maya
8 states are on land that was Mexican (History Channel video)
Know your history: The Mayans and the Aztecs developed advanced civilizations and eight U.S. states sit on land that used to be Mexico.
POCHO HISTORY 101: Los Pachucos Indigenas (toon)
[You can see lots more from JAKE PRENDEZ — and buy prints — at his website.]
Quebec kid pinpoints lost Mayan city because constellations
A 15-year-old from Quebec, Canada, has pinpointed the location of a lost Mayan city, and he found it by looking at the stars.
A 15-year-old boy believes he has discovered a forgotten Mayan city using satellite photos and Mayan astronomy.
Maya civilization chose the location of its towns and cities according to its star constellations.
Mas…Quebec kid pinpoints lost Mayan city because constellations
Scientists: We’ve decoded more than 80% of Mayan hieroglyphs
The meaning of the intricate and striking hieroglyphs of the ancient Mayans have resisted decoding for centuries, but now some scientists claim the secrets will soon be revealed.
For hundreds of years, linguists have been trying to decode the ancient hieroglyphic script of the Mayans, left behind on monument carvings, painted pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books.
Mas…Scientists: We’ve decoded more than 80% of Mayan hieroglyphs
Pocho Nerd Pride Alert: The Maya counting system is awesome (toon)
The Maya, as we all know from Stand and Deliver, were bad ass – one of few ancient civilizations to create the concept of zero.
Since I am an awesome Latina nerd myself, I must share this awesome official Chilean government education ministry photograph of an actual ancient awesome Maya dude counting some stuff out in front of a chart of the awesome Maya counting system.
Mas…Pocho Nerd Pride Alert: The Maya counting system is awesome (toon)
Scientists: There’s a water-filled cave under Chichen Itza (video)
Mexican scientists have discovered a cave/sinkhole/subterranean river underneath the ruins of the Kukulkan Pyramid at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.
Euronews reports on last week’s announcement:
Mas…Scientists: There’s a water-filled cave under Chichen Itza (video)
The molcajete: Mexico’s stone-age cooking tech still rules (video)
The continued popularity of the molcajete (mortar) and companion tejolote (pestle) is a living example of the principle “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The Chipotle Diaries: Is this pseudo Mayan ‘art’ a tribute or ripoff?
When we last visited the Chipotle Mexican Grill saga, the issue was the inability of the food chain to find any Latino writers to feature on their writer-decorated packaging.
Have they learned? An observant blogger and Mayan art geek in Philadelphia visited a Center City Chipotle Mexican Grill location and did a quick double-take when he saw the bas-relief artwork on the walls.
Here’s how University of Pennsylvania grad student Taylor Jones tells the story:
Mas…The Chipotle Diaries: Is this pseudo Mayan ‘art’ a tribute or ripoff?
Wonder Woman and Marya la Giant fight Mexibandidos (1945 toon)
I love it when my vocation and avocation converge as they do in this wonderful comic installment of Wonder Woman from the one and only Pappy’s Golden Age Comic Blogzine. Pappy explains:
This delightfully oddball tale is set in Mexico with a beautiful eight-foot-tall señorita, bandits with bandoleros, Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, chains, bondage, and even Wonder Woman in bare feet walking over hot coals. Wow.
This Mexican melange is drawn by H.G. Peter, and is scanned from Sensation Comics #45 (1945).
An illustrator and lover of classic comics and a curator of artifacts focused on constructions of “Mexicans” in U.S. mass culture, rarely do I chance upon an artifact that blends these worlds (not to mention my not-so-secret fetish for fantastically strong women!)
Here’s a page from the issue featuring bandit “Mexicans,” Wonder Woman, freakish “Marya the Amazon maid” y mucho mas more [click to enlarge.]
Mas…Wonder Woman and Marya la Giant fight Mexibandidos (1945 toon)
Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)
Long before the European invasion, the original inhabitants of Mexico were making amazingly complex food and taking complete of advantage of every creature that flew, swam, wriggled or crawled. That’s right. We’re talking edible insects. Correspondent Aissa García reports from Mexico, DF for Conexión Global on Caracas, Venezuela network teleSUR:
Mas…Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)
Was Batman really BatMayan? One artist says ‘¡Si!’ (photos)
Long story short: Batman is 75 years old and Warner Home Entertainment Mexico and the Mexican Museum of Design commissioned local artists to make their own Batdudes — en estilo mexicano.
Mas…Was Batman really BatMayan? One artist says ‘¡Si!’ (photos)
Massive ancient Mayan cities found deep in Mexican jungle
Archeologists have re-discovered two ancient Mayan cities deep in the Yucatan jungle — massive cities with plazas, buildings and pyramids, some over six stories high.
One spectacular find was a monster mouth portal carved with a stylized earth monster eye and fangs along the doorway jamb (photo.)
The cities, Lagunita and Tamchen, flourished in what is called the Late and Terminal Classic periods (600-1000 A.D.).
Mas…Massive ancient Mayan cities found deep in Mexican jungle
Pocho Ocho top Aztec deities we could sure use today
In these troubled times, God[ess] knows, we could use some help from indigenous, culturally-appropriate deities.
Here are the Pocho Ocho top Aztec gods we could sure use today:
8. Chingilipochtli, god of payback
7. Guautemoc, god of amazement and wonder
6. Spocktezuma, god of living long and prospering tambien
HipHopAlkatraz and Midget Loco: ‘Me-xicano’ (NSFW music video)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. HipHopAlkatraz and Midget Loco are proud to say Me Xicano. (NSFW language.)
Mayans cooked their food with balls, archaeologists say
The ancient Mayans cooked their food with balls, according to recent archaeological discoveries.
The 1-2-inch clay balls were unearthed at an excavation of a kitchen at Escalera al Cielo in Yucatán.
Thought to be 1000 years old, the balls contained microscopic pieces of maize, beans, squash and root crops.
Scientists desecrate Mayan tomb of Chak, King of El Zotz (video)
The desecration of Mayan heritage sites by so-called scientists continues in Guatemala, and the invaders just released a video to trumpet their “rediscovery” of the ancient Mayan Temple of the Night Sun near the town of El Zotz.
The interlopers will rediscover their fight or flight reactions on December 21 when they come face-to-face with the reincarnated spirit of Chak, who was once the King of El Zotz. The crew is currently looting Chak’s tomb.
Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar.
Mas…Scientists desecrate Mayan tomb of Chak, King of El Zotz (video)
LaChata’s Music Box: Aztlan Underground’s newest video ‘Our Nature’
With love from LaChata: For 20 years, Aztlan Underground has presented an evolution of consciousness intertwined with pre-Colombian thoughts, feelings and sounds. In a search for the other — the unknown — Aztlan Underground gives birth to a visceral sound that challenges listeners.
Check out their new, visually-stunning music video Our Nature. It starts with indigenous drums, channels the apocalyptic opera of the Doors and celebrates the natural animal spirit that inhabits us all.
From the hidden vaults of the Mayan pyramids, two more videos below:
Mas…LaChata’s Music Box: Aztlan Underground’s newest video ‘Our Nature’