guelaguetza
The Zapotec Overcome the Pandemic
Jeffrey Cohen, an anthropology professor at the Ohio State University, updated in a published article on February 12 an earlier blog post describing the ways the Zapotec have been coping with the pandemic. That post was summarized here on August 21, 2020. His update further amplifies his observations of last year. Cohen observes that when […]
Guelaguetza for Tourists
A news story in August 2016 indicated that the world-famous Guelaguetza festival of the Zapotec had become so commercialized and made for tourists that the Zapotec themselves were forming alternatives. Called “People’s Guelaguetza” festivals, the alternatives also celebrate in a party atmosphere the Zapotec tradition of sharing and giving but without so many outsiders. A […]
The People’s Guelaguetza
Guelaguetza festivals, held in late July every year in Oaxaca City and other nearby towns of southern Mexico, celebrate the acts of giving and receiving in traditional Zapotec culture. The participants are famous for their extremely colorful costumes and dances. Unfortunately, according to a recent report from Public Radio International, the festivals have become highly […]
Guelaguetza Festival Organized in Oregon
The guelaguetza festival, which migrated into southern California with the Zapotec immigrants from Mexico’s Oaxaca state, has been celebrated at the California State University San Marcos for 14 years. This year, a group of indigenous people from Oaxaca organized a guelaguetza festival in the central Willamette Valley of Oregon, in the city of Salem. The […]
Guelaguetza and Gifting in Oaxaca and San Diego
The guelaguetza, a traditional form of sharing in Oaxaca, has crossed the border north into San Diego County, California, and become an annual festival for the Zapotec immigrant community. Over 5,000 people, including a reporter for the North County Times, attended the 11th annual Guelaguetza celebration held on the campus of California State University San […]
