Surreal exuberance in the jungle
By Arturo Morales Tirado August 15, 2008 San Miguel de Allende
Lecture
Xilitla
Tue, Aug 19 at 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
50 pesos
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Among the shadows of enormous tropical trees in the middle of the jungle of the eastern Mexican Sierra Madre Oriental, the Huastecos developed over a period of 3,500 years. As a people, they claim descent from the hero-god Cuextécatl. |
The natural exuberance of its rivers, flora and fauna, and the fertility of its soil, earned the name Tonacapan or food place from the Mexicas (the Spanish called them Aztecs). Visitors thus have two powerful reasons to explore the region: a beautiful natural heritage in its jungle and its cultural monuments, thousands of them, spanning eras from the dawn of Mesoamerican civilization to the present.
The Huasteca region is in northeastern Mexico, mainly the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz and San Luis Potosí, but its area of influence extends to the states of Hidalgo, Guanajuato and Querétaro. Regional music is the son huasteco (Cuban, flamenco and indigenous fusion, notable for virtuoso violinists) and the troubadour tradition of the Topada in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro and Guanajuato. The region is noteworthy for erotic pre-Hispanic sculptures, cecina (dried beef) with chiles toreados, citrus orchards, trapiches (sugar cane mills) converted into sumptuous hotels, 400-year-old vice-regal chapels and the archaeological sites of Tamtoc and Tamohí. Natural attractions are the Tampaón and Santa Maria rivers, Micos and Tamasopo waterfalls, the Bridge of God, the spring of Laguna de la Media Luna (Lake Crescent), geological holes, bird refuges, the Cave of Swallows and Basement of Clay.
| The third major reason for visiting the Huasteca is to experience Sir Edward James’s surreal, unique architectural monuments and sculptures integrated into one of the best-preserved Huasteca jungles. | |
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Seven sensual and beautiful natural pools of water, surrounded by gardens of orchids and the chants of hundreds of tropical birds, make Las Pozas in Xilitla a unique and wonderful place.
I invite you to enjoy this unique experience in this week’s lecture on the Huasteca and Xilitla, surreal exuberance in the Mexican jungle.
Eloquent, youthful leader on the rise
By Lauren Lesko
Lecture
Astrology Series: August Eclipses
Tue, Aug 19, 6:30pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
Eclipses are major events in astrology and no wonder; they are the intimate aligning of the three most significant players of the zodiac—the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant. In astrology the Sun represents our life vitality, our unique individuality; the Moon our instinctual needs for security; and the Ascendant how we view the world. When we experience a solar eclipse, the Moon has moved between the Sun and the Earth and our life vitality is momentarily depleted as our emotional need for security disrupts our view of the world, stimulating us to set new agendas and patterns in our life. When we experience a lunar eclipse, the Earth has moved between the Sun and the Moon and the way we view the world casts a long shadow on our need for emotional security, stimulating us to break old habits or eliminate social conditioning in ways that will enhance our self-awareness and unique individuality.
During August we will experience a solar and a lunar eclipse. The solar eclipse was on August 1 at 9.32 degrees of Leo, and the Lunar Eclipse is on August 16 at 24.21 degrees of Aquarius. The theme of the Leo and Aquarius eclipses is the conflict between the creative self-expression of the individual verses the ideology of the group. Two fruitful questions we can ask ourselves are: how can we integrate our unique individuality with the hopes, wishes and aspirations of our community, and how successful are the communities that we have created in honoring and respecting the ideas and opinions of each unique individual?
Well-known astrologer Janet Kane recently wrote on the August eclipses, “The solar eclipse being conjunct Mercury in Leo points to an eloquent, youthful leader on the world stage. This eclipse will conjunct the US’s north node. There could be an ambitious offensive action and financial problems due to unexpected expenses.”
Please join me on August 19 for a lively astrological talk on possible effects of the August eclipses on the relationship between the Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and the US government.
To read about the relevance of astrology in your daily life, visit www.LaurenLesko.com.
Hieroglyphic writing in Mexico
Lecture
The Magnificent Maya: Part I
Professor Guillermo Méndez
Wed, Aug 20, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
They were the most advanced of all the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. The Maya inhabited southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and the western boundaries of Honduras and El Salvador. They built cities and paved roadways, although they used no wheeled vehicles of any kind. Their astronomers plotted the movements of the visible planets and stars using a mathematics that included zero, a rare accomplishment in world history. They were the only people of the New World to develop a complete written language, based on 800 phonetic signs (versus our 26) representing a syllable. They made books that combined illustrations and glyphs. The magnificent Maya are the subject of a lecture by retired professor of humanities Guillermo Méndez that will focus on architecture and art, the Bonampak murals and Maya mathematics.