The Popular Arts Foundation

I recently read a book called: “Coloring Colorado, The Art of Indian Children”  sponsored  by different Mexican Ministries such as: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Social Development, National Indian Institute, Office of Popular Cultures, and others well respected institutions. In the first pages of the book I found a quote written by Roberta Manchu Tom, Nobel Prize recipient in the past years, this quote says the following:” Children are the seeds of our lives and it is up to us to see that they flower.  Educating Indian children and preserving their culture Is the duty of all of us.”    Such a simple quote with such an important message.   I insist in the importance of “cultural identity”, in every specific culture.  One of the best ways of preserving this cultural identity is thru the arts, especially popular arts; every culture has a different and unique artistic expression of the masses. The Popular Arts Foundation concentrates, momentarily, in Mexican popular arts.  We will be expanding our scope in future years.  The art activities that we offer among the different places that we have the chance to service, are focus on the children. Activities such as sand painting, paper flowers, papel picado, or little straw painting help promote this cultural identity and reinforce the psychological benefits of handcrafting.  Children that are born out of immigrant parents, here in the United States, found themselves in a unique situation when it come to cultural identity.  It is important as well the acceptance and understanding of the culture that they will be growing up with; the American people has an interesting and sophisticated culture that is admired, and hated by a few, all over the world, but the success of our immigrant communities is based on the preservation of their cultural essence.

We are including a written statement by Carlos Montemayor in the book mentioned above and that I think it is a clear example of what happens when a culture loses its traditions, but gives us the hope on a revival of basic strategies to enrich and preserve our cultures.

In The Tradition of their Ancestors

By

Carlos Montemayor,

 (Colorin Colorado, The Arts of Indian Childre; p.21)

Overwhelmed as we are by the images of the Conquest, we often tend to forget the ensuing artistic repression endured by the Indian peoples of Mexico.  Dancing was considered a way of worshiping the gods and was prohibited.  The use of musical instrument was forbidden because of music was an offering to the gods and equally banned was the representation of dramatic works, which included dancing, poetry, acting, music and the involvement of hundreds of participants on a ‹‹stage››that sometimes stretched over the entire town and vicinity.  Instead, the Indians were forced to perform religious plays of inferior artistic value as a way to indoctrinate them into Catholicism.  The evolution of their unique architectural style was cut short with the destruction of their temples, and the Spaniards also attempted to alter the philosophical trend of their mural painting and sculpture. The Conquest also dealt a great blow to Indian languages and their written expression.  The brutal and almost complete destruction of pre-hispanic books paved the way for the imposition of the Latin alphabet and the elimination of the Indian intellectual elite, whose authors never received any recognition.  Since Sahagun and to this day, the Indians who know the most about their culture are referred to as ‹‹informants››.  In order to be able to write plays, prayers, catechisms and songs in the Indian languages, the 16^th century missionaries invented grammars and lexicons and thus control the use or writing for their own ends instead of allowing it to bend to the creative needs of the Indians.  Writing in an Indian language was limited to writing about the religion of the conquistadors. 

Deprived of their music and musical instruments, of their theater and dance, their books and their art, the Indian peoples were forced to take the long way around, through other forms of expression, in order to retain their cultural identity.  today, five hundred years later, we are witnessing a renaissance of intellectuals, poets, storytellers, playwrights, and historians who write in their own languages, of their own volition and for their own people and whose works can be read in numerous books, magazines and newspapers.  The children are aware of and taking part in this cultural revival; two years ago appeared in print the literary output of Chinantec children, between eight and fourteen years of age, from the community of La Esperanza, Santiago Comaltepec, in the state of Oaxaca. There, the bilingual teacher, Eusebio Ramon Lopez Hernandez from the Regional Office of Popular Cultures set up a writing workshop for children in which I participated for sometime in 1982.  The reaction on the part of the children was astounding.

     Indian languages were used to describe and eulogize Mexico long before Spanish; they draw their inspiration from a culture which envisions the world as a living being and procreator of mankind; this concept seems obvious to young Indians who understand it on a deeper level than we do. It is for this reason that when they describe and paint the world, they are consciously taking part in the perpetuation of life for the entire planet and its peoples.  In this exhibition, The Art of Indian Children, the earth is not a static, imaginary stage; it’s alive and as tangible as man himself.  This is a vision of the world which already existed way before the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World.  These young artists are only continuing the task begun by their ancestors: Understanding who they are and expressing it, in order to reshape and make whole for the first time, the ancient image of Mexico”.

  En esta capilla en la Ciudad de Mexico, una familia se detiene para rezar a un santo especial.  Encienden una vela y piden un favor o dan gracias con una oracion.  La mayoria de los Mexicanos son catolicos y asisten a la iglecia a unos servicios llamados "misas".

Pero a menudo las personas, durante la semana, hacen visitas a la iglesia para rezar solos.  Algunos se arrodillan delante de la Virgen de Guadalupe, de San Juan o de cualquier santo a quien deseen dirigir sus oraciones.  Las vidas de casi todos los Mexicanos están influidas por la Iglesia Católica.  La misa del domingo, fiestas para honrar a los santos patrones, el bautismo de un recién nacido, una primera comunión, los fuertes lazos entre padrinos y ahijados son ejemplo de la importancia de la religión para la gente.  Pero aun antes de la llegada del cristianismo, la religión era una parte importante de la vida de la Américas.

In this tiny chapel off the nave of the cathedral in Mexico City, a family stops to pray to a special saint. They light a candle and ask a favor, or give thanks through prayer.  Most Mexicans are Catholic and workship at church services called " masses".  But often people stop by the church to pray alone during the week.  Some kneel in front of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Saint John or whichever saint they wish to hear their prayers.  The lives of most Mexicans are touched by the Catholic Church.  Sunday mass, fiestas to honor patron saints, a baptism of a new baby, a first communion, the close ties between godparents and godchildren are all examples of the importance of religion to the people.  But even before the comming of Christianity, religion was an important part of life in the Americas.