Author Archives: chumakov

Grandmother’s blessing

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 30
Occupation: Secretary
Residence: San Diego, California, USA
Performance Date: April 9, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“My grandmother says either of these two things each time a visitor, family member, or friend leaves her house- “Dios que nos ayude” Or “Dios te lleve por buen camino” She says these as a blessing, and it translates to “may God help us” or “may God take you on the right path”. When I was young I didn’t really understand why she had to say that final send off to every single person who came over, but now as an adult I do.”

 

Background: told by 30 year old Mexican immigrant to the United States, who moved here when she was a girl with her family.

Context: The dominant religion in Mexico is Catholicism, and it filters into many aspects of daily life.

Analysis: This is a form of folk speech, a brief prayer and invocation that has become casual enough to be used simply whenever anyone leaves the house. It implies that the house is a safe haven, and every time you leave you are entering a world of the unknown and danger. Taking someone on the right path signifies that there is a correct moral path to take, and it is easy to get lost both physically and morally in the outside world. That a woman said this might signify that she was a housewife or someone who spent a lot of time out there: it is probable that she would worry every time someone she loved left the house into the unknown. Mexican culture often sticks to traditional conceptions of family life, where the woman stays at home and the man works outside. This saying might not be as popular in its usage only when people leave the house in a more urban and egalitarian work community.

 

Mother’s Holiday

Nationality: Russia
Age: 54
Occupation: botanist
Residence: Moscow, Russia
Performance Date: April 17, 2016
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

Mother’s Birthday Celebration

“My mother passed away of old age four years ago. In her life she accomplished many things, and touched many people. She had a huge family, ten grandchildren, and, being the matriarch of the family, left a big hole when she passed away. To commemorate her life, I decided to hold her birthday celebration as usual the year after she died. We had always celebrated hers in style, with up to a hundred guests, all on the veranda of our dacha (summerhouse) on the outskirts of Moscow. There was always a lot of food- Russian traditional dishes- people recited poetry in her honor, and we put on charades. She helped many invalids as a philanthropist in her life, and at least five came every single year from wherever they lived, some traveling over two hundred kilometers. Her peers from life dwindled every year, but the number of those attending always managed to stay the same. The year after she died, I decided to keep on the tradition. I invited all the guests, only this time we were celebrating her memory without her. The first time, there were more people than had ever been. Yet the celebration stayed the same- we ate the same food, sang the same songs, people recited poetry in her honor, shared memories of her, and in the end we played charades. It felt like she was still with us. Since then, for the past four years, we have had the same birthday celebration in her honor without her present, and the numbers have so far not dwindled at all. All her close family, friends, and those she helped in her eighty four years of life try their best to come and remember her by celebrating.”

 

Background: This is performed by a 54 year old Russian Woman, in Moscow, Russia, and her family and the friends of her mother.

Analysis: This is a version of a holiday in the name of a person: the only difference, here this person was not famous or a political leader, but was simply very influential in her community. This is not uncommon in Russia, as communities are often very close together, and people value their ties very much. Birthday celebrations in general, at least for older people, are rather formal occasions: many guests might be invited, there will be presents and singing and games. Ekatherina’s mother was from the intelligentsia class, as well, which often has ties to the upper class at least in the ways in which it acts and celebrates. This holiday is also an excuse for a big group of people to get together and reminisce about a common group they used to belong to, and perhaps still do. It is also an excuse for the older generation, in their seventies and eighties, to get together and impart stories and recollections of the past.

Cura-Lo-Todo tincture

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 30
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 26 April 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Araceli Del Rio

 

“I’ve got a bottle of cura-lo-todo my family keeps under our cabinets. Which means cure-all, or “cures everything”. My parents used to soak cotton swabs in it and stick it in our ears when we used to have earaches. So it’s pure cane rubbing alcohol, the Mexican kind, and alcamfor, rue, and marijuana. It’s a liquid- you can soak it in something and then leave that on an area that’s in pain, like a tincture. It helps with arthritis. And alcanfor is a derivative of the camphor laurel.”

 

Origins: Mexico

Context: This is a folk remedy that is used in the family to treat a variety of illnesses and pains.

Analysis: Family remedies, and folk remedies, have been used long before and long after formal science-based medicine came about. This is a tincture that uses fairly typical ingredients that are used for folk healing- rubbing alcohol and marijuana, and also rue and alcamfor for their spiritual associations and scent. The use of marijuana in the household by a family is interesting, and departs from the traditional association of it as an illegal, recreational drug. Here, Araceli’s family truly believes that it is a strong healing agent to be used for arthritis and other aches.

La Mujer Perdida

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 27
Occupation: Banking Associate
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 24, 2016
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Jesus Cazares

 

La mujer perdida.  The lost woman

 

“My dad is a trucker and he’s been a trucker since  he lived in Mexico. A story he told me had to do with the road. Story goes that drivers are driving down the freeway, usually late at night. When they see a beautiful woman that needs a ride. Of course they oblige and give her a ride to her house. The thing is that the beautiful woman has been dead for years.  Her ghost is the one trying to get home. This was discovered by a trucker who went back to the woman’s house to try and see her again. Her parents broke down and let him know the truth that the daughter had been dead for years, even showing them a picture from before.”

 

“There’s actually a Spanish song about this story. It’s a myth told amongst drivers (I’ve only heard it from Hispanic drivers,) It’s a warning for you not to pick up any hitch hikers. Some versions vary and say that the woman makes you crash.”

 

Analysis: Another Urban Legend, this is a cautionary tale, yet also occupation-related, as it is mainly told among truck drivers. They have a lifestyle that puts them on the road for long stretches of time, and it is a rather male-dominated job. The fact that this ‘monster’ is a woman might be a reflection of the scarcity of women in their workplace, and perhaps the mistrust that comes along with coming across an ‘outsider’ to your perceived identity group. That hitch hikers can be dangerous is an obvious lesson to be imparted, and the fact that she is a woman might be a caution that even less threatening hitchhikers can prove to be a danger. As it is a rather lonely job, out on the open road, it is more likely that they will believe stories of ghosts and supernatural events than people embroiled in city life.

La Llorona

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 27
Occupation: Banking Associate
Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Performance Date: April 24, 2016
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Jesus Cazares

 

LA LLORONA (the wailing woman)

 

“La Llorona is one of the most recognizable Mexican folklore stories. It was told to us from the time we were young. La Llorona was initially a woman that was very happily married to her husband. Once they had kids the husband would no longer pay attention to her, and eventually left her for a younger woman. This enraged her and led her to kill her kids in that same blind rage. Once she realized what had happened it was too late. Her kids had been drowned and killed. Story tells that she now searches the streets, especially near rivers for her kids. Sometimes mistaking other people’s kids for her own, so she takes them. She’s called “La Llorona” because her infamous call is “mis hijoooos” which translates to “my children!” She is always crying and searching for her children, and she is a pretty sad, yet scary character.”

 

“This was more of a campfire story or something you would tell in a sleepover. It’s a pretty famous story so you’d be challenged to tell it to someone of Mexican descent who doesn’t already know it. Versions switch up on the reason he left her but the constant part is that she killed her children and now searches endlessly for them.”

 

Origin: This is primarily a Mexican legend, but is so well known that people from other Latin American countries and origins know it as well.

 

Analysis: This is an urban legend, and a very well known one at that. It demonstrates one of the most taboo concepts in society, of a mother killing her children. The fact that it is the mother who kills them is all the more tragic, because she is the one who is supposed to take care of them and traditionally has a stronger bond with them, rather than the father. Family and blood is central to any society, but perhaps especially in Mexico, which is rather tradition-oriented. This legend presents as a monster one of the most feared things in Mexican culture, judging by its popularity: infanticide and the breaking of family ties.