Home Altars of Mexico - Hardcover

Gutierrez, Ramon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826317847 ISBN 13: 9780826317841

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 1997

Synopsis

At the heart of many homes in Mexico is the "altarcito", or home altar: private shrines which have profound personal and familial meaning and reflect the vitality of Mexico's spiritual practices. The photographs in this collection depict the altars in detail. Some are constructed for special holidays - Christmas or the Day of the Dead - while others commemorate family members using photographs, mementoes and the deceased's favourite foods. For more than ten years, photographer Dana Salvo - a Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright scholar - visited the Purepehcan Indians in Michoacan, the Chamulan and Zinacantan tribes in Chiapas, the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula, and several other isolated groups in the countryside. Essays by Ramon Gutierrez, Salvatore Scalora and William Beezley provide the cultural and historical background to the practice of constructing domestic altars, linking ancient traditions to modern customs.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0826317847
• ISBN 13: 9780826317841
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 136