New-York tribune., 1886-11-08
THE COMING AZTEC FAIR.
: or vrxIcAN VILLAGE LIFE.


80 uuxMrrs AND THE STORIES ~'o''
SKILLED ARTISANS.
.h,v the success of the Japanese
inter in Nex-York and other Eastern
.,,,.. that prompted an enterpris'ng "r" VI "'".
- C,rrin Brothers 4 Nichols, 10 open 4" "o''o"
sous six weeks agoa Mexican village a"u ''o"1
lin II what for want of a better name mas "o0"
..,,el an Aztec Fair The japanese craIo VI '"''
80 had much to do undoubtedly with making
.xhihition pouular 1t drew good deal
AZ nublic interest to the manners ana 1ash'ohs 'i
. ,;,t,. known people. anil made possible ana snc-
....ful realistic picture of curious out-ot-the-
~av v;llaee life The Mexican Village like the
Janauese. had certain picturesque and primitive
character to commend it. and brought 70 view I'D
its odd-looking Aztec huts a mode OF hvlng more
remote and simple oven than that ofthe most BACK
ward of the Mikado's islands. The fair. too' as a
collection Of old Mexican curosties. archieoiog'-
cal partly and partly historical had some vaiue Oh
its own. 1t was spoken we'll of by some scientlhc
people and relic-hunters and admirers hocked 10
zee what It contained. The bandiwork of the
native Mexican artists IN the village was also much
admired. aud altogether the new enterprise had
successful run.
Yesterday it left Boston for New-York. and this
morning as fast as the Chrysanthemum Show can
be moved out of Cosmopolitan Hail. the Mexican
Village apd Aztec Fair will be moved H. ms
evening a sort of reception will be given amt To-
morrow morning what promises to be hlghiy sue
ccssful season of four weeks will jegin. Inc VII
LACE apd Fair will be open every week day from
1910 q. m. to 1870 pm. from to o:3o p. m.' ana
from to 1890 p. III. The Village proper VIII coh-
sist of q Lumber of huts and booths, bamboo
house, a toy shop, and Mexican kitchen ana q
large ba7asr
The bamboo house is an exact copy of those used
Max in fhe
three walls of hight canes placed on end and lashed
toget her. and roof of palm cuttings. Here the
whole family lives, men, women. babies ana aii'
The huts are smaller STILL and patterned after the
ones in which the poorer classes of the Middle ana
Northern Provinces Of Mexico live. Tho booths
and shops are oil for the native artists 10 WORK
IN In one are the onyx-cutters, worknen from
Pnebo who saw the stone and then POLISH IL ihto
tic most delicate surfaces and dainty shapes In a
second the men work at silver cutting ana silver
fl.gree making whole pieces of jewe:ry, being put
together 10y hand from fine flexible wires. IN an,
Olhcr 10 the serape weaver VINO MAKES gay coloieu
cloths by hand on the most prmative spinning ap-
narafns with a vast amount of skill and painstak-
Ing Other artists work in straw and wax ana
ivory The ivory toys are exquisite ana ex,leHeF ,
fragile and made on lathe run by the 1907.
The straw worker copies pho oographs OF landscapes
and buildings with no material put tne stTa~ % anu
pictures made almost without any tools. are sad 10
rival Mime. Tousssuds. The artist recently made
two pictures in white wax on black giass one ol
Oliver Wendell Holmes and one OF Mrs Grover
Cieyeland; both of which have been greatly
nra,sed The man who works in feathers has also
a letter of thanks from Mrs. Cleveland for work
done in embellisaing photograph OF hers.
The wood carver of the village is an Old Indian
who gives a characteristic touch to eNerythlng he
does There are also one or TWO workers III IoIn,
and two Mexican girls spend their time IN stitching
tnv quilts an wraps WIN many
chiefly, and Mexican dance VIII he given every
day by four OF the young men and women employed
in the booths. The real effect of the village, oil
course with its color and strangeness and ANNA
tlon can he known only by seeing It, ana not from
q bare off-hand description from the oooKs. &c
The far proper, consists OF several COLLECTIONS OF
Mexicana. old books and manuscripts, minerals,
archaeological specimens. ana reHcs S OF tne ION
old paintings, bull lighters weapons. and last of
all, two we / preserved mumnes The archeologi-
cal collection is iull of old Aztec Idols and sacred
pottery waie. 1t has also good many necklaces,
bracelets, tools and weapons to show Inc TWO
most notable pieces are i4e-siinie OF tne hnge
Aztec Zodiac stone. carved in 1912 A. d.. buried III
the marches near the City of Mexico by the orders
of Iortez and rediscovered In 1870 IN the process
of levchng street. The originai is twelve feet III
now at she base of the southwestern tower OF the
great Cathedral IN the City of MexicO. The Otner
r. a fac-simile of the Sacrcial stone of the Azecs.
use in tie barbarous worship OF the sun. On II
prisoners were sacrificed IN great numbers ana
Cortez ordered that it be buried also when he set
hin, elf to breaking up the old dolatrous practices
of the natives. IL was exhuned in l1"l:
The book collection boasts OF a Latin Bible. pub
lished IN Salamanca. SPAN, IN 1881, which once
belonged TO the Franciscan Convent In the City OIL
Mexico The bulk OF 1t. however, is theological
rubbish printed chiefly in Mexico in the eighteenth
century The paintings are old church and con-
vent ones The historical relics, TOO, have only
passing interest for Americans.
The two mummles, however, are almost perfect in
Their way Both probably the bodies of persons
walled into q cell and left there to perish. In these
sirtight apartments, 5000 feet above the sea level
often The process of naturalization was a natural
one and the bodies are complete skeletons held
compactiy together by thorou shly dried and hard-
eued flesh. One of the mummles man, Is SAID to
have been Father Nicholas de Segura. a recreant
Jesnit. who straneled by the keepers OF the
inouisitoral prison and walled into the solid
foundation of the builling two hundred and more
years ago. The other mummy was a woman-
Dolores de Vega who was put IN the Franciscan
Convent as a penalty for an escapade with young
Spanish officer. The officer tried TO Iescue her,
and in the affair two priests were killed. The In
Quisitorial Court sentenced both lovers TO death.
The girl turned Oh one of the jud ges and stabbed
him with pOgnard which she had concealed about
her. She was seized, however hv tho officers and
the prison. The two mummies have been com
mended as genuine 10y good authorities aud TO see
them is well worth visit TO the Aztec Fair