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On 9/16, the día de la independence celebrates Mexico's independence from the Spanish empire.

9/16 is the start of the battle of independence when Father Hidalgo cried for independence in the town of Dolores, this event will be after known as Cry of Dolores.

Traditionally people dress up in their local traditional Mexican dress. The events includes parades, bell ringing in the Central Mexican Plaza, people setting towers of braided willow and palm stalks with exploding fireworks, firecrackers and sparklers loaded inside on fire.

People decorates everything green, red and white. Mariachi music playing everywhere. The common food serve in the celebrations are pozole and tequila.

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Quechquemitl is a poncho like garment worn by indigenous women since the pre-hispanic eras. The garment is intricately decorated.

In pre-hispanic eras, only woman with high social status could wear it, but now its only worn in festivals and celebrations.

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The tradition originated from ancient Mexico's Aztec culture. Quinceañera celebrates the 15th birthday of girls, it marks the girl's transition of child to womanhood.

The event is divided into six parts while serving Mexican traditional cuisine.
1. La Entrada - The entry of the girl
2. El Brindis - A formal toast initiated by the parents or godparents.
3. First dance where the girl waltz with her father.
4. A family dance
5. Baile Sorpresa - The girl dance to a preferred modern song.
6. The general dance (traditional waltz)

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Even though most of the world and some Mexican state banned the performance of bull fighting, however you can still buy tickets to a bull fighting match.

In each corrida there are six bulls and three matadors. In the process of the bull game, the matador usually test the bulls speed, agility and mood. The ultimate goal in a Mexican bull fighting game is to kill the bull.

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A Mexican tradition which is a short nap taken early in the afternoon, siestas, generally follow the mid-day meal.

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Our lady of Guadalupe is an important religion devotion and national symbolism in Mexico.

In legends, Virgin Mary came to Juan Diego, an Aztec with Christian faith on 12/9 and 12/12 and tell him to built the Basilica of Guadalupe exactly where he stand. On 12/12 thousands of pilgrims will visit Basilica of Guadalupe.

On each years 12/12, after spending few hours in church, people will start to march in parades, host live musical performances, and set of fire crackers. The party and sometimes bull fighting events will be hosted after, these are the signs of appreciation to the Virgin of Guadalupe whom had protected them all year. The grand feast will be hosted at night, bunuelos is an common dish that will be eaten during the holiday.

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Revolution Day is an annual celebration on 11/20 that celebrate the start of the Mexican Revolution that lasted ten years.

The revolution started when Francisco I. Madero revolt against President Porfirio Diaz that had been in power for 30 years. Where they formed a party against Diaz during the revolution, of course the election was rigged so Diaz won again. Before the insurrection, the Mexican authorities discovered their plans and fired the first shot on 11/18. The rest of the revolutionaries decide to join force on 11/20.

The traditional celebrations includes parades held in main square in central Mexico City, where speeches and official ceremonies were held. Student also dress up as revolutionaries and participated in local parades .

In recent years, 'el Buen Fin' was created. Stores and business had sales all over Mexico just the weekend before the revolution, very similar to Black Friday sales.

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Day of the Death is the most recognizable holiday in Mexico.

The festival can be traced back to 2000 years ago in Aztec traditions. The indigenous Aztec festival dedicated to goddess Mictecacihuatl.

The festivals lasted around three days. In the three days, there are a bridge connecting our world with the afterworld. The ancestor are allowed to passed and are guide by Mexican cempasúchil to find their relatives.

During the festival, people cleaned the graves of their love one. They also decorate their graves with ofrendas.

Ofrendas, meaning offering in Spanish, is an altar to commemorate their love ones.
In the top tier of the altar, they put the picture of their loved ones as a invited to the common world.
The second tier puts what will make them feel welcomed and at home, for example a toy of the child.The bottom tier puts candles and refresher to let the souls use when they return home.

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Cinco de Mayo is also known as the Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. It is the celebration of the Mexican army's victory over the French army in 1862. However, Cinco de Mayo is not a federal holiday in Mexico.  The holiday is most celebrated is a state holiday in the state of Puebla. However, all schools are closed during the holiday.

The celebration in local area includes parades, food, music, folkloric dancing, battle reenactments.

Puebla city hosted battle reenactments of the battle by having participants dress as the French and Mexican army.

Festivals that are hosted by the city:

Festival Internacional de Puebla:
The city invites artist, dancer, traditional musicians to perform mariachi music, maracas, and flamenco guitar at the festival.

Festival Internacional del Mole:
The Festival is celebrating the iconic local dish of mole poblano. During the festivals, celebrity chefs will discuss, prepare, and celebrate the dish.

Photo album of the festival:

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UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Charrería is started after the Mexican Revolution when Charro traditions were disappearing.

The participants of the Charrería must wear the traditional Charro outfits, including: closely fitted suit, chaps, boots, and sombrero. For women they wear Adelita dress.

The competition consists 9 events for men, 1 events for women.
Men:
1. Cala de Caballo: Demonstrating of reining horses.
2. Piales en Lienzo:  Horsemen must throw a lariat and let the horse run through it, catching the horse's hind leg.
3. Colas en el Lienzo: Similar to bull dogging except that the rider does not dismount
4. Jineteo de Toro: Similar to the rodeo. however the bull is smaller and the rider is on their two hands until they dismount and land right.
5. Terna en el Ruedo: A three people team where they attempt to rope the bull.
6. Jineteo de Yegua: Bareback on a wild mare, similar to Bareback bronc riding.
7. Manganas a Pie
8. Manganas a Caballo
9. El Paso de la Muerte
Women:
1. Escaramuza: Displaying skill on  sidesaddle and garbed in Adelita dress

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Mexican muralism started in the 1920's to spread social and political messages. The root of Mexican muralism came from Olmec people.

The industry is dominated by the "Big three": Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco.

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Frida Kahlo (7/6/1907- 7/13/1954) is a Mexican painter known for her self portraits and work heavy influenced by Mexican artifact and nature. Her style of painting is focus on naïve folk art style, with content related to identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.

Frida started her career as an artist in the 1920's. Her style is influenced by Mexicanidad (romantic nationalism develop after the revolution). In the 1930s her work is more focused on the changes of Mexican society, the effects of the great depression and Mexicans' abandonment of socialism for individualism ethics.

In her paintings, she often include events of her life and the identity of Mexicans: "modern, yet pre-Columbian; young, yet old; anti-Catholic yet Catholic; Western, yet New World; developing, yet underdeveloped; independent, yet colonized; mestizo, yet not Spanish nor Indian."  Her painting often contrast Mexican culture and drab American modernism. She criticised the influenced of American imperialism. The roots of her paintings symbolizes personal growth, tree symbolizes hope and transcend to future generation, and hair symbolizes feminine growth.

Freda is deemed as "one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century" and "one of Mexico's most important twentieth-century figures". Freda is an significant figure with a big impact on Mexican history and can still be seen and appreciated by the rest of the world.

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In ancient Mexico there are many variation of building since there are many different tribes and eras of indigenous people. Such as Puuc style and Oasisamerican style.

However in hispanic era, the Spanish colonials had a massive impact on their building and brought Iberian influences on there building. For example many new styles are established, such as  Mexican baroque that were transplant from Spanish baroque.

Today Mexican architect uses vivid colors and many natural elements in there building to make it more attractive.

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Uxmal is an archaeological sites of Maya culture located in Yucatán, Mexico. It is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The site is an ancient Maya city ruins, build in Puuc style.

Buildings:
The Governor's Palace
Pyramid of the Magician
Nunnery Quadrangle

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Zacatecas Cathedral is an catholic church located in the center of  Zacatecas City, Mexico. The Cathedral is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.

The Cathedral is built during the 18th century. The Cathedral had been given a basilica status, by Pope John XXIII in 1959.

The building is known for the Baroque style of architecture in Mexico. It is later declared as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

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Palacio de Bellas Artes is a cultural center in Mexico city. It’s often called the "Cathedral of Art in Mexico". The palace has hosted painting, sculpture and photography exhibitions, and also music, dance, theatre, opera and literature events.
The building was built in the early 20th century, and it is located in the historic center of Mexico City. The architectural style is Art Nouveau/ Neoclassical (exterior)/ Art deco (interior). The interior of the palace includes Mexican muralism that is painted by the most renowned artists in Mexico, such as Rufino Tamayo, Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros etc.

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UNESCO World Heritage Site

Chichén Itzá meaning "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." is an Mayan pre-Columbian city, built in Yucatán State, Mexico. It is one of the most visited ancient ruins site in Mexico.

The architecture style is mixed with Puuc and Chenes styles of Mayan buildings.

Many historian prove that Chichén Itzá is a major city with a high and influential economical power. Unlike any other Mayan city ruined by lineage dynasty or individual ruler, Chichén Itzá is ruled by "multepal", an elite council rulership.

Temple of the Warriors

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Or the El Ángel is one of the most recognizable landmark in Mexico. The landmark is located in Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City. In recent years, it became a place for people to protest or celebrate.

The column was built in 1910, to commemorate and celebrate the 100th year after the War of Independence from centuries of Spanish colonization.

The four vertex on the top of the column symbolizes law, war, justice and peace. The angel that stands on top of the column is the Greek Goddess of Victory. Her right hand holds a laurel crown that symbolizes victory and left hand holds broken chains that symbolizes freedom.

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Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral is located in downtown Mexico City. The construction started in the 14th century and ended after 240 years. Since the duration of time, the style of this cathedral includes Gothic, Baroque, Churrigueresque, and Neoclassical.

The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral is the largest cathedral in the Americas and it is dedicated to the virgin Mary. The cathedral is built on an Aztec city ground, they decided to build a church on the site of Templo Mayor of the Aztec City to show the Spanish power over the newly conquered territory.

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Coco is a Pixar animated film, the film plot is inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday. Coco is the first film where voice actors are an all Latino cast

The film won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

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Mariachi is a type of folk music. A traditional band includes, 3 violist, 2 trumpeter, 1 Mexican guitarist, 1 Mexican vihuela, and one guitarrón. However, the mariachi played in restaurant only include 3-4 people. The performer usually wear charro outfits. Mariachi is recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mexico by UNESCO.

Mariachi is influenced by the Spanish, where they introduces violins, guitars, harps, brass instruments, and woodwinds to the indigenous Mexicans.

The lyrics of the songs mostly includes machoism, love, betrayal, death, politics, revolution hero.

In Mexico City, we can still see mariachis perform in Garibaldi Plaza.

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Roma is a 2018 Mexican drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The story is a semi-autobiography of directer Cuarón.

Roma receive ten nominations at the 91st Academy Awards; and won Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography and Best Director.

Roma is shot in black and white. The story follows a Mexican indigenous live-in maid at a middle-class Mexican family in Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City during the 1970's.

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Piñatas originated from Mexico, it is influenced by both Spanish and Mesoamerican tradition. Piñatas is a "cartonería" (papier-mâché sculptures) traditional handcraft in Mexico. Piñatas were used to made into clay pots, however the pieces were dangerous to children.
Piñatas is seen in many occasions, such as Las Posadas, birthday parties or other holidays.

The participants in this game were blindfolded and given a bat to try to hit the target which is the Piñata.
Mexican piñatas usually contains  guavas oranges, jicamas, pieces of sugar cane, tejocotes and wrapped candies.

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Conjunto norteño is a type of ensemble that specialized in musica norteña. The traditional norteño ensemble instrument includes accordion, bajo sexto and tololoche.

Música norteña - regional music originated from Northern Mexico in the 19th century. The style of music is the mixture between local Northern Mexican music and German folk music.

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Duranguense is an type of regional Mexican music.

The instruments used in Duranguense music are saxophones, tronbones, synthesizers, drums, tambora, and vocals.

The genre is a mixture between Technobanda and Tamborazo (Banda).

The name "Duranguense" refers to the people from the Mexican state of Durango.

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Corrido music are songs in ballad forms.

The lyrics of Corrido are usually old legends and ballads about famed criminal or hero in rural area of Mexico, women and couples. However modernized corrido usually sings about drug trafficking and immigration.

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Banda is a genre of ensemble in regional Mexico.

Traditional banda instrument includes: clarinet, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, trumpet, trombone, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, güiro.

Banda originated in the 19th century during the Second Mexican Empire. It was an imitation of military bands established by Polish and German immigrants.

Banda is later popularized during the Mexican Revolution, when the states form their own band to perform in time squares.

The most famous banda song is "El Sinaloense", composed Severiano Briseño in 1944. The popular song is even consider as an anthem of the Sinaloans.

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Ranchera is a traditional music of Mexico, it originated before the Mexican Revolution and derived from Mariachi.

Ranchera is sung by one or more person with a guitar. The word Ranchera derived from the "Rancho", because the musci is created in the ranches of rural Mexico. The lyric themes are love, patriotism or nature.

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click here to play  the game

Loteria is a popular family board game in Mexico.
The rules are very similar to bingo.
Each player have tabla, if the announcer announce the card you have, you have to fill it with raw bean. The game is to attempt to fill it before other players. The winner had to yell “¡lotería!” to declare victory.

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Is a type of soap opera originally produced in Mexico.

Most of the telenovela is about couples and family with problems   and end with wedding and the villain dying, going to jail, becoming permanently disabled, or losing their mind.

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Lucha libre is a Mexican type of wrestling meaning free fight.

The wrestlers are called luchadores, they mostly came from extended wrestling families. The wrester wore colorful masks with a persona, and using extreme techniques and stunts, such as  "high-flying" maneuvers.

The tag-team and trios are more frequent in lucha libre.

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"Dance of the Flyers" based on Totonac records, it originated at least 450 years before. The ritual started when the droughts occurred, the people dance to pleased the rain gods.

The dance includes five members. Four members tying themselves on top of the pole, then jump down rotating 13 times. The fifth member stands on top of the pole to play instruments.

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Alebrijes are sculptures of mythical creatures from Oaxaca, Mexico. The sculpture usually hand-painted with bright colors and decorated with feathers, horns and arching wings.

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The Tree of Life is clay sculpture created in State of Mexico.

The traditional Tree of Life includes biblical stories and bible themes. Its decorated in bright colors.

Traditionally, the top of tree is an image of God, and the bottom are the duration of the 7 days including Adam and Eve, animals, sun and moon.

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Cartonería are traditions handcrafts of papier-mâché sculptures. The craft developed in colonial eras.Cartonería are made for celebrations and holidays; the product types include piñatas, mojigangas, masks, dolls.

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Diego Rivera (12/8/1886 -11/24/1957) helped established the muralism movement during the 1920's. He later married a fellow artist and icon Frida Kahlo.

His artworks theme (American life) influences the establishment of Roosevelt’s WPA program, which other artists can find jobs through the system. His painting style also had significant influences on American paintings

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Textiles can be found all over Mexico traditional clothing, such as huipil blouse and the guayabera shirts.

The handmade traditional woven rugs can be found in Teotitlán del Valle region of Oaxaca.

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Zingo paya also known as balero is an popular game with Iberian influences from the Spanish.

It is a game with a wooden handle and two cup type of dent. The ball is attach to the string and the player will try to land the ball in the dent or on the spike.

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Mesoamerican ballgame is a ritual associated ball game that is widely popular in Mesoamerican-Mexico. There are still many visible ruins of the ballgame court.

The game is very brutal and often caused serious injuries because of the heavy balls. Sometimes the game is even associated with human sacrifice!

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Charro is a type of horsemen outfit, however in modern day it is wore in celebrations, festivals and music performances.

The outfit originated in the 16th century. During the Spanish colonial ear, the Spanish don't allow the indigenous people to ride a horse until permission was granted. If the permission was granted they had to wear outfits to differ themselves, this is wear the Charro outfits were created.

In the colonial era, the outfit was a
derogatory of there social class, However after the revolution, the outfit had been seen as a national identity.

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Sarape are rug like garment with multiple vibrant colors and fringes.

Sarape were worn in the indigenous areas. But in the colonial times, the Spanish modify the motifs and change some part of to adapt the weather.

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Sombreros are Mexican wide brimmed and high conical hats made from straw.

Sombrero varies in each region to state in Mexico:
The Calentano - Originated from tierra caliente (Hot earth), the hat is made from dried palm leaves. The appearance of the hat is a beige color with a black ribbon tied around it.
The jipijapa - Made from jipi (Short palm tree), it is usually called Panama hat.
The charro - The most popular type of sombrero. It has wide brim and raised top with multiple colors. Wore with Charro outfits.
The Zapata - Made famous by revolution fighter Emiliano Zapata. The hat are worn in festivals and celebrations.

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Poncho is a Mexican garment worn to keep warm. Ponchos can be traced back to the Paracas cultures in the Americas.

There are two main types of ponchos:
Traditional - Cloth with a head hole, has color stripe patterns.
Raincoat - Made from waterproof material, have a hood and fasteners for the sides

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Huipil are also garments

worn by indigenous women in central Mexico. Huipil could be a short blouse or a long garment.

Huipil are made from at least three different garments join together by using stitching, ribbons or fabric strips.

Each huipil are carefully designed by decoration, especially the ceremonial huipils which are worn in weddings burial, or high status women.

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Also known as Escaramuza dress. The dress originated when the country folks went to the  festivities and religious celebrations. The style of dress is copied from the Spanish and changes some parts of the material.

The top of the dress is a cotton blouse with a higher collar and wide sleeves, the bottom is a wide dress typically used pink, red, yellow or blue as based colors. The dress is decorated with stripes and forms of stars. To compliment the dress, the girls also braid their hair with ribbons

The dress is highly associated with Baile Folklorico, which is a folk dance in each local area that were danced to emphasize the local folk culture. The dance move is have a lot of ballet characteristic. The dress is also worn in a Mexican charrería event called Escaramuza charra.

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The dress is worn by the Purepechas population in the state of Michoacán.

The dress is very sophisticated, with a pattern skirt and embroidery blouse. Aprons are also worn with the

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The dress originated from Chontal Mayan woman, however the clothing had been different after the Spanish's influence.

The top are off-shoulders decorated with flower stripes. The long dress are also decorated with flower, and a shawl is wrapped around the waistline.

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The dress also originated from Mayan civilization and have some Spanish influences.

The top is a huipil blouse with black flower embroideries, and the dress are ankle length made from Spanish print fabric.

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The dress started from 20th century and had evolved ever since. Its worn in Mexican folkloric dances, and a simpler version is still been worn everyday in some areas of Mexico.

The dress is black with colorful xicalpextle (stamped flowers) on it, and hand made from local women in Chiapa de Corzo.

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Mayan languages are a group languages spoken by the indigenous Mayan population. There are 6 different branches to the language: Huastecan, Quichean, Yucatecan, Qanjobalan, Mamean and Chʼolan–Tzeltalan branches

There are 16 Mayan languages spoken in Mexico, with one extinct. Rest of them had the range of 30 speakers and to 800,000 speakers.

Yucatec Maya is the most spoken Mayan language in Mexico with around 800,000 speakers.

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Mixtec is a group of slanguage spoken by 500,000 Mixtecs indigenous people. There are 50 dialects of this language spoken in Mexico. The language is the most popular in states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero.

Mixtec languages and Spanish both have influences on each other. There are many Spanish-Mixtec words that were things brought by the Spanish that were originally not there. Many Spanish places names are place names from the Mixtec language.

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Mexican Spanish are the most popular language in Mexico, with around 129 million native speakers.

The language were brought by the Spanish in 16th century during the Spanish colonial eras. Each areas of colonial Spain have different uses in words and accents.

In many areas of Spain they had mixed uses of languages. For example in Central Mexico, many there are many Hispanicized Nahuatl words in their variation of Spanish.

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Mayo is Uto-Aztecan language spoken by 40,000 Mayo population. It had been recognized as one of the national language. The language had also been declared as an 'critically endangered' language by UNESCO.

The language could also be understood by the yaqui language speakers, because they came from the same language family.

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In 2018, there are only 4 left, the number had decrease by 32 people just in 4 years.

The language is currently critically in danger. Even though there are still 2000 Kiliwa indigenous people.

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Ayapa Zoque is also an 'critically endangered' language. The language were spoken in the town called Ayapa. The language got diminished by Spanish in the 20th century when they forced the eduction on them.

The language was only spoken by two elderly people left, before 2014 they haven't spoke to each other in decades after a fight. And now they stop feuding in order to save the language. A online dictionary ere created allow people around the world to adopt a word. They also went to villages to teach the dying language.

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Nahuatl, also known as Aztec are spoken by the Nahua people in Mexico since the 7th century. Currently there are around 1,700,000 speakers, it is also one of  the national languages.

Both Spanish and English had Nahuatl influences and had words that were borrowed, for example chocolate. Many of the Nahuatl literature works from the 16th century had actually survived.

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Mayans are Mesoamerican Indians living in the southern parts of Mexico. There are about 6 millions of Mayans, and 30 Mayan languages.

The Mayans are from the most well known and most populated Mesoamerican civilization. The largest Mayan group in Mexico are the Yucatec Maya.

The Mayans are most well known for its agriculture, stone temple, pyramids and buildings.

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Huastecs are indigenous Mayan Indians living in Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas.
Currently, there are about 150,000 Huastec people, and 66,000 Huastecs speakers.

The Huastecs were once a part of the Huastec civilization that can be traced back to 10th century BC, they are a branch to the Mayan people. After the Spanish colonial times, many of the Huastecs are sold as slaves in the Caribbean.

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Totonac are the Middle American Indian people living in Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. There are about 410,000 Totonac people today.

There are two main groups of Totonac people. Lowland Totonac living in farmhouses while highlanders live in villages with farmlands.

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Otomí are indigenous people who lived in the Central Mexican Plateau, there are about 300,000 people.

Many of the modern Otomí had abandon their language. However, some of the people are still eager to learn their language due to their heritage.

Having the land unfit for agriculture.They depend "Maguey" for their economic income and their food.

Otomí worships the moon as god. In modern times, many still believe folk culture such as Nagualism.

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Zapotec people are a part of the  Zapotec civilization that flourished during the 700 BC–1521 AD. Today there are about 1 million Zapotec people living in Valley of Oaxaca.

Zapotecan had more than 60 different languages, and their religion are mainly catholic with ancient practices.

In Zapotecan cultures, most women and men are segregated. They only come together when eating, dancing or rituals.

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Mixtecs are a group of indigenous Mesoamerican people living in Oaxaca and Puebla. there are about 800,000 Mixtecs living in Mexico today.

Most of the Mixtecs today are farmers, hunters or fishers in the villages. Weaving and ceramics are common traditional craft.

The Mixtecs are also influenced by the Spanish by adopting the Christian faith, but still remains their rituals and idols such as the rain god.