Ajijic's murals and muralists Part 4: Calle Colon from Zaragoza to Hidalgo

A pre-hispanic warrior with a skeletal face stands beside a snarling jaguar. The warrior wears a quetzal feather penacho (head dress) and is adorned with jewelry in his ears and around his neck and upper arms. His left hand is a torch and he blows a stream of smoke from his mouth. This mural is on Calle Zaragoza a few metes from its intersection with Calle Colon. The mural's symbolic images were important to pre-hispanic people, including skeletons, quetzal feathers, and tigres (jaguars). The last two are associated with pre-hispanic royalty, while skulls and other images of death were ubiquitous in ancient Mexico.

In this part of my series, I will show some of the murals that are visible while walking south along Colon between Zaragoza and Calle Hidalgo. The images in these murals celebrate Mexico's culture and history, both ancient and modern. The next posting (Part 5) of the series will continue down Colon, from Hidalgo to the lakeshore pier. 

The Virgin of Guadalupe appears in a mural next to the warrior. Both murals are actually on Zaragoza, but are easily visible from Colon. I was unable to find a signature or date on either one. The Virgen de Guadalupe image has most of the classic elements, including her pose, the golden halo around her, the color of her clothes, the roses at her feet, and the Mexican flag. The meaning and history of all of these elements were explained in a previous post. The inclusion of the American flag may be a nod to the historic (although somewhat rocky) relationship between the two countries. 

A huge piña decorates the northeast corner of Colon and Zaragoza. The piña (pineapple) is a fruit that originated in the Western Hemisphere, probably in the region between Brazil and Paraguay. It arrived in Mexico thousands of years ago through ancient trade routes. The fruit was carefully cultivated and soon became an important pre-hispanic agricultural product. Europeans first encountered piñas when the Spanish conquered the Taino people of the Caribbean islands. After conquering Mexico, the Spanish began large-scale cultivation of piñas for export to Europe. I could find no artist's signature or date on the mural.

A pre-hispanic woman juggles green crystals on the wall of Galeria Lobo. She wears a mollusk shell head dress, topped by the head of a fox. Because of their color, green stones were considered to represent the Water God Tlaloc. The spiraling shells of mollusks represented the cyclical nature of the cosmos, fertility and renewal. They also represented the Wind God Ehecatl, whose temples were built in spiral shapes, rather than as pyramids. Pre-hispanic people admired foxes because of their cunning ability to avoid hunters. The muralist, Kenia Paoce, painted the image on Galeria Lobo's wall in 2024. 

A peaceful river scene appears over the doorway of a Vietnamese restaurant. "Let's Pho" is on the west side of Colon, a few doors south of Galeria Lobo. There are a number of good Asian restaurants here, including at least one other Vietnamese called "Chopsticks". There are also several Thai, and some Chinese. I have not yet tried this one, but it looks interesting and I do like Vietnamese food.

Plaza de Ajijic, cerca 1929-30, viewed from its northwest corner. This scene was painted from an historical photo, taken just after the three-year conflict known as the Cristero War (1926-29). There was considerably less vegetation in the Plaza at that time than there is today. Close observers will note that the Parroquia church in the background has no clock next to the steeple. The clock we see today was installed some time in the 1940s. Ajijic was a far sleepier pueblo in this scene than the one we experience today. Instead of four people, today you are more likely to encounter scores or even hundreds.

The mural was painted by Javier Lopez Vega, one of Lake Chapala's foremost artists and muralists. He is a talented and prolific artist who uses the legends, myths, and symbolism of pre- and post-hispanic Mexico as the basis for this work. He is also a great guy and a personal friend of mine. He has recently begun painting murals using iconic photos of local scenes like the one above. Another of his photo-murals can be seen in Part 2 of this series and more of his murals will appear in later postings. 

A mural titled "Sangrias de Mayo" covers the south side of the Delegación de Ajijic. Located on the southwest corner of Colon and Hidalgo, it covers the whole wall of the two-story building. The Delegación is the local Ajijic office of the Municipio de Chapala. A municipio is the equivalent of a U.S. county. The artist, Javier Zaragoza, provided an explanation of this extraordinary mural at its bottom. It translates as follows:

"During the spring days of May, all the small villages along the bank of the Lake gathered in order to celebrate the greatest vigil of the year and to invoke Tlaloc, Lord of the Celestial Waters, and Chalchihuitlicue, the Lady of Jade and Turquoise Who Scatters the Waters, and Michihuali, the female Goddess of Fish who is guardian of our Mother Lake of Ajijic. The ceremony reinforced the alliance with the gods, thanked them for the annual agricultural cycle, and asked for it to continue." The next six photos will be details of this mural.

A couple of drummers provides some of the music for the ceremony. A window was used to portray a tlalpanhuehuetl (large, standing drum), with a well-muscled man pounding out a rhythm on it. A smaller man looks reverently to the sky as he slaps the playing surface of his huehuetl (a smaller drum). A young woman extends her hands, palm up, in a prayerful gesture for rain. The mural's scene is set in 1472, almost 50 years before Hernán Cortéz first led his his conquistadores ashore on the Gulf Coast Mexico. 

Javier Zaragoza is another of Ajijic's prominent artists and muralists. He apparently used living people as models for the main figures in this mural. The mural was originally painted in May 2008 and then restored and repainted in August 2013. Many of Ajijic's murals have had to undergo this process because of fading paint. Another cause is salitre (potassium nitrate), which leaches up from the ground into the cement walls and causes the plaster to blister and fall off.

Three young women pray for a good planting season. They stand behind various offerings, including flowers, squash, nopal cactus, and a pot burning a substance which is probably copal incense.  The women are dressed in clothing typical of that worn by pre-hispanic women when the Spanish first arrived. Their white tops are sleeveless garments called huiples, decorated by colorful embroidery. From the waist to the ankles, they are covered by what are called iztac cuétl ("white skirts"). Garments such as these were woven from cotton on back-strap looms.

Two other men appeal to the gods. The man on the right wears a cotton loin cloth called a maxtlatl, and ankle rattles called ayayotes coyoleras. The rattles were seed pods filled with small pebbles and attached to pieces of leather strapped around the ankles. The pebbles make the rhythmic rattling sound. The man in the middle is wearing an elite garment called a tilmátli. This was a cotton cape, worn over the loincloth, and knotted over the left shoulder. The fact that he is the only man wearing a timátli suggests that he is an important figure. In the background, a crowd of indigenous people looks on respectfully. 

Behind the foreground group, a circle of people dances on the shore of Lake Chapala. Dust rises as their feet strike the ground in time with the beat of the drummer sitting on the left. Some of the dancers wear ankle rattles, while others carry hand rattles. The whole scene looks very upbeat and energetic.

At the top right of the mural, above the celebration, is Tlaloc. The God of the Celestial Waters was viewed as both beneficial and dangerous. He provided rain, which was vital for the crops which sustained the life of the people. However, he could also wreak havoc with lightning, wild storms, and floods. Staying on his good side was therefore extremely important. He had four celestial assistants called Tlaloque, who represented the Four Cardinal Directions. These sub-gods attended to large clay pots containing water for rain. Thunder was created when they broke the pots to release the rain from the sky.

Chalchihuitlicue appears at the top left side of the mural. She was Tlaloc's wife/consort, but was an important goddess in her own right. Chalchihuitlicue was the deity of running water, lakes, rivers, fertility, and the patron of childbirth. Above, she pours seeds from her hands the seeds to create plants. Like the figures at the bottom of the mural, both Tlaloc and Chalchihuitlicue appear to have been modeled on real people.

This completes Part 4 of my Ajijic Murals series. I hope you have enjoyed it, If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please remember to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim