Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo (the Fifth of May) commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the 1862 Franco-Mexican War- a reminder of how many times Mexico has been invaded, and the one time Mexico won.

It's a minor holiday in Mexico, but in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, which is how we celebrated it.

Agenda:
1. Learn about indigenous Mexicans
2. Make clay animals
3. Work on embroidery
4. Make sopaipillas, traditional Mexican fried bread
5. Have a fiesta and break a piñata

1. Learn about indigenous Mexicans:

We studied three indigenous cultures of Mexico: 

The Maya were one of the first great civilizations in Southern Mexico, at their peak between 250 and 900 AD. The early Mayan people were great mathematicians, invented a hieroglyphic language, and built pyramids and huge cities. Today two million Maya still live in Mexico and Central America. 

The Aztecs had another great civilization in Mexico, at its peak from 1325 to 1520 when the Spanish arrived. They built a beautiful city called Tenochtitlán with a population of 250,000 people, where Mexico City is now. Their language, Nahuatl, was written with glyphs like the Maya language, and is still spoken by many people in Mexico. The Aztecs wrote poetry and made beautiful mosaics, jewelry, and sculptures. 

The Otomi are the fifth largest Indian group in Mexico. They lived in the central valley of Mexico hundreds of years before the arrival of the Aztecs. The Otomi people now live in San Pablito, Puebla, Mexico. Many of the older people speak only Otomi and wear traditional clothing.

2. Make clay animals:

The ancient Mayans were great potters. In the pottery town of Amatenango del Valle in southern Mexico, Maya people live and follow the traditions of their ancestors. Even young children work with the clay. They model hundreds of little clay animals– armadillos, owls, doves, donkeys, pigs, goats, and turtles-- with grey clay, and later they paint them with red and black stripes and dots using natural oxides that they collect in the mountains.

The little dog (left of center, front) is from southern Mexico.

Materials: Self-drying clay, water, pointed sticks

We planned to make small animals so we began by looking at pictures and examining the small animals I have collected, to see how they have been simplified and streamlined.

We made our animals with self-drying clay, because we didn't have time to use a kiln. 

When working with clay with children, I work along side them and demonstrate simple tips like how to score and slip properly so that the edges of the joint are completely blended, and how to pull the clay to form parts without joining pieces.


3. Work on embroidery: 

The Otomi are famous for their textiles. They use a special kind of satin stitch that only appears on one side of the cloth, called the Otomi Stitch, or the herringbone. The Otami stitch is simple enough for young sewers and fills an area quickly.
Materials: Linen cloth or other loosely woven fabric, scissors, fabric pencil, embroidery hoop, embroidery floss, needles

1) Draw a small design taking inspiration from Otami embroidery.

2) Cut a small piece of fabric and redraw your design with a fabric pencil. Put it in a hoop.

3) Cut about 3-feet of floss; thread the needle, double the floss over and knot the ends.

4) The Otomi stitch is a herringbone done no more than 1-inch long, so you will need to break large areas of the design into sections no more than 1-inch wide.) Start on the back to hide the knot and sew from edge to edge of your design with your needle entering right to left (or opposite for left-handers). Essentially, you’re creating really narrow figure eights with your thread.

We made wallets with our embroidery.

4. Make sopaipillas, traditional Mexican fried bread:

Ingredients:

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tbsp. shortening
• 1/3-c. water
• oil to fry

1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

2. Use your fingers to rub in the shortening.

3. Add water and stir to make dough that is soft but not sticky.

4. Knead the dough a little then roll it out very thinly on a floured board. Cut into about 16 squares.

5. Heat 2-inches of oil in a frying pan, and fry the squares a few at a time 1 minute on each side. When golden, remove and drain on paper towels. Serve warm, with cinnimon sugar, or drizzled with honey.

5. Have a fiesta and break a piñata:

A fiesta is like a party for a whole town, with dancing, food, music, and colorful decorations. We made paper flowers to decorate the table, then ate our sopaipillas outside. Then we broke a piñata!

The ancient Aztecs had something like a piñata: When they celebrated the birth of their god Huitzilopochtli (weetz-ill-oh-PACHT-lee), near winter solstice, they covered a clay pot with feathers, dangled it over a statue of the god, then hit and broke it. This ceremony probably symbolized the rebirth of the sun and the defeat of winter.