Women’s Campaign Fund Dinner and Hispanic Children’s Fund

The annual benefit for the Committee for the Hispanic Children’s Fund is one event where not only you will get to sample a wide array of Latino dishes (we are serving our famous chicharron (pork crackling salad)  but you can dance Latin music to your heart’s content.  At least that’s been the case in previous [...]

Ballet Folklorico de Mexico and Muralism Without Walls -Mexican Cultural Institute

The highlight of my first trip to Mexico City when I was a teenager was seeing the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico at Bellas Artes, the mostly art-deco theater with the splendid Tiffany curtain.  I was enthralled but that was many years ago and when I saw it two years ago I must admit I was [...]

La Candelaria in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz

The Feast of La Candelaria in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz is certainly one of the most spectacular and joyous celebrations that I have ever been a part of.
People flock here from all Mexico at the time of the major town fiesta, La Candelaria (Candlemas Day), February 2.  I have never seen the famed Pamplona-like running of the [...]

Festival of the City of Merida, Yucatan

Now that Merida, Yucatan, has become THE place for US ex-pats to settle and a major tourist destination, this yearly festival has evolved into quite an international affair judging from the promotional material and reviews of last year’s performances.  It’s no secret that I prefer to experience local popular culture when traveling  but I’m sure [...]

Three Kings’ Day Celebrations

My personal memories of the Christmas season are probably different from those of southern Mexicans, for we had many Americanized customs in the north.  We celebrated Christmas pretty much as we do now in New York and exchanged gifts on Christmas Day. We never celebrated Three King’s Day , January 6th, which is the gift-giving [...]

El Pedimento – New Year’s Eve in Mitla and Juquila, Oaxaca

El Pedimento – January 31st in Oaxaca
Curiously of all the items I’ve posted in the last year, this post has gotten the most hits .  I imagine that its popularity is rooted in magic or wishful thinking.  It would be wonderful if our wishes became our realities though there’s that famous line “More tears have [...]

Our Lady of Guadalupe

The next big celebration in the Mexican and Mexican/American calendar is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.  The festivities begin around midnight with a serenade by groups of mariachis and other singers that is kicked off with Las Mananitas, the Mexican birthday song. The Virgin of Guadalupe has symbolized the Mexican nation [...]

Sweet Potato Casserole

Around this time every year people start calling to ask for my sweet potato casserole recipe.  It was actually not my original recipe but rather I learned to make it from my dear friend, Alex Baker, who had learned it from his friend Johnny.  But it’s mine now and I share it with you to [...]

The Thrill of Mariachi

It’s been 5 days now and I still feel the thrill of hearing those first notes of Las Mananitas, the Mexican birthday song, being played by 20 different groups of mariachi that had come together into a perfectly conducted and practiced mariachi orchestra to celebrate the feast day of Santa Cecilia, the patron Saint of musicians in Brooklyn on November 23 . It was extraordinarily moving, uplifting and filled my heart with so much joy I felt I would explode.

Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art Sale

Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art (FOFA) together with
the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and the
Mexico Tourism Board
invite you—con gusto! —to a
HOLIDAY FOLK ART SALE
Benefiting the artesanos of Oaxaca, Mexico
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 13-15, 2009
in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Opening Night Celebration—Friday 6:30—9:30 pm $25 admission
Be among the first to shop! Enjoy Mexican refreshments.
Entry fee [...]

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