Lambityeco, Oaxaca and Teotihuacan Revisited

I feel so lucky to be here in Mexico! And I absolutely love Oaxaca. Each time that I visit this favorite place of mine, I get to see a new place or archaeological site. This time I went to Lambityeco, a Zapotec site that is really quite small but fascinating. It's surrounded by mountains that just add to the site's mystique. I cannot stress how small this site is compared to other places that I have been to, but it was interesting and a quick visit. But, after all, I was in Oaxaca and I was so excited to be able to visit another ancient Zapotec site.

Lambityeco was one of the Zapotec city-states that flourished as Monte Alban began to collapse. It's located in the middle of the eastern Tlacolula arm of the Oaxaca Valley and probably had a population of about 4,000 by 800CE. The Zapotecs here also incorporated the pattern of having tombs as part of their residences. Lambityeco's ruler, the coqui, and the chief priest (or bigana), had elaborate residences here that followed the pattern of tombs underneath their own houses. The last occupants of the coqui's house seem to have been Lord 8 Death and Lady 5 Reed, whose remains were the last to be interred in the multi-occupant tomb. There are some plaster portraits of Lord 8 Death's grandparents and great-grandparents on the tomb's facade. Lambityeco's flourescence lasted only a bit after 800CE before its decline.

And here are the famous "mascarones" found at Lambityeco. Although it is a very small site, these two mascarones really made it a worthwhile visit. The more I learn about the Zapoteca, the more interested I am in this culture's iconography, religious, and ideological beliefs. Tami and Vicki alerted me to the fact that built into the low walls at Lambityeco were shards of pottery so I included a picture of that (we found that to be quite interesting). Also, what a setting for this small little site! I looked around and all that I could see were mountains off in the distance. It's very beautiful here in the Oaxaca Valley!

And here I am (again!) at Teotihuacan! I posted quite a lengthy entry last year on Teotihuacan so I won't go into the scholarly details of this great, ancient city, but I just wanted to post a few pics of the "city (or dwelling) of the gods". We still do not know what languages were spoken here (although Nahuatl may have been one of them, perhaps another would have been a language imported from Oaxaca), who the people were that lived here, etc. but I just find this place so fascinating (and I think Vicki and Tami did as well). I had to include a picture of the pyramid of the sun (the largest of the three pyramids at Teotihuacan), a picture of me with the pyramid of the moon behind me, and the incline that one has to ascend in order to get to the top of the pyramid of the sun (it's quite the climb!). I enjoyed being able to come here again. I am perpetually intrigued by this place; perhaps one day we'll have more answers than questions about Teotihuacan!

More Day of the Dead!!

So I thought that I would need two entries for Days of the Dead in Oaxaca and I was right! I could probably do a third one but I think that with these two entries, we can all get the picture, right? My good friends Vicki and Tami came down to Mexico to visit me and go with me to Oaxaca (where else?) for Days of the Dead. We had a great time and I enjoyed being able to spend some time with Vicki and Tami again. They even brought me this skeleton hoodie (and we could have zipped up the hood to look like real skeletons but we didn't do that). So we were the three amigos during our trip to Oaxaca. Here are just a few pictures from around Oaxaca (I love how even at restaurants they decorate with these big glowing orange crosses!). I thought that I would include the picture where three guys are trying to kill me! I couldn't really keep a straight face so it looks like their tickling me with their weapons and not trying to really kill me, but it was a funny moment anyhow. It was a great third year in a row in Oaxaca for Days of the Dead and I enjoyed it immensely!

The night of November 1st was truly a busy one for the centro of Oaxaca. There were several corteges, there was a presentation, kind of like a play, and various groups of people all dressed up walking around the zocalo. And kids kept coming up to us asking us for their "calaveritas" (which means 'little skulls' but actually they meant that they wanted candy or money!-one kid even suggested that I give him my sunglasses so I think that they wanted some kind of gift, no matter how large or small). But it was interesting to observe all of these different kinds of celebrations that were happening simultaneously in Oaxaca. I particularly liked the group of people that were all dressed up but had the skeleton masks on. Aren't they so cool?

Here are some pictures from the night of November 1st. Vicki, Tami and I were walking around the zocalo taking pictures and all of a sudden I noticed this cortege was forming and we ran to catch up to it and take some photos. I just absolutely love the centro of Oaxaca because of this. This procession came by and there was music and obviously dancing and these crazy costumes! And all of these people just started taking pictures and falling into the tail-end of the procession as it went around the streets of Oaxaca.

And lastly, here are some of the famous tapetes found in Oaxaca. This year, the tapetes were absolutely enormous! I remember that last year they were much smaller and there were several more of them because the people that make them could fit them much more easily into one city block. But I was very impressed with these; the colors, the designs, the time and the effort it took, and the proud and open display of the tapetes are all truly impressive components of celebrating these special days in Oaxaca. This first image is from what used to be the government municipal building of the city of Oaxaca but has now been converted into something else. I really enjoyed being able to spend this third year in a row in Oaxaca for Days of the Dead!!

Day(s) of the Dead- OAXACA!!!

I just absolutely love Day of the Dead in Oaxaca. This year my friends Vicki and her mom Tami accompanied me to Oaxaca so that I could spend a third year in a row in Oaxaca for Day of the Dead. It's an incredible feeling to be able to come here for this holiday and observe the people, the cemeteries (or Panteon), and just spend some time in one of my favorite places that I have ever visited. So here are some images of the Panteon San Miguel, the first cemetery that we went to on the night of the 31st of October. When people refer to the Day of the Dead in Mexico, I think we should really call it Days of the Dead because yes, Nov 1st and 2nd are the "true" days of the dead, but people begin celebrating these days at the end of October and into the first week of November so it's a celebration for over a week, not just one day! I love the mixture of religious symbols with ghostly (and sometimes ghastly) images of the dead! Oaxaca is the place to be (for me!) during Days of the Dead. This year was so much fun and I can't wait to post some more pics from my visit to Oaxaca and the time that Vicki, Tami and I were able to spend there.

And here are some more images from the Panteon de San Miguel. I just love the altars; they're so colorful and decorated quite ostentatiously. A band plays every year and it adds to the excitement and ambiance of the cemetery. There are several groups of people that come to this particular panteon in order to film these Days of the Dead for documentaries. Each year that I have been here, I have seen different decorations and different ways that they set up everything so it's interesting to compare and contrast the last three years at this panteon.

Here is the Panteon de Xoxo in Oaxaca. I have had the privilege of being able to come here three years in a row now!! There are always thousands of people here, the most that I have ever seen at a cemetery! It is just an amazing experience to be able to observe how the graves are decorated, what the people do (sing, tell stories, eat and sleep at the graves, etc.) and how these days are celebrated. This year was no exception to my amazement and pure joy of being able to come here again and share these Days of the Dead with my friends Vicki and Tami.

We had such a great time visiting the Panteones or cemeteries in Oaxaca. Finally this year I was able to take some pictures of the panteon Xoxo, which is short for Xoxocotlan, a barrio outside of the city of Oaxaca. I hope that some of these photos illustrate the ambiance of the panteon. I just think that the graves are so beautifully decorated with Zempasuchil, the flower of the Day of the Dead (marigolds). I was really excited that I was able to take pictures here without my camera either running out of battery power or not having any room for pics.