“Once upon a time, in a magical town of blue landscapes, which lay on the slopes of a volcano…”. As mentioned by the Jesuit magazine Cruce, in its November 2019 issue, Tequila is blue (agave), but it is also yellow and purple.
It represents a great pride that, in 2006, after several years of extensive research, conceptualization and cataloging by a multidisciplinary team, The declaration and inscription on the Unesco World Heritage List of the Agave Landscape and the Old Industrial Facilities of Tequila was achieved, one of the fundamental testimonies that Mexico has contributed to world culture.
This initiative has marked an after for the region. Tequila is actually a rainbow of colors and sensory elements, not only for its landscapes and textures, but also for the invaluable intangible heritage that the traditions and productive activities of its inhabitants represent.
What is intangible cultural heritage?
Our priority is to rescue and preserve the traditions that have been transmitted orally, artistically, in social uses, rituals, festive events, wisdom and practices of the natural environment, and knowledge and techniques, related to traditional crafts, as stated by UNESCO.
According to the most recent instruments elaborated by this organization: “The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. The social and economic value of this transmission of knowledge is relevant for minority groups and for mainstream social groups within a State, and is as important for developing States as for developed ones.”
We recognize the fragility and importance of intangible cultural heritage as an essential factor in maintaining cultural diversity and respecting other ways of life. We join the commitment to protect it and value it for the community and for visitors.
Intangible cultural heritage is traditional, inclusive, representative and community-based and we are honored to be able to share it with the world.
All this is worth gold! Therefore, we must take great care of this wealth and undertake actions and activities that preserve it and prevent it from being affected. We have bet on tourism, sport and music, and we see with pride how a new generation of boys has grown thanks to the work that all of you have done for Tequila.
Mr. Juan Beckmann Vidal
Agave landscape of Tequila, a World Heritage Site.
Photography by Néstor Barrera, 2019.
The Tequila region offers us one more reason to fall in love with Mexico, not only in experiences and adventures, but in countless parts of our identity that fill us with pride.
The municipality of Tequila is located in the state of Jalisco. The main landscapes that amaze us are the agave fields, the volcano, the canyon and the sierra, damong which is the magic of its inhabitants, who have been guardians of ancient traditions such as cooking, crafts, dances and crafts of yesteryear such as jimadores or toneleros.
It is important to visualize the different actors in the community, with the intention of promoting the creative economy, the solidarity economy. In this way, a differentiator and promoter of social inclusion is generated to enhance the growth of the community.
We want to share the map of the region to dimension, even a little, the intangible heritage that it is possible to discover and that, from the Beckmann Foundation, in joint work with all social actors, we want to rescue, honor and conserve.
Welcome to Tequila!
The agave landscape is far more than the blue of its mezcal and the fertility of its land; the agave landscape is the human energy that gives it life, the jimadores who go to work early on and the women who provide them of strength and vigor with the food prepared for them.
Voces de Tequila
Traditional kitchen-stove (Sierra, Canyon, Amatitán)
Creole or native maize (Mitlán)
Aged cheese (all the Sierra and Canyon)
Day of the Dead festival and bread fair (Tequila)
Mango and Plum Festival (Tequila, Amatitán, Canyon)
Hiking (Tequila Volcano, Canyon)
Cycling route (Tequila Volcano, Canyon, Agave landscape)
Micotourism (Tequila Volcano)
Mushroom Festival (Tequila, Tequila Volcano)
Music, painting and art (Tequila)We are in constant evaluation and training, to stay aligned with the 17 universally applicable objectives approved at the Summit of Sustainable Development (2015). Based on the 2030 agenda, we define our challenges and framework for the coming years. Together with more than 150 countries, we agree that initiatives to promote prosperity must be based on strategies that promote not only economic growth, but the most basic needs such as education, health, protection of the social fabric, decent employment opportunities and protection of the environment.
At Beckmann Foundation we are committed to the development of sustainable projects and programs. Through the efficiency and transparency of our processes, we work to satisfy the pressing needs of the community, with a service of warmth, respect and dignity, but it is also essential to promote a change in paradigms that affect the entire current value chain. Of the 52 programs and initiatives that we promoted and strengthened this year, we mainly focused on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4: Quality education and 17: Alliances to achieve the objectives.
We seek continuous improvement and the importance of our actions to raise the quality of life of people.
Quiote, blooming agaves.
Starting in 2019, the Beckmann Foundation went from working under the guidelines of an Integral Model of Local Development to a new structure, a Social Innovation Model, that seeks to solve social problems effectively and efficiently to face the rapid changes of the community and our environment. Looking to solve current problems in a creative and innovative way, taking advantage of people's strengths and good practices in the use of resources, to achieve sustainability in space and time.
It is an integral model that projects great achievements, but demands from the different actors of the community, commitments and responsibilities in the application of an economic, political, environmental, cultural and social model that determine the quality of life of its population.
The strategic lines that compose this model, Education, Social Innovation, Health and Culture, are strengthened by four supports that backup our vision of growth and guarantee that it is sustainable over time: Preventive and positive dissemination, Territorial management, Sustainability, Continuous improvement.
This new vision unites us even more, brings us closer to the community and we are not alone in this effort, we collaborate hard with different organizations in the region and the state, with universities and private initiative, to add results for the well-being and development of the region.
Students of CBTa 106, Food and Drinks.
The touristic model of Mexico must have among its objectives to integrate rural communities and small tequila towns in order to improve the quality of life of its residents, improving their economy, education, health and culture.
Mr. Juan Beckmann Vidal
Our mission is to contribute to the development and improvement of the Tequila community, supporting through education, training and culture to raise their quality of life, rescuing their tangible and intangible heritage, in a way that highlights the value of the touristic destination.
