The Christmas season lasts from December 12 to All Kings Day on January 6 (or for some Candlemas Day on February 2). During the Holiday season you can expect to see a mixture of pre-Hispanic rituals, religious ceremonies, and contemporary Christmas traditions such as Christmas trees and wreaths — a mix of Mexica, Catholic, and modern traditions typical of Mexico.

The Holiday season here works a little differently and goes on for much longer — so here’s a primer on what to expect 

Christmas decorations

Before the Posadas begin, decorations will start going up. The main plaza in town is decorated with lights, Christmas trees, wreaths, and a large nativity scene. Families and neighborhoods will begin making “farolitos” to light the way for the posadas. Farolitos are paper lanterns made out of paper bags with designs cut into the face of the bag. The bags are filled with sand to hold them upright and a small battery-operated candle placed inside. It is said that lanterns lit the way for Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem.

Storage boxes are pulled out of closets containing the “Nacimiento” or nativity scene.  Almost every house has one. The manger, figurines, and animals are carefully unwrapped and everything is displayed prominently as a reenactment of the birth of Jesus. For traditionalists the baby Jesus is not placed in the manger until Christmas Eve. The three kings inch closer to the manger each day until February 3rd, the day they arrived to present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

Mexican Christmas carols

Christmas songs are very popular in Mexico. They are a mix of traditional and contemporary, some of which you hear in the United States. “Noche de Paz” (Silent Night) is very popular. You will hear church choirs practicing this song for Christmas Mass. An indigenous couple comes down my street every Christmas, with the husband playing this song on his bugle while his wife collects tips from those who come to the door to listen.

A favorite song of the children is “Mi Burrito Sabanero,” a song about the little donkey that Mary and Joseph ride to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. A “villancico” (Spanish language carol) that nearly everyone has heard at least once is the fifty-year old “Feliz Navidad” sung by Jose Feliciano.  A cheery, Christmassy song repeated endlessly in stores and bars leading up to Christmas to put you in the holiday spirit. For those who prefer more contemporary songs, there is Luis Miguel’s “Santa Claus Llego a La Ciudad,” performed with all the glitz and glamor of Frank Sinatra singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Posadas

On December 16, the posadas begin. In a traditional posada, still enacted in many neighborhoods in Mexico, a procession of local participants will visit predetermined houses, sing, and ask for shelter.  This is a symbolic recreation of the biblical story of Joseph and the Virgen Mary’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Led by Mary and Joseph, followed by angels, musicians and local participants. The group eventually all end up at a home that agrees to give them shelter.  The procession enters the home and traditionally kneels before the altar and prays. After praying, the fiesta begins, complete with traditional food, drinks, pinatas, music, and ponche navideno. The posadas occur every evening for the nine days it took Mary and Joseph to reach the stable in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Mexicans eat their large family Christmas meal on Christmas Eve then everyone goes to midnight mass together.  Christmas Day is for rest and leftovers or a smaller meal. 

Why didn’t I get a Christmas Present?

If you stop by to wish a Mexican family “Feliz Navidad” on Christmas Day, you will notice there is no wrapping paper strewn about from unwrapping gifts. Christmas presents are not opened until Three King’s Day, January 3. On Three King’s Day, the kings have reached the stable to present their gifts to the newborn. In days past, it was traditional to shine up your shoes and leave them out the night before to be filled with gifts (similar to Christmas stockings), though this tradition has largely fallen by the wayside in modern Mexico.

On Three King’s Day, family and friends gather to open presents.  After opening their gifts and sharing some holiday cheer they will each get a slice of the Rosca de Reyes — an oval or round Christmas cake – which has a small plastic baby Jesus hidden in one slice. The person who finds the baby Jesus must then throw a party for the others for Candlemas on February 2. Typically, this consists of tamales and atole, a pre-Hispanic drink made from corn, water, piloncillo, cinnamon, and vanilla.

If you are visiting Mexico for the holidays, be sure to go to a local marketplace and buy a Nacimiento and handmade ornaments to take home with you!

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years. She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com and at Mexico: a Rich Tapestry of History and Culture.

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By joining the Mexican Revolution, women were able to challenge the stereotype of women as weak, submissive, and incapable of holding important roles in society.  These were not weak women. They did the heavy lifting on the battlefield, carrying arms and ammunition long distances, foraging for food which they used to prepare meals for hundreds, dragging wounded soldiers to safety so they could tend to their wounds.  Many performed these tasks while pregnant or carrying a small child on their back.

When the front line moved, it was the women who tore down the camp, carried the tents and bedding, pots and pans, food rations, and ammunition. The men carried their rifle astride a horse, the women walked beside them laden with all the supplies they would need for the next battle.

These women demonstrated strength, bravery, and resilience. From their experience in the revolution, they gained confidence, self-respect, and the respect of others.  They became known as the “Adelitas”.

The Adelitas

The Adelitas were named after Adele Velarde Perez. According to the Mexican government, Velarde was the granddaughter of the prominent Juarez general Rafael Velarde who fought against French troops. She was a mere teenager when she joined and is said to be the first woman to join the fight.  She became a revolutionary hero and a muse to the troops, embodying the essence of the national spirit and the brave revolutionary Mexican identity.  

Velarde first joined the Mexican Association of the White Cross providing nursing services. She then became a member of the Northern Division of the Constitutionalist Army commanded by General Pancho Villa, and later joined the Northeastern Army Corps.

Most Mexican stories contain a tragic romance, and this one is no exception. Velarde fell in love with a soldier wounded at the front lines. As he lay in her arms dying while she tended his wound, he asked her to pull a piece of paper from his satchel.  On the paper were the lyrics to a song he had written for her. The words became the corrido “La Adelita” which was sung obsessively by the revolutionaries and is still popular today.

The Adelitas played a critical, fundamental role in the revolution and the war might have turned out differently if not for their participation. In addition to the support services they provided, many fought side-by-side with the men, acted as spies behind enemy lines and took on other dangerous roles. Some women reached powerful positions and fought on the battlefield.

These women faced not only physical risks, but discrimination, exploitation, and violence, but were not intimidated. They were strongly committed to the revolution and the social justice and equality it represented.

Adelitas known as fierce and fearless warriors

Only a handful of the Adelitas were recognized as true heroes of the revolution, but for many Mexicans, their names are now synonymous with bravery and duty: 

Col. Maria Quinteros de Meras

Pancho Villa highly respected Quinteros de Meras who became a high-ranking officer reaching the rank of Coronela.  In her three years in his rebel army, she fought heroically in ten battles. She could shoot as well as the men and dressed as they did wearing khaki suits and cartridge belts. The El Paso Morning Times wroton May 7, 1914, that “some of her followers have come to believe she is endowed with some supernatural power.”  She and her husband both fought voluntarily in the same outfit.  When they left, Pancho Villa offered to pay them for their services – as he did all his troops – but both refused.

Margarita Neri

Neri was singled out during the revolution as a fearless fighter. When the war broke out, she was a landowner in Quintano Roo but was left behind by male forces because she was a woman. Undaunted, Neri raised her own troops — first numbering only 200 but growing to 1000 in just two months — who realized she could ride and shoot as well as they could. She led looting raids throughout Chiapas and Tabasco. It is said that her approach instilled fear in the federal troops, who fled before her.  Allegedly, her arrival frightened the Governor of Guerrero so thoroughly that he hid in a crate to flee her onslaught. She was eventually executed but where and when remain unknown.

Elisa Griensen Zambrano

At the age of 12, Griensen was already a devout fan of Pancho Villa and was passionately opposed to the U.S. troops.  She lived in the town of Parral, Chihuahua.  When Pershing’s troops — under the command of Major Frank Tompkins — approached Parral in 1916, the men of the town refused to fight. Griensen gathered up the women and children and confronted the troops themselves. Armed with sticks and guns they forced the troops to retreat, ordering the major to proclaim, “Viva Mexico, Viva Villa” on his way out of town.

Encarnacion Mares “Chonita” de Cardenas

Cardenas was also described as fearless and was known for wearing her hair cut short and donning ragged men’s clothing. After her heroic fighting at the Battle of Lampazo, Nuevo Leon, she was promoted from corporal to lieutenant.  She left the war in 1916 after the fighting died down in the north.

The Feminist Movement for women’s rights emerged from the Mexican Revolution

Among the women heroes of the Mexican Revolution two female journalists stand out for their outspoken opposition and criticism of Porfirio Diaz: Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza, and Hermila Galindo.

Born in Durango, Gutierrez de Mendoza wrote radical feminist literature against Catholicism, political corruption, and social injustices under Díaz, who had her imprisoned numerous times to prevent her from writing. Each time after being released she continued to broadcast her beliefs that the political parties and leaders were illegitimate.  She strongly believed in democracy for Mexico and faulted the Mexican people for not insisting on their rights.  She ultimately became disillusioned when Carranza assassinated Zapata — who she considered the only real leader — in 1919.

Hermila Galindo continued to grow more famous and well-known after the war ended. During the war she was the editor of the radical journal Mujer Moderna. She would encourage women’s groups to fight for their rights. She advocated for not only general education for girls but also sex education. As an early suffragette, she also proclaimed that women should have the same rights granted to men, including the right to vote.  After the war she fought to include women in the 1917 constitution, was the first woman to run for elected office and was seen as the leader of the feminist movement and continued to fight for women’s rights.

The Adelitas have never received appropriate recognition for their contribution to the Mexican Revolution.  Women who were heroes were largely overlooked in history.  In 1941, Adele Velarde was recognized as a “Veteran of the Revolution” by the Mexican Ministry of National Defense. In 1962, she was named a member of the Mexican Legion of Honor.

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years. She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com and at Mexico: a Rich Tapestry of History and Culture.

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Born in 1957 to Lebanese parents in Chetumal, Quintano Roo, Hadad studied political science and journalism at the University of Veracruz. She later moved to Mexico City, where she studied theater at the National Autonomous University (UNAM). Her breakthrough role as a performer was in 1984 in Jesusa Rodríguez’s production of “Dona Giovanni.” She then began performing in nightclub cabaret, her performances interwoven with folklore that pay homage to Mexican culture while simultaneously skewering it.

Her style is influenced by revues, the theatrical entertainment also known as the “low-class genre.” Popular in the first four decades of the 20th century, revues served as a “stage newspaper” to inform people on current events and criticism and were the most important disseminator of music and popular culture. Revue — known in Spanish as el teatro de la revista — was very popular in Mexico, but its criticism of the government led to numerous performers being exiled to Cuba.

Hdad’s dramatic eye makeup comes from German Expressionism and movies she watched as a young girl. She learned to apply the makeup in drama school; with small eyes and a small face, she decided she needed the dramatic eye makeup to be seen in the back row of the theater. After trying it out the first time, she decided it would become her onstage trademark. In real life she wears very little makeup and dresses more conservatively – she doesn’t mix her public stage persona with her private life.

Hadad is also a social activist. Her performances challenge issues of colonialism, race, gender, oppression and social inequality. Every show refers to gender freedom and women’s freedoms. She writes, produces and promotes her own work, and most of her work challenges cultural and societal norms of gender roles in Mexican society. 

Throughout her more than four-decade career, she has supported the LGBTQ+ community. She loves them, and they love her right back. Drag queens imitate her — she admires them as many have surpassed her with their costumes and makeup — and some people believe Hadad herself is a drag queen, which amuses her to no end.

Many of Hadad’s performances are legendary. She appropriates well-known Mexican cultural icons, straps them to her body or dress and reconfigures their meaning onstage, drawing from Mexico’s rich legacy of history and culture: Aztec and Maya symbolism, revolutionary heroes, Indigenous folk art, exuberant plants and flowers and even Catholic saints. She plays with these stereotypes to create comedy and satire creating her own surrealistic cabaret full of irony, biting wit and campy humor. She also, however, takes on corruption, violence, machismo, corporate exploitation and imperialism. Nothing escapes her wicked wit: she’s not afraid to skewer the sacred cows of Mexican culture, including hypocrisy, which she lampoons with back-handed compliments and deftly delivered asides.

Hadad’s acts are often outrageous, but she is also a gifted singer, skillfully belting out those long, deep notes on mournful songs like the best Mexican balladeers. Her deep, throaty voice complements the large headdresses and bawdy jokes. Each act is a package of costumes, songs and commentary all melding together seamlessly to tell a story.

Hadad’s performances give people glimpses of Mexico’s history. One act tells the story of how Our Lady of Guadalupe replaced the pre-Columbian earth goddess Coatlicue. Her costume is a massive, inverted wedding cake skirt covered with skulls representing the pre-Columbian goddess with two large Aztec serpents propped against each hip and large maguey leaves fanning out behind her like the plumage of a rooster. While sweeping the floor during the performance she makes sarcastic quips like Coatlicue’s pregnancy must have been an immaculate conception because Mexican women are always busy working.

Hadad’s performances always contain numerous costumes, each more outrageous than the last. A glimmering Aztec costume in gold with a towering feather headdress and ankle rattles has been decorated with sugar skulls that glow in black light. A circus tent skirt that doubles as a puppet show with puppets decked out like Mexican revolutionaries painted on a black velvet backdrop. For Hadad, too much is never enough.

She also weaves in Mexican folk songs like “El Venadito” dedicated to the painter Frida Kahlo out of admiration. Opening the front of her dress reveals Kahlo’s ionic 1946 canvas “El venado herido” (The Wounded Deer) which shows the artist as a deer struck by arrows. Is it a bit crass? Yes, but Hadad is always testing the boundaries.

She typically performs traditional Mexican songs like “La Bamba,” but has introduced at least one original song with “Tierra Misteriosa,” a ballad of colonization that she dedicates to “the exploited people.” She sings while she opens her shimmering virginal silver gown to reveal Indigenous people toiling in mines.

Her diva-like mix of glam, camp and wicked sense of humor is popular in Mexico and the United States. She has also toured Latin America and Europe frequently, can be seen regularly at cabaret nightclubs in Mexico City, where she lives, and often performs at LGBTQ+ events. This September, she headlined the Queerraiser, a fundraiser hosted by Outsider, an Austin, Texas nonprofit that spotlights LGBTQ+ artists.

Hadad insists her performances are not political per se. Although she talks about politics and social problems, she says her acts are about entertainment in the true sense of cabaret. She does, however, hope that people reflect while being entertained and that her work will help your spirit grow, take you to other places and expand your knowledge.

At 69 years of age and more than 40 years of cabaret entertaining, Hadad is still going strong. She says her life, like everyone’s, has had its ups and downs, but she’ll die happy because she’s had a life she liked and has done what she wanted.

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years. She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com and at Mexico: a Rich Tapestry of History and Culture.

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Although the story has many variations, some details remain the same among everyone who tells the tale. She is described as an attractive woman wearing a long white dress that either hides her feet or she has no feet, she has a veil covering her face, if she sounds close, she is far away, if she sounds far away, she is very, very close and you should start running. It is said that no one has seen her “close up” because to do so means certain death. Seeing La Llorona is known to be an omen of misfortune and death for you, your family, or your community.

Different versions of the Legend

There are three basic versions of the legend. La Llorona first appeared in Mexican culture in the 16th century and features Cihuacóatl — the divinity associated with pregnant women, water, and life. Missionary Fray Bernardino de Sahagún wrote of eight omens the Mexica experienced before the conquest.

One omen tells of a female entity that walks from Lake Texcoco and wanders the streets of Tenochtitlan in the dark of the night. According to Sahagún, Moctezuma witnessed Cihuacóatl just before the conquistadors arrived to conquer his empire. She was sobbing uncontrollably saying “Oh my children, where will I take you?  My little children, we have to go far away.”

Miguel León Portilla, author of The Vision of the Vanquished, Indigenous Relations of the Conquest, writes that there is a record of the predictions that the priests interpreted for Moctezuma. One of these predictions says that strange men will come from the East. Your people will suffer many tears and great sorrow, and your race will disappear. They say that is why the goddess Cihuacóatl wandered the streets crying and warned that misfortunes would soon come to the empire.

Another version from the 16th century features the Nahua woman Malinche, one of 20 enslaved women gifted to the Spaniards. Hernán Cortés chose her as his consort, but she also became his interpreter, advisor, and liaison with the Mexica and a lynchpin in their eventual conquest. Malinche has a mixed reputation today, seen as the symbolic mother of the new Mexican people that emerged from the union of Spaniards and Mexica — she had a son, Martín, with Cortés — but also as a traitor to her people.

She was said to wander the streets of Tenochtitlan distraught over her betrayal and lamenting the loss of her son Cortés took back to Spain with him.

The most famous Llorona is called María

However, the most famous and best-known version of the legend is the story of María. María was an indigenous woman of incomparable beauty who caught the eye of a rich and handsome Spanish nobleman. She fell madly in love with him and together they had three children. She was devoted to the man and her children and many times he said one day they would marry, but he avoided her in public afraid of what people might say about their relationship.

One day he abruptly left her to marry a prestigious Spanish lady of the upper class. María completely lost her mind, engulfed in rage and despair at being betrayed. She decided to exact her revenge in an unimaginable way. She gathered her children and took them to Lake Texcoco, hugged them tightly saying she loved them, and then drowned them in the lake. She almost immediately realized what she had done and was so distraught she took her own life. 

It is said that the woman’s soul is not at rest, and she was cursed, condemned to wander the streets eternally in search of her children. She walks the streets every night wearing a long white dress – presumably the dress she prepared for her wedding – in deep remorse and despair lamenting what she did with screams and cries of “Oh my children.”

The floating gardens of Xochimilco in Mexico City are one of the locations where people report hearing the crying of La Llorona and the occasional sighting.

The Crypt of La Llorona is said to be in Dolores Hidalgo

However, ghostly apparitions are not only seen and heard regularly in Mexico City. The legend is most popular in Guanajuato and Puebla. It is said La Llorona is buried in a crypt in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato – four hours outside of Mexico City.

According to some account, accounts, authorities sent friars to investigate the situation and spend the night there to verify the occurrences. The friars were surprised and frightened when they too heard the crying and sobbing. They informed the Vatican that they would install a plaque identifying it as the tomb of “La Llorona” in hopes of giving her a resting place, bringing some peace to her wandering soul.

But she continued to appear so frequently in Dolores Hidalgo that the people again beseeched the Vatican to help them. Representatives were sent to exorcise the ghostly presence in a desperate attempt to stop the tormenting of the inhabitants in the area but the apparition sightings and wailing continued.

In a further attempt to dispel her presence the landowner where the crypt is located placed a large cross over her grave. Perhaps as a sign, during an intense storm, with a clap of thunder, lightning struck the cross, splitting it in half and damaging the crypt.

The Legend of La Llorona is deeply rooted in the Mexican culture. The story is often told to children to discourage them from wandering off in the dark near bodies of water like rivers or lakes.

On Day of the Dead there is always at least one lone woman singing the haunting and sorrowful song of La Llorona. The song originated in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. There are more than 500 different versions, and it is known internationally. La Llorona has been recorded by a multitude of singers, musicians, and musical groups, too many to list.  You may remember hearing it if you’ve seen the animated film Coco.  Books have been written; films produced as well as theatrical presentations on the legend of La Llorona.

Every year coinciding with Day of the Dead since 1993 there has been a waterfront performance of La Llorona set in the canals of the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City.  

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com and at Mexico: a Rich Tapestry of History and Culture.

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Before pirate radio, however, there was border radio. The concept was the same — avoid regulations and censorship, broadcast music not being carried by mainstream radio and evade the long arm of the law.

The advent of border radio

In the 1920s, the United States and Canada reached an agreement to divide the long-range radio frequencies between themselves, leaving Mexico out of the agreement. Radio created a stir in both countries as a new communications medium that brought entertainment into people’s living rooms. As a result, a long string of border radio stations — also known as border blasters — sprang up south of the Rio Grande.

Mexico’s lack of regulations allowed stations to operate at a powerful 50,000 to 500,000 watts. This gave them access not only to listeners across the United States but as far away as Canada, Europe and South America; their target audience was the U.S.

In 1930 American businessmen — primarily conmen and charlatans — began building radio stations along the border. The first was Houston theater owner Will Horwitz, who established XED radio in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Horwitz was eventually sent to prison by the U.S. authorities for broadcasting the Tamaulipas lottery over radio waves reaching the United States.

Another controversial border broadcaster was Iowan Norman Baker, who set up XENT radio in Nuevo Laredo and used it to promote his alleged cure for cancer. The most controversial and best-known of the outlaw radio station owners, however, was without a doubt, John R. Brinkley.

The Goat Doctor

A failed politician, Brinkley received a degree from an unaccredited medical school but ultimately ended up practicing medicine in Kansas and Arkansas. One day a farmer presented himself in Brinkley’s office, lamenting his lack of “male vigor” and wishing he had the vigor of a billy goat. 

With those words, a scheme formed in Brinkley’s mind that he called the “goat-gland rejuvenation” operation as a remedy to male impotence. He implanted the testicles of a goat in the farmer’s scrotum. It became the perfect scam — a quick operation that didn’t cost much to perform — but he needed a way to publicize his miracle treatment. Then he learned about the power of radio.

He received a broadcasting license for his station KFKB in Kansas in 1923. Three times a day, between broadcast church services and music, Brinkley would deliver his medical sermon on the wonders of goat-gland rejuvenation. Thousands converged on the tiny town of Milford, Kansas seeking the operation. Brinkley became so successful he had to build a hospital to accommodate all his patients.

The goat-gland rejuvenation operations were brought to the attention of Morris Fishbein, the president of the American Medical Association. Fishbein, knowing Brinkley was a quack, decided to shut him down for good. Eventually, Brinkley lost his broadcasting and medical licenses and decided to try his luck south of the Rio Grande. He set up his radio broadcasting station in Villa Acuña, across from Del Rio, Texas, so Texans could access his services. Mexican officials welcomed the wealthy entrepreneur, facilitating the building of a 50,000-watt station.

XER’s programming was extremely popular and included yodelers, fiddlers, Mexican music, religious sermons, psychics and astrologists, but its main purpose was to attract patients for Brinkley’s goat-gland rejuvenation business.

Who knows why men believed that goat gonads would restore virility, but thousands flocked to Villa Acuna for the operation. Brinkley did quite well, purchasing several planes, a yacht and a 16-acre estate called the Brinkley Mansion. 

Border radio spreads new genres across the US

As the station grew, Brinkley reached an agreement with Mexican officials to broadcast at 500,000 watts and restructured his radio empire under the call letters XERA. The United States was in the depths of the Great Depression and XERA was the only radio signal that reached rural listeners, transporting them away from their problems. He introduced country music to the rest of America when he discovered the Carter Family from the hills of Virginia, who played “hillbilly” music.

The Carter Family became country icons. Their music influenced a six-year-old in Arkansas who would eventually marry the family’s daughter June: Johnny Cash. Many country icons, including Hank Williams, Johnny Horton and Cash himself, took advantage of the high-wattage border blasters, trekking to the border to promote and perform their latest single.

XERA was not the only station ushering in new genres of music. XERF radio played a prominent role in introducing Americans to rhythm and blues, soul, rock and roll and the blues. Young DJ Bob Smith grew up listening to border radio in New York City. In 1963, determined to get on the air at a border station, he arrived in Del Rio, Texas with demos of his radio gigs and talked his way onto CERF. He eventually became the station manager and was known to his listeners as Wolfman Jack.

As station manager, he included product-peddling and religious broadcasts in his programming but after midnight he played jazz, rock and roll, soul and rhythm and blues. Wolfman Jack had an air of mystery that made him extremely popular. In the postwar 1950s, a sense of normalcy and strict moral standards settled over the United States. Broadcasting from Mexico, Wolfman Jack’s thinly disguised sexual innuendos and new music genres evaded the extreme censorship at the time. 

ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons was influenced by listening to the blues on border radio growing up in Lubbock, Texas. The band even dedicated two songs to border music, including “I Heard It on the X.”

Border blasters continued to prosper in the 1960s. Then, in 1972, Mexico and the United States reached an agreement on radio frequencies which was the beginning of the end of border radio. Television broadcasting eventually became the dominant medium.

Border radio, however, ushered in new ways of thinking about music and fresh expressions of creativity. It took locally popular music out of regional isolation and jettisoned it into the mainstream, changing the culture of the United States. 

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com and at Mexico: a Rich Tapestry of History and Culture.

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Modern-day tianguis — the word comes from the Nahuatl “tianguitztli,” or market — evolved from Mesoamerican markets, one of which was the Tlatelolco market, located just north of Tenochtitlán, in what is now Mexico City.  The tianguis of Tlatelolco is considered the best example of this kind of market in Mesoamerica and its remains can be seen in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, where researchers are still making archaeological discoveries.

The founding of Tlatelolco

Tlatelolco was founded in 1337 by a group of dissident Mexica who broke away from Tenochtitlán to form their own city-state on an islet north of Tenochtitlán.  It was a complex commercial network that provided food and other products to the Mexica Empire.

Most of what we know about daily life in Tlatelolco comes from archaeological excavations and the writings of Spanish chronicler Bernal Diáz del Castillo, who first visited Tlatelolco shortly after arriving in Tenochtitlán in 1519. Diáz chronicled his visit in his book “The Conquest of New Spain”: “We arrived at the great plaza, which is called the Tlatelolco, as we had not seen anything like that, we were amazed at the multitude of people and merchandise that was there and the great concert and regiment that they had in everything… each type of merchandise was by itself, and they had their seats located and marked.”

Hernan Cortés, who also visited the market, estimated that approximately 60,000 people came to the plaza daily to exchange products and it was “twice as large as the city of Salamanca.”

Merchants and tamemes (porters) delivered their products through a vast network of land routes and countless canoe trips, many coming from the Gulf of Mexico and other distant locations.  Arcades surrounded the market, which was highly organized into an orchestrated concert of barter. Sections were well-defined by aisles and each section had a designated product type. Each merchant had a seat and space on the floor to display their products and begin the day of bartering.

Products and services of Mesoamerican markets

One section contained fresh food products typical of meals consumed in the Valley of Mexico: corn, avocados, pumpkin, tomatoes,  a variety of chilis, beans, various seeds like chia and cocoa, chili peppers, legumes and dried fruit.  Another aisle displayed wild turkeys, quail, pigeons and ducks. One section was devoted to deer, quails, dogs, hares, turkeys, rabbits, turtles, iguanas, snakes and insects like ants and grasshoppers. There was an aisle that contained freshwater fish, and one for sweeteners like bee and maguey honey traditionally used in cocoa drinks.

One section was reserved for household goods: clay utensils, metates, molcajetes, knives, blankets, mats, baskets, clothing, clay vessels of every size and coarse fabric. There was a section for animal skins, bones, sponges, snails, firewood, charcoal, stone pigments and lime.  

Local products were separated into one section and products that were brought from other parts of Mexico were displayed in a different section. High-value items for the Mexica elite were displayed separately from the other products. These items included featherwork, stone goods, finely woven cotton blankets and Cholula pottery. 

Like the tianguis of today, there was a section for personal services. Cortés reported that visitors could get their hair washed and cut. There was also an area occupied by herbalists, who prepared herbs and roots as ointments and syrups used to cure disease. Visitors to Tlatelolco could also find prepared foods in one area including corn and cocoa atole, cooked fish, tortillas, tamales and various stews.  

According to Diáz, Tlatelolco housed an abundance of slaves, called tlacotin, who could be purchased to be offered to the gods in sacrificial rituals, although some historians believe the slaves were service providers. Diego Durán, a Dominican friar and author of “The History of the Indies of New Spain,” wrote that the market also provided an opportunity for slaves to escape: if a slave managed to get away and stepped on animal feces, he could claim his freedom.

A tightly regulated market

The Tlatelolca exercised a high degree of order and discipline over their market. Chambers of justice were clearly delineated by rectangular buildings with arcade walkways. Judges were chosen to regulate and monitor the commercial activities of the market to ensure good exchange practices and regulate the prices of goods and services. They were also responsible for resolving any disputes that might arise. Wandering bailiffs maintained order organizing merchants, aisles and sections according to the type of merchandise or service being offered.

Diáz wrote that the Spaniards “were amazed at the amount of people and products [the market] contained, and the order and control that was maintained.”  All commerce at the market was conducted through a system of bartering and exchange of goods and was tightly controlled by the judges and bailiffs.  It was a very complex and cosmopolitan market that served the dietary, cultural and religious needs of the Valley of Mexico.

Tlatelolco became the most active and eventually the largest market in central Mexico and Central America.  After the fall of Tenochtitlán, Tlatelolco was almost completely destroyed.  The market was abandoned, and the merchants began their commercial trade in Tepito in the Merced area — an independent trading tradition that still exists in the Tepito neighborhood today.

Tlatelolco and the tianguis of today

Tianguis were designed to provide products to middle and lower-class Mexica.  Tlatelolco provided almost all the products consumed in Tenochtitlan and was the commercial center for the entire region.

Most contemporary tianguis have the same purpose and are only open on weekends.  Every tianguis varies depending on the region and products are based on the local food, sweets and handicrafts produced in that region.  The most famous tianguis in Mexico City is the Tianguis Cultural del Chopo, where visitors can find handmade crafts, jewelry, music and food. If you haven’t been before, a tianguis is a fascinating way to spend the day, soak up this cultural tradition and support local artisans.

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com

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On July 26, 1953, trying to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, Castro led a group of 150 revolutionaries in an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba.  The assault was defeated and Castro was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but due to public pressure, he and his brother Raúl along with a large number of other Cuban revolutionaries were released from prison in 1955 as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners.

Raúl and the other exiles fled to Mexico and Fidel followed shortly afterward, flying into Mérida on July 7th and making his way to Mexico City. He met up with Raúl at the apartment of Cuban exile María Antonia Gonzaléz in the Tabacalera neighborhood, where he met Che Guevara for the first time. The apartment became the command post and one of a network of clandestine houses in Mexico City that became safe locations for the revolutionaries.

Meanwhile, the safe houses began training exiles for the return to Cuba.  Castro imposed strict and rigorous regulations for the soldiers. The revolutionaries practiced their rowing at the lake in Chapultepec Park, received physical and self-defense training from Mexican professional wrestler Arsacio Vanegas and held target practice at the Los Gamitos range in the borough of Alvaro Obregón.

In March 1956, Guevara headed up a guerilla camp at the Santa Rosa ranch, close to the small town of Santa Catarina Ayotzingo in the state of México. Raúl was responsible for rounding up the Cuban exiles who had fled to Mexico. For assistance in acquiring weapons and transportation to Cuba, Fidel relied on Mexican gunsmith and weapons smuggler Antonio del Conde Pontones, alias “El Cuate.”

The  Cuban exiles – known as the July 26 Movement, or M-26-7 –  had left Cuba without anything, including resources. Castro and his troops lived on beans and rice, frequenting taco stands. Revolutions need money, however, and Castro developed a bold plan to obtain funding. In “Guerrillero del tiempo,” a memoir that brings together hours of interviews between the revolutionary and the Cuban journalist Katiuska Blanco, Fidel recounted a trip to the US-Mexico border at McAllen, Texas, where he swam across the Rio Grande and illegally entered the United States to meet with the disgraced former Cuban President Carlos Prío Socarros, who had been exiled after being deposed by Batista’s 1952 coup – Castro and Prio had a common enemy in Batista.

Castro recounts in his memoir – “Guerrillero del Tiempo” written by biographer Katiuska Blanco based on hours of interviews – that he was “humiliated” to ask Prio for money that he knew had been stolen from the Cuban Treasury but took the cash anyway.

Aware of the Castro brothers’ plan to overthrow Batista, the Federal Security Directorate (DFS), the Mexican political police, had been monitoring the movements and actions of the July 26 Movement. A report authored by DFS Captain Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, dated June 24, 1956, and kept hidden for decades in the confidential files of the Ministry of the Interior, outlined their plans.

Barrios was a feared agent of the DFS and for years was responsible for the persecution of peasant, union, student and guerilla movements of the last century. In July 1956, Castro and Guevara were detained. After several weeks of detention, former President Lázaro Cárdenas intervened to have them released. A Constitutionalist general in the Mexican Revolution, Cárdenas had been a very popular left-leaning reformer in office and continued to support Castro after the victory of the Cuban Revolution.

In an odd twist, Castro and Barrios formed a relationship based on friendship and mutual respect. Castro told biographer Blanco that he considered Barrios a “friend” and a “gentleman and honorable man.” 

After Castro and Guevara were released, they began implementing their plan.  After 18 months of planning, their soldiers had been trained, they had acquired the necessary weapons and Antonio del Conde had found them a ride: a small, second-hand yacht named the “Granma,”  moored in Tuxpan, Veracruz.  They planned on meeting with the remainder of the insurgents at the Mi Ranchito hotel in Xicotepec de Juárez in the state of Puebla to finalize their last-minute preparations.

Before leaving Mexico City, Castro went to meet with his friend Barrios one last time where he outlined their plans. In a 1999 interview with BBC, Barrios admitted that he knew all the details of their plans and intentionally delayed an investigation to give them time to embark for Cuba.

On November 25, 1956, the 82 insurgents arrived in Tuxpan and squeezed themselves onto the Granma, a boat that would normally accommodate 10 to 12 people, and left on their treacherous trip to Cuba.

When they reached Cuba’s shores, they shipwrecked on the southern coast and were spotted and ambushed by Cuban authorities, who killed all but eight men. Fidel, Raúl, Guevara and a few of their men – with only seven guns between them – fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains.  

The members of the July 26 Movement spent the next two years recruiting and training more insurgents and fighting Batista’s military. On New Year’s Eve, Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic, and Fidel’s 9,000-strong guerilla army marched into Havana in triumph. Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba and remained in power for 49 years, dying in 2015 at the age of 90.

Castro admitted that Cuba’s revolution probably would not have been possible without the Mexican Revolution that preceded it 50 years earlier.  It provided the blueprint for the Cuban Revolution.  “Mexico was a country that had carried out a great revolution in the second decade of the 20th century, a revolution that had a lot of prestige and left behind a lot of progressive thinking and a stable government,” he recalls in “Guerrillero del tiempo.”

Reminders of Castro’s 18-month exile in Mexico are still visible today in Mexico City. The building at 49 José de Emporan where María Antonia González had an apartment is marked with a plaque commemorating the location where Castro and Guevara first met. Café La Habana, which claims to have been the site of meetings between the Cuban revolutionaries, still stands in the Juárez neighborhood.

Fernando Barrios went on to become the director of the DFS from 1964 to 1970, during the height of state terror in Mexico. The controversial agency, which committed a litany of human rights violations and suffered from pervasive corruption, was disbanded in 1985.  The building that served as the DFS headquarters, where Castro and Guevara were detained, is now the Sitio de Memoria Circular de Morelia in Roma Norte. It stands as witness to the human rights violations that occurred during the 1960s and ‘70s and is dedicated to preventing those practices in the future. 

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com

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Acapulco lies on a stretch of rugged cliffs, surrounded by lush jungle with golden sands, calm azure waters, and exceptional weather – exotic and movie-set perfect for a resort area.

The Duke of Windsor – briefly the King of the United Kingdom until he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson – was the first of the jet setters to discover the beauty of Acapulco in the 1920s. Several decades later it was discovered by Hollywood royalty.

Hollywood royalty discovers Acapulco – a tropical paradise

In 1947, when Australian Errol Flynn first flew down to Acapulco with his buddy Teddy Stauffer – the Swiss musician-turned-hotelier – it was little more than a handful of buildings surrounded by jungle. But Stauffer saw the potential in what he described as “a beautiful tropical paradise”.

Rita Hayworth and her husband Orson Welles came to Acapulco when they starred in the 1947 film The Lady from Shanghai – a film which contains some stunning shots of Acapulco’s beaches. They both became frequent visitors.

Former president of Mexico Miguel Alemán (1946 – 1952) had a special place in his heart for Acapulco and was the driving force behind the construction of the Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán – a six-lane thoroughfare along the ocean which attracted nightclubs and restaurants that now bears his name.

Los Flamingos becomes the first luxury resort for Hollywood elite

In 1954, Bo Roos – a top Hollywood business manager – and his friends John Wayne and Johnny Weissmuller (best known for his starring turn as Tarzan) purchased Hotel Los Flamingos, a cliffside spot with a spectacular view of the open sea. Roos then imported their Hollywood posse including Cary Grant, Fred MacMurray, Errol Flynn, Richard Widmark, and Red Skelton to spend time at the hotel which became a hang-out for the “Hollywood Gang” – a group of macho leading men led by Wayne and Weissmuller.  

It is said that Weissmuller invented the bar’s signature drink, the Coco Loco, which was served in a coconut with hibiscus flowers floating on top or festooned with a colorful miniature umbrella hat.  After his days of fame and fortune faded, Weissmuller lived out the rest of his life at the hotel which became known as “La Casa de Tarzan.”

Villa Vera and Las Brisas add to the glamour and glitziness of Acapulco

Ten years after his first visit Stauffer opened Villa Vera Hotel and Racquet Club.  Its quaint villas and private swimming pools immediately became a popular destination for celebrities. In 1957, Elizabeth Taylor married Mike Todd at the resort. Frank Sinatra hid out at Villa Vera when the mob was after him. 

Judy Garland, Dustin Hoffman, Engelbert Humperdinck, George Hamilton, Gina Lollobrigida, Liza Minelli, Ava Gardner, and Brigitte Bardot stayed at the resort. Zsa Zsa Gabor created a stir in the enclave when she plunged into the pool naked. Lana Turner lived at Villa Vera for three years.

The popularity of Villa Vera was quickly followed by Las Brisas, built in 1957, which hosted others from the entertainment industry’s A-list. The resort had the classic elegance of 1950s Hollywood. Constructed on 40 acres of land on the cliffside surrounded by jungle, the resort boasted 250 casitas, each with its own private swimming pools, pink and white jeeps for transportation, and a spectacular full view of the bay.

Las Brisas was the ultimate in luxury. The resort sported its signature “power pink” and a palette of various shades of white throughout including the staff uniforms. From the moment a celebrity was whisked up the hillside in a pink and white jeep (each one named for a celebrity), they were ensconced in elegance. The lawns and gardens were meticulously manicured, the casitas impeccably clean, and fresh hibiscus petals were scattered across the surface of the private pools. Each casita had a Magic Box with latched glass doors inside and outside where staff would leave a steaming pot of coffee and a basket of freshly baked sweet rolls every morning.

Diversions and glitzy parties abound

When you were tired of lounging around your pool, there was the Sunset Bar, or you could go to the swim-up bar in one of their two saltwater pools. For a full breakfast, there was El Tulipán, the resort’s sky-high restaurant with a spectacular view of the bay.  For fresh fish and Mexican specialties, you could have dinner at La Concha.

Other attractions included going to La Quebrada to watch death-defying cliff divers plunge from 135-ft cliffs into the Pacific Ocean, or boarding a jeep for a safari to a coconut plantation at Cayaco, a picnic on the beach, or joining burro races or paddle canoes up a jungle river. At night there was the very popular La Perla nightclub or glitzy parties.

One of the hostesses with the most memorable parties was Dolores Olmedo, “The Grand Dame of Acapulco.”  Her home, La Casa de los Vientos, hosted Mexico’s largest collection of Diego Rivera paintings. She was Rivera’s muse, and she so admired the artist she built a studio for him adjoining her house. When Frida Kahlo died, Rivera lived his final four years of life in her Acapulco home.

Hollywood becomes infatuated with Acapulco

Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned in Acapulco after seven of her eight marriages (she married Richard Burton twice). Mexican actress Dolores del Rio, who had affairs with both Orson Welles and Errol Flynn, met her future husband American millionaire Lewis A. Riley in Acapulco and built a palatial home at the top of the rocky cliffs as did Orson Welles and Johnny Weissmuller. Jack and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned in Acapulco. 

In the 60s and 70s, Las Brisas became the retreat of choice for the rich and famous who wanted exclusivity and privacy attracting luminaries Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Sophia Loren, Johnny Carson, Buzz Aldrin, and Elizabeth Taylor. After their trip to the moon, the Apollo 11 astronauts relaxed there with their families. Lynda Bird Johnson honeymooned at Las Brisas.

Hollywood was infatuated with Acapulco luring a new generation of star power including Robert Wagner, Stephanie Powers, Farah Fawcett Majors, Joan Collins, and bestselling author Harold Robbins.

The 1963 film “Fun in Acapulco” starring Elvis Presley and Ursula Andress introduced a broader audience to the beauty of Acapulco.  By the 1970s Acapulco was at its zenith and La Costera was a diamond necklace ringing the bay. 

More restaurants and hotels opened. The introduction of discotheques provided another form of entertainment and decadence. The first disco hotspot was Armando’s LeClub.  The disco Studio 52, an homage to Studio 54 in New York City, also became a trendy place to dance the night away. 

Merle Oberon, who hosted legendary parties, made news worldwide in 1979 when she gave the Shah of Iran – Mohammed Reza Pahlavi – temporary refuge at her home.  Howard Hughes spent the last few weeks of his life at a penthouse that encompassed the entire top floor of the Acapulco Princess, an Aztec pyramid-shaped luxury hotel built in 1971. The unofficial photographer of the rich and famous, Slim Aarons, captured iconic poolside images and photos of actors like Kirk Douglas and Ronald Reagan alongside fashion designers Oscar de la Renta and Emilio Pucci. In the 50s, 60s, and 70s everybody who was anybody was seen in Acapulco.

Acapulco begins to lose its luster

By the late 1970s, Acapulco’s glamour began to fade. Like an aging diva, the glamour took on the look of seediness and decadence. The 1980s saw an explosion of high-rise hotels, mass tourism, increased pollution, and crime which drove away the jetsetters. The glamour and glitz of yesteryear ended, leaving behind only legendary stories of what once was.  However, the natural beauty of Acapulco persevered, and the resort continued to attract tourists and honeymooners.

The most recent devastation by Hurricane Otis took its toll on the city. Will Acapulco – like a Phoenix rising from the rubble – once again become a glamorous and glitzy destination?  With enough government and private investment, the resort can experience a renaissance.  It will be exciting to watch as this tropical paradise goes through another transformation.

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com

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Fifty-nine different strains of corn are native to Mexico, but only seven are used to make popcorn: Chapalote, Palomero Tolugueno, Nal Tel, Exploder, Palomero from Chihuahua,  Palomero from Jalisco and Puebla Palomero, a sub-breed from the Central Transvolcanic Knot.

The Spanish encounter popcorn being made by the Aztec

The Spanish first encountered popcorn when they invaded Mexico.Spanish chronicler Friar Bernardino de Sahagún first detailed the discovery in “General History of Things in Mexico”. The Aztecs would throw the corn kernels directly into the fire or on a hot griddle (“comal”) until they popped, bursting into the shape of a flower.

According to Sahagún, popcorn was also used in religious celebrations and festivals, with garlands of popcorn used as ornamentation for altars and statues. He witnessed women wearing wreaths of toasted corn on their heads instead of flowers as they danced the “popcorn dance” at a festival in honor of Tezcatlipoca, God of the night.  He also described the festivals of Opochtli, a deity of fishermen, where the Mexica used popcorn in their ceremonies, writing that it was “a type of corn that when roasted bursts and reveals the kernel and becomes a very white flower, they [the Mexica] said that these were hailstones, which are attributed to the water gods.”  In some regions, popcorn was said to represent stars.

The Maya myth of Dziú

According to Maya myth, Dziú – a bird with multi-colored feathers with chestnut brown eyes – was just a normal bird when Yuum Chaac, the god of water and agriculture noticed that a drought was causing the land to lose its fertility.  Alarmed, he called all the birds together proclaiming an emergency.  He would have to burn the crops so that the ash would fertilize the soil. The god of fire, Kak would start the blaze, but they would need to collect all the varieties of seeds to replant the crops. Dziú arrived early and diligently collected more seeds than any other bird, finally resting in the shade, with Yuum Chaac’s permission.

The next morning Yuum Chaac realized the fire was endangering the place the workers had readied for sowing new crops. Yuum Chaac sent out another emergency call to the birds for help. When Dziú arrived, he observed the situation from a tree branch – watching with amazement as the corn kernels popped into white flowers – and threw himself into the fire to save as many corn kernels as he could.  When he finished, exhausted, his eyes had turned red and his feathers were burned.

To honor this act of bravery, the other birds promised always to protect the descendants of the Dziú. Yuum Chaac honored Dziú by decreeing that his descendants would always have red eyes and wingtips the color of ash to remind the other birds of their promise.

Today, his descendants are the birds now known as the red-eyed thrush.

The Great Depression popularized popcorn in the United States

Popcorn became forever linked with movie theaters in the United States during the Great Depression (1923 – 1933) as a cheap snack to munch on while watching silent cinema, which gave them temporary respite from their sorrows. Bags of popcorn were sold from popcorn carts outside the door at first but when theater owners realized how much money the vendors were earning, they installed their own popcorn machines inside the theater. The addition of butter and salt made it a very popular and enduring snack for moviegoers.

For those who forego salt and butter, lime, chili, cheese, and caramel can be added. Popcorn can also be prepared using olive and avocado oils for added flavor and nutrition.

Popcorn is a very nutritional treat

According to the Cleveland Clinic, natural popcorn (with no salt or butter) is very healthy.  It contains a high level of antioxidants – even higher than some fruits and vegetables – and contributes to better circulation and reduction of certain diseases like cancer. 

Popcorn is loaded with fiber, which is critical to the proper functioning of the digestive system and can reduce the possibility of contracting heart disease or diabetes. Additionally, popcorn is rich in vitamins and minerals such as B-complex, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, and Copper.

Caramel corn is also said to come from Mexico

Caramel corn may also have originated in Mexico. Centuries ago, some Mexican communities roasted popcorn kernels on a comal and then sweetened it with maguey honey, creating a sweet treat.  

In Chiapas, “puxinú” is still prepared from popcorn mixed with local piloncillo honey which is then shaped into squares. This beloved snack can still be found in markets, sweet stands, or being sold out of baskets by vendors walking through neighborhoods, especially during the festival of San Sebastian on January 20. Puxinú is most popular in Chiapas – especially in Tuxtla Gutierrez and Chiapa de Corzo.

The most beautiful ear of corn is the Gema de Cristal grown in Tehuacán and has kernels that shine like precious gems.

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com

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Generative software advancements have also sparked controversy over the ethics of AI-generated art and whether this represents a technologically advanced form of plagiarism. 

Lawsuits multiply as artists search for legal guardrails 

In February, Getty Images filed a lawsuit in the High Court of Justice in London against Stability AI, the British startup behind the Stable Diffusion app, a text-to-image app that sources an online database of billions of images created by artists to learn patterns and create art based on those artistic styles. Getty claims that Stability AI infringed its intellectual property rights by illegally copying and processing millions of copyrighted images and their associated metadata. 

In Australia, artists have accused the Lensa app, which also uses Stable Diffusion, of stealing their content without permission or compensation.

A group of San Francisco artists, represented by attorney Matthew Butterick and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, have filed a class-action lawsuit against DreamUp, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to reclaim copyright and consent rights. They are demanding that AI creators be required to obtain artists’ permission for the use of their works and should provide compensation. 

At this point in time, there are no legal guardrails to AI-generated art other than copyright laws. Hopefully, lawsuit by lawsuit, new guardrails are being developed through case law that will establish ethical and legal boundaries. 

How do we define art?

Artists have unique styles and infuse their art with their own personality. Can a software program replicate emotions, personality, or vision? That may be one of the larger issues the world is grappling with. People relate to art at a very human level. They may have different interpretations, but they relate to art emotionally. Many believe that AI-generated art sucks the humanity out of art.

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has called animation created by machines is “an insult to life itself.” “I consume and love art made by humans,” the “Shape of Water” director told Euronews,  “And I am not interested in illustrations made by machine and the extrapolation of information.” 

AI-generated Indigenous art 

The appropriation of Indigenous art presents another level of complexity – and legal problems. Indigenous art is typically protected by individual countries. In Australia, appropriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art has created a firestorm due to its sacred nature and the premise that only Indigenous Australian peoples can create their art. Per the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, “fake” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art undermines the role of Indigenous communities in sharing cultural knowledge, denies them economic opportunities, deceives buyers and disadvantages businesses who do take the trouble to sell ethically produced Indigenous Art. 

In 2018, for example, British artist Damien Hirst was accused of plagiarizing paintings by Aboriginal artists from the community of Utopia. Australia is looking at ways to respect and preserve the rich tapestry of their Indigenous culture in the ethical pursuit of technological advancements. 

In recent years, communities worldwide have begun to advocate for formal agreements to protect their cultural knowledge, heritage and beliefs on the basis of Indigenous Data Sovereignty. First defined in 2015, the term refers to the “right of Indigenous Peoples to own, control, access and possess data that derive from them, and which pertain to their members, knowledge systems, customs or territories.” 

Mexico has also had problems in protecting Indigenous peoples from cultural appropriation. In 2021, the Mexican government passed a law that prohibits and criminalizes the unauthorized use of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican cultural expressions. Unfortunately, the law is messy and requires clarification. 

The Federal Law for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican People and Communities empowers groups to sue if someone without permission replicates symbols, designs, or other elements of their cultural heritage. The law says that the “community” must give permission. But who in the community? The entire community? The spiritual leader? The political leader? 

And how do you define cultural heritage? Establishing the origin of a cultural expression is complicated as it is passed down from generation to generation and Indigenous culture overlaps at times. There are nearly 17 million Indigenous people in Mexico; at least 68 Indigenous languages; and over 350 variations of those. 

To answer that question the Mexican government says it has created a legal framework with a registry to identify the different cultural expressions subject to protection, the owners of such rights and detailing a process to obtain and document authorization properly. 

There are a lot of definitional questions, however, that demonstrate how difficult it can be to legislate against the exploitation of Indigenous cultures. Legal experts have been critical of the law’s vague provisions on ownership and the fact that it doesn’t specify how the compensation for cultural theft will be distributed. 

Most Indigenous art reflects the history, culture, traditions, and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous community. Can AI generative software replicate that? There is also the problem of Indigenous iconography that is so old that it falls under public domain – a legal back door for any company looking to appropriate Indigenous symbolism. 

Indigenous artists look for solutions to AI-generated Indigenous art 

Some Indigenous artists believe that Indigenous people being involved in the creation and decision-making process of AI will minimize the risk of appropriation and cultural bias ensuring that Indigenous art is respected and properly attributed to the artists. 

Michael Running Wolf, a Northern Cheyenne man from the United States and former Amazon software engineer, believes part of the solution is to train Indigenous youth in Mexico, the United States and Canada in artificial intelligence and data science. 

Running Wolf believes another part of the solution is developing policy frameworks that protect and remunerate art, telling Tech Policy Press that the underlying problem is the exploitation of Indigenous data. “A great deal of energy and effort goes into the creation of art. Stable Diffusion could not [generate art] if they didn’t have the ability to scan the intellectual property of the internet. And that is worth something.” 

Can AI-generated art be copyrighted as intellectual property? 

A U.S. federal court in Washington, D.C. ruled in August of this year that art created by artificial intelligence without any human input cannot be copyrighted under U.S. law. The ruling stated that human authorship is a “bedrock requirement of copyright” based on “centuries of settled understanding.” 

As U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell stated in his ruling, “We are approaching new frontiers in copyright as artists put AI in their toolbox,” which will raise “challenging questions” for copyright law. 

If AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted because it lacks human authorship, can it be defined as art?

Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive, researcher, writer, and editor. She has been writing professionally for 35 years.  She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing. She can be reached at AuthorSherylLosser@gmail.com

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