Mexico, Change - understand-culture

Plaza of the Three Cultures

In the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, the ruins of the Mexica city stand next to the colonial church of Santiago. A plaque there reads: “El 13 de agosto de 1521 heroicamente defendido por Cuauhtémoc cayó Tlatelolco en poder de Hernán Cortés. No fue triunfo ni derrota. Fue el doloroso nacimiento del pueblo mestizo que es el México de hoy.”

(On August 13, 1521, heroically defended by Cuauhtémoc, Tlatelolco fell to Hernán Cortés. It was neither triumph nor defeat. It was the painful birth of the mestizo people that is the Mexico of today.)

The Church on the Pyramid

The Great Pyramid of Cholula, in Puebla, is called Tlachihualtépetl, “hill made by hand.” According to an INAH researcher quoted by N+, it is the “basamento piramidal más grande del mundo” (the largest pyramid base in the world), with more than 450 meters per side.

Much of it remains buried. On top stands the sanctuary of the Virgen de los Remedios.

Two Universes

UNESCO proclaimed the Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead in Mexico in 2003 and inscribed it on its Representative List in 2008. Its description says: “Esta fusión entre ritos religiosos prehispánicos y fiestas católicas permite el acercamiento de dos universos” (This fusion of pre-Hispanic religious rites and Catholic festivities brings two universes closer together).

Through Friends and Relatives

In August 2019, Mexico’s Labor Secretary, Luisa María Alcalde Luján, spoke at the ExpoEmpleo OCC job fair. According to Excélsior, she said that 56 percent of employed people in Mexico had found their job through personal contacts, friends or relatives. Only 25 percent of job seekers used private agencies or job boards.

Tonantzin

In the 16th century, the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún described a small hill “que se llama Tepeacac.” He added: “y los españoles llámanle Tepeaquilla, y ahora se llama Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” (and the Spaniards call it Tepeaquilla, and now it is called Our Lady of Guadalupe).

According to a book of UNAM’s Institute of Historical Research, Sahagún reports that the people “tenían un templo dedicado a la madre de los dioses que la llamaban Tonantzin” (had a temple dedicated to the mother of the gods, whom they called Tonantzin).

Tandas

A tanda is a savings circle. A group of family members or acquaintances each pay a fixed sum every period, and in each round one member takes the whole pot. There is no bank and no legal backing.

In Mexico’s 2024 National Survey of Financial Inclusion, by INEGI and the banking regulator CNBV, 36.6 percent of adults aged 18 to 70 saved only in informal ways. El Universal reported participation in tandas at 20 percent, up from 18 percent in 2021. The newspaper did not state the base of that figure.

The Temple in the Metro

In 1967, during the construction of the Mexico City Metro, the excavation of a Mexica temple dedicated to Ehécatl began under the archaeologist Jordi Gussinyer. INAH archaeologists explored it until 1970.

Part of the temple was preserved inside the Pino Suárez station. Uno TV calls it the smallest archaeological zone in Mexico.

Words from Nahuatl

Aguacate, avocado, from the Nahuatl ahuacatl.

Chocolate, from xocolātl.

Tianguis, an open-air market, from tiyānquiztli, “market.”

Papalote, a kite, from papalotl, “butterfly.”

Popote, a drinking straw, from popotli, “dry and hollow stem.”

Cuate, a close friend, from coatl, “snake” and “twin.”

Uses and Customs

Of the 570 municipalities of Oaxaca, 417 elect their authorities by usos y costumbres, “uses and customs,” the Indigenous customary systems. This is according to the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary.

The state recognized these systems on August 30, 1995, when its Congress added a book on them to the state electoral code. The number has varied over time: 412 municipalities in 1995, 418 in 1998 and 417 in 2013.

The Constitution of 1917

Mexico’s Constitution of 1917 is still in force. In February 2022, Excélsior reported that it “ha sido reformada en 763 ocasiones” (has been amended 763 times), through more than 250 decrees.