Xóchitl’s Bar: Pulquerías and Mexican costumbrismo

This article examines the 19th-century resurrection of the legend of Xochitl in Mexico’s literary and visual imagery. Xochitl, the legendary discoverer of pulque (an indigenous alcoholic beverage) appeared in literary representations of pulquerías as a means of investing Mexican popular culture with historical and cultural authenticity. While many 19th-century representations of pulque and drinking mobilised references to the Greco-Roman god of wine, Bacchus, the costumbrista paintings of José Agustín Arrieta made oblique connections between Bacchus and Xochitl, and the costumbrista prose of Manuel Payno and Guillermo Prieto associated pulquerías more exclusively with ancient indigenous figures and with Xochitl in particular.