Oaxaca gastronomy forged the jewel of “Noche de Rábanos”
December 22th, 2019
“El Mercado de vigilia”, the cradle of the magical Oaxaca celebration; Now Oaxaca de Juárez has 14 markets to make purchases for Christmas Dinner.
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Located in the Valleys of the homonymous State, surrounded by majestic mountains in the southeast of the country, Oaxaca City offers history, culture and innovation. As the capital of the state, the city is a meeting point for the different cultures of Oaxaca and its eight regions, which allows the encounter of traditions, handicrafts and even their languages. Considered as one of the cities with the greatest cultural offer in the country, Oaxaca can be enjoyed by walking and it marvels locals and visitors with its colonial and contemporary constructions.
On the outskirts of the city is Monte Albán, a pre-Columbian archaeological zone, which, together with the Historic Center of the Oaxaca City, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.
No matter the season, the city always has something to offer. From its markets to its museums, Oaxacan daily life captivates by its colors, aromas and flavors.
The city overflows in creativity. Forged by traditions and customs, the city of Oaxaca is also defined by its inventive capacity, reflected in its streets, art and gastronomy. Knowing their challenges, people in Oaxaca have become dynamic thinkers, creators and actors of projects that bring unity and resilience to the city. The artistic expressions of the city can be enjoyed in special events, many of which take place in public spaces, or in any of the 17 museums, in the more than 37 galleries of the city or in its cultural centers.
Oaxaca is recognized worldwide for the skills and agility that its inhabitants capture in their handicrafts. In addition, these are not only a reflection of Oaxacan talent, but of the artistic and historical heritage that each piece represents. Once again, the city gathers artisans of different cultures and idiosyncrasies and it is possible to find textiles from the different cultures of the State.
Within the textiles are huipiles, carpets, rugs, elaborated either in pedal or backstrap looms, with different threads and dyed with natural dyes. In pottery, the black clay crafts of San Bartolo Coyotepec and the green clay of Santa María Atzompa stand out, both communities located within less than 50 kilometers from Oaxaca City. Among the most representative crafts and folk art: the alebrijes. This carved wooden figures that represent colorful imaginary creatures can be found in San Martín Tilcajete and San Antonio Arrazola, in the Central Valleys of the State of Oaxaca.
To admire the different crafts you can visit the Textile Museum of Oaxaca, the House of Handicrafts, the Oaxacan Institute of Handicrafts and a myriad of establishments that sell handicrafts from various regions in Oaxaca.
Music is present in the everyday life of the city, especially in its public spaces. It is common to find people dancing in the streets of Oaxaca as it is quotidian to hear bands playing in the Macedonio Alcalá Street Walk, where pedestrians spread the joy that invites them to dance. Every Sunday, the city enjoys concerts "Under the Laurel Tree”, in Plaza de la Constitución, where different bands offer a concert with regional music or different rhythms ranging from the classical to the contemporary.
Likewise, the city organizes music festivals that reaffirm the potential of its inhabitants in the musical field, such as the Eduardo Mata Festival or the International Baroque Organ Festival.
In Oaxaca, film and cinema appreciation has been strongly positioned through exhibitions and festivals. In OaxacaCine you can see classic and contemporary cinema, curated by itself or as part of the Cineteca Nacional curation. Also, in October of each year Oaxaca Film Fest is celebrated, which is an international film festival that shows independent film productions, as well as having an academic programme aimed at students and professionals in the film industry.
In addition, the cinematographic realization has been strengthened in the last decade through film schools, communication groups or the Itinerant Audiovisual Camp, which offers workshops related to audiovisual production.
Dance is possibly one of the artistic expressions that can be enjoyed the most in the city of Oaxaca. Many festivities in the city are celebrated to the rhythm of calendas, which with a band and dances invite all the passers-by to join the celebration. In addition, the greatest celebration of the Oaxacans, the Guelaguetza, is a multitudinous party that consists of the representation of the traditions, uses and customs of diverse communities in the State, always accompanied by music and dance.
You can enjoy different dance genres, such as contemporary dance at the Oaxaca International Dance Show, which takes place year after year; or the Oaxaca Salsa and Bachata Festival that, although of recent creation, already congregates a large number of professional dancers in Oaxaca.
The city also offers dance in its everyday life, like the danzón evenings in the Plaza de la Constitución, which is a tradition that has been carried out for more than 18 years.
One of the most important national literature events takes place in the city: The Oaxaca International Book Fair. Every November, this fair brings together national and international exponents of literature, while encouraging citizens to approach reading through various artistic and cultural activities.
For literary creation, various cultural spaces offer story and essay workshops aimed at different audiences.
Ancestral traditions and contemporary creativity are reflected in the design that emerges in Oaxaca. The complexity of Oaxacan textiles has been used by fashion designers to adapt the traditional embroideries, which in the case of textiles is merely utilitarian, to an urban context that responds to the desire of wearing Oaxacan culture in the everyday life.
Likewise, Oaxacan crafts have inspired new designs that have been exhibited at events such as Mercado Materia or the Atemporal Design Market.
The city of Oaxaca is a unique architectural jewel in the country due to its historical, natural and cultural context. The city, together with Monte Albán, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. Its more than 1,600 buildings listed in the Historic Center, some of them with elegant contemporary interventions, welcome traditions that have been developed over the centuries and that are still in force.
Oaxaca is a state full of contrasts and contradictions, it is an effervescent culture of traditions that are mixed, created and recreated, full of colors, smells and tastes, it is a lively and rooted culture. Its capital, Oaxaca city, brings together the traditions and cultures of the State.
When it comes to gastronomy, Oaxaca is of great historical importance, since archeology has determined the oldest occupation in Oaxaca by nomadic groups of hunters and gatherers, about 12,000 to 7,000 years BC. In the caves of Yagul and Mitla, which in 2010 were declared World Heritage Sites, archeologists founds seeds of pumpkin, chili, bean, maguey bagasse and stoves.
Around this epoch begins the domestication of plants such as corn, chia, amaranth, cotton, maguey, chile, avocado, cocoa and a variety of fruits and vegetables, complementing their diet with the hunting of deer, rabbits, wild boar, pronghorn, armadillos, among others.
After almost 1,200 years of apogee, the Zapotec state of Monte Alban was abandoned and the seigniories or cacicazgos arose between 7520 and 1521 AD.
During the three centuries of Spanish colonization, the exchange of knowledge, architecture, culture, food and spices among Mexican settlers and indigenous people resulted in miscegenation. So also traditional Mexican food emerges.
The diversity and gastronomic richness of Oaxaca is due in large part to the State's biodiversity, which is mixed with the cognitive heritage of the inhabitants, whether cultural, historical or nutritional. Additionally, gastronomy is essential to the cultural identity of Oaxaca, transmitted generationally by indigenous peoples.
According to each region of the state, the knowledge and use of each plant or animal to be consumed is combined with the techniques and processes of production that have been inherited and transmitted from the pre-Hispanic epoch and during the colonial epoch, where this knowledge is reinvented with a culinary miscegenation that can be enjoyed nowadays.
Many of the plants that are essential to Oaxacan cuisine grow wild, some of them are native or unique to the state. Some are aromatic herbs that give flavor to traditional Oaxacan food, other plants are protagonists of delicious delicacies. Here is a brief description on these plants.
According to Molina-Luna (2016) Traditional markets constitute a physical, social space for the exchange of products between communities, where social, cultural and economic relations converge. Within the most important and representative markets of the Oaxaca City, the following can be mentioned:
In Oaxaca, it has been women who define gastronomy. They are the bearers of ancestral knowledge, of techniques and ideologies that are linked to the traditional dishes of the state of Oaxaca. To speak of traditional female cooks, is to speak of the exaltation and recognition of women as key people for the safeguarding of the gastronomic culture of each of the communities and regions of the State. It is also to listen and to understand life stories that are not disconnected from oaxacan cuisine.
The most traditional dishes are those prepared by these female cooks who, without a doubt, are the pillar of pride that Oaxacans show towards their gastronomy.
Creativity is the lifeblood of Oaxaca City. Here races and cultures of different ages and generations coexist, mix and this interaction gives rise to ideas, innovation and even solutions to the challenges the city faces. Aware that Oaxaca City is a place of opportunities, changes and solutions, to be part of the Creative Cities Network by UNESCO will allow:
“El Mercado de vigilia”, the cradle of the magical Oaxaca celebration; Now Oaxaca de Juárez has 14 markets to make purchases for Christmas Dinner.
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