Category Archives: Merida, Yucatan, Maya

WATCHING REAL MEN BUILD

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Mary and I had opportunity to watch a new building arise in the backyard nextdoor to our rental house over the winter. It was almost entirely done by hand. The albañiles (masons) mixed the concrete for floor and mortar by hand, on the ground, with a shovel, and passed it up by bucket. (They brought in a gasoline powered mixer for the second floor and roof, perhaps due to heat making for short set times.) ¶At first we felt invaded, but quickly became entertained by listening to the camaraderie of the laborers – their whistling, singing, joking, and joy.  While the video linked here is not from Yucatan, it captures some of the delight to be seen in such pursuits. It also speaks of human ingenuity in the absence of capital and power equipment.

MERIDA ZOO (and beyond)

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I’ve only been to the zoo at Centenario park once, and have very few photos from the visit. I don’t recall whether there are any giraffes in the collection. But I recently received a wonderful video ballet of giraffes from a friend, which deserves to be shared. I could say I saw it one day at Centenario park, but nobody would believe me, even if the park were on calle Mulberry. But I promise that you won’t be disappointed if you CLICK HERE. 

(Thanks, Pat!)

I AM NOT MY CAR!

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My friend Paul (Hammockman) sent me a helpful article today on the topic of the human microbiome (gut flora) which reminded me of something I’ve shared with many friends, and endeavor to remember myself, which is the subject and title of this post. It’s about our vehicles, which is to say, our bodies. Few people mistake themselves for their rides; yet we often are tempted to believe that I am my body. ¶ Many of us have succumbed to this temptation so often that it is difficult to shake. How absurd! Even so, it has become something of an identity statement. Yet I AM is God’s name, according to CS Lewis, and we have stolen it for a joy ride; or perhaps it’s more of a terror trip at times. ¶ In the comment section I’ve put my response to Paul regarding the article linked above. The article, which is a bit long, is well worth reading.

MEXICAN PORTRAITS

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The famous photographic book publisher, Aperature, has a new title which examines Mexican portraiture. Anyone who has ever had a bad hair day knows that this category calls for equal time. So here’s another:

 

Recurring themes in Mexican portraits

With hundreds of portraits spanning a century and a half, the instinct would be to sort them chronologically.

But curator Pablo Monasterio ignored the dates and organized the book “Mexican Portraits” by recurring themes, such as lucha libre wrestling or occupational portraits.

The book, published by Aperture, features a selection of photos from Fundación Televisa.

“Instead of explaining what’s happened with portraiture, I looked for what photographers and artists were doing and how it relates to history,” Monasterio said.

For example, Jose Luis Cuevas’ images from the series “The Average Man” (Image 10) portray the typical working man of the 21st century in what he would wear to the office, a practice that had been common a century before (Image 2).

But this type of portrait dates to before photography: In the early 19th century, Europeans visiting Mexico would paint portraits of the residents in their work outfits to show the foreign country and people to other Europeans, Monasterio said.

Mexico’s traditions come through in the portraits, he said.

The photos shot by Romualdo Garcia (Image 1) from the early 20th century are a great example of the era of posed portraits taken in a studio. The subjects would come in and put on dresses and coats provided by the photographer in the studio.

Monasterio said Garcia was the best studio photographer in the ’20s.

“It’s absolutely wonderful how people trusted the photographer and to see the results he gave them,” Monasterio said.

The photographers can send messages through their works that might not be clear before the edited series is compiled.

Daniela Rossell took portraits of wealthy Mexicans in their homes for a series titled “Rich and Famous” in the late ’90s (Image 9). Individually, the images seemed flattering, but when the full series came out, it appeared critical of high-class people, Monasterio said.

“Many were offended and felt they were manipulated,” he said.

Years later, most of the subjects are happy they were a part of the series and are pictured in the book, Monasterio said.

In a chapter titled “Mask versus Mullet,” Monasterio pulled images that related to masked wrestling known as lucha libre. In these matches, the loser is humiliated by having to remove his mask and have his hair cut in front of the crowd. Monasterio placed a portrait of a hacked hairdo after a loss from 1939 (Image 3) with a series of portraits of hairstyles resembling a wrestler’s loss that were taken in the 1960s (Image 7).

Monasterio, who spent a little over two years putting the book together, scoffed at the question of how many images he looked at. He has been an editor for decades, and some photos and themes have been on his mind since the start of his editing career, so he didn’t have to revisit them.

“Portraiture is something that is everywhere,” he said. “It gets to a point where almost everything can be a portrait.”

Every image has a different voice depending on the experiences of the viewer, he said, but Monasterio likes to try to control the interpretation through editing.

“My obsession is trying to guide the reading,” he said.

– Lauren Russell, CNN

CLICK for additional images.  

 


 

A TREE THAT TALKS?

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Here in Yucatan there is a long tradition of a talking tree. This tradition apparently pre-existed Christopher Columbus, as detailed in several ethnographic studies, one linked below. Sometimes myth is truer than mere historical fact. If we ponder this mythical tree what might we discover? (I’ve been pondering it for a number of months in the near term, and also for a lifetime.) Photos shared here – two taken during that “pagan” holiday called carnaval – hint at my project in terms of inquiring into the nature of consciousness itself.

The original inhabitants of Yucatan, the Maya (who are still vibrantly here), consider a thorny tree species known as the ceiba tree to be holy. The thorns fall off at some point after it reaches a foot or more in diameter. Then the tree eventually becomes huge. One near Izimná plaza here in Mérida surely is two meters in diameter.

When the Spaniards invaded Yucatan they brought their religion with them, and attempted to impose it on the locals. Such efforts rarely proceed gently. One of the foreign priests, Fr.Diego de Landa, schooled in the methods of the Inquisition, befriended the natives, and then seized their holy books, burning them. This was at a time when Europe was only beginning to revise its understanding of astronomy from the faulty Ptolemaic earth-centric model, to the correct Copernican model, where the Earth revolves around the Sun. The Maya were centuries ahead of the Europeans in correct astronomical modeling of the solar system, and significantly more precise, without having optical telescopes! Who knows what wisdom was reduced to ashes in those bonfires? Exceedingly few books survived. 

There was also a deadly toll paid by the natives. (Most history has been written by victors.)  Recovering the lost wisdom of the vanquished has been a delicate project, at best. But that’s a tale properly told by specialists, which can be read elsewhere.

The religion which the Spaniards brought centered on a myth* about a God-man crucified on a tree. The encounter between these two tree-stories is what deeply intrigues me. I’ve been studying and pondering the Christian account for many decades, reading from the Bible text almost on a daily basis. (However, I’ve largely been cured of denominationalism. A denominator, at least in mathematics, is that which is divided – and division no longer appeals to me.) The Yucateco account is new to me. And the merger of these two accounts surrounds us, here in Yucatan. Yes, the church bells ring boistrously; the trees whisper. Are you listening?

In the very last chapter of the Bible, we’re told that “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev22:2) Now, some trees put forth their flowers before their leaves; and I’ve never known an old tree to send forth old leaves, but only tender young leaves and flowers. What does all this portend for healing? How does something as grotesque as crucifixion blossom into blessing for a world of suffering? I listen longingly for an answer.

If a tree could talk, what might it say to you? Or even better, what do you long to hear from nature, our context, the very essence of being? 

*Myths are generally regarded as true by a large segment of the culture in which they are told, whereas fables are regarded as false. ¶Sometimes a myth is a story that is true on the inside whether or not it happens to be true on the outside.  http://jeshua21.wordpress.com201303/25a-myth-is-a-story/ . ¶For a scholarly report on talking tree / talking cross, see www.famsi.org/reports/99034/99034Aguilera01.pdf
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And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it upon his head. (John 19:2)

 Cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree. (Galatians 3:13)
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The tree is known by his fruit. (Matthew 12:33)
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And a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6)
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On his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:12,13)
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Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)
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PALM FRONDS FOR PALM SUNDAY

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In Merida this weekend a donkey and rider will proceed from Parque Sta.Lucia to the main cathedral, re-enacting the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. I’ve never seen this event before, so I have no idea what to expect. But I can imagine that truckloads of palm fronds will litter Calle 60. (The procession is scheduled for 8am Sunday morning, to arrive at the cathedral by 8:30 or so.)

As someone who has long lamented the waste of energy associated with harvesting Christmas trees, I have mixed feelings connected with the ecological costs of such cultural practices. But now I’ve been somewhat uplifted by an article in SLATE, here. 

Sadly, I dropped my camera last week, and it no longer works. I’ve bought another on ebay, but it hasn’t arrived yet. So I won’t have pictures this year. I plan to put up some posts using file images related to the holiday.

 

 

BIG BROTHER SEES ALL: google glass

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Social networking is about to get scary and weird. Like the eyes of a fly, human society is about to merge all imaging signals together. Here’s a report from Creative Good. What would George Orwell say? BEWARE!

Above photo by Antonio Zugaldia, Wikimedia Commons

Compound eye records multiple images for reassembly by brain.

And HERE’s a link to an electron microscope zooming onto the lenses of a fly’s eye.

 

 

 

THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY?

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Ever fascinated with hats, I’m amused by this spiral galaxy known as The Sombrero (M104). And while I don’t for a minute think that this is what God looks like, I do wonder if S/He likes hats, too.  For those interested in things philosophical and futuristic, there is this interview.