AGE

21

Date_of_performance

2/23/25

Language

English

Nationality

American

Occupation

Student

Primary Language

Spanish

Residence

San Martin, CA

Folk Speech: sana sana, colita de rana si no sanas hoy, sanaras manana

Translation: heal, heal, little frog’s tail. If you don’t feel better today, you’ll feel better tomorrow

Context + Text: The individual is my roommate in college for the past 4 years. The informant is from Mexican descent and when he was a little boy, his grandma would say this to him whenever he was sick. He never really understood what it meant, but it had been said to him since he could remember, and he believes that it actually healed him. “When I finally got old enough to understand what was being said, I got a little confused and asked my grandma why this was a cultural saying”, he explains. “She told me it was a little bit of nonsense, but it was a little silly rhyme that kids could learn.” When I asked him how he feels about it today, he said it was his favorite thing to say whenever he was sick, and he would beg his mom to buy little frog plush toys whenever they were at the store. “I built a collection of 12 little frogs, and every time I got sick, I used to sleep with them hoping their tails would heal me.” I then asked him if he still had them, and he said “Of course, I still get sick today and my kids one day will need them!”

Analysis: This little folk saying stems from Latin American culture, and it turned into a belief for little children that a frog’s tail truly had healing powers. The short version of the saying it simply “heal, heal, little frog’s tail”, calling for the child to heal from the powers of the little frog. The longer version provides a better explanation, that if you are not healed by tonight, tomorrow will heal you. It falls along with parental advice that if you sleep while sick, you will always feel better when you wake up. The short version is what many of the kids learned as it was just easier to remember, and in the original Spanish version it rhymes. We have seen that rhymes are easier to remember, especially for children.