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Mexicolore @Mexicolore

Interactive, artefact-based history workshops on Mexico, the Mexica/Aztecs and the Maya, in over 3,000 UK schools, museums and arts centres since 1980.

Joined September 2012
  • Tweets 1,891
  • Following 530
  • Followers 8,633
1,085 Photos and videos
Guess when the current #Aztec/#Mexica 52-year Calendar Round ends? 2027! There've been 10 since 1507 (last before Spanish invasion). In #Nahuatl it was called a 'xiuhmolpilli' or 'bundle of reeds[years]'. New for kids: Basic Aztec facts: AZTEC CALENDAR' - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/kids…
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We have picture and text evidence for the #Mexica / #Aztec eating 'packed lunches', from the Codex Boturini. The modern Mexican Spanish word 'itacate' comes from the #Nahuatl 'ihtácatl'... Learn more here - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte…
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Did you know #Nahuatl, the lingua franca of the #Mexica/#Aztec empire, gave names to 3 countries - Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua? Nahuatl is spoken by nearly 2 million people today, in 15 Mexican states. Learn more about these and other fun facts here - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/lang…
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The original Mexican 'papel picado' (paper streamers)? The figures represent the animating principle or ‘heart-soul’ of ancient fertility deities; hung from vines in #Nahua communities today, they continue to play a key role in religious ceremonies... mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/arte…
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How did the #Mexica/#Aztecs show romance? By offering each other gifts (here, he's giving her a quetzal or parrot, she him a ritual rubber ball with precious feather attached); and they flirted during dance classes in the 'Cuicacalli' in the evenings...! mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-…
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Most #Mesoamerican (#Aztec/#Mexica, #Maya, #Mixtec...) families lived in ‘multi-generational’ or extended family compounds - where ‘aunts and uncles, grandparents, and other family members played a very important role in the raising of children’... mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home…
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So you thought war was an all-male domain for the #Mexica / #Aztecs? Think again...! Image: Two Mexica female warriors fight alongside male comrades in the war against Coyoacan; Tovar Manuscript. Read more - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte…
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'The balanced composition of this image and the symmetry in the presence and number of men and women reveal the parallel and complementary organising principles of indigenous [#Mexica/#Aztec/#Nahua] social and gender relations' mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte… Pic: Florentine Codex Bk II
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The evidence for #Aztec cannibalism may actually be weaker than you thought... mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home… Image (spot the human arm on a bowl!) from the Codex Ixtlilxochitl
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Q. Did women play the ritual #Mesoamerican ballgame? We think they did. These Huastec ceramic figurines suggest so, but the issue is highly controversial. Some (male) scholars call such figurines 'symbolic' or fake, and even refer to 'woke' theories... mexicolore.co.uk/maya/ballga…
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Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We know that women were active musicians in ancient #Mesoamerica. Here's a ceramic figure of a female drummer from Western Mexico (Tumbas de Tiro culture), 200-600 CE, from the Museo Regional de Guadalajara. More here - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/musi…
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Which caption is right - 'Two women busy making a papyrus’ or ‘Couple playing a teponaztli’?! The 1st is from a 1978 book on the #Aztecs, the 2nd from the exhibition ‘La mitad del mundo. La mujer en el México Indígena’ currently in Madrid. Learn more - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/musi…
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100 years ago TODAY Mexico's great historian of the #Aztecs/#Mexica/#Nahua Miguel León-Portilla was born (d. 2019). In 2010 he generously agreed to be Honorary President of our Panel of Experts. Pic: with Mexicolore director Ian Mursell, and a selection of his best known books.
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This month we celebrate the 250th entry in our 'Ask the Experts' service for young school pupils on the #Aztecs and the #Maya. Dr. Elizabeth Baquedano answered the first question back in 2004 and she's done the honours again this month... mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-…
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The #Mexica/#Aztecs were 'a chosen people who believed their mission was to side with the sun in the cosmic struggle, with goodness over evil, to give all of humanity the benefits of victory of the forces of light over the powers of night' (Alfonso Caso) mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte…
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More on 4 in #Mexica/#Aztec/#Nahua/#Mesoamerica worldview: It was said that a #nahualli at birth would repeatedly emerge from & retreat into the womb, leaving the womb 4 times’ (Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, Aztec Medicine, Health and Nutrition). More - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte…
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GUESS how the #Aztecs described the work of an astronomer? The #Mexica used the #Nahuatl term ‘inematacachóliz’, which translates as ‘he places his hand upon the flight of the sky’, or ‘he measures with his hand the flight or the crossing of the stars’ - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home…
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To strengthen legs and build endurance, trainee #Mexica/#Aztec couriers were required to run up the Templo Mayor, a total of 113 steps. To encourage them and provide incentive prizes were given to the winners of these sprints. Learn more here - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/azte…
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#Imperialism, #invasion, #conquest: a spot of topical humour, thanks to Viv Quillin. Learn more - mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/span…
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Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! One positive news item to start the year - mexiconewsdaily.com/news/chi…
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