El grupo de baile y percusión africana, Patambores, animó el ambiente en El Mercado Mayapán. (Yuritzy Ramos/Borderzine.com)

La Mujer Obrera celebra Día Internacional de la Mujer

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EL PASO – En El Día Internacional de la Mujer se celebra la lucha de la mujer en pie por la igualdad con el hombre. Este año La Mujer Obrera se vistió de fiesta para conmemorar a las miles de mujeres inmigrantes y trabajadoras del país. “Esta es una lucha de más de 100 años que llevamos para defender nuestros derechos en el empleo,” dijo Lorena Andrade, directora ejecutiva de La Mujer Obrera. La Mujer Obrera es una organización no lucrativa creada hace más de 30 años, cuyo liderazgo esta conformado por mujeres. “Esta organización fue creada para apoyar a todas aquellas mujeres obreras con sus derechos, como aquellas que perdieron la vida en aquel terrible incendio,” agregó Andrade.

The Librotraficante Caravan exhibited some of the banned books at Mercado Mayapan. (Idali Cruz/Borderzine.com)

Literary caravan travels to Arizona to protest a law against ethnic studies

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EL PASO — Moving to the somber beat of an Aztec drum, dancers performed rituals passed to them by ancient generations to mark what has been called a cultural crime committed by a recent Arizona law that eliminated Mexican American studies from classrooms and prohibited the use in schools of some books by Mexican-American, Chicano, and Latino authors. The Librotraficante Caravan, a group of authors and activists, arrived at Mercado Mayapan here in March on their way to smuggle banned books back into Arizona. “When Arizona tried to erase our history, we decided to make more history,” said Tony Diaz, a literature professor at Houston Community College who is also a novelist and one of the leaders of the Librotraficante Caravan. “It’s important to stop these kind of actions that affect our community, not only culturally but in all ways, and banning a book is just something that cannot be accepted,” said Minerva Laveaga, director of BorderSenses, a nonprofit literary organization based in El Paso and one of the sponsors of the event. Throughout the event some of the banned authors, members of the caravan and others took the stage and read parts of their works.

Lorena Andrade's altar in memory of her father and nephew. (Elvia Navarrete/Borderzine.com)

Día de Los Muertos honors the dead and sustains an ancient Mexican tradition

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EL PASO – Carefully placing her deceased father’s framed portrait on a round table covered with a Spanish style tablecloth, Lorena Andrade neatly arranged his favorite things such as the sugar cane, bananas, tunas and lemons, a pack of L&M cigarettes and a Coca Cola glass bottle. “With the candles and the scent of the flowers they can find you,” she said. “You put food that they like to eat that way they would want to come back and, you know, sit down and talk and eat together. It’s a way for them to come back to visit.”

Like Lorena many people gather at Mercado Mayapán to celebrate Day of the Dead, known to Latinos as Día de Los Muertos. It’s a day and a month when mourners remember their lost loved ones and place ofrendas (offerings) on altars in remembrance and to welcome the departed.

El Día de los Muertos es para que los vivos recuerden

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EL PASO, Texas — Mientras el olor de incienso llenaba el aire, familiares de los difuntos adornaban altares en su honor con papel picado, flor de cempazuchitl, veladoras y su comida favorita. El Día de los Muertos no pasó desapercibido para cientos de personas de El Paso, quienes entre bailables, antojitos, poesía, música y artesanías, aprovecharon la oportunidad para aprender más detalles de esta antigua tradición en distintos eventos realizados por  El Mercado Mayapán y El Rincón Bohemio. “En la cultura latina creemos que el espíritu de esa persona que se fue está a nuestro alrededor y esta es una manera de celebrar su vida y nuestra vida”, dijo María Miranda Maloney coordinadora de Rincón Bohemio. “Es poder pensar en ellos, compartir sus historias, su comida favorita, se trata de el ciclo de la vida y aunque es triste este es su día”. Como es costumbre en México, el  Día de los Muertos se celebra el 1 y 2 de Noviembre empezando el primer día con la celebración para los niños difuntos o “Día de los Angelitos” y se conmemora a los adultos el segundo día.

Mercado Mayapán Celebrates Chicano Power and Pride

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EL PASO, Texas — The smell of tacos al pastor greeted visitors of the Mercado Mayapán like the warmth of a Mexican grandmother’s bosom.  Chicanos gathered here surrounded by the beat of indigenous drums and warm colors for Chicano Power: Legacy of the Chicano movement in El Paso on a Saturday afternoon. Throughout the month of February, Museo Mayachén and La Mujer Obrera presented to the El Paso community different exhibits all having to do with the struggles of the Chicanos and Chicanas during the 60’s and 70’s.  Cultural dances, musical performances, and informatory forums were hosted at the Mercado Mayapán every Saturday in an effort to bring people to the recently opened museum dedicated to the Chicano movement in El Paso. The forum on February 13th was organized by Salvador Avila who participated as a member of the Brown Berets during the era of the Chicano movement. “Hoy se hace historia en la comunidad de El Paso,” Ávila said.

Ancient Traditions Refresh Aztec Pride

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EL PASO ­ — Two elders lifted conch shells to their lips and bellows from these primal trumpets — primordial prayers aimed at the sky — signaled to a third man to kneel as smoky incense wafted from a clay cup in his left hand. The offering ceremony, repeated three times as the heuy tecuhtlis, or elder leaders, paid tribute to mother earth in a rite that has been performed for thousands of years, long before European settlers set foot in the new world. This is how the Danza Azteca, or Aztec Dance, began at the Mercado Mayapan, a local marketplace and community center. “The dances that we do are thousands of years old. They’ve been passed down from generation to generation,” said Ramón Arroyos, 60.