Color, camaraderie, craftsmen and conquest: The best of Mexico News Daily’s Culture section in 2025

Whether you love food, history, art or music, Mexico has some of the very best in the world. So it’s only natural that we’d also have some fantastic coverage of these cultural treasures in 2025.

Blue is the warmest color

On Oaxaca’s humid Pacific coast, farmers rise before dawn to harvest “blue gold” from fields of indigo that once supplied royalty and ritual dress across the world. Follow the jicalete plant’s journey from muddy pilas and ox-drawn carts to shimmering dye vats at the Feria de Anil, where ancient techniques meet shibori patterns and global designers. See how a nearly lost tradition is coloring Oaxaca’s future deep, luminous blue as award winning photojournalist Anna Bruce takes a look at some of Mexico’s most authentic communities.

Harvesting Oaxaca’s ‘blue gold’

Mexico’s femmes fatal take the spotlight

Netflix’s new series Las Muertas dives into the chilling true story of the González Valenzuela sisters, Mexico’s most infamous crime ring, who ran brutal brothels from the 1940s to the 1960s. Filmed across Mexico and based on Jorge Ibargüengoitia’s acclaimed novel, the show exposes corruption, exploitation and a hidden world of violence that shocked a nation. Discover the real history behind the horror before you hit play.

The true story behind Netflix’s ‘Las Muertas,’ via one of Mexico’s most celebrated writers

A San Miguel potter shaping centuries of history

On a dusty ranch outside San Miguel de Allende, a 70-something potter shapes the last echoes of her family’s centuries-old craft with her bare hands. Meet Nicanora Valdez, the only remaining potter in a once-renowned lineage, molding riverbed clay into bowls that travel from rural Guanajuato to collectors’ shelves. Discover how friendship, memory, and fire keep her fragile legacy alive—one bowl at a time.

The last potter: Nicanora Valdez’s vanishing legacy in clay

War, politics and betrayal in the northern territories

One decision redrew the map of North America—and still shapes the U.S.–Mexico relationship today. Travel back 176 years to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, when Mexico lost 55% of its territory and nearly 80,000 Mexicans suddenly found themselves living in a new country. War, broken promises, and “manifest destiny” still echo in today’s politics and border debates, so find out where it all began.

176 years ago today, Mexico lost 55% of its territory

Dia de Muertos dos and don’ts

Headed to Mexico for Día de Muertos, or celebrating from afar? Before you paint your face or post that cemetery photo, learn how locals in San Miguel de Allende balance living traditions, private grief, and public spectacle. This guide unpacks what’s welcome, what crosses the line, and how to honor the dead with genuine respect —while still enjoying the magic when the veil between worlds thins.

Día de Muertos dos and don’ts: How to tread lightly when the veil between worlds thins

The architectural miracle in Mexico’s largest slum

Rising from one of Mexico City’s poorest districts, the Yancuic Museum is rewriting what access to art and culture looks like. With an origami-like façade, free admission, and exhibits on climate change and Nahua cosmogony, this luminous new space turns Iztapalapa into an unlikely cultural hotspot. Meet the award-winning museum where white-tailed deer, jaguars, and axolotls greet visitors amid a concrete sea.

Bringing culture to poverty: Mexico City’s Yancuic Museum

Living amongst history

Think you’re just living “normally” in Mexico City? From haggling over chiles in bustling mercados to piling tortillas, insects, mushrooms, and flowers onto your plate, you may be channeling your inner Mexica without even knowing it. This playful piece uncovers everyday customs — like pounding salsa in a molcajete and building spice tolerance — that keep ancient Tenochtitlán alive in modern CDMX life.

5 Mexica customs you’ve adopted if you live in Mexico City (and you haven’t even noticed)