from the fair's intense schedule of events to talk with an attendee.  Photo courtesy Estado de Michoacán.

During the three-day cultural tourism event, visitors, buyers, and exhibitors alike were treated to the best that Michoacán and Mexico have to offer.  From the ceremonial cutting of the opening ribbon to exhibitions of Michoacán's folkloric dancing, regional foods, and the artisan work from several Mexican states, the booths filling Morelia's Casa de la Cultura (State Cultural Center) were packed with foreign and national buyers seeking ways to promote tourism. 

Wood carvings from master sculptor Jesús Ursino Ramos Cota of Sinaloa.  Tomatoes and corn are the two major agricultural products of Sr. Ramos's home state.

A gigantic hot air balloon made of paper.  In Mexico, these are called globos de Cantoya.  Their name comes from Sr. Joaquín de la Cantoya y Rico who lived in Guanajuato in the past century and allegedly began making these balloons.  They are made of hundreds or even thousands of individual sheets of papel de china (tissue paper) and are expanded by a flame-generated hot air device carried in a small basket inside the balloon.  This globo de Cantoya, two stories high, bears the logo of the 2011 Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural.  Click to enlarge the photo and see the connections of the tissue paper sheets.

To the delight of the crowd, the giant paper balloon sailed off successfully into Morelia's night sky.

This wooden indigenous Huichol sculpture of a deer, a bit more than two feet long from head to tail, is completely covered first with beeswax and then with thousands of individually hand-placed tiny beads.  This particular sculpture originated in and was brought to the fair by representatives of the state government of Nayarit.  Click to enlarge any photo for a better view.

Mexico's southernmost state, Chiapas, was represented at the Casa de la Cultura tourism booths by this lovely young woman in her ropa típica chiapaneca (typical dress of Chiapas).  Entirely hand-sewn and hand-embroidered, the dress is worn in a folkloric ballet or for other folkloric events.

Banamex, one of Mexico's prominent banks, is a strong supporter of traditional arts and crafts and their makers throughout the country by way of its program Fomento Cultural Banamex, A.C..  The Banamex stand featured clay work from Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán, as well as the extraordinary book Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular Mexicano (Great Masters of Mexican Popular Arts), which Banamex publishes.

This excellent brass band, dressed all in purple, played a public concert in the Plaza del Carmen, just behind the Casa de la Cultura, seat of the FMTC.  While they played, their concert was also projected on the big screen behind them.  The concert was part of the cultural program of the FMTC.

Morelia's cathedral.  The city, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991.  Its 16th century pink cantera (stone) buildings, its European air, its exquisite regional gastronomy, and its hundreds of tourist attractions make it the ideal setting for the Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural.

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Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination.  This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day.  Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program.  All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own. 

Viva la Vida: Mexico Cooks! Looks Back at 2010

Fruit stand with mango and papaya, Paracho, Michoacán.  A large cup of fruit, served with fresh-squeezed limón, salt, and chile if you like, costs 10 pesos (about 80 cents US at today's exchange rate).  The bees are always free.

Artisans from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, prepared papel picado (cut paper) banners for a Semana Santa (Holy Week) exhibition of antique religious art in Morelia.

Menta (in this case, apple mint--menta sauveolens) growing against old bricks at the Colegio Culinario de Morelia.  It was planted several years ago by Guillermo Lara Góngora, the English-language teacher at the CCM.

Devil dance mask, Tocuaro, Michoacán.

Caldo de pollo (Mexican-style chicken soup), on the hoof.  The butcher will use his machete to cut off all the claws for you; the well-washed feet add color and flavor to your chicken broth.

Flowers float in a Morelia fountain at twilight.

Detail of hand-embroidered rebozo (long rectangular shawl) from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Creating a basket from huinumo (pine needles), Opopeo, Michoacán.

Two colors of masa (corn dough), one metate (grinding stone).  Uruapan, Michoacán.

Two beautiful young women from Paracho, Michoacán show off the hand-cross stitched guanengos (blouses) they  created for a wedding.

Michoacán, for the joy of life.

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52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part Two

Gorgeous young men and women, great polka music, and inexhaustable dancing: the evening opened with a fantastically exciting estampa norteña (dance from northern Mexico).

These young men danced El Baile de los Machetes, a traditional dance from Mexico's western state of Nayarit.  The dance includes precision maneuvers with flashing, clashing machetes and wild high kicks. 

This Purhépecha folk dance shows off the beauty of traditional embroidery as well as the dancers' skill.  The apron is cross-stitched by hand, as are the woman's blouse and the man's pants.  This dance is in part a courtship ritual, ending with the men's fishnets catching the women.

19th Century dress from the northern part of Mexico included long suede coats for the men.


These handsome young men brought down the house--they might as well have been Chippendale dancers!  The screaming, swooning young women in the audience adored the fellows' provocative moves.

It was the constant-motion rear view of these vaqueros (cowboys) that really got the crowd going.


A few minutes later, the guys were joined onstage by equally beautiful young women.

Frequent costume changes, exciting music, and beautiful choreography made the night intensely satisfying.  The setting, in the Patio del Quijote at the Casa de Cultura, created the perfect ambiance. 

The dancers never slowed down!

As darkness fell, another group took the stage for more estampa norteña.

Another traditional Purhépecha dance, performed by four men wearing carved wood pink-painted, blue-eyed masks representing Europeans in the New World.  Each costume includes long white hair, a gourd at the back, a silvery fish at the side, and a cane with a horse head.

The costumes in this dance are similar to those in the photo above, but the masks are very different.  From left to right, the masks represent a yellow man, an owl, a blue man, a black man, and a European man.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

A closer view of the dancer wearing the owl mask.

This male dancer in this Purhépecha dance wears a yellow mask.  By turn, the woman dances with each of the masked men.


After one last number, a dance from Apatzingán in Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), Mexico Cooks! needed to head for home.

Thanks to the Secretaría de Cultura for its wonderful dance presentations during this celebration.  Won't you come with Mexico Cooks! next year, for the 53rd anniversary of Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán?

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52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part One

Estampa norteña (folk dance from the north of Mexico).

The Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán recently celebrated its 52nd anniversary.  The three-evening event, in honor of founder Roberto García Marín, was filled with joy, color, and music that completely filled the hearts and minds of everyone present.   To commemorate Sr. García Marín's legacy, eight dance troupes, various government officials, and several hundred of the general public gathered in the Patio del Quijote of Morelia's Casa de Cultura.

Grupo Coyucan.

Danza de los Pescadores (Dance of the Fishermen) from Michoacán's Lake Zirahuén.

The first night of the festival, Silvia Zavala Tzitzún from the office of the Secretaría de Cultura and current ballet director Luis Antonio Sánchez unveiled a commemorative plaque in the founder's name.  Sr. Sánchez commented, "We want to recognize Professor Marín for his entire legacy.  Right up until today, our groups of folk dancers continue to execute the choreography that Profesor Marín created more than 50 years ago.  This is the oldest ballet folklórico in Michoacán, and we believe that thanks to Professor Marín, it's still the best."

Grupo Pindekua.

Traditional Purhépecha (Michoacán's indigenous community) dances form an important and stately part of the states folk heritage.  Dances commemorate traditional work: the Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), los Pescadores (fishermen), and los Leñadores (wood choppers) were part of the weekend's festive activities.  Other dances memorialize other aspects of Purhépecha life.

La Danza de los Kúrpites (the Dance of the Butterflies, otherwise known as 'the dance of those who find themselves') is one of the Michoacán Purhépecha community's most revered folk dances.  This figure represents T'arepiti, the bride.  Her costume can easily cost more than $12,000 pesos.  Each role in the dance--which can include as many as 40 dancers--is traditionally performed by young single men.

The butterfly dancers performing La Danza de los Kúrpites.  In their home communities, the young male dancers perform for a few minutes in the home of each of their girlfriends.  The dancers then move to the town plaza, where the dancing continues according to the neighborhood where each group lives.

Tassels, lace, and hundreds of small bells are parts of the costume of Los Kúrpites butterfly dancers.

La Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), as performed by Grupo Pindekua.

Norteño dances from the north of Mexico frequently have an accordion-driven polka beat.  The polka came to Mexico in the 1830s and 40s, brought by the Germans who settled south Texas.

Another norteño!  These wildly lively, upbeat and swirling dances are always tremendous crowd-pleasers.  Colorful costumes and foot-tapping rhythms are the order of the day.

One last fling.  Just watching the dancing exhausted Mexico Cooks!, but we had to head back to the dance festival for its final night.  Come back to Mexico Cooks! next week and we'll take you dancing again!

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