Las Posadas is celebrated in Mexico. This event begins December 16th and ends December 24th. Each evening families walk from house to house, seeking shelter for Mary and Joseph. At the last house, everyone enters. People feast and dance, and a special seven-pointed, star-shaped piñata made of clay is broken open. Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith’s Las Posadas: an Hispanic Christmas Celebration gives great insights into this tradition.
Aztec Calendar Stone
Aztec stone calendar was discovered in Mexico City in 1790. The huge stone, weighing almost 25 tons and measuring over eleven feet in diameter, was probably carved around 1479. It was buried soon after the Spanish arrived. The stone demonstrated how the Aztec 52-year calendar cycle worked. Children could also see how to make a simple calendar stone at:
Aztec Calendar Stone.
Map of Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase Treaty was signed in 1853. The United States purchased from Mexico a strip of land south of the Gila River. James Gadsden, United States minister to Mexico, negotiated the deal with Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexico’s leader. The United States paid ten million dollars for the area. The country gained almost 30,000 square miles of territory. Children can learn more at: Gadsden Purchase.