Mexican Culture & Mythology Creation

1. Culture

3. • Traditionally, Mexico has been divided between
the Spanish-meztiso north and Indian-meztiso
south.
• The country can be further divided into 10
traditional cultural regions: the
North, Northeast, Northwest, Baja Calipornia
peninsula, Central, West, Balsas, Gulf
Coast, Southern Highlands, and Yucatan
Peninsula.
• Mexico’s population is composed of many ethnic
groups, including indigenous American Indians
who account for more than one-sixth of the
total, and Mexican heritage who are nearly as
numerous.

4. • LanguageSpanish is the official national language and
language of instruction in schools. It is spoken by
vastly majority of the population. Fewer than
one-tenth of American Indians speak an
indigenous language.
However, there are more than 50
indigenous languages spoken by more than
100,000 people, including
Maya, Huastec, Tarastec, Otomi, Mazahua, Zapote
c, Oaxaca, and Tzeltal.
Many public and private schools offer
instruction in English as a second language.

6. • Religion
there is no official religion in Mexico, as
the constitution guarantees separation of
church and state. However, more than ninetenths of the population are at least nominally
affiliated with Roman Catholicism.
The Basilica of Guadalupe, the shrine of
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint, is
located in Mexico city and a site of annual
pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of
people, many of then peasants.

7. The Metropolitan Cathedral of the
Assumption of Mary of Mexico City
is one of the oldest and largest
Roman Catholic cathedral in the
Americas and seat of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico.
Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Mexico’s patron saint

8. • There are also some protestants, small
number but rapidly growing groups.
• A significant portion of indigenous peoples
practice syncrectic religions—that is, they
retain traditional religious beliefs and
practices in addition to adhering to Roman
Catholicism.

9. • Still, Catholic Church teachings, including its
stances on birth control and abortion, have
strong support in Mexican culture.
• Within the Catholic religion many
superstitions have developed over centuries
and are even practiced today but mostly with
the uneducated and poorer population.
• A common Mexican superstition called "mal
de ojo" in Spanish, (Evil Eye) it can cause all
sorts of calamities to people and also to
material items.

10. • In reality, the evil eye can be condensed down
to jealousy and desire. If a stranger looks upon
your child or baby with either of these
emotions in her eyes, she has just given your
child the evil eye. To keep the evil eye at bay,
whenever a person looks at a baby and offers
a compliment, she must touch the child at the
same time.

11. • If a child is suffering from a high fever, crying
fits, or nausea and swelling in some part of
the body, it is generally thought to be due to
the evil eye. If the person who gave the child
the evil eye is located, she must pass three
mouthfuls of water to the child to break the
spell. A red bracelet can also be worn to
protect against the evil eye.

12. Other widespread superstitions
include the following:
•Never walk beneath a ladder.
•Never cross a black cat's path.
•If you drop a tortilla, you will have lots of company.
•If you cut a baby's fingernails before the age of one
year, the child will have impaired eyesight.
•Tuesday is unlucky; never start a journey or
anything important on this day

13. • Mexican Holidays
-associated with Catholic feast days.
Some examples:
Lenten Season
Easter
All Saint’s Day
Christmas Day

14. • Daily life in Mexico varies dramatically to
socioeconomic level, gender, ethnicity and racial
perceptions, regional characteristics, rural versus
urban differences, and other social and cultural
factors.
• Mexican society is sharply divided by income and
educational level. Although a middle class has
struggled to expand in the cities, the principal
division is between the wealthy, well-educated
elite, and the urban and rural poor, who
constitute the vast majority of the population.

15. • Huge income disparties exist in Mexico, a
country in which nearly half the population
lives on less than $4 a day.
• The ever widening gap between rich and poor
continues to create stress and generate great
contrasts in the Mexican culture.
• Mexican culture is generally traditional, with
Mexican men in particular holding onto oldfashioned ideas about gender roles and family.

16. • In the Mexican household, the father/husband or
oldest male remains the primary authority
figure, making most of the family decisions, while
the mother/wife continues to bear the majority of
the responsibility when it comes to raising children
and maintaining the home.
• Mexican children are expected to be wellbehaved, obedient and respectful of their elders.
Older family members often live with their children
and grandchildren and are a valued part of Mexican
culture. These cultural traditions are also found in
Mexican-American culture in the U.S.

17. • Mexicans will occasionally say that while their
English-speaking neighbors to the north live to
work, Mexicans work to live.
• The Mexican culture puts great emphasis on
family and interpersonal relationships, and while
Mexicans are industrious and dependable
workers, work it is not the end all, be all of
Mexican life or of the Mexican culture.

18. • Time can always be taken to enjoy a good
meal with friends or to spend time with
family, leading to a less stressful and perhaps
more fulfilling way of life than that found in
many highly-industrialized countries.
• The concept of time is an interesting aspect of
the Mexican culture. Life is generally is very
slow paced
• Generally, families and households gathers for
a large midday meal at 2 or 3 pm. It is
followed by siesta or afternoon nap.
• Their usual meals are consist of
corn, beans, and rice.

25. She tucked them into her dress for safe keeping.
After a while, she discovered that she was pregnant

26. “Who is the father of this child”, they commanded.
“It was a ball of Hummingbird feathers”, she replied, but no one
believed her story.

34. The top half or her body went into the heavens and the
lower half crashed into the seas, forming the earth.

36. He created a race of men from grey ash.

37. Their lives were easy and they lived without pain and
suffering.

38. They forgot to honor their creators and they took the
earth’s riches for granted

40. Quetzacoatl decided to spare these two and gave them
instructions

41. Teta and Nena did as they were told.

42. The greedy men and women turned into fish and are still fish
today.

46. Her hands and feest were decorated with animal claws. She became
insatiably hungry for human blood and demanded regular human
sacrifice.

47. If they didn’t, Coatlicue will withdraw the earth’s gifts and
everyone will die out of starvation.

48. THE END