Christmas - Step by Step

 While people in the U.S. were enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner, I was decorating the condo for Christmas.  

Actually, I started the day before Thanksgiving.  I got the boxes down from the top shelf of the closet.  

The first step was relatively easy.  I set up the Nativity scene on top of the cabinet in the living room.

I've had this set for more than thirty-five years.  I took a group of my teaching colleagues on a trip to Mexico City during Christmas vacation.  This occurred right after a devaluation of the peso, and for those of us bearing dollars, everything was incredibly inexpensive.  I bought this charming Nativity set for the equivalent of only ten U.S. dollars.  Years later, a friend of mine made the structure, which is known as a "portal" in Spanish, out of plaster bricks.

Next I began on the more difficult part... setting up the Christmas tree, and below it preparing the stage for my elaborate Bethlehem scene.

Alejandro gave me the artificial tree when I made the move to Mexico.  I unfolds and is suspended from a central pole.

Fortunately, I had saved from last year the panels of green flannel fabric for the landscaping of the village.  Before proceeding any further with Bethlehem however, I put the lights on the tree.

The first bit of landscaping it did was to create the river and waterfall with blue cellophane and aluminum foil.  

To make it appear more natural, I surrounded the stream with rocks and what is called "heno".  "Heno" is an epiphyte similar to Spanish moss that grows in tropical forests.  It is harvested and sold in the markets at Christmas for Nativity scenes.  I have since read that the harvesting of "heno" is ecologically damaging for the forests.  So, I am glad that I saved the "heno" from last year, and I could simply recycle what I already had instead of buying more.

Before proceeding further with Bethlehem village, I decorated the tree.

Most of the ornaments (known as "esferas" in Spanish) were purchased at markets here in Mexico City.  There are plenty of ornaments that are made in China, but I made a point of buying those made in Mexico.  The towns of Tlalpujahua in the state of Michoacán and Chignahuapan in the state of Puebla are famous for their "esferas".  Because the tree is so skinny, I had to content myself with small ornaments.

Next came the part that is most the most fun and also the most challenging... creating my Bethlehem with scores of houses, people and animals, and making it all look natural with more stones and "heno".  I have been collecting the figures for years, but now that I live here, I am here during the Christmas season when the markets are filled with a wide variety.

 

The only problem is that my Bethlehem is now filled to capacity.  No more trips to the market at Christmas to buy more figures.  😞

The Last Skulls

During the Day of the Dead season there were several places, most notably the Paseo de la Reforma, which were adorned with "Mexicráneos", the large fiberglass skulls which are each painted by a different local artist.  Another place that had "Mexicráneos" was the "camellón", or pedestrian walkway in the middle of Avenida Alvaro Obregón, the main boulevard in the "colonia" of Roma Norte.

Last week as I was walking back to the apartment from downtown, I saw that there were a number of the skulls still sitting along that avenue.  None of them were from 2025; they were all from previous years.

I wonder if these skulls are going to remain permanently along Alvaro Obregón?

Artisans or Artists?

When I was at the Museum of Popular Art to see the entries for the piñata contest, I also visited a temporary exhibit that is currently on view.  It goes by the rather cryptic title of "Arte/Sano entre Artista".  When seeing Mexican handicrafts I have often wondered whether their creators should be considered artisans or artists.  The finest pieces of Mexican handicrafts are truly works of art.  This exhibit showcases contemporary artists who use the materials and techniques of traditional handicrafts.  I did not care for everything that I saw, but their were some interesting pieces in the show.

Here are a few of them...

Image of the Virgin of Guadalupe

wood inlaid with bone

by René Angeles Navarro

Pictures done in "papel picado" (cut paper)

They are much more intricate than the banners you will see hanging over streets for holidays and festivals.

by David Armando Martínez Aguilar

Large earthenware vessel

by Mara Silva

Portrait created on a backstrap loom

by Pedro Martín and Marianne Sadowski

Graphics on "papel picado"

by Yuriria Torres and José A. Plata

Polychromed clay on a metal frame

by Saúl Montesinos and Mariana Ordás

Fabric with natural dyes woven on a pedal loom

by Francisco Martínez and Andrea Sotelo

Piñatas!

Last week I returned to my favorite small museum in Mexico City, The Museum of Popular Art, to see the entries for their annual piñata contest.  This is their 19th annual contest celebrating one of Mexico's most iconic holiday traditions.  In case you don't know, a piñata is a decorated container holding candy, which is broken during Christmas or birthday celebrations.  The original piñatas were round and had seven cones which represented the seven deadly sins.  Breaking the piñata symbolized defeating evil, and the candy inside was the reward for resisting the temptation of sin.  Today, piñatas can be decorated to represent most anything from animals, to cartoon characters to Santa Claus.  (Oh, my!  The horror of beating Santa with a stick!)  The more than 200 artists who participated in this year's contest certainly demonstrate a grand variety of themes.

The first place winner of the contest wins a prize of 20,000 pesos (around 1000 US dollars).  The core of the piñata must be a pottery vessel (as were the original piñatas), and they must be decorated using only cardboard, papier mache, colored tissue paper or crepe paper.  No plastic or metal is permitted in their construction.

Each year the entries are hung from the balconies of the upper floors to the museum.  They will be on display until December 14th.

The artisans' creative works go far beyond any of the typical piñatas that you will see for sale in the markets.  Here are a few of the entries in this year's contest...

The Twelfth Month

We head to the end of another year as we turn the page of the calendar to December.  The last photo of the 2025 calendar which I had custom-made with pictures that I took of Mexican archaeological sites is of one of the country's most famous ruins... Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan is located an hour north of Mexico City, and I have lost track of how many times I have been there.  The first time was back in 1973 when I studied for a quarter in Mexico.

In the first half of the first millennium, Teotihuacan had a population of over 100,000 people, possibly more than 200,000.  It was the largest city in the Americas and one of the largest cities in the world.  The archaeological site is vast, and it is only a fraction of what the city once was.  The origins of the city are shrouded in mystery.  We do not know who built it, or exactly why it was abandoned in the 7th or 8th century.  It is dominated by two great pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun (which you see at the left side of the photo) and the Pyramid of the Moon (from whose steps I took this picture).  Crossing the city was its main street, which the Aztecs, centuries later, called the Avenue of the Dead.  They thought that the earth-covered ruins along the avenue were burial mounds.  Excavation and restoration of the site began in the early 20th century.  In 2024, Teotihuacan received more than 1.7 million visitors, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

I have climbed the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon many times over the years.  However, during the pandemic, both of them were closed to climbers.  The Pyramid of the Sun remains closed, but recently, visitors were once again allowed to climb part way up the Pyramid of the Moon.  So, tourists are again able to photograph this classic view looking down the Avenue of the Dead.