Telling a story with pictures
By Professor Guillermo Mendez August 8, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Lecture
The Daily Life of the Aztecs
Professor Guillermo Mendez
Wed, Aug 13, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

One of the most fascinating documents of the immediate post-conquest era in Mexico is the Aztec book known as the Codex Mendoza. The codex was commissioned by the first viceroy of New Spain (Mexico), Antonio de Mendoza.

It was made by Aztec scribes in the Aztec style of the early sixteenth century. Since the Aztecs had no written language, their books contained only images. Nevertheless they were able to communicate a great deal as the Codex Mendoza reveals. The codex was made at about the same time that San Miguel de Allende was founded: 1541–42.

With a little knowledge it is possible to “read” this document and gain considerable insight into the culture of the reigning indigenous power in central Mexico in the early 16th century. The codex contains sections on the history and conquests of the Aztec kings, the tax or tribute lists of conquered cities, and perhaps most interesting of all, a section on Aztec daily life, including birth ceremonies, marriage rites, child-rearing practices, education, warfare training, and moral customs.

The Codex Mendoza is the subject of an illustrated lecture (in English) by retired professor of Humanities Guillermo Méndez. The proceeds of this lecture will benefit the Pre-Hispanic Music Workshop for Mexican kids.

Four generations of foreigners in San Miguel
By Arturo Morales Tirado

Lecture
Arturo Morales Tirado
Tue, Aug 12, 1:30pm 
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

Seventy years ago began the boom of foreigners in San Miguel de Allende; like many other amazing histories in the world, this began with the circumstantial effort of two extraordinary men who fell in love with this city—Stirling Dickinson and Felipe Cosío del Pomar. Their efforts created one of the first state laws in on the American continent for the protection of a city with a unique cultural and natural heritage: “Ley de Protección de la ciudad típica de San Miguel de Allende.”

The first foreigners, who arrived in the forties and fifties, came from the moral shock created by the Second World War.

In the sixties and seventies, under the auspices of a search for new forms of expression, San Miguel de Allende was an open city where a new “mestization” was being born. At the end of the eighties and nineties, during the rise of consumer society and consumerism, San Miguel de Allende saw the arrival of yet another generation of foreigners.

In these 70 years, three generations coexisted. A new, fourth generation of foreigners and Mexicans not born in San Miguel de Allende conforms to the cosmopolitan personality of our fair pueblo.


This week, at the Teatro Santa Ana, we will approach this subject with greater depth, in a presentation with slides.