By: Britney Saysouly & Karly Behl 6/7 Mexico By: Britney Saysouly & Karly Behl 6/7

Mexican Legends: Quetzalcoatl was believed to be the sky and creator god. “Quetzal” means a brightly colored bird, and “coatl” meaning a snake. Jesus Malverde was worshiped as a saint. According from others, Malverde used to steal from the wealthy and in 1909, was killed from a gun shot wound.

Music: There are many different types of genres of music such as: Banda – Sounds like polka music. Mariachi – Played by a group of 5 or more people. Norteño – The accordion and sexto are most commonly use.

Clothes: The clothing are separated into 3 main groups which are: modern clothes, traditional mexican clothing, and celebration dresses and costumes. Modern clothing isn’t very different to the clothing we wear everyday. Just wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans would work. Traditional Mexican clothing: combines native and European elements. Cotton and bark are the main things that are mostly used in the clothes.

Foods: Horchata: contains water, then is thickened with rice and then sweetened with cinnamon and a little bit of lime. Ceviche: has raw fish marinated in lime juice, often in a salad. Poc Chuc: pork fillet is cooked with tomatoes, onions, and spices.

Celebrations: Cinco de Mayo: They honor the dead and do a whole bunch of celebrations. El Grito de Independencia: September 16th, 1810 is when they got their independence from Spain and they celebrate it on Sep. 16th. Noche Buena: It’s called the Holy night and is celebrated on December 24th. All night long they sing folk songs and dance.

Language: Spanish is the main language in Mexico. It’s also known as the romance language. It started in the medieval period. Spanish is the second most natively spoken language in the world. And it’s also the second most studied language in the world.

Beliefs: A belief that many Mexican people believe is that when the wife is pregnant and there’s a total lunar eclipse to not go outside or you could have a miscarriage. So when there happens to be a lunar eclipse, they shut all the blinds, stay inside, and have the whole house darkened so that there is no sunlight in it.

Cinco de Mayo: A holiday that is celebrated on May 5th every year. The first time this holiday was celebrated was May 5th, 1862 under the leadership of Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. This day was also the victory of the Mexican army over the French army. Cinco de Mayo is NOT the same as the Mexico’s independence day.

Recreations: Soccer is the most popular sport in Mexico followed by baseball. They also think that bull fighting is very entertaining as well. Mexico City has the largest bull ring in the world. It can seat up to 55,000 people. On Sundays, majority of the Mexicans do not work, so they like to go to the park and have some family time.

Religion: More than 75% of the population in Mexican are roman catholic. And the rest of the 25% are people like Jews, Protestants and others. Most of the catholic missionaries arrived in the early 1500’s. Ever since the mid-1900’s, the number of Protestant churches have increased.

Education: It was studied that in the early 1900’s, LESS than 25% of the Mexican population over the age of 6 could read and/or write. The Mexican law says that you have to go to school between the ages of 6-14. After kindergarten, they have to be in elementary school for 6 years, 3 years of middle school, and 3 years of high school.

Arts: The Mayans and Toltecs have made lots of temples and wall paintings. The Aztecs wrote music and poetry. The Spanish brought the literature and buildings. In the 1900’s, Mexico has produced more of paintings, music, and churches.

Architecture: Architecture has been a very important thing to the Mexican religion. The Aztec and other groups built pyramids and on the pyramids were symbols. The symbols symbolized their gods. You could go to Mexico today and still see most of the pyramids and temples with the symbols on them.

Government: The government in Mexico is a federal republic. It has a legislative branch, judicial branch, and an executive branch. The executive branch is lead by a president which is basically the decision-making part of the government. It goes over things like government policies and taxes.

Resources: http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar358800&st=Mexico http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Mexico.html http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=strict&rlz=1R2ADSA_enUS410&q=mexico%20culture&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&safe=on

Resources cont. http://www.geographia.com/mexico/mexicohistory.htm http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=active&rlz=1R2ADSA_enUS410&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=mexico&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&safe=on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Mexico