Author Archives: Gabriela Dominguez

La Malinche

“Nosotros le decimos la malinche a alguien que es un traidor. Como por ejemplo, si alguien va y le dice a otra persona algo que tu dijiste, eso viene siend traicion asi que le desimos ala persona que te traiciono, la malinche…Hasta lo que yo se mija, tenemos esa costumbre de decirle la malinche a los traidores porque en anos de los aztecas, la malinche fue la que nos traiciono y por eso fue que los espanoles nos conquistaron pero no me recuerdo como fue que me aprendi este refran. Alomejor de mi mama, porque me recuerdo que ella tambien usaba esta frase seguido pero quien sabe.”

“We call anyone who is a traitor, la malinche. For example, if someone goes and tells another person something you said about them, that would be treason, therefore we could call the person who turned against you, la malinche… To what I know darling, we have the custom of calling any traitor la malinche because in the years of the Aztecs, la malinche was the woman who turned us in and that’s why the Spaniards conquered us but I do not remember how it was that I learned this proverb. Maybe it was my mmom because I remember she used this phrase ofter but who knows.”

The informant is a native Valparaiso, Zacatecas; in the country of Mexico. She was born in the year of 1952 and lived in Mexico until the age of 26 which was when she migrated to the United States of America. As a native Mexican, proverbs, myths and other sorts of folk tales she knows, all have been influenced by her Mexican culture. Furthermore, she learned most of her proverbs from the household setting, from family members, friends and others who she was in direct contact since according to her, she had no recognition of what a TV was; media did not influence her knowledge of folk tales, people who she had contact to were the ones to influence her knowledge of folk tales. She grew up hearing these proverbs and other folk tales constantly on a day to day basis from people all around her. Because of the constant exposure, the proverbs and other folk tales have now become a part of her daily life vocabulary.

In my opinion, this proverb is particularly interesting because it brings back a sense of where Mexicans originated from. By this I mean that Mexicans in specific use this proverb to recall of a time when their ancestors existed. The fact that this proverb has been kept in place only goes to show the strong ties that Mexicans have to their roots, in this case the Aztecs. It is impressive to see that future generations are still using this proverb however, it is interesting that the informant for this proverb cannot recall where exactly she first heard it. This can also give insight to the fact that this is a very common proverb in the Mexican vocabulary. Regardless, I find this proverb impressive due to its ties to Mexican ancestors.

La Llorona

“pues la llorona es una senora que se volvio loca despues de que su marido se fue a la Guerra. El fue soldado en la independencia de Mexico, entonces creo que se murio el senor en la batalla y como nunca regreso, la senora se termino de volver loca. La senora al ver que su esposo no iba a regresar, decidio matar a sus hijos porque pues ya no los podia mantener. Ella los llebo al rio y los ahogo. Ahora, la senora pasa por todo el rancho buscando a sus hijos que perdio. Si uno escucha a la llorona se tiene que esconder, especialmente si es un nino porque lo puede matar o llebarselo con ella… esta historia no la contaba mi mama. Nos contaba esa historia especialmente cuando hibamos al baile de noche, y aveses si se escuchaba que alguien lloraba y lloraba asi que lo que asiamos nosotros era que le ciramos para la casa.”

“Well la llorona is a woman who went crazy after her husband left to the war. He was a soldier in the Mexican independence so I think that he died in that battle and since he never returned back home, the woman went completely crazy. The woman once he saw that her husband would not be returning took her children to the river and drowned them. So now the lady haunts the village looking for her dead children. If one hears la llorona, one has to hide, especially if one is a kid because she can either kill you or take you with her… my mother used to tell us that story all the time. She would especially tell us that story when we would go out to dances at night and sometimes we would actually hear someone crying so what we would do is to hurry back home.”

The informant is an 85 year old male who has lived all his life in Mexico. He has been brought up on tales of the land. He never attended school, so all his knowledge has been passed down by his parents and other family members in his life. Since he has no other knowledge, he doesn’t really question the information, but rather takes it as the only truth. He has also never left his hometown village so the only information he knows is the information that pertains his village in particular.

This was interesting because the way the informant told this story was as if he knew that this story was 100 percent true. There was no doubt in his voice that this could somehow be a made up story, so one can infer from this that for older people, whatever stories were passed down, have made their way into a part of their daily life reality. Also, the fact that this individual had no other education also makes me think that it can serve as the reason as to why he did not question this story’s reality one bit; it’s all he knows that is to be true. However, when checking with other people, I have found that there are many more variations of la llorona, so technically, my informant can be wrong with his story, but regardless, it is one that he is very fond of. To look at aother variation of this legend, you can refer to: http://www.literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/llorona.html

King Cake

“We in Louisiana have a big celebration right before lent which we call Mardi Gras. A big part of the celebration is to eat king cake. The king cake is in the shape of a crown and it has a little plastic baby which essentially represents baby Jesus. The cool thing about it is that back in school, if you got the baby Jesus, you were celebrity for the day. In lunch everyone would hover around you. Back at home though, who ever got the baby Jesus, was in charge of bringing the next king cake, but it also mean that they would gain good luck… I don’t really know how this originated I just remember that we celebrated this all the time back at home. Everyone in the city celebrated this, in schools, at home, and even on the streets. I just know that I grew up with this tradition and that’s why I had king cake when Mardi Gras was happening back at home. I guess I’ve just grown accustomed to it.”

My informant was born and raised in Louisiana, New Orleans. She recently moved to Los Angeles, California to attend USC. Therefore, since tis move was fairly recent, she still shows signs of high attachment to her former place of birth. Most of the traditions she is accustomed to have not necessarily been directly taught, but more so been a part of her daily life that she considers them as something normal in an everyday situation. Furthermore, she does not really know about the exact root of the traditions she’s been brought up onto, all she knows is that they are there, they have been there for quite some time now and they will continue to be practiced.

I found this tradition quite interesting especially when analyzing it with my own recollections. This is because my culture also practices this tradition but during different times. In other words, the same king cake used in Louisiana, is also used in Mexico, except it’s called a rosca; in Louisiana, this is celebrated right before lent and in Mexico, this is celebrated in the first week of January. The concept is all the same; there are a couple of plastic babies put into the bread which represent baby Jesus, and in both traditions, whoever gets the piece of bread with the baby Jesus is in charge of bringing then next bread to the gathering. Also, in both traditions, the person who gets the baby Jesus is then said to gain good luck. This similarity is interesting because it serves to explain how there is multiplicity for certain traditions who one may think are very original to one specific location when in actuality, many cultures practice the same thing but perhaps at different times as was in this case. Overall, knowing this can bring people of different backgrounds together. Personally speaking I now feel like I have more in common with my informant than I did before.

San Martin Caballero

“San Martin Caballero es un Santo que se usa mucho para los que tienen un negocio. Se tiene que tener simepre una imagen de San Martin Caballero para que le de a uno buena suerte en los negosios. Tambien se usa mucho para alejar las envidias y que le hagan a uno alguna brujeria. San Martin Caballero tiene una frase que dice ‘lo que siembras, cosecharas’ que va perfectamente con un negosio propio porque es como aseguransa de que todo el esfuerso que hemos hecho nos traira Buena fortuna… yo tengo esta imagen en mi restaurant porque me dijeron que es Buena suerte y pues todo lo que traiga Buena suerte es bienvenido. Que alcabos, si un bien no me hace, un mal tampoco.”

“San Martin Caballero is a saint that is highly used among those who have a business. One has to always have an image of San Martin Caballero to bring good luck in the business. It is also used to get rid of jealousy and to prevent one from getting any kind of witchcraft. San Martin Caballero has a phrase that says ‘whatever you sow, you shall cultivate’ which goes perfectly with one’s personal business because it serves as insurance that all the efforts that we have made will bring us good fortune… I have this image in my restaurant because I was told that it was a good luck charm and well anything that can bring good luck is welcome. Either way, if it doesn’t do me any good, it can’t harm me either.”

This informant is a 41 year old male who has lived most of his life in the USA. He was born in Mexico and migrated to the US when he was 13. He however has no real educational experience because he never attended school. Most of his knowledge is passed down from his peers. He is now a successful business owner with 3 kids and a wife. His new concerns are teaching his children the cultural customs he grew up with so that they don’t lose touch with their Mexican heritage.

In my opinion, this story of having identities out there helping one in their daily life seems very interesting. The fact that one can rely on another invisible identity to help take some stress out of the ordinary life is incredible which is probably why people use saints as a way to ease some of the concerns they may have. In my opinion, everyone should start having identities they can relive some of their stress onto. Furthermore, something else I find interesting is that this informant was not able to tell me where exactly this belief in the saint came about so I can only infer that this was the case because it is fairly common for people to confide in this saint. Therefore, no one knows exactly where the belief in this saint in particular for businesses came about. Regardless, this story of the Saint is incredible even if one is not a believer.

The Blessing

“Darle a alguien la bendicion se usa con todo mundo. Es algo que se usa para despedirse de con alguien y ala ves desearles que todo les salga bien. Pues en si es como pidiendole a dios que llegen bien a cualquier lugar que esa persona tenga que ir… me recuerdo que esta bendicion no la daba mi mama mucho a mi y a todos mis hermanos. Pero mi mama no era la unica, todas las senoras en el rancho tambien les daban la bendicion a todo mundol. No es necesario que una mama le de la bendicion a un hijo, tambien se le puede dar la bendicion a cualquier persona.”

“Giving someone the blessing is used among everyone. It is something that is used to say goodbye to someone and at the same time hope everything goes well. In a way, it is as if one were begging God to let that person get to wherever they have to go and arrive there safely… I remember that my mother used to give her blessing to me and my other brothers often. But my mom was not the only one doing it. Every other woman in the ranch was out giving her children the blessing as well. It is not necessary for a mother to be the one who gives her children the blessing, anyone can give anyone else the blessing.”

I found this story to be interesting because I got the feeling that giving someone a blessing is something that has become like a normal thing in the informant’s society. In other words, giving someone the blessing is a way to interact with one another. It is also a form to hope that the person receiving the blessing stay well so I can only infer that blessings are only given to specific people for whom one cares for. Ultimately this is a really nice way to keep in touch with people because it lets one another know how fond that person is for the other.

USC Digital Folklore Archives

A database of folklore performances