Aguas Frescas: Horchata, Pt. 2 (Rated R…) Saturday, Sep 12 2009

The Smoked Horchata

Now, let’s talk horchata and alcohol. I found a couple of interesting general articles on using horchata as a mixer.  Of course, there’s the great Squirrel Horchata recipe at Chowhound. But here are some excerpts from a Horchata Cocktails Article on HalogenLife.com:

“Traditionally, forward-thinking citizens have spiked horchata with rum, Cointreau, Grand Marnier or brandy, but finding formalized cocktails has been rare (in California, some Latino bars apparently make a “Rice Rocket,” a potent mix of horchata, coconut-flavored rum and Goldschlager).”

Note:  I was just thinking about the “bling” factor of a liqueur with tiny pieces of gold floating in it, but I just read that Goldschlager has a cinnamon flavor.  That would make it more appropriate than I thought for a horchata drink.

and this (most intriguing):

“At the creative cocktail den Death & Company, you can pick up the very complicated “Smoked Horchata” crafted by bartender Joaquin Simo. The recipe involves reposado tequila, crema de mezcal, cinnamon bark syrup, house-made horchata (crafted with toasted coconut flakes and almond flour) and a dash of bitters. The resulting cocktail is dense but crisp. An unexpected summer drink, like the base liquid itself, it somehow manages to restore.”

Yay!!! I found a PDF of Smoked Horchata recipe, including the easy horchata (made with rice and almond milks with coconut water) and cinnamon bark syrup (added to other drinks as well) at Tasting Table.com.  It looks fascinating! Here’s another cinnamon bark syrup recipe used in a non-horchata drink from Imbibe Magazine.

Fodors.com highly recommends a horchata drink called The Spicy Brown Girl made at Stir Lounge in Las Vegas:

“While the Horchata gives the Spicy Brown Girl its creamy consistency, the drink’s zing comes from (mixologist Niles) Peacock’s homemade Ancho chile simple syrup, a spicy mixer that leaves the palate surprisingly hot. Other ingredients: Smirnoff Vanilla Twist Vodka, dark Crème de Cacao, and Peacock’s homemade Madagascar cello, which he makes with Madagascar vanilla beans.”

I could not find a recipe for the Spicy Brown Girl on the internet, so I looked for recipes for the components of the drink.  Here is an Ancho Chile Syrup Recipe to try (scroll to the middle of the page). I could not find a recipe for “Madagascar cello”, but I assume it is vodka infused with Madagascar vanilla bean pods.  Here is a link to Marie Brizard’s Vanilla Liqueur, which I think might be an acceptable substitute.

The Rosa’s Horchata Site had five cocktail recipes using their canned or bottled ready-made horchata. Click here for the page with the recipes and here for a PDF file to download.

On other random sites, I found some other drinks recipes:

• Here’s one for Rum-Spiked Horchata, which uses condensed milk and then rum to replace some of the water.
• Here is a Sarah Moulton recipe for a coconut rice cooler with optional rum added.
• The Monte Alban on DrinkNation.com is similar to the Rice Rocket, but uses tequila instead of coconut-flavored rum.
• DrinksMixer.com had the Rojo Robles,which adds coffee liqueur and raspberry vodka to the horchata, and…
• The Reggaton, made with horchata and Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum.
• In the middle of this article  is a recipe for Heavenly Horchata, made with tequila and Kahlua.
• The La Palapa Horchata has vanilla vodka and amaretto added to it.
• Horchata Macau uses just a bit of spiced almond horchata with Flor de Cana guava-infused white rum and fresh lemon.
• the White Widow has tequila, melon liquor and horchata

I just found a fascinating article on orgeat syrups. The original orgeat syrup is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar and rose water or orange-flower water. It was, however, originally made with a barley-almond blend. (from Wikipedia).  Here is a step by step recipe for French orgeat syrup with illustrations.

This article from RookieLibations at Blogspot seems to be playing around with derivatives based on rice-based drinks.  Check it out – there are recipes for three different types of syrup.  There is a syrup using a horchata de melon recipe, which is used in a drink called the Melon de Rosa.  There is a rice horchata syrup recipe with a pisco drink called a Fausto Cocktail.  Finally, there’s a wacky syrup based on thandai (a northern Indian concoction) with a cocktail called the Isodo Cocktail.  Very creative!

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Aguas Frescas: Horchata, Part 1 Saturday, Sep 12 2009

I was doing some research into aguas frescas, after receiving a drink recipe from Chow.com that incorporated horchata. After doing probably too much research, I felt like I needed to make two entries: one on horchata one on the other aguas frescas.

Even though I had visited Mexico before, and had even been served a hibiscus flower punch at a friend’s party, my first experience with “making” aguas frescas was while teaching Exploratory Spanish several years ago.

I came up with this idea of having my students sample Mexican sweets and candies as cultural enrichment.  I went to the Buford Highway Farmers Market and was amazed at the variety.  Along with sweet breads, cookies, cajeta and sticky chili tamarind treats, I thought I would serve some aguas frescas.  Instead of making them from scratch, I found some convenient Klass dried drink mix packets and decided to use those.

When I prepared the powdered horchata drink for my first group of students, I asked one of my Mexican students to taste it and tell me what she thought.  She took a sip and made a face.  Then, she said, “I think you are supposed to add sugar to it.” DUH! But even after adding sugar, I realized that the horchata powder would quickly sink to the bottom.  If you shook it up and took a sip, you got a mouthful of grit.

I think I tried a liquid concentrate after that, but after having tasted horchata at my local taqueria, I realized that mixes would always be a poor substitute.  There’s supposedly a bottled version made by Rose’s Horchata that is the real thing – if I find it, I may try it.  Also, I just read that the people who make Rice Dream have added a horchata flavor. I’m all about the quick fix.

But, today I received in my Chow mail a recipe for a drink called “Squirrel Horchata”.  Briefly, I wondered about the powdered squirrel, but I quickly found that it was a cocktail made with horchata, dark rum, and Frangelico liqueur (a hazelnut liqueur). From there I quickly found some other agua fresca based drinks and cocktails.  But, today, we will only talk about horchata.

Horchata or orxata is the name for several kinds of traditional beverages, made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley or tigernuts (chufas). Horchata, the Spanish way, using chufa is very different from Mexican horchata. Chufa, also called tigernuts can be ordered online. I remembered Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods trying it in Spain, and he did not like it at all.  Here is a video of his experience drinking Spanish Horchata.

Here is an article that features Salvadoran horchata, made with calabash, or morro, seeds.  It also talks about other horchatas.

First of all, here is a basic recipe for horchata (from the Food Network):

* 1 cup long grain white rice
* 2 cups skinless almonds
* 1-inch piece cinnamon bark
* 8 cups water
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Ice cubes

Directions

Wash and drain the rice. Using a spice grinder (an electric coffee grinder works well too), grind the rice until fine; combine with the almonds and cinnamon bark. Add 3 1/2 cups water and let sit overnight, covered. Blend rice mixture until smooth using a blender. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and continue blending. Add sugar and vanilla extract. Strain horchata into a bowl first using a metal strainer and then a double layer of cheesecloth; finish with up to an additional 2 cups of water until it achieves a milky consistency. Enjoy over ice.

There are all sorts of variations.  Here are some of the recipes I have found:

-From Imbibe magazine, this horchata adds lime zest.
-From MexGrocer.com, a variety of agua fresca recipes includes a horchata made with skim milk.
-Almond Horchata – no rice, just almonds.
-From Ingrid Hoffman, this one adds almond extract.
-Brown Jasmine Rice Horchata – someone’s trying to make it healthy!
-Indian Horchata with brown basmati rice and cardamom pods.
-Horchata de Lima (Peru).
-Horchata with Chocolate and Pumpkin Seeds from Saveur magazine
-Horchata Rosa- the “rosa” refers to food coloring, not the crushed roses I was hoping to find.
-White and Wild Rice Horchata from Garrett’s Table. “To make it, simply substitute 1/4 c. white rice for wild rice in the original recipe.”
-From the L.A.Times, horchata with toasted pecans and cantaloupe.
-Barley Horchata – hmmmm.  AKA Horchata de Cebada (Barley).
-Horchata de Avena (oatmeal) – at the bottom of the page. A picture of it is at the top.
-Horchata de Venezuela – made with sesame seeds.

For a few minutes, I decided to do a search on Bubble Tea (boba tea) made with horchata.  Why not?  This boba tea recipe calls for rice milk anyway, why not substitute that with horchata?  There is also a chocolate version.

Basic Bubble Tea:
1 cup brewed black or green tea or espresso
7 to 8 ice cubes
1 cup rice milk or almond milk
sugar to taste
1/2 cup tapioca pearls

Instructions: Pour everything into a Martini shaker and shake for a few seconds. Pour into a large glass. Use this as a base and add anything you want to it such as nondairy cream, ground almond, or fruit juice.

You can make a chocolate almond variation by omitting the tapioca pearls and adding 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons ground almonds.

Horchata Chai sounds good, too!

-Variations on horchata at this website include “plain”, chocolate, and strawberry.
-Strawberry Horchata from the California Strawberry Commission.
-Peach Horchata from the Food Network.
-This recipe uses cartons of organic vanilla rice milk and organic almond milk.
-Cantaloupe Horchata uses the seeds of the melon instead of rice and almonds.
-Coconut Horchata – really just fresh coconut, milk and sugar.
-Yerba Mate and Horchata – okay… I was actually looking for green tea and horchata.

While searching, I also found horchata used in various dessert recipes:
-Horchata Cupcakes
-Frozen Horchata dessert
-Horchata ice cream
-Horchata ice cream With Canela and Pecans
-Horchata Pudding
-Cinnamon Horchata Cookies – second recipe down
-Tonka Bean and Cinnamon Horchata Sherbet

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Mexican Green and Yellow Stew Monday, Sep 7 2009

This morning (okay, noon) I got up and worked on more food.  My original plan was to add the beef tongue to the stew below, but decided it might be better to keep them separate and mix them in a burrito or over rice.

Mexican Green and Yellow Stew

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small poblano pepper, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
6 nopal paddles, cleaned, de-spined and diced
2 medium yellow tomatoes, chopped
1 11 oz. can San Marcos Tomatillos, chopped
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 7 oz. can San Marcos Green Mexican Salsa
1 cube Dorot chopped garlic
1/2 cup Goya Recaito
juice of 1 lime
1 cup Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn
2 Tablespoons Maseca Harina de Masa
Don Julio Pepper and Cumin powder*, to taste
Cholula Chile and Lime Seasoning, to taste
Salt, to taste

1. Sautee onion, peppers and celery in a large pan or Dutch Oven.
2. Add other chopped vegetables and ingredients as they become ready: nopales, tomatoes, tomatillos, and cilantro and simmer until softer.
3. Add the can of Mexican salsa to the pan, along with the recaito, garlic, and lime and stir into the mixture.
4. Add other spices: Pepper and Cumin Powder, Chile and Lime Seasoning, and Salt to taste.
5. I add the Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn (which is frozen) last, because I don’t want it to lose its shape and “roasted” look.
5. I added the Masa Harina as a thickener.  It really added body to the mix.

I am eating this right now with brown rice and it is delicious – it may be a little tart for some, but I think that the addition of meat (tongue, for example) will balance that out.  I think that it would also be good in a soup, and I will try that later.

*I tried to find a link to the Don Julio products, but gave up.  I found this and some achiote powder in the Honduran section of my Mexican grocery.

Oh, I also found a recipe for Nopal Cactus Paddle Cake while searching – gotta try that!

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Loteria Artesania, Part 2 Thursday, Jul 30 2009

Sorry I missed a day – I thought I would be able to access the internet at Callaway Gardens, but I could not.  Still, I have had a pretty good run at NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).

Here is the next group of Loteria images I found.  As you will see, even after so many hours of searching images (I’m embarrassed to tell you how many), I have some missing.  That means substitutions.  Let me explain:  the idea behind this Loteria exercise was to come up with a traditional number of cards – that would be 54.

So, while I could have approached it several ways, I was trying to stick with images as close to the names of the cards that I could.  And – they needed to be some form of Mexican Folk Art.

17 El bandolón – I couldn’t find a sitar (or mandolin?), so I used la guitarra instead.

18 El violoncello (The Cello) – still looking.

19 La garza – I found this Oaxacan wood carving (alebrije).

20 El pájaro – I like this Otomi embroidery swatch, or this Talavera bird.

21 La mano – This milagro (but it’s not large) and this hand nicho – I like it because it’s unique.

22 La bota – It wasn’t easy, but I found these Virgin of Guadalupe boots.

23 La luna – I love this paper mache moon.

24 El cotorro – Here is a paper mache parrot.

25 El borracho – Here is a drunk man made from paper mache.

26 El negrito – Here is a traditional wooden carved and painted mask called El Negrito.

27 El corazón – I have soooooo many kinds of hearts, but I like this one in wood with milagros.

28 La sandía – a lovely coconut shell mask with a watermelon on it.

29 El tambor – a Huichol yarn picture.

30 El camarón – haven’t found one yet.  I may replace it with this elefante (Oaxacan carving).  I have already asked for it for my birthday.

31 Las jaras (The Arrows) – Not yet.

32 El músico – a painted tin ornament of a musician.

33 La araña (The Spider) – Nothing yet.

More later!

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Loteria Artesania, Part One Tuesday, Jul 28 2009

Yes, summer’s ending, and what am I doing?  Creating loteria decks in my head.  Here’s the deal.  What I do when I am bored is to, well, uh, instead of counting sheep… I look for rhyming words.

I can see your confused looks – It’s very simple.  I choose a phonetic ending, let’s say “-ait”.  Then, I go through the alphabet, looking for words that are spelled with that ending, or that sound (you know: -ate, -eight,…).  That would be ate, bait, crate, date, eight, fate, freight, gate, gait, great, etc.  What can I say – it keeps my mind occupied.

I don’t think I have OCD – I can stop whenever I want.

That has sort of transferred to the whole Loteria thing.  I have already started one post on “Making Your Own Loteria Deck“.  So, this is the logical next step.

I chose the theme of Mexican Folk Art – Here is Part One:

1 El gallo – I found three possibilities:  a Oaxacan carving,  a painted clay rooster,  and a painted tin rooster.

2 El diablito -  a coco mask

3 La dama -  a huichol mask or  a clay miniature.

4 El catrín -  a clay figure of a smoking man.

5 El paraguas -  these oilcloth dishwashing gloves (to keep the water off your hands – I know it’s a stretch… or this clay day of the dead beach figurine.

6 La sirena – a painted tin mirror

7 La escalera – these primitive ladders or this Aztec temple tin ornament (it has stairs).

8 La botella – a set of Cuervo bottle tin ornaments.

9 El barril – this balero toy is shaped like a barrel.

10 El árbol – either this arbol de la vida or this one.

11 El melón – this one’s a long shot: a paper mache pumpkin.

12 El valiente – this tin ornament.

13 El gorrito – no bonnets – I had to go with this sombrero or this sombrero pinata.

14 La muerte – this clay figurine.

15 La pera – this silver leaf gourd.

16 La bandera – this popotillo plate with the eagle on a cactus, like the Mexican flag, or this papel picado which is like little flags, or this tin soldier holding a Mexican flag.

That’s it for part one.  Yes, I don’t have much to do right now.  More tomorrow!

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Now, About Chilaquiles Saturday, Jul 25 2009

I love chilaquiles – but luckily for me, I don’t get a chance to eat them that often.  I don’t make them myself, because I am afraid of frying things… sort of.  I don’t order them from restaurants any more. They are good, but they are always made with meat (usually chicken) and I just don’t think that’s necessary.

The first time I remember having chilaquiles was at the Mansion Iturbe in Patzcuaro, Mexico.  It was part of my breakfast, and accompanied by fried eggs and refried beans.  Awesome – two summers ago, when we went back to Patzcuaro, that was the first thing I was looking forward to.

That, and sopa tarasca – but that’s another entry.

Here are a couple of links to recipes for chilaquiles:

• This one goes both ways… red or green salsa.
• Here is a recipe from the Loteria Grill
• Here’s another from AllRecipes.com
• Look – Seafood Chilaquiles!
• Turkey Chilaquiles
• Chilaquiles with Chorizo (Farmer John’s recipe)
• Rick Bayless’ recipe with the inevitable chipotle chiles
• Here’s his Chilaquiles for a Crowd – more of a casserole
• Black Bean and Chicken Chilaquiles from Cooking Light
• Black Bean Chilaquiles from Moosewood Restaurant
• Here’s a Fairfield Farms/Moosewood Frozen Entree version

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I wish I could buy this house! Friday, Jul 24 2009

I was doing a little research on chilaquiles when I came upon a blog by a guy named Todd – he has a lovely picture of his breakfast chilaquiles.  He lives in Patzcuaro, Mexico – where I think I would love to have a house one day (boy, I hope my husband and I agree when the time comes… hee hee).  I am too tired to synthesize all of my chilaquile info, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime – you’ve got to see the pictures this guy has taken of Michoacan – they are inspiring.  The name of his blog is Life in El Corazon.

Also, he has this gorgeous house for sale – it’s just outside of Patzcuaro and it’s called Corazon de Durazno (Heart of the Peach).  It must be a sign – moving from a place filled with Peachtree Streets to a Peach HOUSE?  I wish!

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Today seems to be all about Puebla! Wednesday, Jul 22 2009

Women making China Poblana costumes

Today, all of my internet activity seems to pull me toward Puebla.  I last visited there two years ago with my husband and my mother.  We actually stayed in Atlixco, with our friends the Maurers.  Ever since I was a teenager and first visited the Maurers with my family, I have considered living there.  I even sent my transcripts to the University of the Americas, which is situated in Puebla.

Today, while searching on a bit of information about the Mexican population in Jackson County, North Carolina, I came upon this article called Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools.  In the article, they focus on people settling in North Carolina from San Pablito, which is the part of the state of Puebla that produces amate paintings and paper.

Then, an article on Chowhound mentioned the new popularity of the cemita poblana – a type of sandwich from Puebla.  Here is the description from Wikipedia:

A cemita, also known as a cemita poblana, is a Mexican sandwich and street food that originated in the city of Puebla.^[1]

It is distinguished from a torta by the fluffy sesame-seeded egg roll that it is served on. Additionally, the ingredients usually are restricted to sliced avocado, meat, white cheese, onions and red sauce (salsa roja).^[2] Recently it has appeared on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, and other cities with Mexican food vendors.

Now that I remember, I think it was this kind of sandwich that my husband ate in Puebla on the day before we returned to the U.S.  He had a case of food poisoning or dysentery so bad he though I might have to call a doctor to our hotel room in Mexico City.  I think it was the lettuce, tomato or cilantro on the sandwich.

Anyway, I digress.  From there, I read a fascinating article by a foodie traveling through Puebla – she called it “the Lyon of Mexico”.  The article is in the New York Times – here is the link.

I wonder if they can be found in Atlanta?

Here is another recipe for Chile-Marinated Pork Sandwiches on Cemita Rolls.  Here is a whole article called A Meal in a Sandwich from MexConnect.  Okay, time to go to bed before I get hungry again!

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A Little More About Huichol Art Friday, Jul 17 2009

After my post the other day, I immediately received a message from Stephen Cantrell from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM.  He said that the museum will be holding a major exhibition of Huichol works from the museum’s holdings (more than 650 pieces!) opening in April of 2010.  I can hardly wait!  My husband and I were tentatively planning a trip out west this summer, but have put it off again.  Maybe now, we can plan for 2010.  I hope that the exhibit will run through the summer!  If not, we may have to make it a Spring Break trip!

I also heard from Susana Valadez, who is the driving force behind the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, which does fantastic things for the Huichol people.  I just spent the last couple of hours at the Huichol Centers site (or sites?  They must be in transition.)  Actually I had visited that site earlier this year, but did not have it noted in my files.  They have SOOOOOO much to offer – you MUST visit the site!

The first link Mrs. Valadez provided features a wonderful 24 slide presentation of just what her foundation does for the Huichol people in her area.  It’s fascinating and easy reading – it even mentions the Solar Light initiative I mentioned in the previous post.  I was particularly enthralled by the “soy initiative” which provides needed protein and soy milk to these people.  Now, I am not a fan of tofu, but it sure beats a lot of other proposed ideas for feeding the world…

If you go to the “other” site for the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, you will find a well-produced 12 minute video presentation about the work done at the center.  There are also FABULOUS coloring books – one of the Huichol alphabet and one of the counting in Huichol and Spanish – in PDF form to print out.  This is a fantastic resource for school teachers – just go.

I immediately wanted to go down and volunteer both my expertise (teaching English as a Second Language) and my husband’s (computer tech support) and stay for a while.  Maybe later.  For now, I may just order some of their jewelry or cards from the website and make a donation.  Donations are welcome, and they will send a thank you note as proof for the old IRS.  So, you people who are complaining about immigration – here’s a chance to support sustainability on the other side of the border:  put your money over there!

Please continue to add comments as you find other resources – I always welcome feedback!

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Huichol Indian Art Thursday, Jul 16 2009

I spent a lot of time last night organizing my notes and links on Huichol Indian art.  It took a lot of time, because of course I got distracted by other fascinating lesson plans and resources on the internet while I was searching for the links and site to use in my post!

I think that there is a lot of potential for using Mexican culture and art to teach Language Arts – not only to ELLs but to mainstream classes (many of which are populated by Latino students…).  But, hey – you don’t have to be Latino to be fascinated by other cultures and interested in art and imagination.  Gosh, I hope not, anyway!

As I was going through my files, the first thing that caught my attention was the excellent set of lesson plans created by Target and Scholastic Magazine in cooperation with the National Museum of Mexican Art.  It is called “Dream in Color” and is an amazing resource for teachers.  There you will find samples of art, a map of Huichol country, a history of the Huichol people, and a three page reference chart of Huichol symbolism.  Outstanding!

I am not going to go into a lot of detail of who the Huichol Indians are, because these resources explain it all.  They live in the hills throughout  northwestern Mexico.  You may have seen yarn paintings and beaded masks and bowls made by them.  They are also the people who brought us ojos de dios (God’s Eyes) – a staple of elementary school crafts programs.  You may have also heard that they consume peyote, a psychedelic cactus, but I think that this can be downplayed and should NOT be a reason to avoid teaching about this culture.

Huichol Ceremonial Rattle

First, here are links to basic lesson plans on Huichol Yarn and Bead Painting. (Dick Blick has many lesson plans to choose from and they are available directly on their site, or in PDF format.)

• Basic Yarn Painting (URL: http://www.dickblick.com/multicultural/huichol/ or PDF document.
• Yarn Bottles – a nice variation on yarn painting
• Bead Bottles – I didn’t see any bead bowls or masks, but I bet you could make those, too.
• Neat yarn painting project with template  of a bird and border.
• Project for 4-H
• Make Your Own Huichol Bead Art – from TIDES (an Eastern Texas Lesson Plan interactive site – great videos and everything needed for all sorts of lessons.

Here are some links with general information on the Huichol Indians and their history and culture.

• List of Resource links by MexConnect.com
• From the Hearst Museum – PDF of Mexican folk art including a piece about the Huichol
• From Wisconsin school district site – more basic info
• Huichol Symbolism – piece by Angela Corelis for MexConnect
• Huichol Symbols Reference Chart – a must-have, with pictures and explanations for kids (from Scholastic).
• Crizmac – I was a little bit disappointed in this art supply site – they used to have a cute periodic newsletter on multicultural art, but I cannot find it on their site.  Go to this link and see my copy. They do have lesson plans and materials to sell, including this set of Huichol Symbol Magnets.
• Interactive Yarn Painting – Neat – students can click on parts of the painting and an explanation box pops up.
• Yarn masks using modeling clay from Crayola.com.
• Possibly interesting article from Science News for Kids about an initiative to bring solar light sources to the Huichol – includes lesson plan about solar panels, I think.

Here are some online photo galleries of Huichol Art – awesome examples!

• From MexConnect.com – Painting images of a vanishing culture
• Latin American Folk Art.com – click on the thumbnails: some include Huichol narratives of the paintings
• Indigo Arts Gallery
• Huichol Art.biz
• Tribes Gallery
• Folk Art Traditions site

In case you were not aware – most Huichol yarn paintings tell a story.  While it is possible that some of these visions were induces by peyote, it is also valid that these could also be depictions of dreams and tribal stories.  Whenever you purchase a large enough yarn painting, the narrative by the artist is usually attached to the back.

Artes de Mexico is a periodical published in Mexico with beautiful illustrations – the issue on Huichol Art is definitely worth having – I bought mine in Morelia for only $18 and they are sometimes offered on E-Bay.  Here is a link to one you can buy on Amazon.com for $30.

Here is a list of children’s books – ,many are illustrated with Huichol Art:

• Watakame’s Journey: The Story of the Great Flood and the New World by Hallie N. Love and Bonnie Larson
• The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer: A Huichol Indian Story by James Endredy
• When Animals Were People/Cuando Los Animales Eran Personas: A Huichol Indian Tale/Un Cuento Huichol by Bonnie Larson (out of print)
• The Tree That Rains: The Flood Myth of the Huichol Indians of Mexico by Emery Bernhard (author)  and Durga Bernhard (Illustrator)
• So Sings the Blue Deer by Charmayne McGee – longer fiction for grades 5 thru 7
• Spanish – El zopilote y la chirimía por Gabriela Olmos ilustraciones de Valeria Gallo (The Buzzard and the Clarinet – rough translation of title)

Finally, a word about design – the Mexican designer team of Pineda-Covalin have included Huichol Art in their length line of fabric and clothing. You will need to go to the site, and look at the flash catalog.  Awesome!

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