May 10th: Mother's Day in Mexico

Today is Día de las Madres (Day of the Mothers) in Mexico. Visitors to our country may spot small children acting in plays and presenting their thrilled mothers with handmade gifts. Every school and playgroup will have covered this one.

Meanwhile the older children, teenagers and adults will be rushing into shops to buy bouquets of flowers and a card. (Displays of cards with legends like 'Feliz Día de las Madres' or 'Feliz Día Mamá' are everywhere.) Some lucky mothers might even be getting something larger.

This is, after all, a day to honor and show appreciation to the woman who birthed and raised you.


The origins of Mother's Day are steeped in antiquity; though the modern form is something new. It is thought that the seeds of this day weren't with biological mothers, but with the celestial ones. Before the coming of Christianity, many world religions had a Mother Goddess. This was the day to honor Her.

In Mexico, this might have been a day to worship Malinalxochitl, the primal Aztec Mother Goddess, Queen of Men and Beasts, and her sister, Toci, Mother of the Gods; or Mictecaciuatl, Mother Goddess of Mexico; or Tlazolteotl, the Maya goddess, who gave birth to the sun.

The coming of Christianity removed all of that, though it did bring with it traditions of their own. Until 1660, there had been a day, throughout Christendom, where everyone returned to their 'Mother Church', ie the church where they had been baptized. This was bedecked with flowers and donations were given. In 1660, a decree widened the honor of this day to include earthly mothers. For the first time in history, the woman who carried you in her womb could expect a bunch of flowers for her effort, on a certain day of the year.


None of this actually caught on in Mexico. It wasn't until 1922, when a young journalist, inspired by celebrations in the USA and Europe, initiated the event. Rafael Alducín had founded the Excélsior newspaper just five years before. (This remains the second largest selling newspaper in Mexico today.) He wrote an article for it which suggested a national day to honor mothers.

Alducín was born in Puebla, but moved to Mexico City to further his education and gain employment. He had travelled to the USA, as a dealer in tires, and had been exposed to Mother's Day there.

It had been estabilished for a few decades in the USA, as a way to reunite siblings separated by the Civil War. They had been encouraged to all visit their mother on the same day.

Later, after he was married to Consuelo Thomalen, Alducín travelled on business into Europe. He was in Germany, when he saw Mother's Day celebrations similar to those he had already witnessed in the USA.

Once back in Mexico, he mused upon suggesting such a day for his native country. He also looked around to see if anything like this was already being proposed.

Some cities in the North, influenced by the USA, had started to honor the day in tandem with their neighbours. Meanwhile, El Hogan - a women's magazine - and La Asociation de las Damas Catolicas (The Association of Catholic Women) were encouraging it, as a way to maintain tradition values in the home.

Alducín decided that there was an appetite for a Mexican Mother's Day, so he wrote his editorial naming May 10th as the date. It can only be assumed that his own mamá, Isabel Bedoya Rossainz y Huerta, was very proud of him.


Día de las Madres is always on May 10th, in Mexico, regardless of what day of the week that falls. As well as the flowers, gifts and cards, everyone traditionally visits their mother on this day. Some arrive the night before, in order to be fresh and ready for a huge family reunion.

In many ways, the atmosphere can be akin to the American Thanksgiving, with a substantial meal and everyone making a big effort to be there for it. Though, of course, the thanks is due towards the center of the party - their mother. ¡Feliz Día de las Madres!

Christmas in Mexico: Los Posadas

During the run-up to Christmas, you won't be able to miss Las Posadas. In every village, town and city, in Mexico, these candle-lit processions will be moving through the streets, until the final event on Christmas Eve.



Posada is Spanish for 'lodging' or 'accommodation'. What you will be witnessing here is the re-enactment of the Christian Nativity. Each house, in the neighbourhood, will schedule a night (between December 16th-24th) to be the posada. Those knocking on the door represent the Biblical Mary and Joseph, seeking somewhere to stay in Bethlehem.

88% of Mexicans are devout Catholics, hence the emphasis on religion at this time of year. Christmas itself is the conflation of the words, Christ Mass. This is celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Christian nativity story tells how a census was called in Syria and Judaea, in 6-7CE, which required all of the population to return to their place of birth to be counted. Joseph, a carpenter, had to travel from Galilee to his home city of Bethlehem. With him was his young wife, Mary, who was heavily pregnant. Once there, they discovered that fellow returning ex-pats had filled every hotel, inn, guesthouse and other lodgings for miles around.



Eventually, Joseph begged an inn-keeper for mercy. He pointed to his exhausted wife, who must have been showing the early signs of labour by then. The inn-keeper took pity on the couple, but explained that he really did have no rooms left. He allowed them to rest in his stable instead, along with all of the livestock. The stables were also full, as those travelling to the inn had arrived on horses, donkeys, mules and any other creature that could have conveyed them there.

Joseph found a corner, which he stuffed full of straw, so that Mary could lie down. Shortly afterwards, she gave birth. The baby was Jesus Christ.


Digital art: Matthew Killian

There wasn't exactly a creche attached to the inn, particularly for people bedding down with the livestock. The legend tells how the newborn infant was placed in a manger, as the only available cot. He survived this humble birth to become the central figure of Christianity; the son of God in Catholicism.

It is this story that is the focus of Las Posadas. The community gathers to represent travellers looking for lodgings, at each of the houses in the neighbourhood. They move between them, carrying candles. Four teenagers, amongst the party, will be holding Los Peregrinos (The Travellers). These are large statuettes depicting Mary, on her donkey, and Joseph, leading the donkey. As they knock at each door, none will let them in. They will be told that there's no room inside. Until they reach the house scheduled to hold the event for that night.

As the group move, from house to house, they will be singing a traditional song, entitled 'Villancico Para Pedir Posada'.



The song's lyrics basically tell the story that they are acting out.

When the travellers are finally allowed into a home, they will congregate around the nativity scene prepared there. This is the ceremonial moment, when a figure of the baby Jesus is inserted into the hitherto empty manger. The company will then pray the Rosary before the scene.

Finally, the celebration party begins. This is a joyous occasion, with games for children and a traditional, alcoholic Ponche con Piquete (Punch with sting) for the adults.

When in Mexico this week, look out for Los Posadas. They will be everywhere and they are very beautiful to watch. They are even more wonderful to participate in!

Isla Mujeres - The Goddesses and the Virgin

Isla Mujeres translates as 'The Island of Women'. It was named as such by the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, who discovered idols of several Mayan goddesses there. He described the idols as showing women dressed only from the waist down, with their breasts uncovered. The population also appeared to be almost exclusively female. These were fishing communities and the men were all out to sea, but he wasn't to know that.

To the Mayan, the island had been called Ekab. Ix Chel, her daughter Ix Chebeliax, and daughters-in-law Ix Hunie and Ix Hunieta were the four goddesses in residence on the island. Of the several stone buildings there, one impressive structure in the south of the island was a temple dedicated to these goddesses. The torches lit there could be seen well out to sea and so the temple doubled as a lighthouse. (The ruins of this temple were unfortunately destroyed by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.) The area contained many gold artifacts, which were taken away by Hernández in 1517. This sparked the belief, amongst the Spanish, that Mexico was full of gold, thus paving the way for the Spanish Conquest.

Ix Chel

In pre-Christian times, Isla Mujeres was sacred to the Goddess Ix Chel, who governed over childbirth, midwifery and medicine. Shrines and pottery depictions of this jaguar eared deity have been found all over the island. In a rite of passage into womanhood, the Mayans would fashion clay idols of Ix Chel, travel alone to Isla Mujeres and smash the idol onto the floor of the temple. It was these shattered images that Hernández discovered. Pregnant women would have entered Her sweatbaths before giving birth, then again afterwards. Women struggling to conceive would have visited Her sanctuary. She is referred to, in Mayan literature, as 'grandmother' and She is sometimes represented by a waning moon. This crone goddess is often shown with claws in place of hands, crossed bones upon Her skirt and a serpent on Her head. In this way, Ix Chel is also linked with war, with a fearsome aspect, hungry for victims. She is part of the cycle of life. She takes the dead and She protects those being born.

It is worth remembering that, to the Mayan, death was viewed differently than it is in modern Western culture. Those who died in battle, childbirth, as sacrifices or by suicide, all of which Ix Chel oversaw, could be assured of direct passage to their paradisical otherworld. For others, there would be a journey and a possibility of rebirth, or being cast into Xilbalba, where they would suffer eternally. In short, if you had to die at all, then dying under the juristriction of Ix Chel was preferable to any other way.

The Mayan people may have seen the hand of Ix Chel in the fate of the 1517 Spanish expedition. After Francisco Hernández de Córdoba's men had desecrated Isla Mujeres, taking the golden artifacts of Ix Chel and the three goddesses, their ships continued on to Champotón further down the coast. It is here where they met fierce Mayan resistance and the majority of the Spanish were killed. Hernández himself was badly injured and barely escaped with his life.

"(Chief Moch-Covoh) so inspired his people that they forced the Spaniards to retire, killing twenty, wounding fifty, and taking alive two whom they afterwards sacrificed. Francisco Hernández came off with thirty-three wounds, and thus returned downcast to Cuba, where he reported that the land was good and rich, because of the gold he found on the Isla de las Mugeres."
'Yucatan Before and After the Conquest' by Diego de Landa, 1566

In Mayan mythology, Ix Chel can also be seen as a Mother Goddess. Her consort was Itzamna, the creator god, with whom She had thirteen sons. Itzamna created mankind and writing. He governs over agriculture and hunting. Two of their children created the Earth, its waters and the skies. She is grandmother to the Bacab, the four aged men who hold up the world.

A sanctuary to Ix Chel has been discovered on the Island of Cozumel, while Tixchel, in Acalan on the Yucatán coast, was certainly named after Her. A Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, reported another place, also in Acalan, where unmarried, young women were sacrified to Ix Chel.

Mary, Mother of Christ

In more recent times, Isla Mujeres has become a place of pilgrimage for the Mother of Christ, Mary, who acts as the island's patron. In 1890, three statuettes of the Virgin were discovered on the tip of Quintana Roo by three fishermen. The Virgins were carved of wood with porcelain hands and faces. Each of the three fisherman took one of the statuettes back to their own homes. One of them, Christiano Avila Celis, brought his to Isla Mujeres, where it was enshrined in a small palm chapel. Many years later, a decision was taken to move Her to the church, but that did not prove easy. It took the combined efforts of several men to lift Her, as She had suddenly become so heavy. Nevertheless they succeeded, but, as She was carried out, the whole chapel burst into flame to the shock of all watching.

The statuette was placed in the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception, yet still didn't rest easily. There were sightings of the Virgin walking on the sea, during the night, around the coast of Isla Mujeres. Then, one dawn, so many islanders witnessed Her doing so that the Church could not ignore the stories. When the statuette was taken out and examined, it was shown to be covered in sand.

On December 8th, every year, there is a great fiesta held all over Isla Mujeres, in honour of Mother Mary. The event attracts thousands of Catholic pilgrims from all over the world. Festivities begin around November 8th, with the climax being the bajada, descent of the Virgin, on December 8th. There is a lesser feast commemorating the discovery of the statuettes at Isla Mujeres (and at Izamal, Yucatán and Kantunilkin, Quintana Roo, where the other two statuettes are), from August 6th -15th too. Please note, when visiting the island, that the residents tend to be devoutly Catholic and that it is standing room only at Sunday mass in either of the main Catholic churches.

Many people feel that the island is protected by its divine mother. For example, when Hurricane Wilma whipped through the Yucatán, in October 2005, the beaches of Cancun were destroyed. It cost the Mexican government $25 million to dredge sand from the ocean bed to repair them. Conversely, on the other side of the same waters, the same hurricane delivered white sand to Isla Mujeres.

Hail Mary in Spanish:

Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia,
el Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros, pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amen.

Endless Tours does provide trips to Isla Mujeres. A variety of them, to suit your pocket and your needs, can be found here.