Mexican culture

“ The Mexicans have naturally inherited and assimilated Indian lore about plants, animals, places, all kinds of human relationships with the land. Through the Mexican medium, with which he is becoming more sympathetic, the gringo is getting the ages-old Indian culture. ”

“ The difficulty which people usually find in realizing the true position of the ancient Mexican culture arises partly from the misconceptions which have until recently distorted the facts, and partly from the loose employment of terms above noticed. ”

“ Some writers have gone so far as to deny them actual existence at all, regarding them as a purely mythical people to whom the Mexicans conveniently attributed the invention of all useful arts of which they could not readily explain the evolution otherwise. Others have exalted their culture to a pitch far above, one might almost say, the human, and have credited them with a knowledge transcending that of latter-day civilization. ”

“ It is true that education that we Mexicans have inherited from our ancient grandparents, in the last decades of the 20th century has gradually been lost in in the Mexican society; however, it can still be found in indigenous and peasant communities. The foundations and roots are solid and alive. Five hundred years of demeaning our education has undoubtedly borne colonial fruits. But we have not lost as people and as a civilization this valuable cultural heritage. ”

“ In every circumstance they proved to be animated by the noblest impulses of our common nature, and one of the happiest discoveries I made during those days of a bewildering bewildering struggle with a new civilization, was that, despite the representation of many of my own countrymen, fidelity, tenderness, and untiring devotion were as truly Mexican characteristics as American. It is doubtful in my mind if the people of any country lavish upon strangers the same warmth of manner or exhibit the same readiness to serve them, as do our near-at-hand, far-away neighbors, the Mexicans. ”

“ A visitor from Europe is unlikely to appreciate the style of beauty of the Mexicans, until in a degree familiarized by time: their attractions generally consist in splendid, liquid black eyes, luxuriant dark hair, fine hands and arms, and pretty feet,—though these are often injured by being thrust into shoes far too small for them. They have neither the fresh, stately beauty of the English ladies, nor the vivacity of the French; the refined look of the American, nor the classical beauty of the Greek. The Mexican ladies are often short and stout ”

“ Their bodies are graceful as the palms of the desert; their hair black as ebony, or golden as the rays of the sun, gracefully waves over their delicate shoulders; their glances are like the peaceful light of the moon. The Mexican ladies are not so white as the Europeans, but their whiteness is more agreeable to our eyes. ”

“ It must have been a genius of more than ordinary grasp (though it requires not much study to find a conception worthy one's highest effort in the history of oppressed Mexico) who could thus have pictured the immortal Bishop and his down-trodden people. It seems, indeed, that the Mexican artist succeeds best when he devotes himself to historic scenes, for which he has a rich field in the conquest of his own country. ”

“ Though the race that then occupied that country was nearly exterminated, and the skilful artists and artisans dispersed, this art survived even the persecutions of centuries, and is among the few relics preserved of Aztec refinement and civilization. It has been handed down from father to son, guarded as a secret so closely that but few of the Mexican Indians of the present day are adepts at it. The feather pictures produced by them are as much works of art as the best paintings ”

“ A new era is dawning in Mexico. The advent of railways is opening a wide field; her people are rousing from their slumber. The government is extending her protection over the poor as well as the rich classes, and rapid progress is witnessed on every side. The wealthy and powerful of the Mexican Republic owe it to themselves to let the spirit of freedom and independence find full growth in the bosoms of all, from the toiling peon on the hacienda to the wild, dark Indian in the fastnesses of his mountains. ”

“ Speaking of negroes, there are a less number in all Mexico than in any one State of this Union. In the plaza pretty flower-girls with tempting bouquets mingle with fruit venders, lottery-ticket sellers, and dashing young Mexican dudes, wearing broad sombreros heavy with cords of silver braid. Occasionally there passes some dignified señora, whose head and shoulders are covered with a black lace mantilla, imparting infinite grace to her handsome figure. How vastly superior is that soft, drooping veil to the tall hats and absurd bonnets of northern civilization! ”

“ There is no people who take less interest in the rare features of their beautiful country than the Mexicans. Nature charms them not. A Mexican dwelling with a garden around it is a rarity—a lawn or a shrubbery is never seen ”

“ Visiting is exacted with frequency, and on all occasions of interest to a family, and with all the old-fashioned Spanish formality — of manner, at least, yet the conversation falls, as a rule, into society gossip. With the rise of inferior and colored persons, by means of political influence and military intrigues, parties present a greater mixture than formerly. Nevertheless, the innate politeness of the Mexican, and his natural suavity of manner, permit a comparatively easy adaptation of tone. ”

“ It was not long that this quarrelsome people could live together without fighting amongst themselves, and ten or fifteen years after the founding of the city the two parties—the Mexicans and the Tlatelolcans—separated, the latter going to a still smaller island near the main one. The Mexicans, however, kept the god, and, though their neighbors were more progressive at first, were in the end triumphant. Though for a while each faction had a separate government and its king, the Mexican is the one that finally absorbed the other, and whose history we shall mainly follow. ”

“ A vast capital is sunk in diamonds and plate in this country, no good sign of the state of commerce. The ladies in general were dressed in white embroidered muslins, over white or coloured satin, and one or two Paris dresses shone conspicuous. There was one specimen of real Mexican beauty; the Señora—-, a face perhaps more Indian than Spanish, very dark, with fine eyes, beautiful teeth, very long dark hair, and full of expression. The house, which is immensely large, is furnished, or rather unfurnished, in the style of all Mexican haciendas. ”

“ Many lies have been written about the mexicas. Whether to revile them and depict them as powerful wild demoniac idolaters, who swam in blood rivers through the sacrifice of thousands and thousands of human beings. That were heroically defeated by a handful of spanish "soldiers", led by a valiant charismatic leader.
Or to portray them as an evolved culture, creators of all the Anahuac grandeur. Inventors of calendar, mathematics, language, architecture and engineering, as well as religion and social organization forms. ”

“ Many of these primitive arts are still to be found in the more secluded districts, and perhaps the best work in pottery moulding in Mexico to-day is that of uneducated Indian artists.
Of the half-breed element which has become so important a part of the Mexican population, no safe estimate can be made. Education, industrial occupation, commercial training and political responsibility are apparently working a transformation in a class that was once known chiefly for indolence and criminal instincts, and many of the leaders of modern Mexico have sprung from this race. ”

“ As their guest during my stay in Santa Rosalia nothing was more interesting than to watch these genuine American children transformed into veritable Mexicans. So thoroughly identified were these little people with the land of their adoption that in their daily play not one word of English was spoken; every movement, tone, gesture, and expression was entirely Mexican, even to their games and plays and reboso-wrapped dolls. The baby, christened Charles, repudiated his baptismal name and clung with infantile pertinacity to its Mexican synonym of Carlos, refusing to answer to any other. ”

“ The only civilization that the Mexicans can have received from the Old World must have been from some people whose cutting implements were of sharp stone, consequently, as we must conclude by analogy, some very barbarous and ignorant tribe.
From this point we must admit that the inhabitants of Mexico raised themselves, independently, to the extraordinary degree of culture which distinguished them when Europeans first became aware of their existence. ”

“ This grueling fight also occurs in the hearts and minds of all Mexicans, most of the times unconsciously, plunging us into the dark swamps of our solitude labyrinth.
"The peoples of the profound Mexico create and continually recreate their culture, adjust it to the changing pressures, reinforce their own and private environment, make cultural elements of others their own for their benefit, cyclically reiterate the collective acts which are a way of expressing and renew their own identity; keep quiet or rebel, according to a strategy tuned by centuries of resistance." ”

“ There was nothing to make the generation living forty years after the expulsion of that system, when it was forgotten, and republican life and language had become a part of Mexican nature — there was nothing, I say, to awaken in these latter-day Mexicans a desire for the restoration of an order of things which they never had known, and never had been taught to venerate. ”

“ The features of the Aztecs as represented in the various Mexican paintings are typically Indian, and argue a northern origin. The race was, and is, of average height, and the skin is of a dark brown hue. The Mexican is grave, taciturn, and melancholic, with a deeply rooted love of the mysterious, slow to anger, yet almost inhuman in the violence of his passions when aroused. He is usually gifted with a logical mind, quickness of apprehension, and an ability to regard the subtle side of things with great nicety. ”

“ The young girls wear flowers in their dark hair; the elders drape head and shoulders in the soft black lace of the mantilla, which adds a new grace to even a homely woman; the cavaliers are valiant in all the picturesque bravery that youth can dare or money purchase; and a gay whirlwind of nods and smiles, and that fascinating little Mexican greeting which is spoken with the fingers, blows away forever your idea of undiluted misery. For two hours, at least, each day, the world of fashion, of folly, and perhaps of pleasure, has its own way ”

“ There is doubtless a great affinity between the races of Mexican Indians (the native Aztecs) and the Arabian tribes; there yet remains much of the Eastern type in the aspect of the people—their diminutive figures, their aversion to labour, their fiery irritable tempers, and their flowing and often poetical redundancy of language. The physical weakness of the modern Mexicans is extreme ”

“ The Mexican Bar is rejoiced. The society sees in you one of her chosen sons. The country regards you a good citizen. Home proclaims you sovereign. You have the happiness of the noble and beautiful and virtuous lady that united with yours her destiny. What more would you desire? Nothing more, since you are happy. And humanity, also, owes you much. You have defended its sacred statutes in those unfortunates whose defense you have made so many times with brilliant effect."
At these reunions the versatility of talent of Mexican writers is remarkable. ”

“ Trembling on the verge of two races, his eyes looking towards the land of his progenitors, the enshrined Spain of his dreams, with something of race-nostalgia—if we may be permitted to coin the term—yearning for the distinction of the white skin and traditions of European civilisation, yet bound to the life of and race of his own patria by reason of the native blood within his veins, the Hispanic Mexican has cultivated a sensitive social spirit which tinges his character and action in every-day life. ”

“ The men of one race are brown in complexion, and have been for ages cultivators of the land. It is among them only that the Mexican civilization sprang up, and they still remain in the country, having acquiesced in the authority of the Europeans, and to a great extent mingled with them by marriage. This class includes the Aztecs, Acolhuans, Chichemecs, Zapotecs, &c., the old Toltecs, the present Indians of Central America, and, if we may consider them to be the same race, the nations who built the now ruined cities of Palenque, Copan, Uxmal, and so forth. ”

“ The principal ingredient in the Mexican race is Indian blood, which is visible, in their features, complexion, and disposition. The men are, generally taken, ill-featured, while the women are often quite handsome. ”

“ The fine benevolence of ancient friendship, the universal respect for genius, a competent knowledge of the laws and institutions of other countries, a perfect acquaintance with the cause of Mexican decadence, and a charming regard for all those domestic rites which cement the affections of a home circle may all be observed and admired within the walls of a Mexican dwelling. ”

“ Besides, the fastidious taste of the Mexican as to color and texture is lost sight of; they forget his whole nature is antagonistic to dull colors, coarse woof, and unseemly assortment. The French have caught the popular fancy in taste and delicacy. Light and airy fabrics with cunning devices, adding unique effects to the artistic arrangement, catch at once the Mexican eye.
Foreigners from the old country are content to make a very little headway at a time, and to utilize every facility they can command to the very best advantage. ”