Author Archives: Aidan Bradbury-Aranda

El Indito y las Paletas Heladas

El Indito y las Paletas Heladas

The Indian and the Popsicles 

“Un indito viene por primera vez a la capital, a la Ciudad de Mexico. Y entonces entre las cosas que mas le gustan son las paletas heladas. Y como no son caras, dijo, ‘Ay pues esto les voy a llevar yo a mi familia para que sepan lo sabroso que son las paletas heladas que por allá no hay.’ Entonces, compra unas paletas heladas, las mete en su sarape que llevaba, toma el camión y se va a su tierra. Cuando llega a su tierra, les va a sorprender a la familia diciendo, ‘mira lo que les traje!’ y nadamas encuentra los puros palitos. Y dice, ‘Ay, en Mexico son muy buenos para robar! Me robaron las paletas y namas me dejaron los palitos!’”

“An indian arrives for the first time to the capital, to Mexico City. And among the things that he most likes when he gets there are popsicles. And since they are not expensive, he says, ‘Oh well I can take these back to my family so they can know how tasty popsicles are, since we don’t have them back home.’ So, he buys some popsicles, puts them in his coat, takes a bus and goes back to his homeland. When he gets back home, he is excited to surprise his family saying, ‘look what I brought!’ but only the popsicle sticks are left. And he says, ‘Gosh, in Mexico people are really good at stealing! They stole the popsicles and only left me the sticks!’”

My grandfather, the informant for this joke, was born and has lived in Mexico all his life.   He has seen the country change drastically and in many different ways over the 86 years of his life, and as a result knows a very great amount about Mexican culture, customs, and folklore. He often tells jokes, riddles and stories that he has garnered throughout his life, most of which he remembers very clearly and recites in the form a great storyteller.

This falls into a genre of jokes making fun of indigenous Mexican Indians. It is part of the Blason Populaire of Mexico, given that it negatively stereotypes indigenous people as being ignorant, unintelligent, and very gullible. This is the main strain of racism found in Mexico, and as such, there are many jokes associated with it. The informant does not remember the first time he heard this joke, but it was a very popular one when he was growing up. Later in life, he also heard it from a popular comedian on TV. Given its political undertones, involving the isolation of indigenous people in Mexico, their inferior position in society, and the bad treatment and exploitation they are put through oftentimes, this joke would probably not be very acceptable nowadays, since attempts to make amends with indigenous Mexicans is strongly supported these days. This shows a shift in perspective over the course of recent Mexican history, with the indigenous starting out as isolated objects of ridicule and now being embraced (to a certain degree) as part of the Mexican population.

Romanian Wedding Traditions

Romanian Wedding Traditions

The informant who told me about these customs was born and raised in Romania until she came to high school in the US. Given the fact that she is a native Romanian, she knows a lot about the customs and traditions of the country, especially due to her large family, and the setting she grew up in from an early age.

“The wedding day has three parts. However, before the entire ceremony starts, everyone who wants to, meets at the bride’s house, and they put little balloons and bows on all the cars. The entourage of cars then goes from ceremony to ceremony, honking all the way. This happens between the three different parts, and whoever wants to join the parade of cars can. The first is the civil union, which is basically all the paperwork at the courthouse. That usually happens during the morning and is pretty quick because there are a lot of couples getting married on the same day. Then, in the afternoon, there is the church ceremony. That’s longer, it takes like 1-2 hours. Romania is of the Eastern Orthodox faith, so instead of having the parents bring in the bride and groom, it is actually the godparents who do it,  the godfather brings in the bride, and the godmother brings in the groom. Godparents are very important in the wedding process, because they have both social and financial responsibilities during the event. Godparents are chosen by the bride and groom, and usually they are people who are very close. Anyway, after they come in, they arrange themselves in the front – the bride and the groom, then on either side are the godparents, the man is on the grooms side and the woman is on the bride’s, and then there’s another couple that hold two large candles on either side. The priest then talks about the duties of each partner – its pretty sexist in favor of the man. The bride and groom then get crowns that they put holy water on and then everyone who sits in the front has to kiss the crown, everyone who sits in the front also has to kiss a portrait of the Virgin Mary as well as cross themselves. There is also a table in the middle, and everyone who sits at the front holds hands and circles the table. The bride also has bridesmaids, whose main duties are to pin either flowers, or bows, or some type of ornament onto the guests to distinguish that they are in a wedding. When exiting the church, the guests line up into a semicircle outside holding flowers, and the bride and groom walk through. At the end of this ceremony there is a more modern custom which is the taking of a group picture in front of the church.

The final part of the wedding is the night party, which is equivalent to a reception in the US. Unlike American weddings that end pretty early however, Romanian weddings last all night long, until the next morning. There’s a lot of food, a lot of alcohol, however this is the most stressful part of the wedding to plan out because most Romanians have really large families and you have to invite all of them. Even if you don’t know them, you basically invite who your parents want to invite. You also have to take into consideration how you’re going to seat them all, because you don’t want relatives who have negative feelings towards one another to sit next to each other, but if they have friends in common they have to be close to them. Anyway, its a very complex process, and you make diagrams of where everyone is going to be seated because there is assigned seating basically. How it works is the family and closest friends are closest to the dance floor area, and then everyone else is further away, ranked by how well they know the family. The closer your relations are to the family, the better seating you’re gonna have. In the very middle is a very large table where the bride and groom sit, along with the godparents, children of the godparents, and the parents of the bride and groom as well. Usually there are musicians, called Lautari, who play traditional Romanian music or Muzica Populara. There are also specific Romanian dances that are part of a wedding. There are the group dances, the Hora and the Sarba, which are danced in a circle by a lot of the guests, and then there is the Brasoveanca, which is danced by couples. The guests don’t dance until the bride and groom have their opening dance, which is usually a slow dance by themselves. It opens the last part of the wedding ceremony. There is also a wedding cake, like in Western culture, and the bride and groom get to cut the first slice. The bride also throws her bouquet and garter at some point in the night, there is no set time, but when she does, whoever catches it also gets her bridal veil.

There is also the famous tradition, the ‘stealing of the bride’. So at some point during the night, someone steals the bride, usually friends who want to have some fun. They basically take the bride to a random place, they took my cousin to a pub, and everyone started dancing and having a good time. Then they call the groom, and the groom has to pay the friends who stole the bride in alcohol. So they negotiate how much is too much, and come to a compromise, and whenever the friends are pleased with the offer, they bring the bride back. The party usually stops at some point in the early morning, and guests either sleep over or go back home at like 5 am.”

From the informant’s account, we see how many of the wedding customs in Romania are similar to those of the West, while others, like the stealing of the bride, or the traditional dances are very different. Another important distinction is that, unlike many American wedding ceremonies that have drifted from the traditional format, most Romanian weddings adhere to tradition very strictly. We see this both in the religious ceremony as well as during the reception with the traditional music and dances. The responsibility resting on the shoulders of the godparents instead of the biological parents is also quite different, and points at the fact that Romania is a very religious country, where God and the church are very important. There is also a great respect and loyalty paid to the entire family, which not always happens in the US, illuminated by the fact that the entire family is invited by the parents. The practice of “stealing” the bride is a tradition that is found with slight variations throughout Eastern Europe and some of the Middle East. It takes multiple forms – whether it be stealing objects that the bride is wearing, or the bride herself. However, the overarching goal is for the groom to symbolically “buy” her back. This stems from tradition in the old days when the groom would literally buy the bride with something of value – whether it be money, or treasures, or even livestock. The informant has experienced three Romanian weddings first hand, so she has had exposure to the traditions associated with them.

El Automóvil Gris

El Automovíl Gris

The Grey Automobile

“Ay una historia, que cuando yo era niño, se contaba. Estoy hablando de los años treinta. La historia del Automóvil Gris. El Automóvil Gris se suponía que era un grupo de revolucionarios, o sea de militares de la revolución, quo organizaron una banda para asaltar casas o comercios. En mi casa lo comentaban mucho porque yo vivía en una colonia que estaba pegada junto a la colonia donde se decía que vivían los del Automóvil Gris. Se decía también que el coronel Robles era el que dirigía la banda. El hecho es que por un tiempo, podemos decir uno o dos años, la banda del Automóvil Gris asaltaba a los transeúntes, se metían a las casas, o asaltaban a los comercios. Y un buen día, se dejo de hablar de la banda del Automóvil Gris. Y entonces se supo esto: que eran militares, se habían coludido con la policía para cometer ese asalto. Esa historia se volvió leyenda, se han escrito libros y historias, hasta una serie de televisión y una película, llamada ‘La Banda del Automóvil Gris’.”

“There is a story, that was told when I was a kid. I’m talking about the 30s. The story of the Grey Automobile. The Grey Automobile was supposedly a group of revolutionaries, meaning military members of the revolution, that organized a band to assault residences and businesses. In my household they talked about it a lot because I lived in a neighborhood that was right next to the neighborhood where it was said that the members of the Grey Automobile lived. It was also said that colonel Robles was the one who led the band. The thing is that, for a while, I would say about one to two years, the band of the Grey Automobile assaulted passers-by, broke into houses, and assaulted businesses. One day, people stopped talking about the group of the Grey Automobile. And then it was know that they were in fact members of the military who had colluded with the police to commit these assaults. This story has since become a legend, and many books have been written, even a television series and a film, titled ‘Band of the Grey Automobile’.”

My grandfather, the informant for this story, was born and has lived in Mexico all his life.   He has seen the country change drastically and in many different ways over the 86 years of his life, and as a result knows a very great amount about Mexican culture, customs, and folklore. He often tells jokes, riddles and stories that he has garnered throughout his life, most of which he remembers very clearly and recites in the form a great storyteller.

The informant grew up during a time in Mexico when the country was still recovering from the revolution. It had ended a mere decade before, and due to this fact the story makes a strong political statement, stressing the conflict still present between the members of the revolutionary movement and those of the established government. For this reason, a key revolutionary figure, Amelia Robles Avila, who embraced the masculine persona of Colonel Robles, was framed for leading a marauding band of revolutionary criminals, to hide the fact that it was indeed the established military that was causing the chaos. This story shows the immense corruption of the government at the time, a sentiment that turned into a legend essentially stressing mistrust for the government. However, with all its political tones stripped away, it also served as a classic scare story told to children when they misbehaved. “Don’t be naughty or the the Grey Automobile band will get you!”. This was especially true for the informant, who lived close to what was supposedly the base camp of the Grey Automobile gang.

“C’ho Provato.”

“C’ho Provato.”

 “I tried.”

“In Italy, many people like to always, surprise others, to gain something in their favor. So, for example, they try not to give you the correct change when you pay, and when you ask, if they committed the act on purpose, they’ll tell you, ‘C’ho provato’, meaning ‘I tried’ in the sense of taking advantage of the person.”

My dad, the informant for this saying, was born in London, England, but lived in Italy for 10 years of his life, from the age of 30. Over this period of time, he became fluent in the Italian language, learning many colloquialisms and expressions used in everyday speech. Though he does not speak in Italian as much as he used to, when interacting with friends and/or co-workers who are Italian, he still uses many of these sayings.

The informant vividly remembers when he first heard this expression. He had gone to a local grocery shop to buy some bread, and when he went to the register to pay for it, he noticed that the price being rung up was much higher than that listed for the bread. When he opened his bag, it turned out they had added a variety of other items to it that he had neither put there nor wanted. Confronting the cashier about it, his ironic response was, “C’ho provato”. The goal of the employee was obviously to get the informant to pay more money than he was supposed to, to bring in more revenue for the store, but through a shrewd and crafty way. The informant found himself in a few more situations like this before he realized that it was a common custom. The expression reflects the crafty sentiment that many Italians have, upheld by other expressions such as “La fortuna degli audaci” – the fortune of the audacious. This attempt to cut corners seems to be a common theme in Italian culture, and to a foreigner experiencing it for the first time, it may not seem as exciting and playful as it does to a native Italian, but may be distancing, given the fact that it seems like an effort to rip someone off.

“Il sogno nel cassetto.”

“Il sogno nel cassetto.”

“The dream in the drawer.”

“This means that what you wish to do in life, is kept, figuratively, in a drawer, and out of it come the dreams that you intend to turn to reality. For example, a car that you like a lot,  but you don’t have the money to buy, or a vacation that you have never been able to do, but that has always been on your mind, that is referred to as ‘il sogno nel cassetto’.”

My dad, the informant for this saying, was born in London, England, but lived in Italy for 10 years of his life, from the age of 30. Over this period of time, he became fluent in the Italian language, learning many colloquialisms and expressions used in everyday speech. Though he does not speak in Italian as much as he used to, when interacting with friends and/or co-workers who are Italian, he still uses many of these sayings.

The informant learned this expression mainly from Italian TV, where it is very common for interviewers to ask celebrities what their “dream in the drawer” is. However, it was also used by many of his friends and acquaintances. This expression seems to have two slightly different meanings to it. Not only does it apply to goals you have set in your life, like a new car or an expensive vacation, as stated above, but it also has to do with dreams that you haven’t achieved, not because you are financially incapable, but because there has not been time, or the convenience to make them reality. Whatever the dream may be, the fact that it resides in a metaphorical drawer suggests that it is something that is safeguarded, held close, and never forgotten.