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In Mexico, it's hard to go to a party, attend a street festival, or deck out a house for a holiday without encountering papier-mâché. The colorful paper craft-known as cartonería (from the Spanish word for cardboard)-headlines on skeletons and otherworldly beings during Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and on piñatas at kids' birthdays and Christmas.

Like many Latin American customs, cartonería has roots in European colonialism and Catholicism. But Mexico's paper works burst with every-day-is-a-fiesta whimsy (lifesize skeletons with sly grins) and dark, timely humor (whack these COVID-19 piñatas). Here's how the colorful practice started, plus where to see and buy papier-mâché in all its temporal glory.

European and indigenous customs

Unlike gleaming talavera tiles in Puebla or embroidered blouses from Chiapas, most cartoneríais ephemeral. Travelers to Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Guanajuato state spot it as inexpensive dolls called lupitas, skull masks for a single posada (procession), or Judas Iscariot effigies packed with fireworks and blown up during Lent.

Mexicans didn't invent papier-mâché. Neither did the French, who gave it its name, which translates as "chewed paper." The earliest known pieces crafted from wood pulp and glue come from the Han Dynasty in China (c. 202 B.C.-220 A.D.) and include soldiers' helmets and pot lids. Although paper-also a Chinese innovation-can be thin and soft, when layered or fortified with a bonding agent (e.g. lacquer, flour-and-water paste) it becomes stiff and durable.

Papier-mâché spread to Europe during the 16th through 18th centuries, where it was molded into boxes, trays, toys, and even furniture. "Cartonería most likely came to Mexico during the colonial era," says Hermés Arroyo, a mojigangas (oversized puppet) artisan in San Miguel de Allende. Similar giant figures of saints and Jesus starred in religious services and festivals in Spain and colonial Mexico; modern artisans like Arroyo shape 16- to 20-foot tall busty brides and rakish grooms, crazy-eyed devils, and Día de los Muertos skeletons.

Each mojiganga has a vibrantly painted papier-mâché head and torso attached to a fabric costume and arms. Puppeteers operate them by stepping into wooden shoulder harnesses and then twirl and whirl in parades and protests around the country. The puppets are popular hired guests at San Miguel de Allende weddings. "San Miguel is creative, quirky, and well-known for its arts community. They just fit in here," says Arroyo, who rents out 20 bride and groom couples.

Piñatas, from pineapples to parties

Piñatas blend disparate influences. On his extended visit to China in the late 13th century, Italian explorer Marco Polo saw locals smashing paper-covered clay vessels shaped like cows and water buffalo, which spilled seeds for the poor to gather. The practice of breaking clay pots filled with offerings migrated to Italy and Spain in the 14th century. Spainards thought the decorated pots resembled piñas (pineapples), and piñatas got their name.

The Spanish brought piñatas to Mexico in the 16th century, where they probably merged with indigenous pot-bashing games. Among the first piñatas, still popular at Christmas: outsized, seven-pointed stars festooned with fringed tissue paper. Historians believe the points represented the seven deadly sins; breaking the thing symbolized charity and salvation.

"They started out as something religious, broken to divide the bounty inside," says Tey Marianna Nunn, the director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "Piñatas continue to be about sharing, whether that's a family event or a child's birthday party."

The museum at NHCC mounted an exhibit of more than 150 piñatas in 2017, including rainbow-striped burros, fringed stars, and likenesses of President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. "They're such a social barometer now," says Nunn. "Whatever is happening in politics, movies, or pop culture, the piñateros [piñata makers] are on it."

New life from Day of the Dead

Día de los Muertos-marked each year from October 31 to November 2-is the liveliest time of year for Mexico's papier-mâché makers. They're slammed stringing together life-size calacas (skeletons), painting filigrees on skull masks, and applying shellac to faux loaves of bread and fruit to use as symbolic offerings on altars ( ofrenda s) to the dead.

"We have an endless number of ways to show skeletons," says Leonardo Linares Vargas, a fifth-generation Mexico City cartoñero. "They can be Catrinas, the fancy hat-wearing women Diego Rivera created, padrecitos de garbanzo [tiny bone figures with chickpea heads], or decorated skulls."

It sounds creepy and dour, but Días de los Muertos remains a happy celebration of ancestors with bright decorations in cemeteries and homes, and, in normal years, street parties amid the pastel-hued colonial buildings of Oaxaca or in Mexico City's Zócalo (main square). Candles, cut-paper banners ( papel picado), and cartonería skeletons decorate two-story-tall ofrenda s in the capital's 600,000-plus-square foot center as locals and tourists in spooky masks amble by.

Magical animals run wild

For the past several years, Mexico City's Day of the Dead has included outdoor displays of compact car-size magical animals called alebrijes. Exhibited near the Zócalo, the critters delightfully go against nature with multiple, disparate parts-say, eagle talons, butterfly wings, leopard legs, and rabbit ears-merged into a single fantastic creature.

"Alebrijes can contain as many animals as our imagination allows us," says Ramón Espinoza, a member of Colectivo Última Hora, which produces them and Godzilla-scale skeletons for Day of the Dead events, including a virtual one this year.

"I might put in the body of a bird and a snake neck, then a head with goat horns and bulging toad eyes," says Vargas, who carries on his grandfather's craft. "Two or four animals come together till you only see one."

Travelers can view alebrijes and other cartonería in Mexico City at the Museo de Arte Popular and the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera. In the U.S., Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art showcases masks, alebrijes, and several graveyards' worth of skeletons.

It's tempting to bring the riotous colors and quirky charm of cartonería home. Look for it at San Miguel's buzzing Mercado de Artesanías or Mexico City's Tekitl Cartonería.

"But the best place for cartonería is at festivals and parties," says Thelmadatter. "You're witnessing things in their original context. Do you want to see a piñata at a museum or a birthday party?"

Jennifer Barger is a senior editor at National Geographic Travel who owns many Day of the Dead skulls. Follow her onInstagram.

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These paper crafts bring the party on Day of the Dead

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In Mexico, it's hard to go to a party, attend a street festival, or deck out a house for a holiday without encountering papier-mâché. The colorful paper craft-known as cartonería (from the Spanish word for cardboard)-headlines on skeletons and otherworldly beings during Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and on piñatas at kids' birthdays and Christmas.

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Rosana - La vida es bonita (Por ellas 2020) [Lyric Video Oficial]

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 During Thanksgiving -Pre-Hispanic origin  of turkey

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 During Thanksgiving -Pre-Hispanic origin  of turkey

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Thaks... México? - La mayoría de los estadounidenses no lo saben pero el pavo (el platillo estrella de ThanksGiving) es mexicano. - ThanksGiving pavo guajolote día de acción de gracias Estados Unidos Trump - HUEXOLOTL GUAJOLOTE) THANKS... MEXICO? PAVO (EL PLATILLO ESTRELLA DE THANKSCNING) ES MEXICANO. LA MAYORÍA DE LOS ESTADOUNIDENSES NO LO SABEN, PERO EL EL PLATILLO ESTRELLA DE EL PAVO COMO LO CONOCEMOS ES UNA ESPECIE QUE DOMESTICARON LOS AZTECAS Y OTRAS CULTURAS PREHISPÁNICAS CUANDO LOS ESPAÑOLES LLEGARON A LO QUE HOY ES MÉXICO, SE LLEVARON VARIOS PAVOS DE VUELTA A EUROPA... .DONDE SE VOLVIÓ UN EXITO ENTRE LAS CLASES ALTAS EN EL SIGLO XVI, LOS INGLESES LO IMPORTARON A GRAN BRETANA. COMO CREÍAN QUE VENÍA DE LA TURQUÍA OTOMANA, LO LLAMARON TURKEY'. LUEGO, EN EL SIGLO XVII, VARIOS COLONOS INGLESES EMIGRARON A LO QUE SERIA ESTADOS UNIDOS... Y LLEVARON PAVOS CONSIGO WAIT. WHAT!? ASÍ FUE COMO UN AVE DE ORIGEN MEXICANO TERMINÓ EN LA MESA DE MILLONES DE ESTADOUNIDENSES Fuente: 'Dear America's Trump voters: That turkey you're eating this Thanksgiving is courtesy of globalization', QUARTZ PICTOLINE.COM - 1552420611

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Thaks... México? - La mayoría de los estadounidenses no lo saben pero el pavo (el platillo estrella de ThanksGiving) es mexicano. - ThanksGiving pavo guajolote día de acción de gracias Estados Unidos Trump - HUEXOLOTL GUAJOLOTE) THANKS... MEXICO? PAVO (EL PLATILLO ESTRELLA DE THANKSCNING) ES MEXICANO.

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¿De dónde vienen los nombres de los días?

¿De dónde vienen los nombres de los días? - Te decimos qué significan los nombres de los días de la semana en inglés y español. - palabras etimología semana lunes martes - DE DONDE VIENEN LOS NOMBRES DE LOS DIAS? (EN INGLES Y EN ESPAÑOL) IN ENGLISH EN ESPAÑOL MONDAY LUNES MÖN DAY LUNA) (DIA) 0 DIES LUNAE DIA DE LA LUNA) MARTES DIES MARTIS TUESDAY TYR DE LA GUERRA WEDNESDAY DIOS GERMANICO DÍA DE MARTE) MIÉRCOLES WODEN MEJOR CONOCIDO COMO "ODIN' DIES MERCURII O DADE MERCURIO) THURSDAY JUEVES THOR YEP, EL DIOS DEL TRUENO DIES JOVIS (DIA DE JUPITER) NY、(.71M FRIDAY VIERNES FRIGG DIOSA DEL CIELO Y ESPOSA DE ODIN DIES VENERIS (DÍA DE VENUS) SATURDAY SÁBADO תבש DIES SATURNI SATURNUS SATURNO SHABBAT DESCANSO O CESAR (DE TRABAJAR) EN HEBREO , SUNDAY DOMINGO DIES SOLIS! SUN SOL) DOMINICUS DIA DEL SENOR Fuente: 'Why are there seven days in a week?'. BBC. PICTOLINE - 1552420620

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¿De dónde vienen los nombres de los días? ¿De dónde vienen los nombres de los días? - Te decimos qué significan los nombres de los días de la semana en inglés y español. - palabras etimología semana lunes martes - DE DONDE VIENEN LOS NOMBRES DE LOS DIAS?

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Hannah French presents a programme of music and discussion exploring the turbulent history of Latin America through its sacred and secular music from the 16th to 18th centuries.

1200
Hannah French introduces us to some of the sounds of Latin American Baroque, alongside her studio guests - Peruvian historian Dr Gabriela Ramos, and musicologist Leonardo Waisman.

1205 CONQUISTADORS, COLONISATION, GENOCIDE & GOLD
An exploration of the arrival of the Europeans and how they were first received in the Americas. It's thought that during the initial Spanish and Portuguese conquest, up to 8 million indigenous people died, mainly through the spread of disease and slavery. In 1520 Hernán Cortés led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire, beginning the steady but ruthless colonisation of the Americas.

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1230 THE JESUITS
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1425 CODEX TRUJILLO
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1450 LATIN AMERICAN FOOD
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BBC Radio 3 - The Early Music Show, Latin America's turbulent Colonial history told through its music

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Hannah French presents a programme of music and discussion exploring the turbulent history of Latin America through its sacred and secular music from the 16th to 18th centuries. 1200Hannah French introduces us to some of the sounds of Latin American Baroque, alongside her studio guests - Peruvian historian Dr Gabriela Ramos, and musicologist Leonardo Waisman.

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Intelligent agents  for positive feedback on  assignments 

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Using Intelligent Agents in Brightspace (by D2L)

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Spanish  playlist (Latin American female singers) 

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Spanish  playlist (Latin American female singers) 

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Dale and play our Latin Divas playlist!

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Hispanic Heritage Month 2020: Listen To The Ultimate Latin Divas Playlist

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Hispanic Heritage Month is here, and it's time to celebrate Latin culture and music. On this occasion, Billboard is honoring Latin women in the music industry who are proud of their heritage with the ultimate Latin Divas playlist.

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Step-by-step guide for using different tools for captioning/subtitling videos  on Microsoft Stream and Youtube
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Julieta Venegas - Eres para Mí (Video) ft. Anita Tijoux