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Long-form pieces that expand on the videos: context, sources, full recipes and field notes.
Day of the Dead: a Tradition Made of Many Deaths and Many Lives
Day of the Dead did not emerge intact from a Mexica ceremony, nor was it suddenly born with Catholicism. It is a plural tradition, shaped over centuries by Indigenous calendars, Christian observances, family practices, popular imagery and modern ways of imagining Mexico.
September 2026
Teotihuacán: a city built to outlast its names
Before it was called the City of the Gods, Teotihuacán was a multiethnic metropolis that shaped the landscape, brought together neighborhoods of people from distant lands, and extended its influence across much of Mesoamerica. Its history can still be read among pyramids, murals, tunnels, and unanswered questions.
September 2026
Tata Vasco and the Living Map of Artisan Towns
Vasco de Quiroga did not invent the arts of Michoacán, but he did play a role in organizing them and helped turn them into a network of specialized towns. Through hospital-towns, trades, evangelization, and the legal defense of Indigenous people, his project left a profound mark, though one less perfect than legend would have it.
September 2026
El Seco, Puebla: Memory of a Stoneworking Town
In San Salvador el Seco, volcanic stone did more than raise walls: it gave generations of stonemasons and stoneworkers a trade, character, and an everyday aesthetic.
September 2026
Porfirio Díaz: The Hero Who Became a Dictator
Porfirio Díaz went from fighting invasions and denouncing presidential reelection to ruling Mexico for more than three decades. This is the story of a dazzling and unequal modernization, sustained by pacts, controlled elections, and violence.
August 2026
The journey to Mictlan: nine regions, four years and a dog that knows the way
For the Mexica, dying did not mean receiving reward or punishment: it meant setting out on a journey. This is the route the deceased took to Mictlan, through colliding mountains, obsidian winds and a river that could only be crossed with a dog’s help.
August 2026
Seven Myths About Mexican History That Deserve a Second Look
From the Grito de Dolores to Día de Muertos: seven national narratives revisited without throwing history in the trash or replacing one myth with another.
August 2026
The Mexican Flag: The Colors Before the Myth
The Mexican flag was not born with a single, immutable meaning. Its tricolor comes from the Army of the Three Guarantees of 1821: white represented religion, green independence, and red union; today’s interpretations came much later.
August 2026
The Real de a Ocho: The Mexican Coin That Traveled the World
Minted for centuries in New Spain, the Real de a Ocho crossed oceans, paid for goods and left its mark on currencies as familiar as the dollar. This is the story of the silver disk that turned the world into a marketplace.
August 2026
The Red That Crossed the Ocean: Cochineal Between Kings and Rembrandt
From the Mexican nopal came one of the most coveted pigments of the early modern era. Cochineal clothed European elites, circulated across empires, and helped create the deep reds of painting, including Rembrandt’s palette.
August 2026
Why did we name it Mexico if we defeated the “Aztecs” (Mexicas)?
The name Mexico did not survive by oversight: it went from referring to Mexico-Tenochtitlan and its valley to naming a viceroyalty, an independent nation and a shared identity. The history, moreover, is more complex than a simple duel between Spaniards and Mexicas.
August 2026
Mexican Independence did not begin the way we were told
In 1810, Hidalgo did not call for the immediate founding of a republic separate from Spain: he led a rebellion in the name of Ferdinand VII, the captive king. The war began as a dispute over sovereignty within a monarchy in crisis and ended, eleven years later, in a conservative, Catholic, and monarchical independence.
August 2026
The Trauma of the Conquered: A Contested Wound
The Conquest brought violence, epidemics and dispossession, but also Indigenous responses that do not fit the image of a people defeated forever. We revisit the so-called “trauma of the conquered,” its scope, its pitfalls and the traces that still shape Mexican memory.
August 2026
The Carnival of San Martín Tilcajete: When the Town Paints on Another Face
In San Martín Tilcajete, the days leading up to Lent fill the streets with paint, masks, music and satire. Carnival is a collective work where devils, brides, old men and mock authorities hold up a mirror to the town, one as ancient as it is ever-shifting.
August 2026
Beyond the Conquest: Hernán Cortés's Journey
Before the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, there were shipwrecks, translations, Indigenous alliances, massacres, and decisions made on the brink of disaster. This is Hernán Cortés's journey, seen not as the inevitable march of a hero, but as an uncertain enterprise that transformed the Mesoamerican world.
August 2026
When Cacao Bought the World
Before it became a chocolate bar, cacao was an offering, a prestigious drink, and a means of payment. Its history reveals that, in Mesoamerica, the sacred and the economic shared a table.
August 2026
Malintzin: the Woman Behind “La Malinche”
An interpreter, mediator, and political figure in the conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Malintzin has for centuries carried blame that does not belong to her. Returning to the sources allows us to see her life without easy absolution or inherited condemnation.
August 2026
10 Positive Aspects of the Conquest
The conquest of Mexico produced lasting exchanges in language, food, technology and institutions. It was also a war accompanied by epidemics, exploitation and dispossession. These ten facts explain its legacies without turning a historical tragedy into a list of benefits.
August 2026
Where did the Mexican hat everyone knows come from?
The so-called “Mexican hat” did not begin as a costume or an airport souvenir: it took shape through equestrian work, haciendas, and charro culture, eventually becoming a national emblem thanks to painting, photography, and film.
August 2026
The gold did cross the ocean: conquest, cultural mixing, and stone in New Spain
History cannot be reduced to two slogans: the Spanish did extract and ship metals to Europe, but the wealth of New Spain also built churches, convents, cities, and fortunes in the Americas. We examine what happened to the gold, how a mestizo society took shape, and why talking about cultural mixing should not erase war, alliances, or coercion.
August 2026
Voladores de Papantla: What Is the Flight For?
The history, symbols, and purpose of the Voladores de Papantla ceremony: a plea for rain and fertility that connects art, territory, memory, and community life.
August 2026
Carnitas in a hammered copper cazo: low heat and crisp edges
A homemade recipe for carnitas in a copper cazo that explains the ingredients, safety, heat control, and the exact moment when slow cooking turns into crisp browning.
August 2026
The Taco: Pre-Hispanic or Spanish?
The tortilla and the practice of wrapping food have Mesoamerican roots; the name, many meats and much of the taco repertoire emerged later. A history of the taco without bogus birth certificates.
August 2026
August 13, 1521: the fall of Tenochtitlan and the many births of mestizaje
On August 13, 1521, the siege of Tenochtitlan ended, but Indigenous history did not. A reading of the war, its alliances and epidemics, and the unequal mestizaje that transformed Mexico’s art, language and memory.
August 2026
Before Salsa: The Long History of Chile in Mexico
From wild chile to salsa made in a molcajete: a story of domestication, markets, rituals, and global journeys that began thousands of years before Mexico existed.
August 2026
La Llorona: Where the Cry That Echoes Across Mexico Comes From
La Llorona does not have a single origin: her lament brings together ancient Nahua omens, colonial figures, religious guilt, and modern fears. We explore her many versions, her debated connection to Cihuacóatl and Malintzin, and her journey through film and the canals of Xochimilco.
August 2026
Five Pueblos Mágicos to See Beyond the Picture-Postcard View
Five of Mexico’s best-known towns, told beyond the picture-postcard view: their origins, heritage, legends, conflicts and the responsibilities that come with visiting them.
August 2026
Mexican Lotería: From European Drawings to the Call Across the Table
From European drawings to Mexican fairs, lotería traveled across centuries before bringing together the rooster, the mermaid, and the dandy. This is the story of its images, its calls, and the deck that turned chance into a shared conversation.
August 2026
What came first: the Maya, the Toltecs, or the Aztecs? A straightforward timeline
A clear timeline for understanding who came first among the Maya, Toltecs, and Mexica, where their histories overlapped, and why Mesoamerica cannot be told as a simple succession of empires.
August 2026
Five Mexican Artisan Towns You Have to Visit
A route through San Bartolo Coyotepec, Santa Clara del Cobre, Santa María del Río, San Pablito, and Tonalá to discover clay, metal, textiles, paper, and ceramics in local workshops, with tips for buying in an informed and respectful way.
August 2026
Avocado: The Long History of Mexico’s Green Gold
From the Tehuacán Valley to markets around the world: the long history of the avocado, its place in Mexican cuisine, and the light and shadow of the so-called green gold.
August 2026
Fresh huitlacoche: how to clean it, cook it, and let it speak for itself
A guide to choosing, cleaning, cooking, and seasoning fresh huitlacoche without ruining its texture, with ideas for quesadillas, soups, and tamales, and a note of caution about poorly substantiated historical accounts.
August 2026
5 ways to cook with chapulines: from the comal to the table
Five practical ways to cook chapulines—in salsa, antojitos, seasonings, everyday dishes, and aromatic fats—along with their history, comal techniques, and key safety tips.
August 2026
August Chiles: How to Choose Them, Roast Them and Preserve Their Flavor
A seasonal guide to choosing poblanos, serranos, jalapeños and chilacas, roasting them without erasing their nuances, and safely preserving them so August lasts a little longer.
August 2026
Did El Dorado Really Exist? From the Man Covered in Gold to the Impossible City
El Dorado was not a city of gold, but a legend born from Muisca ceremonies and transformed by conquistadors, chroniclers, and European maps into an impossible kingdom.
August 2026
Colossal Olmec heads: the faces that made mountains travel
Seventeen basalt faces sum up a political, artistic, and logistical feat. We explore who carved the colossal Olmec heads, when they were created, where they were found, and what archaeology can—and cannot—say about the people they portray.
August 2026
The Metal That Remembers: Hammered Copper in Santa Clara
From Mesoamerican metallurgical knowledge to today’s workshops in Santa Clara del Cobre: a story of fire, rhythm, adaptation and Purépecha memory written in hammer blows.
August 2026
San Juan Parangaricutiro: The Town the Lava Could Not Erase
Parícutin was born in 1943 in a Michoacán milpa and forever transformed the lives of two Purépecha communities. This is the story of old San Juan Parangaricutiro, its church amid the lava, and the town that was founded again far from the volcano.
August 2026
Chiles en Nogada: A Recipe, Patience and a Well-Served Legend
A recipe for unbattered chiles en nogada, with a fruit, meat and spice picadillo, a silky nogada and tips for serving them at their best, along with a look at the documented history apart from the legend.
August 2026
From Copal to Creature: How a Fantastic Carving Is Born in Oaxaca
From the tree chosen with patience to the final dot of paint: we follow the process behind the fantastic copal carvings made in Oaxaca’s Central Valleys, with their tools, timelines, family knowledge and the essential care of the forest.
August 2026
Xoloitzcuintle: The Dog That Walked Alongside Mesoamerica
From the meaning of its name to its connection with Xólotl and Mesoamerican burials: a history of the xoloitzcuintle without easy myths, but grounded in archaeology, genetics and a wealth of memory.
August 2026
Alebrijes: The Young Monsters Mexico Turned into Tradition
Alebrijes did not emerge from a pyramid or appear in the codices: they were born in the 20th century, between Pedro Linares’s cartonería workshop and the Oaxacan carvings that later transformed the idea. This is the story of a young, collective tradition that is still evolving.
August 2026
Nixtamal: The Boiling Process That Turned Corn into Sustenance
Water, corn, lime, resting and grinding: nixtamalization may seem simple, but it transforms the grain into a nutritious, pliable masa deeply connected to the everyday history of Mexico.
August 2026
Molcajete: The Story of a Stone That Still Cooks
From pre-Hispanic Mexico to the contemporary kitchen, the molcajete has been used to grind, mix and transform foods for centuries. Its history is tied to corn, chiles, stoneworking trades and a way of cooking in which the tool itself also contributes to the flavor.
August 2026
Barro negro: the earth that learned to hold the night
From the clay bench to the low-oxygen kiln: the history, technique, and transformation of barro negro from San Bartolo Coyotepec, with the decisive contribution of Doña Rosa and the work of generations of potters.
August 2026
How to Make Mole: Technique, Patience and a Pot Full of Mexico
A historical and practical guide to understanding how mole is made: from toasting and grinding to patient cooking, with its Indigenous roots, colonial influences and many regional variations.
August 2026
The Piñata: A Story Made to Be Broken
From the European pignatta to the posadas of Acolman and cartonería workshops: a journey through the documented history, symbols and transformations of the piñata in Mexico.
August 2026
Guelaguetza: The Celebration That Begins with a Gift
Long before it became the grand spectacle of July, guelaguetza was the name for a Zapotec way of giving, reciprocating and building community. We trace its roots, its historical transformation and the many celebrations that now fit under the same word.
August 2026