By Brooke Gazer

Since Ancient times, in both Europe and Mesoamerica, purple has been associated with royalty and special religious ceremonies. As this exquisitely rich color was both rare and time consuming to achieve, collectors of purple dye were highly respected. Today only twenty five men remain on earth who are continuing the ancient tradition of collecting purple dye. This craft has been passed down to them by their ancestors over several centuries. These dyers travel from the remote village of Pinotepa de Don Luis to work the rocky Oaxacan shoreline north of Huatulco Continue reading The Color Purple →

By Neal Erickson

Music has, for centuries, been an integral part of the life and culture of the indigenous people of Mexico. Before the arrival of the first Spanish Conquistadors they used conch shell horns, reed and wooden flutes and various drums and other percussive instruments to make music to enhance their ceremonial life. When the priests of the Spanish Conquest began introducing their brand of Christianity to the Mexican people, they brought instruments whose intended use was to be strictly for religious ceremonies but to the dismay and objection of the clergy, the indigenous people began to use them for secular songwriting and performance as well. Continue reading Mariachi →

By Caryl Delaney

I had the honor of being invited to an Isthmus wedding last year. The groom, Asa Buchanan, was a young English teacher from London and the bride Karina Nuricumbo´s family was from Juchitán. It was an enormous, colorful affair held in an event hall right near the highway leaving the city. Continue reading Juchitan Wedding →