Two verions of the China Poblana costume, new and old
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by Eva Neisser Echenberg

Definitions:
China: A person from China or of Chinese descent.
Poblana: An inhabitant of Puebla, Mexico.

The China Poblana, with her typical costume, is a stereotype. She represents the Mexican woman in her most feminine form, with the low-cut, embroidered blouse, the narrow waist, the wide, colourful, ornate skirt and the shawl, that very Mexican shawl. It used to be the typical costume of the city of Puebla. Today it is considered the typical national costume.

Who was the China Poblana? We know that the China Poblana was called Mirra or Mirrah and that she was Hindu. Details about her life are not very clear, and many are contradictory. Mirra, a Hindu girl, was born in India. As far as we know she was stolen by pirates when she was nine or ten years old and taken to the Philippines.

To complicate the story, the China Poblana was stolen a second time. Already a slave, she was transported by a galleon from Manila to Acapulco. There the viceroy, who wanted a beautiful slave, was waiting for her, but he did not receive her. She was given to Miguel de Sosa or Souza because he paid ten times more for her than the viceroy. She lived as a slave in the Sosa family in Puebla.

Perhaps she left her religion in the Philippines or perhaps later, but in any case she adopted Catholicism and the name Catalina de San Juan. We don't know if she already had the name Catalina when she arrived in Acapulco or if she was given it in Puebla when she arrived there, around 1619.

When her owner, Don Miguel de Sosa died, his wife decided that the China Poblana should marry a servant from the same house. Details about their marriage are contradictory, as some say that they were a very happy couple, while others say that the marriage was never consummated. Perhaps she was named China after her husband, but we do not know. After her husband's death, the China Poblana entered a monastery and followed a religious life until her death. What we do know for sure is that Catarina de San Juan, or as we know her, the China Poblana, died in Puebla on 5 January 1688 at the age of eighty-two.

Therefore we can conclude that Mirra was neither China nor Poblana.

Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova
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The legend of the China Poblana

The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española defines legend as:

The legend of China Poblana was created almost 200 years after her death. From Mirra, a young Hindu girl, who probably wore a sari, the legend of the ideal Mexican woman is born. A legend is created.

Mirra, a poor slave, becomes an example of the Mexican woman. We don't know who invented her. They invented that she was the daughter of a noble family and transformed her into an exotic beauty. At the end of her life, when she had adopted Catholicism and was very pious, they added these elements to the legend.

La China Poblana became the exemplary woman. According to the legend she was submissive, she was Catholic, she assimilated to a traditional life.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a famous Russian dancer, Anna Pavlova, danced in Mexico City in a typical costume, the costume of the China Poblana. The costume then began to gain importance. Between the 1920s and 1940s, the China costume became very popular all over the country.

Today the Mexican woman does not resemble this stereotype. In the 21st century Mexican women have assumed equality. The only thing that remains is the typical clothing.

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Eva Neisser Echenberg is a Canadian teacher, writer, and presenter who spends winters in SMA. Born in Lima, she has spent her adult life in Montreal. Eva writes cultural resources for the Spanish language classroom and the China Poblana text is from that collection. In addition, she has written a memoir, Walter's Welcome, the Intimate Story of a German-Jewish Family' s Flight from the Nazis to Peru. In SMA, she volunteers at the folk-art museum, La Esquina, where she also gives weekly guided tours of this outstanding gallery.

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