Author Archives: Isabelle Perez

Mexican Curses and Eggs

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The interlocutor (JG) has many relatives living in Mexico and is a first-generation Mexican American themself. The following describes one example of Mexican superstitions regarding witchcraft and curses, along with the use of eggs in magic.

DESCRIPTION: (told over the phone)
(JG):”One more–I’m so sorry! Okay, so I think like, 10 years ago? My uncles, they work in like, construction stuff, they were remodeling my grandma’s house and cleaning up her basement, uh… and as they were looking around, they found another little charm! But this one was directed at my grandfather, and it had a little coin which is a sign for a money curse. Someone cursed my grandfather, basically. And that curse, we believe, went down to my dad as well. I’m not sure if to my aunt. But-But my dad…something about male inheritance? I don’t know. So someone cursed my grandfather. Somehow that charm got into my grandma’s backyard, which is weird.

But basically, it was while we were living here [their current home], it was a few months ago. It was after we discovered…because all of this stuff, we were talking about a few months ago, like specifically my dad being cursed…I forgot… Oh! It was because my grandfather passed away. So we started talking about things relating to him and somehow the curse came up.

We realized there was a possibility that my dad could also be cursed. My dad, no, my mom did this thing with an egg. So eggs are like, symbolic of purity, I don’t know. Eggs can see the bad stuff. Eggs can tell the energy. So like, when I was younger I used to have a lot of nightmares, so my grandma blessed me with an egg and it cured my nightmares, that type of stuff. So my mom did this thing with an egg to my dad, just to see if he was cursed, to see if there was bad energy surrounding him because of what happened. So she did that.

She meant to put the egg under the bed and he was supposed to sleep over it and in the morning she’d crack the egg and the color of the yolk would say something. So in the morning, she cracked the egg and the yolk came out black. Like, blackish-reddish. Like the egg was completely dark. So that was added evidence for why my family thinks my dad is cursed.”

FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
I definitely think that this specific curse falls under the category of homeopathic magic since the coin is representative of a money curse. I find it interesting how people turn to magic to gain some sense of power over others, putting their faith in something bad happening to their target even if the effect they want never comes. It’s difficult to wrap my head around feeling so powerless and desperate that one would need to turn to wish pain and misfortune onto others to feel better about their own circumstances.

I also liked JG’s explanation of the egg! It reminded me a lot of one of the discussions we had during the lecture, in which we talked about the meaning of eggs in many different cultural practices. In this case, JG’s explanation of the egg’s ability to detect dark energy fit perfectly under what we had discussed in class since eggs mean purity and life (among other things) across many different traditions.

Mango Sticky Rice

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 45
Occupation: Government Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 2021
Primary Language: Tagalog
Language: English, Ilonggo

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The interlocutor (JP) is animmigrant from the Philippines. She lived there for over 20 years before moving to Los Angeles, California. The following is a recipe she learned from her Thai roommate when they were in University in the Philippines.

DESCRIPTION: (told in person)
(JP): “My roommate taught me this recipe in college. We eat this in the Philippines, but she told me that it comes from Thailand. It’s pretty easy to make but I don’t like doing it because I don’t like to do the work.” (she laughs)

“So first, you have to make sticky rice. You wash and soak sweet rice and let it sit for a long time, like overnight. When it’s done soaking, you drain the water so you can steam it. When you steam the rice, it should be covered with a thin cloth, like a kitchen towel or muslin cloth, and steam until the rice is tender.

While the rice cooks, you have to boil coconut milk with some sugar and salt. When it’s done, you should mix the rice and the coconut milk together and let it stand until it becomes absorbed. At the same time, you should have some leftover coconut milk-sugar mix so that you can pour it over the rice and mango when it’s all done. Put it in a little bowl to pour over the food.

So then, you mold the rice on the plate and then cut mango and put it on the plate. I think Filipino mango or Thai mango are the best since they’re soft and very sweet. Then you drizzle the mix over the mango and the rice and enjoy!”

FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
Mango sticky rice is amazing! It’s one of my favorite sweet desserts to enjoy, but since mangoes are a summer fruit, mangoes are usually the sweetest during that season, which is when the dessert tastes the best. Mango is an extremely common fruit in Southeast and South Asia since the climate is warmer and much more tropical. Delicious!

Horchata

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 56
Occupation: Construction Field Manager
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 2021
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The interlocutor (MP) grew up in Oaxaca, Mexico before immigrating to the US in his early twenties. I collected this recipe from him as he was making it.

DESCRIPTION: (told in person)
(MP): “You have to put a cup of white rice with some cinnamon sticks. I put two in there. You gotta let that sit overnight. When it’s time to make it, you put half in a blender and puree until it smoothens and becomes pasty.

Pour into a pitcher, but you gotta use a fine strainer to take out the liquid part and then repeat for the rest of the mix.

So you do this next part in the same pitcher as the mixture. Put in a can of evaporated milk and a can of condensed milk for the base and add a little bit of sugar for sweetness. I also use vanilla. Then you put in some water. Like 4 cups.

I like to put chunks of melon, pecans, and grapes in it too. very delicious.”

FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
Horchata is a very popular and refreshing Mexican drink! I’ve been drinking this since I was a kid, and in my opinion, it’s best to drink it paired with something spicy. I appreciate this recipe a lot since MP learned this from his grandmother and makes it on occasion for the family. Yum!

Dalgona Coffee

Nationality: Filipino American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pennsylvania
Performance Date: April 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The interlocutor (EF) was living at home with her parents for the first part of COVID lockdowns. During the first few months, she took part in a popular TikTok trend of making “Dalgona Coffee,” a drink that originates from South Korea.

DESCRIPTION: (told over the phone)
(EF): “Okay, so at the start of quarantine, there was this TikTok trend, yeah? It was like… the dalgona coffee challenge, where basically, you would try and make this coffee. And everyone was doing it! It was like this huge thing on TikTok where everyone was making little aesthetic videos of them making whipped coffee and so I had to do it. So I made it once and I swear I made it again and again during quarantine until I realized, why the fuck am I spending so much time whipping coffee? So then I stopped.

Anyway, it’s two tablespoons of instant coffee, two tablespoons of like, granulated sugar, and two tablespoons of hot water. You, like, mix it together with a whisk and you mix, mix, mix until it turns into, like, a nice light brown and it’s like fluffy, like whipped cream. Then you spoon that stuff on top of a glass of cold milk and drink!

It’s kinda like a latte, I guess? I don’t know. It’s a lot of work, whipping the coffee.”

FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
Around this time last year, I distinctly remember calling EF, along with other friends, over FaceTime or Zoom and seeing her drink this beverage. I also recall seeing this trend all over my own TikTok feed as well. It’s fascinating when you take a step back and consider how this South Korean coffee trend kind of blew up thanks to the widespread and global reach of the internet. I feel like Dalgona coffee is something so simple and easy to make, which only contributed to its popularity and mass consumption by people online. I think people also wanted to regains some semblance of socializing in a coffee shop setting, and by making Dalgona coffee, it was like recreating that kind of pre-COVID social environment.

Manananggal

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 45
Occupation: Government Employee
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 2021
Primary Language: Tagalog
Language: English, Ilonggo

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The interlocutor (JP) is the mother of the interviewer (INT). She and her family grew up in Bacolod, Philippines, and lived there up until she moved to Los Angeles in her twenties.

DESCRIPTION: (told in person)
(JP): “The manananggal is this mythical creature that separates from their lower body. She usually has fangs and wings, like um… a vampire witch, and she likes to hunt for her victims at night.

Most of her victims are pregnant people since she can such the blood or heart out of the fetuses, or, um…. or even the mother, but she also will attack newlyweds and abandoned grooms. A lot of people who fear the manananggal will put out salt, holy water, or garlic to keep her away from their home. She also doesn’t like the sun, I think.

Some people say that since the manananggal leaves her severed legs just standing in the middle of the forest… if you see the legs, you should sprinkle salt or ashes or even put garlic where the body is supposed to meet. And they say that…if you do that, you will kill her.”

FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
There’s a lot of similarities between the manananggal and other monsters and legendary figures we’ve studied, such as the Balkan vampire. While there may not be a distinct cultural connection, it’s definitely interesting how different cultures can come up with similar mythical creatures that are meant to scare people. It definitely reflects the cultural fears people have. In this case, based on the fact that the manananggal is represented as a woman with the ability to suck blood or eat fetus hearts, I believe the manananggal could possibly reflect a fear of miscarriages or other issues regarding childbirth, as well as divorce or young relationships being ruined.