“Tehuantepec” is a 1940s color tourism film presented by the Tourist Department of the Mexican Government and the Mexican Tourist Association. Tehuantepec is located in southeastern Mexico in Oaxaca. Actress Linda Darnell provides the film’s narration and describes the tropical setting of Tehuantepec (similar, she says to a South Seas island with sugar cane and golden pineapples) and we see palm trees swaying in the breeze at mark 01:00. The warm sun and idyllic condition encourages residents to take it easy, Darnell says, as two oxen lazily pull a cart down the street at mark 01:22 as a boy stops to chat with a young lady in town (with women outnumber the men 5-to-1 it is said). The women are also taller than average, the result of straight spines after having balanced containers of water on their heads for most of their lives (mark 02:00), “giving them a free regal carriage which should be envied by the women of the United States.” A matriarchal society, the men work in the fields while the women are responsible for “all commercial enterprise” as well as “a fine amount of gossip.” After watching the action in a marketplace, the film shows us traditional fiesta costumes (mark 03:43) and explains women’s fondness for heavy gold jewelry, as girls model some of the accessories (some with gold coins) at mark 04:15. Mark 05:10 introduces some of the elaborate headdresses worn by female residents, which tradition dictates originated when residents found a collection of baby clothes in a shipwreck and mistook it for headdresses. At mark 05:50 the film celebrates the pageantry of a local wedding and at mark 06:45 takes the viewer to an annual fruit festival — an elaborate affair involving the most fanciful attire — and tradition dictates that resident gather in town square and catch fruit thrown to them from balconies. “This is a symbol of sharing nature’s beauty with your neighbor,” Darnell explains at mark 09:00.
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