Here, in no special order, are some of the cultural icons, which identify México to the world:
BEFORE Che, It was the image of Emiliano Zapata which represented the romance and purity of revolutionary action. The Mexican Revolution was the first successful uprising of the 20th Century and it captured the world's imagination: Villa, Zapata, "Land and Liberty", the fight for justice over tyranny - - it still resonates loudly today.
IT WASN'T until the late 19th Century and the discovery of the great Mayan and Aztec pyramids that the world became aware of the true wonders and accomplishments of the pre-Columbian civilizations. The Aztec Sun Stone, for example, perhaps the most recognized Mexican cultural artifact -- a monolithic sculpture measuring about 12 feet in diameter, 4 feet in thickness and weighing 24 tons - - wasn't excavated until December, 1970, in the Mexico City Zócalo. Discoveries are still being made, in the capital and around the country, which promise to fill in some of the gaps in our understanding of this lost world.
MARIACHI is much more than a musical genre; it is the cultural essence of Mexico and its people. Mariachi has become a symbol of the national identity, unique and recognized around the world as an authentic expression of Mexico's popular culture. The Mariachi paradigm, as we know it today, came into being with the advent of mass media in Mexico: radio, television and especially the movies. The great composer José Alfredo Jiménez is perhaps the man most responsible for the style, the mood and the ethos of mariachi. He evokes the subculture of the bars, cantinas, and cabarets; a world populated by women of the night and despairing men, drowning the pain of love betrayed in a shot glass of tequila. And the charro, the Mexican cowboy, hard-drinking, honest and forthright, sitting high in the saddle, he always won the girl. This style and mood was etched into the popular consciousness by the film noir movies of what is referred to now as the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema.
DIEGO RIVERA, the great muralist of the post-Revolutionary era, took the world by storm, he tasted the fruits of artistic recognition in his lifetime . His wife, Frida Kahlo , lived in his shadow and it wasn't until after her death that her true genius was acknowledged. She was the first Mexican artist whose work sold at auction for a million dollars.
Frida has achieved cult status, in large part, for the Selma Hayek movie, which, despite its flaws, truly captures the rich textures, vibrant colors, sounds and senses of Mexican culture.
ONE OF THE GREAT CUISINES of the world, Mexican cooking must also rank as one of the oldest. By 2000 BC the Meso America societies were primarily agricultural, but 5,000 years earlier, hunter-gatherers had began cultivating the crops which remain the staples of the Mexican diet today.
By the time of Columbus, there were at least 150 plants domesticated in the New World. It's hard to conceive of a world without corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chilis, peppers, potatoes, peanuts, pineapples, avocados, papaya, not to mention chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, chewing gum, rubber and cochineal.
These are just some of the wonders that Europeans found in America which changed their world.
THE IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN of Guadalupe, Mexico's national patron saint, is one of the great religious enigmas. This rough handmade garment has lasted nearly 500 years. The normal lifespan for a rough cloak of agave fibre, would be 10 to 20 years. Unlike the paintings and statues in the invaders' churches, this messenger from God had a coppery brown skin tone, not unlike that of the indigenous people. Guadalupe was embraced as the protector of the Indian and mestizo masses under the harsh conditions of colonial rule. . The veneration of La Guadalupana has spread far beyond her ethnic and religious roots: artists around the world depict aspects of her in every medium. And many non-Christian women have embraced her as a symbol of feminist empowerment.
TEQUILA: The Aztecs fermented juice from the agave plant which they
called octli (later called pulque) It was the Spaniards who first
distilled the spirit, which has since gone on to conquer the world.