The saint and the city
By Arturo Morales September 5, 2008 San Miguel de Allende
Lecture
Las Fiestas Patronales
Arturo Morales
Tue, Sep 9, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
The cultural richness of San Miguel de Allende and this region are manifested in the city's exuberant celebration of its patron saint that closes the cycle of holidays and celebrations of September.
Our city received its name from the famous friar who founded the first Spanish town of San Miguel Archangel in 1542 around the San Miguel River (today, the Laja) and the stream of Cachinches wetland, Fray Juan de San Miguel. However, it was the Otomí leader Conin, later baptized Hernando de Tapia, who helped spread Catholicism in the region by integrating Mesoamerican indigenous rituals with Catholic rites and beliefs. San Miguel's unique rituals embody a long cultural heritage and constitute one of the city's most important cultural monuments.
With multiple roots and suffused with local identity, the festival of the patron Saint Michael the Archangel mixes Catholic liturgy and indigenous rituals. The holiday falls near the autumn equinox, the end of the green, fertile season, and marks the harvest and the transition to winter.
In his lecture and slide show about the city and the saint, Arturo Morales explores how ancient rituals have found their modern translation in explosions of fireworks and dancing and the movement from pre-Hispanic spirituality to modern-day, cosmopolitan San Miguel de Allende.
Hypnotherapy can uncover hidden blocks to growth
By Renee Devereaux, M.S.
Lecture
Creating change
Tue, Sep 9, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation
Can you count the number of times you have attempted to change a behavior pattern that is causing you some type of discomfort?
It doesn’t matter whether the change required developing healthier eating habits in order to lose weight or developing awareness so you can end a destructive behavior that causes you, your partner or your family grief. Were you successful? Or did you fail in most attempts? Did you blame yourself for lack of discipline? Did each failure cause a decrease in self-esteem?
I know that most of us have been guilty of failing in our desire to create change, and most of us have attacked ourselves in some way. These attacks are not justified. We fail to recognize exactly why we sabotage our efforts. We can’t understand why we fail so miserably, especially when the outcome is so important to us.
We really need to understand the motivation for our behaviors.
Behaviors are influenced by our internal health, of that there should be no question. I want to point out that malfunctioning organs often cause objectionable behaviors that we assume are an integral part of our personalities when in truth these malfunctions may have developed when we were children or even in the womb and can be brought into balance, thereby changing the behavior pattern. We must learn about these malfunctions because until we do we often beat ourselves up and find ourselves unlovable.
The willingness to change does not in itself imply that change will occur. Even though you may gain knowledge, you must become aware of the commitment required to change those age-old patterns—a commitment to embark on a journey of self-discovery, becoming aware of your thoughts and thought patterns. Thoughts, based on your beliefs and conditioning from your environment, will generate your emotions and feelings, and these in turn will determine the state of your health, wealth and beauty.
The most important cause for lack in our lives and what most of us are resistant to believing is that we will always attract what we are like, rather than what we want. The simple law of attraction is often misunderstood because, too often, we identify only with the “good” aspects of ourselves while denying the “dark” aspects.
We all want happiness, and we all have conflicting subconscious beliefs that negate that desire. Be willing to delve into the subconscious! Hypnotherapy can help you uncover hidden aspects of yourself that keep you from accomplishing your goals!
Renee Devereaux, M.S., is a certified clinical hypnotherapist, clinical nutritionist and licensed esthetician.
UNAM faculty lecture series begins at Biblioteca
Lecture in Spanish
Feeding Crisis
Roberto Escalante Semerena
Sat, Sep 6, noon
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Free
A series of talks will be offered by the Faculty of Economics of UNAM at Teatro Santa Ana. The first, titled “Feeding Crisis,” will take place on Saturday, September 6, at noon and will be given by Roberto Escalante Semerena, head of the faculty. Although the conference will be in Spanish, it will be a good opportunity for English speakers to practice learning the language. Entrance is free of charge. Future lectures in the series cost 100 pesos and all the funds raised will be used to enlarge and improve the UNAM center at the Biblioteca and improve the course program, which will be offered by the Faculty of Economics in this center. We invite all economists, interested persons and UNAM supporters to attend these conferences.
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