Mexico Photos

Mexican Altar
Mexican Altar

The Day of the Dead (Spanish: El Día de los Muertos), is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st, and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day which occurs on November 1st and All Souls' Day which occurs on November 2nd. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Scholars trace the origins of the modern holiday to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years, and to an Aztec festival dedicated to a goddess called Mictecacihuatl.
Bonampak Ruins
Bonampak Ruins

Bonampak (Bòonam Pak' Painted Wall in Modern Maya) is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately 30 km (20 miles) south of the larger site of Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the border with Guatemala. While the site is not overly impressive in terms of spatial or architectural size, it is well-known for a number of murals, most especially those located within Structure 1 (The Temple of the Murals). The construction of the site’s structures dates to the Early Classic period (ca. A.D. 580 to 800).
Usumacinta River Trip - Mayan Ruins & Wildlife - 10 Days
Copper Canyon
Copper Canyon

The Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barranca del Cobre) is a group of canyons consisting of 6 distinct canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. The overall canyon system is larger and portions are deeper than the Grand Canyon in the neighboring United States.[1] The canyons were formed by six rivers which drain the western side of the Sierra Tarahumara (a part of the Sierra Madre Occidental). All six rivers merge into the Rio Fuerte and empty into the Sea of Cortez.
Copper Canyon 2
Copper Canyon 2

There are many  ways to explore Copper Canyon such as hiking, biking, driving or horseback riding. The most popular way is by train, the Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railroad, runs along the main canyon called Canyon Urique, between Chihuahua and Los Mochis, on the Gulf of California. The Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad began in the late 19th century. The revolution, lack of funding, and the overall difficulty of building a railroad over such terrain hindered its completion until 1961. The railroad comprises 405 miles of rails with 39 bridges and 86 tunnels.
Mayan God
Mayan God

Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Mayas recognize in the maize a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins have maize plants as alter egos and man himself is created from maize. The discovery and opening of the Maize Mountain - the place where the corn seeds are hidden - is still one of the most popular of Mayan tales.
Merida Dancers
Merida Dancers

Danzón was very popular in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Mexico because of the strong Cuban influence in the region. Later on danzón developed in Mexico City, specially in the famous Salón México; in fact, it still survives in Mexico. It is danced in several cities and National Danzon conventions. Due to the popularity of the piece Danzón no. 2 by Arturo Márquez (b. 1950) it has been coined as the second national anthem by the Mexican people. Wikipedia
San Miguel Church
San Miguel Church

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Tarahumara
Tarahumara

The Rarámuri or Tarahumara are an indigenous people of northern Mexico, and are renowned for their long-distance running ability.
Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Rarámuri retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. The area of the Sierra Madre Occidental which they now inhabit is often called the Sierra Tarahumara because of their presence.
Chac Mool
Chac Mool

Chac-Mool is the name given to a type of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican stone statue.
 
The Chac-Mool depicts a human figure in a position of reclining with the head up and turned to one side, holding a tray over the stomach. The meaning of the position or the statue itself remains unknown.
Chac-Mool statues are found in or around temples in Toltec and other post-Classic central Mexican sites, and in post-Classic Maya civilization sites with heavy Toltec influence, such as Chichen Itza.
 
Zinacantan
Zinacantan

San Lorenzo Zinacantán is a municipio (municipality) in the southern part of the Central Chiapas highlands in the Mexican state of Chiapas. About 98% of its population are Tzotzil Maya, an indigenous people with linguistic and cultural ties to other highland Maya peoples.
Zinacantán literally means "land of bats" and comes from the Nahuatl language. People in Zinacantán speak Tzotzil (a Mayan language) and they call their own land "Sots'leb", that is, "land of bats" in their own language.
Wikipedia
Mexican Kitchen
Mexican Kitchen

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