Caspin

The Red Queen of the Maya’s Pyramid

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / April 4, 2020

 Red Queen Funeral Mask

The Red Queen of the Maya and the Young Latina Who Found Her Pyramid

This is the story of Fanny Lopez Jiminez, a 24 year old archaeologist, and the Red Queen, a 1,400 year old great Mayan Queen. The story begins in Palenque, Mexico at one of the great sites of the Mayan pyramids. It is a story of discovery, appreciation, and Mexican cultural pride. It is also a story about contemporary Mexican woman and her ancient Mayan ancestor.

Who was the Red Queen of the Maya?     

The true identity of the Red Queen remains a mystery. Most Maya archaeologist believe that she is Lady Ix Tz’akbu Ajaw, wife of the great Mayan King Pakal. Her tomb was found in Temple XIII in the ancient Mayan city of Palenques which is in current day Chipas, Mexico.

 Temple of the Inscriptions and Temple XIII

Temple XIII is adjacent to the Temple of Inscriptions, the site of the incredible tomb of Pakal. The site is now part of the Palenque National Park. The tomb has been dated to have been constructed between 400 and 700 AD. That is around a 1,000 years before the Columbus discovered America, the Spanish arrived in Mexico, or white people came to the United States.

The Mexican National Institute of Archeology estimate the age of the tomb based on the pottery found inside compared to other Mayan pyramid sites. The Institute also studied the remains of the Red Queen by conducting carbon 14 tests and facial reconstruction.

Red Queen Reconstructed

 The scientists were also able to extract a collagen sample from her vertebrae to obtain her DNA. The DNA showed she was 60 years old when she died, and that she had osteoporosis. Even with all that information, her identity could not be established beyond certainty because there were no inscriptions in the chamber to describe it as the tomb of Lady Ajaw.

The scientists were certain that she was a very important person. She was buried in a pyramid next to Pakal the Great’s burial pyramid. The artifacts discovered in her tomb were similar to those found in Pakal’s tomb. She had a jade funeral mask, earrings, and a sarcophagus similar to Pakal’s, but not as grand. It was first thought that she was Pakal’s mother but the DNA proved they were not related. This is when the theory that she is Pakal’s wife, Lady Ix Tz’akbu Ajaw was proposed. The best way to prove this theory will be to compare the Red Queen’s DNA to that of Pakal’s sons. Unfortunately, the tombs of Pakal’s sons have not been found. The crew from the Institute is still exploring the area at Palenque looking for the tombs of the sons of Pakal, but no luck yet. The Red Queen was returned to Palenque in 2012 and buried nearby because the conditions in the pyramid did not allow her remains to be return to the sarcophagus. The mystery of the Red Queen remains unsolved.

If the Red Queen is Ix Tz’akbu Ajaw, her story is quite interesting. She came to Palenque in 626 AD from a neighboring city to marry Pakal. She bore three maybe four sons. Two of the sons became rulers of Palenque. Tablets in the Temple of Inscriptions, Pakal’s tomb, record her marriage to Pakal and her death. Other inscriptions show her and Pakal with their second son, K’inich Kan Joy Chitam II, giving him the symbols of the king and divine ancestry. The Dumbarton Oaks Tablet depicts this son as the rain God, Chaac. The two sons that ruled Palenque did not have heirs. The youngest son died before he could ascend to the throne, but his son did rule Palenque. The inscriptions in the temples and on the pyramids show a woman very much involved in the kingdom and her family. She was very much Pakal’s partner. The Red Queen died in 672 AD, eleven years before Pakal’s death in 683. Pakal would have personally overseen her royal burial and the construction of her pyramid adjacent to his own. Many archaeologists believed Lady Ajaw is the most likely candidate for the identity of the Red Queen.

Palenque and the Great Pakal  

Palenque was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of the Maya city states in pre-Columbian Mexico.

 Palenque Royal Palace

It was located in the foothills of the Chiapas mountains, on a site where several rivers come together, with waterfalls and pools; the name of the site in modern Mayan is Lakam Ha, or “big water”. The site was first occupied in the early Classical Period (200-600 AD) and the city fell in about 800 AD. The City went into a decline and was gradually abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle.

Spanish explorers first visited the site in 1773 and 1784, and a Spanish military expedition was sent to the city in 1786; they broke down walls searching for treasure, but did not find the royal tombs. Several explorers visited the city in the 19th century, making drawings and publishing reports about the ruins. In 1948, an archaeologist, Albert Ruz Lhuillier discovered the hidden entrance to the Pyramid of the Inscriptions, and four years later he opened the tomb of Pakal, with its treasures; but Temple XIII remained unexplored for decades.

The ruins of Palenque cover an area of about a square mile, with hundreds of structures. In the center of the city is a large palace and a group of three pyramids located on the Great Plaza, or main square. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Inscriptions, was constructed especially for the remains of Pakal or as the inscriptions read Pakal the Great, who ruled from 615 AD until 683 AD, the period of the city’s greatest glory.

 Pakal the Great

Ruz Lhuillier found an internal stairway with a concealed entrance on the side of the pyramid that led down to the burial chamber beneath the pyramid. Pakal’s tomb was excavated in 1952 revealing the first royal Mayan burial found in a pyramid. The burial chambers were filled with jewels and treasures. There was jade, ceramics and jewelry and many priceless works of art.
 
King Pakal Death Mask

 The tomb was comparable to the tomb of Egypt’s King Tut.  Next to The Temple of Inscriptions are two smaller but similar pyramids. Temple XIII is immediately next to Pakal’s tomb and while similar in structure it is much smaller in size. It is about 36 feet high, built in steps, with an external stairway leading to the top. Temple XIII has an internal stairway leads into the center of the pyramid, but it had completely collapsed and was blocked by debris at the time of its discovery. In 1973 the archeologist Jorge Acosta explored the first two levels of Temple XIII, but did not find the entrance to the burial chamber of the Red Queen.

Who is the Young Woman That Found the Lost Red Mayan Queen?  

  Fanny López Jiménez is a Mexican archaeologist known for her excavations at Palenque, including the discovery of the Tomb of the Red Queen.

 Fanny Lopez Jimenez

López Jiménez studied archaeology at the National School of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. She completed her first fieldwork in Lagartero near Comitan and shortly after, in 1991, performed excavation practices in Palenque, on the north side El Palacio. She was only 24 years old when she discovered the red queen. She was born in Tuxtla Gutierrex, Mexico.

How Fanny Lopez Jimenez Found the Red Queen of the Maya

 In the spring of 1994, the young Mexican archaeologist was performing routine stabilization work on a temple, Temple XIII, next to the Temple of the Inscriptions where Pakal’s tomb was discovered. Fanny noted a small crack on the stairs, partially covered by masonry and some weeds. Using her flashlight and a mirror, she peered into a narrow the passageway hidden by the stairs. All she could see was the hallway and what appeared to be a sealed door at the end. She ran to the team leader, Arnoldo Gonzales Cruz, to report her discovery.

The next day the archaeology team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico was eager to begin the exploration what Fanny had uncovered. They located a small blocked door on a vertical section on the second level of the pyramid, about 9 feet above the level of the Plaza. The team removed the masonry and found a narrow corridor 20 feet long, blocked by debris, leading into the pyramid. That corridor led to another corridor, 45 feet long, made of large limestone blocks, which ran from north to south inside the pyramid. This corridor was free of debris. There were three chambers on the south side of the corridor; two were open and empty, with signs that rituals performed in front of each chamber, but the third was blocked by a stone wall covered with stucco. The stucco had some markings and traces of pigment.

The team headed by Cruz was extremely curious to know what was inside, but they did not tear down the wall right away, fearing they might damage any decorations on the inside of the wall. After deliberation, they made a small hole and peered inside.

 Entrance to the Red Queen’s Tomb

They saw a sarcophagus and what appeared to be a perfectly intact tomb. It was an enormous discovery.

The team made a small cut above the sealed door, threaded a long-neck lamp through and saw a closed sarcophagus nearly filling the chamber, covered with red cinnabar.

 Cinnabar Mercury Ore

This was the tomb of the Red Queen.

After learning that there were no decorations or carvings on the wall’s interior, the team cut a hole in the wall to gain access. The archaeologists carefully lifted the lid of the sarcophagus just a few inches, a laborious process which took fourteen hours, to reveal its contents. Inside they found the remains of a woman lying on her back.

 Mayan Red Queen

Her skeleton was covered and surrounded by a large collection of jade and pearl objects, bone needles and shells, which were originally pieces of necklaces, earspools and wristlets. Around the skull was a crown made of flat circular jade beads, and the malachite pieces of what had been a funeral mask the was reminiscent of Pakal’s funeral mask found earlier. In the chest area of the skeleton were more flat jade beads and four obsidian blades.

The skeleton, the collection of objects, and the inside of the sarcophogus were entirely covered with a bright red dust made of cinnabar. Cinnabar is made from the ground ore of mercury.  Mercuric oxide (cinnabar) was used by ancient Maya as a preservative in royal burials.

 Two weeks later, they made a larger entrance into the chamber and found many artifacts, including a spindle whorl used by women to weave, figurine whistles, and ceramic bowls dating the burial to 600-700 AD. There were also two bodies, a young boy and a woman that were perhaps sacrifices to join the Queen on her journey to the afterlife.

Inspiration for Young Latinas and a Mexican Culture Celebration

If the Red Queen is Pakal’s wife, which is the current belief, she would have been the wife of one of the greatest Mayan rulers. Their offspring continued one of the greatest dynasties of Western World. It is hard to overstate the importance of Pakal in the history of Mexico, the western world and of mankind in general. Pakal ruled Palenque for 68 years ,the fifth-longest verified regnal period of any sovereign monarch in history, the longest in world history for more than a millennium, and still the second longest in the history of the Americas. Pakal was responsible for the construction or extension of some of Palenque’s most notable surviving inscriptions and monumental Mayan architecture.

Lady Ajaw Temple Inscription

The tablets and inscriptions depict his wife as a participating partner. How fitting that this great woman of our history and mother of our culture was found by a young Latina from Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico.

The sisterhood of strong women from Mayan times to my Mom in Los Angeles is a strong thread in the fabric of our culture. The foundation of our heritage and culture is clearly our families, and the women are the center of our families. So whether you’re a young archaeologist in Mexico or a grandmother in Los Angeles, be proud of that direct 4,000 year old linkage to one of the greatest civilizations to ever exist on Earth and your central role in that legacy.

Love, love,

The following were instrumental in assembling the information for this post:

  1.  http://www.mexiconewsnetwork.com/art-culture/red-queen-palenque/ The Red Queen Of Palenque on mexiconewsnetwork.com
  2. ^ http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/mystery-mayan-red-queen-008659?nopaging=1 The Mystery of the Mayan Red Queen The Mystery of the Mayan Red Queen on ancient-origins.net
  3. ^ http://archaeology.about.com/od/archaeologic7/ss/Palenque-Walking-Tour_4.htm Archeology.about.com article on Temple XIII and the structures of Palenque
  4. ^ http://www.mesoweb.com/palenque/features/red_queen/08.html A first-person account of the discovery of the tomb by Arnoldo Gonzales Cruz, from mesoweb.com
  5. ^ http://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/quien-es-la-reina-roja [Spanish] ¿Quién es la Reina Roja? by Fanny López Jiménez on arqueologiamexicana.mx
  6. ^ Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz, “La Reina Roja: una tomba real en Palenque”
  7. ^ Arnoldo Gonzalez Cruz, “La Reina Roja: una tomba real en Palenque “
  8. ^ http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=60129#.Uf_LY3waySM | Article in Artnews on DNA testing of the Red Queen

Batman Saves Mesoamerica Gotham

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / February 16, 2020

Batman Saves Mesoamerica Gotham

I recently posted a picture to my Instagram account (@caspincoma) that caused quite a reaction. The picture was of a work by the Mexican artist and designer Kimbal. He created a Batman–Mayan God Camazotz mash-up combination for the Batman 75th anniversary 33 piece collection at the Mexican Museum of Design in Mexico City.

Camazotz

As you can see from the picture, the piece is incredible. The Instagram post got lots of likes and questions about the work’s age. The questions complimented the authenticity of the design, but it also raised the issue of how much we know about our history and our present. It is great to see kindred artists and designers that share my fascination with our culture, and that inspires me to emphasize the current connection we have with pride in our ancestors.

The Maya originated from one of the six “cradles of civilization”. All six “cradles” started about the same time, and only two were in this hemisphere (the precursors of Maya in Mexico and Inca in Peru). This fact makes our civilization 6,000 years older than the ancient Greeks, and the Greeks were the precursors of western civilization. To put it another way, we were civilized 6,000 years before Europe. 

Mesoamerica

The Maya gave the world chocolate, corn, tomatoes, beans, avocado, vanilla, squash, and chili peppers. The Maya were also the first to domesticate dogs. The Maya also created a form of writing, the calendar, the mathematical concept of zero, and sport of ball playing. We built pyramids and cities, and we did all this without the wheel or basic metallurgy. 

Great Ball Court

For all of its antiquity, Mayan culture, heritage, and history is still being written today. Mexico and the Mexican diaspora are Mayan. According to the US Census, 37.7 million people living in the United States are either Mexican born or of Mexican heritage. That’s 37 million people in the United States with Mayan heritage flowing through their veins. The Los Angeles Police Department has added Mayan to its language protocol because Maya living in LA do not necessarily speak Spanish. Over 7 million Maya live in ancestral homeland in Mexico today.

My message today is that Mayan culture and heritage is not a dead relic for museums. Our vibrant and very long history has earned the world’s respect, but our culture is as alive today as it was 9,000 years ago. Contemporary Mayan art is a real thing-alive and thriving. 

Caspin’s Twin Warriors

Love, love 

The Story behind “Twin Warriors”

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / January 31, 2020

The Story behind “Twin Warriors”

Twin Warriors

My painting of the “Twin Warriors” is based on the Mayan story of the creation or Popol Vuh.

The Hero Twins story, as told through hieroglyphics and translated after the discovery of the Dresden codex,

is considered by many academics as the most important piece of literature ever produced in the western hemisphere. It is a story of a warrior father who is killed by demons of the underworld, and who is subsequently brought back to life by his immaculately conceived twin sons. It is quite a story and very interesting.

Diego Rivera

The Maya wrote this story in about 250 AD, or roughly one hundred years after the Christian New Testament was written. References to the Hero Twins are also found in hieroglyphics dated to 1,000 BC. While the exact dates for the Popol Vuh are sketchy, the story is eerily familiar.
Remember the Maya were isolated from the rest of the world at that time and did not have contact with the Spanish until early 1500’s.

The great warrior, who is also a twin in some translations of the story, is lured to the underworld by the Death Lords. He is ultimately killed and his head is cut off and hung in tree. One of the underworld lord’s daughters comes by the tree and talks to the severed head. The warrior’s head spits in the hand of the girl and she becomes pregnant. She is banished from her home in the underworld and later gives birth to twins, the Hero Twins.

The Hero Twins are great ball players.

The ball games were great spectacles in Mayan culture and the winning players were heroes. (I know; it’s Super Bowl weekend.) The Hero Twins go back to the underworld to play ball against the demons, and through clever play and skill they win.

To reward the twins for the victory, their father rises from the dead to the heavens and becomes the maize god, or the planet Venus. The twins also rise from the underworld to become the sun and the moon.

The story represents the creation of food and light for the people of earth.

This story was translated in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The ability to translate the hieroglyphics has allowed historians the first self-written account of the Maya. If the Spanish conquistadors had not destroyed all the books, these historians could tell the true story of Mayan accomplishments and history. We don’t have the books, but we have the hieroglyphics. And that is why I reverently paint in their style.

Love, love,  

Winter in LA

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / January 23, 2020

Winter in LA…..

It’s winter in LA. This is the time of year when the local news has “Storm Watch” at slightest hint of rain. Winter is our “rainy” season. And “rainy” is a stretch. When the storms do roll in from the Gulf of Alaska and we get a quarter of an inch (big storm) here in the basin, the local mountains get snow. The snow this year is spectacular.

Recently, my brother Temper and I went to Skidazzle at the convention center in downtown Los Angeles. It is a big trade show sort of thing. Lots of vendors with the latest equipment show up and sell their stuff right there at the show.

 

There are booths for the resorts, contest, and it’s the kick- off party for winter. We picked up some new gear and had a great time.

 

My crew and I took a little trip up to Mountain High near Wrightwood, CA. a few days after Skidazzle and we had a blast.

 

It was right after a storm and the powder was fresh and the sky was super blue.

 

We boarded all day and hung out a little at the lodge.

Mountain High Apres Ski

It was a beautiful way to spend a day here in Southern California, and it’s only 70 miles from LA.

 

Caspin full gear

We always have a million things to do here in LA, but the wintertime has special offerings for us. Take a little time and enjoy.

Love, love

 

Art in the Streets

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / January 11, 2020

ART IN THE STREETS

I’m proud to announce today the beginning of my “Art in the Streets” project. We have been working on this idea for some time, and now it is here. I talked about my vision of accessible art in an interview I did last summer. You can check it out in the November 2019 Blog Archive.

I teamed up with my buddies at “StreaTea” to put some of my paintings on clothing so my art will be “in the streets”.

Azul God

The first t-shirts and sweatshirts hit Amazon yesterday. Lots more stuff to come soon.

I admit that seeing my art on t-shirts running around the hood will be dope, but I also want this to be part of a bigger idea. A lot of my inspiration comes from my ethnic heritage and my pride of being a descendant of the Maya.

Maya Blue Statue

As one of the six original “cradles of civilization”, the Mayan people created some incredible ideas and concepts like written language, astronomy, and the concept of zero.  

Although the Maya originated in 2600 BC, six million Maya still live in the area of the old empire which now consists of the countries of Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and five states in Mexico. No civilization is truly older than ours and our culture and history is uniquely original and continuous. Over four thousand years later that same blood flows through our brains and bodies creating new ideas and histories that are part of the great legacy.

Ancient Mayan Art

The “Art in the Streets” project was derived from a quote I gave for the interview I did last summer, “Art in a museum is great, but art in the streets is perfect”. We have expanded that quote to the concept of Perfect: Promoting Educational Rediscovery of Foundational Ethnic Cultural Traditions.  We believe that by increasing the visibility of my art the discussion and questions surrounding the art will lead to new appreciation of Mayan culture and history.

Check out the designs on Amazon in the “Caspin Coma” section.

Love, love,

Happy New Year

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / January 1, 2020

 Happy New Year

This is one of my favorite times of the year. There is the party to ring in the New Year of course, but it is also a time of optimism. We make plans for the new year, and resolutions to improve ourselves. I think sometimes we fall in the trap of remembering too many things we didn’t get done or wishes that didn’t come true. There are plenty of things to bring us down:  gun violence, income inequality, impeached president, homelessness, equal rights, and a lot of other stuff. But my first resolution is to be more positive.

My family and friends are the most important part of my life. Tried and true; always there always will be. I want to appreciate that dynamic more this year.  

I am privileged and lucky that my work is one of the great joys of my life. My music and art give me a way to express myself that is positive and hopefully brings some joy to people. I want to focus more energy on my “art in the streets” project I started last year.

I have good physical health. That is a true blessing. I spend a of of time in the gym and running. The whole process makes me feel better. This year I want to develop habits that reinforce those efforts.

Whatever plans you make for 2020, I wish you the best. So here’s to a healthy, prosperous, and fun New Year.

Love, love,

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / December 24, 2019

Merry Christmas

Christmas Card from Caspin

I wish a Merry Christmas for everyone. I love this time of year. My family gathers for food, fun, and to spend time with each other. It is always a happy time and we truly enjoy ourselves. So Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, or however you celebrate this time of year, all the best.

Union Station Downtown Los Angeles

This is how I’m spending Christmas Eve

Love, love

 

An Early Merry Christmas

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / December 21, 2019

An Early Merry Christmas

I had a great Christmas experience yesterday.

My brother, Temper, and I attended a Catholic Franciscan kindergarten at Poverello of Assisi Preschool.

Lil Caspin

Lil Temper

School Badge

Affectionately known as, PAP the school was located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County in the city of San Fernando. The school moved “next door” to Sylmar, a neighborhood of Los Angeles City, recently.

Poverello of Assissi

The school has been part of our family for many years, and my Mom volunteered there.

My cousin’s little boy, Nikko,  (Mom’s side of the family) attends the same kindergarten at Poverello that Temper and I did, although at the new location.  I consider Nikko to be my nephew and I am his Uncle Caspin even though technically he is my second cousin. Nikko and his fifteen classmates received reusable insulated water/juice cups for Christmas. Each cup has an inner sleeve that can be customized with a card insert with art, their names, or really any printed material. Nikko’s mom asked me to print his name card. I was very touched and happy to help the little guy out. My Mom suggested that I do cards for all the kids’ cups. I was honored to do the name cards for all the kids.

Calligraphy Cards

The serendipitous part of this story is that the Franciscan Nuns that ran the school when I attended, and also now, were very big believers in great penmanship.


Academic Awards

They stressed neat writing as a reflection of your character.

My Mom taught me calligraphy. I was very impressed, as a 10 year old, with the style and beauty of the highly stylized script, and I asked her to teach me. She agreed and told me the story of how she learned the skill and art.

 My Mom was taking a math class at Van Nuys High School in 1966, and her teacher, Mr. Rukes, wrote the notoriously hard “word problems” on the board  using calligraphy and stylized script. She told Mr. Rukes that she was very interested in learning how to do calligraphy. He made a deal: if she got an “A” on the next test he would teach her. She studied hard and got the “A”, and he taught her.

 I have practiced and improved my skills through the years and now feel competent enough to share my efforts. The project turned out really well, and the kids loved them.

The Cups

It was a blessing to use this skill I have been nurturing all these years in this warm positive way.

The whole kindergarten attendance, penmanship, calligraphy learning, multi-generational family connection circle is some serious cosmic “what goes around comes around” stuff.

This experience settled on me in a really satisfying way. I felt proud that I was asked, happy to do the work, and rewarded that the kids liked them. It was a transformation of a gift from me to a gift for me. I have always heard that people who give of themselves to others get more from the experience than the people they serve-I think that’s true. I think that transformative experience is the true magic of Christmas.

Love, love

Happy Thanksgiving

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / December 21, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s that time of feasting and family again. Eating too much and watching football is the good time we associate with Thanksgiving. But it has not always been that way. Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving has not always started the Christmas shopping season. What is this holiday called Thanksgiving?

The American holiday is a day set aside for giving thanks for our blessings. We learned in elementary school that the holiday was about the first winter for the Pilgrims and how the Indians helped them out. That is an alright description for little kids, but let’s take an adult look at Thanksgiving.

Not all countries celebrate Thanksgiving. The United States and Canada have the biggest holidays for Thanksgiving. Germany, China, Japan, Korea, Grenada, Liberia, and Norfolk Island also celebrate Thanksgiving. All of these celebrations generally take place around the same time of the year. Essentially they are harvest festivals.

The American holiday traces its roots to the to a 3 day harvest festival in 1621. The pilgrims had arrived in the “New” World, in what would later become Plymouth, Massachusetts, on November 11, 1620 after a 66 day boat ride from England. The winter of that year had been really tough (78% of the women died), and the growing season of the next year was good so a party was in order. It was a young crowd of about 50 pilgrims. There were only four married women and over 25 kids and teenagers. About 90 of the local Wampanoag natives showed up with food to help celebrate. While the celebration wasn’t really a religious thing, the U.S. government changed that 168 years later.

Our first president, George Washington, issued a proclamation in 1789 at the request of Congress for “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer”.

George Washington

It was a kind of thank you to God for the success of the revolution against England. But the event didn’t take hold in a big way until much later.

 

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, the third president, thought that public prayers and religious stuff was not right for a country partially based on separation of church and state. Apparently a lot of people thought that way until 1863.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln started the national holiday for Thanksgiving right in the middle of the Civil War. Until that time, a lot of states had been having their own harvest festivals at various times in the fall. A lady named Sarah Josepha Hale thought we should have a “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival”.

Sarah Josepha Hale

 She had been trying for fifteen years to get the holiday recognized. She was a 74 year-old magazine editor and had written the “Mary had a Little Lamb” nursery rhyme. She was popular and persistent. The Civil War had started to turn for the North and Lincoln thought it would be a good idea to “thank the Union Army and God for the shift in the country’s fortunes”. Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward (the guy who organized the purchase of Alaska) wrote a great speech for the adoption of the holiday.

William Seward

His hand- written copy of the speech was later auctioned to benefit the union army. Lincoln proclaimed a day of  “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” in 1863. That’s seems very religious. The holiday was set for the last Thursday in November.

Franklin Roosevelt messed around with the date in 1939 until 1941. He was trying to get extra shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

In 1942 the date was put back to the last Thursday in November.

Now is the time for the other side of the story. The indigenous people of the Mesoamerica didn’t have such a good time with the arrival of the Europeans. It’s hard to see them being thankful for what was happening to their culture and lives with the colonization by the Europeans. One hundred years (1523) before the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth the Spanish began the conquest of the Mayans.

Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado

 The Spanish waged war on the Mayans for 200 years. They took the land, forcefully converted the natives to Catholicism, and killed millions. The Spanish brought small pox and measles. The European soldiers were volunteers whose only pay was what they could loot and steal. The natives at the first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts were only just beginning to know the Europeans.

Patricia Ann Talley wrote in “Decolonize” History-Teach the True Meaning of Thanksgiving this story. This was written by a concierge at a hotel in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico as part of a handout for foreign guests to explain the meaning of Thanksgiving.“Thanksgiving is a religious holiday for Americans in the north to celebrate when the conquistadors first came to our lands. The conquistadors knew nothing about our land and did not know how to even grow food. Our people accepted them, taught them, and helped them to survive. They had a big festival to celebrate. This was before the conquistadors took their land.”

Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

Whatever you think of Thanksgiving remember it is a time to pause and be thankful for what you have and remember the less fortunate.

Love, love

Caspin Interview Beverly Hills, California

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / December 18, 2019

Caspin Interview Beverly Hills, California

This is a reprint of an interview I did last summer. Enjoy.

Caspin is a talented and successful musician, lyricist, and painter. Today we are going to focus on his work as a painter.  Caspin’s visual art straddles the genres of Graffiti Art and abstract Modern Mexican Art while fusing urban themes and sensibilities.

Twin Warriors

The bold and bright colors are reminiscent of early Mexican Folk Art of the post-colonial period, but the subject matter is truly drawn from ancient Mayan deity hieroglyphs dated to the 1st century during the Classic Period. Caspin amazingly juxtaposes these hieroglyphs and the need to address current social issues.  He celebrates his indigenous heritage and calls for awareness and responsibility.  

 Caspin has used a number of mediums to express his talent including stainless steel, wood, and canvas paintings, tattoos, and in various opportunities incorporating the urban landscape.,

Blue God East

Caspin’s paintings tend to be very large making a definite dramatic statement, but he has incorporated his oversized personality and evokes humor and playfulness in the art. Many of his original paintings are held in private collections focusing on contemporary ethnic art.

Caspin believes that his art is for the people. “Art in a museum is great, but art in the street is perfect”, he recently told me over coffee. To that end, he is “putting my art in the street” in various forms and mediums. In a nod to his urban street culture roots, he is presenting some of his paintings in wearable forms such as t-shirts, caps, leggings, shoes, and other ordinary everyday items. He believes that putting art in the middle of urban culture is a way to preserve that art and the culture it represents. Visit his website, CaspinComa.com, and check out some unique amazing art.

I called Caspin to setup a time and place for us to meet to discuss his work and to explore his feelings as an artist. He suggested we meet at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills. I thought it was a little odd that a “street artist” would pick this venue, but I had wanted to go there since it had opened so I was stoked. I gave the valet my Prius and smiled at the doorman as I went inside. Before the door closed I heard an incredible rumble approaching. As I turned, I saw a beautiful white M5 BMW arrive at the door. 

The Beast

I recognized the E60 classic and thought to myself: I should live in this neighborhood. While I was drooling over this automotive unicorn I saw the driver pop out. I realized it was Caspin. The white tank top exposed massive arms covered in a beautiful mosaic collage of ancient Mayan hieroglyphs.

Caspin on Wendy’s terrace

 The tight white jeans, held up by white leather suspenders, lead down to an incredible pair of crystal studded Christian Louboutin high tops. Wow, this was going to be interesting. After hellos, we settled into a comfortable sofa just off the main lobby, and an apparition, in the form of a server, appeared. He knowingly asked Caspin if he wanted a Stella; I ordered iced coffee. I was very aware of his boundless energy and humor and I was eager to begin.

Me:  I love your car. How did you find one?

Caspin: Thanks man. It just sorta dropped in my lap. I saw it driving by a lot in the Valley. I stopped and bought it. I was driving a 545 at the time, but this beast had me at first sight and have you heard it. It’s really a love-hate thing though. Driving it is phenomenal, but the insurance and maintenance is a bear.

Me: Tell me about your name.

Caspin: It is a nick name I picked up by in my early days rapping.

Me: Rapping?

Caspin: Yea, I was in a group from the Valley, “Overkill Outfit”. We were pretty good. We had some cool songs and videos. We played all the hot spots: West End, Gabba Lounge, Shoestring Factory, and Key Club. It was fun, but the group broke up. I did a solo album. I still write and I’m working on a new album,

Studio work station

 I’m doing a show with my brother in a few weeks.

Me: So you work with your brother?

Caspin: Yea. Temper, my brother, and I do music and rap together. We were both in “Overkill Outfit” together. He also had other projects he works on too.

Me: Is your whole family artist?

Caspin: I guess so. Not everyone is into visual or performing arts, but they are all artist in their own way.

Me: I understand you youngest child is an award winning artist, tell me about it.

Caspin: I love my kids and they are all talented, and Zion got the artist gene. He won this big award and got to introduce Octavia Spencer at the award show in Hollywood.  I was there yelling and cheering; totally embarrassing him. I am really proud of him. 

Me: I really interested in this new project your working on. Tell me about it.

Caspin: Thanks man, I glad you’re interested. I’ve been fascinated by my heritage and culture all my life. I grew up in a very large and close extended family. My immediate family has been in the United States for generations, but I grew up with the stories, art, and history of my Mayan ancestors.

Mayan Calendar

 I was this little kid in the Valley going to Catholic school dreaming of being a Mayan chief. Early Caspin I guess, (laughing). I’m trying to bridge the ancient with current urban sensibilities. I wear my tattoos as an expression of that connection. My tatts are mainly hieroglyphs from the 1st century blended and shaded with skulls and icons of current Latin culture.

Caspin’s shoulder

 I want to publish and promote this artistic expression as beauty, honor, knowledge, and pride. I mean those Mayans were pretty cool. Their civilization rivaled any in the ancient world. They invented the concept of zero. They invented the process to create the color turquoise. With the current political climate, I think it’s very important for little Mexican kids to know and share who they are. They are all Chiefs and Gods.

Me: Wow, your passion shows. How are you doing that?

Caspin: My paintings are hieroglyphs expressed as graffiti art. They are bold in-your-face visuals. I put them on canvas, wood, stainless steels, buildings, anything really.

White and Gold

  I mostly live in the same neighborhood I grew up in. That is my choice. It is not a place of great financial wealth, but it has an enormous wealth of culture. I use my art to share my vision of that culture with my community. I want to celebrate and acknowledge our heritage and culture. That’s my version of family values, (smiling).

Me: Tell me about the t-shirts.

Caspin: Ah, the t-shirts. My originals are large and thankfully expensive. Most of ones I have sold are in private collections.

War God

That makes them hard to share with my community. So I have hooked up with some people to put my art on t-shirts, bags, shoes and other common everyday stuff. The idea is to make the art so accessible that it becomes part of the landscape. Art in a museum is great, but art in the street is perfect.

Me: That’s very impressive, but you got to tell me about those shoes.

Caspin: (laughing) Pretty sparkly huh. I have a good friend that introduced me to Christian Louboutin years ago. They have a great store on Robertson and great people too. We would go to brunch and have some drinks and go to Louboutin’s for dessert. Champagne and shoes are a very cool combination. That is part of the same story about why I invited you here. That same friend brought Temper and me here for our birthdays. This place is great. The restaurant here is Jean Georges. The logo is that giant JG in the lobby. Those are my real initials.

As I read my notes to put this together, I kept finding myself smiling. Caspin, in addition to being passionate about art and extremely talented, is a very warm and funny person. You can’t help but to want to be on his team. Whether rapping, painting, or having fun, his oversized personality is genuinely engaging and friendly. I will be looking for him with every passing super car and every super cool t-shirt.

That was quite an interview. Thanks.

Love, love