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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome Message

I. Background

  1. Country and State Fact Sheet
    Blank Fact Sheet
    Completed Fact Sheet
  2. Big Maps
  3. The Mexican Flag
    Flag Terminology Handout
  4. Mexico's National Anthem
  5. History of Mexico and Veracruz

II. Music

  1. Los Utrera, Son Jarocho, El Fandango & Versada
  2. Instrument Making for
    Students and Adults
  3. World Music Links
  4. World Culture Links

III. Mexican Culture

  1. What is Culture?
    What is Culture? handout
  2. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
  3. Folklore
    Folklore Values Survey
  4. Culinary Culture
  5. Religions of Mexico—Architecture
    Religions of Mexico—Origin Myths

IV. Here and Now

  1. Migration and Immigration
  2. Borders
  3. Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples
  4. Stereotypes

V. Community Connections

  1. Before and After Questions
  2. Intercultural Connections
  3. The Heritage and Oral History Projects
  4. Student Curator Project
  5. Class Newspaper or Web site
  6. Culture on Parade
  7. Student Participation in Events

This curriculum was written by Jeanne Paliatka and Olaf Nelson for Arts Midwest.

Mexico

III: MEXICAN CULTURE

Part 5, Lesson 1: Religions of Mexico - Architecture

Introduction:
Religion is an important component of culture, but simply reading sacred texts or instructional materials risks divorcing a religion from the people who practice it. By looking at religious art, architecture, or origin myths, students are engaging in a process of discovery and gaining an appreciation for the values of a religion and the role the religion plays in the lives of people.

Overview:
Students will be introduced to the religions of Mexico through a mini-lesson focusing on religious architecture.

Objectives:
Students will view images of the architecture of several of Mexico's sacred sites including: Chicen Itza, Izamal, Mitla, Monte Alban, the old and new Basilica de Guadalupe, Palenque, Uxmal, and Teotihuacan.
Students will analyze the architecture to discern important features of the religions connected to the sites.
Students will read a travelogue of a writer's journey to Mexico's sacred sites.
Students will identify a sacred site in the United States and write a travelogue about their visit, real or imaginary, to it.

Grade Level:
Upper elementary through high school

Time Required:
One to two class periods

Materials:
Images of sacred sites of Mexico. (see sites in the resources section)
A travelogue (a link of photographer Martin Gray's travelogue of his trip through sacred sites of Mexico appears in the resources section)
A working knowledge of the Mexican religions
Paper and pens or pencils
Art supplies if students want to illustrate their travelogues
Teachers may direct students to the Student Resources Pages where they can follow relevant links without having access to lesson plans.

Procedure:

  1. Break students into groups (in a computer lab, ideally) and give each group addresses or links to images of one of the sacred sites of Mexico mentioned above. Color copies of the pictures would also suffice. At this time, students should not yet have information about the sacred sites, just images of them.
  2. Ask students to examine the pictures and discuss the most important elements of the religions whose followers built these structures. For example, why would a temple be built in the shape of a pyramid. What might the shape suggest about what was important to the followers of that particular religion? What are the uses for such a structure? What external and internal embellishments do they notice? Are they merely decorative or might they reinforce some aspect of the beliefs of this religion? What about the materials used? What do they suggest?
  3. Once students have explored the images, they could exchange images with another group and repeat the process, or start examining the information about the sacred site. Have them check their initial reactions. If desired, they can get more in-depth information about their sites on the web or reference books. For a personal reflection on the sacred sites of Mexico, they can read excerpts of Martin Gray's travelogue (see link in resources section) or excerpts from another travelogue. They could also compare the descriptions in a reference book and a travelogue to further analyze the differences between the two types of writing.
  4. Once they have developed an understanding for the way that architecture can reinforce the important elements of a belief system, ask them to choose a sacred site to explore through travel or virtual travel. (Martin Gray's Sacred Sites Web site has many to choose from.) Ask students to write a travelogue entry discussing their reactions to this sacred place. Students could also research the beliefs of the individuals who created the site and discuss how the architecture reflects those beliefs.
  5. Students could share travelogues with the class, illustrate them, or turn them into posters with information about beliefs, history and physical aspects of the sacred site.

Extensions:
Depending on time constraints and age level, students could

  • create scale models of the structures they explored
  • design and/or create modern temples based on their research of the ancient temples
  • design and/or create new sacred sites for a particular religion that reflect the belief system but may not conform to typical notions of sacred sites
  • explore sacred spaces of nature, such as mountains, rivers, and lakes to determine why these spaces are revered by groups
  • write a geopoem about their sacred site (See link in resources section.)
  • write a geo-song about their sacred site (See link in resources section.)

Resources:
(Links will open in new windows.)

Mexican Architecture
Sacred Sites of the Western Hemisphere. Martin Gray's site has great images of many sacred sites in Mexico.

Excellent introduction to the history of Mexican art and architecture contained in a book called Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Teotihuacan
Description and pictures of Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan City of the Gods has lots of information, history, maps and panoramic video clips of the site.

Mesoamerican Photo Archives: Teotihuacan. This site also has lots of great images of Teotihuacan.

Pictures of Mexico. This site has hundreds of pictures of Mexico. Pictures #68-77 address Teotihuacan.

Uxmal
Description and pictures of Uxmal

Pictures of Mexico. This site has hundreds of pictures of Mexico. Pictures #185-195 address Uxmal.

Guadalupe Basilica, Mexico
Pictures of Mexico. This site has hundreds of pictures of Mexico. Pictures #59-67 address the old and new Basilicas.

The official site of the Basilica de Guadalupe is in Spanish, but there are lots of great pictures.

Geopoem Lesson Plan