Tag Archives: Family Legend

Spanish Ancestry and Family Heritage (Family Legend)

From My Informant:
 “A family story that has been passed down is the arrival of our Spanish ancestors to Mexico, many of whom were captains or individuals looking for a place to build a better future during the 1600s and 1700s.”

Context:
My informant first became deeply interested(not to say that they weren’t already) in their family history about two years ago, prompting discussions with multiple relatives including their grandmother, parents, aunts, and uncles. These conversations typically took place during family gatherings, celebrations, or holidays—occasions where stories naturally emerged. My informant described the storytelling experience as mixed; while some family members enthusiastically shared memories with vivid hand gestures and smiles, others were notably reluctant, withholding details and even disputing certain aspects of the family narrative.

The lack of visual documentation, such as photographs, due to limited access to early cameras, meant that the oral storytelling tradition became especially significant within my informant’s family. This storytelling environment revealed family tensions and differing attitudes towards their Spanish heritage, often highlighting discomfort with aspects of colonization and historical relations between Spain and Mexico.

Analysis:
My informant’s story underscores the complex interplay between personal identity, cultural heritage, and historical memory. The reluctance of some family members to share certain aspects of their past reflects broader cultural and historical anxieties about colonization and identity in the Hispanic world, particularly between Spain and Mexico. This family legend serves as both a repository of familial pride and an uncomfortable reminder of historical tensions associated with colonization.

Family narratives, such as the one with my informant, are vital in preserving cultural identity and transmitting intergenerational memory. They provide individuals with a sense of belonging, shaping their understanding of their heritage and personal identity. My informant’s effort to uncover this history indicates a desire for deeper personal connection and cultural awareness, despite potential familial resistance or discomfort.

Although my informant did not feel completely comfortable with sharing their family’s “baggage” with the outside world, they ultimately wanted their narrative to highlight the importance of preserving familial stories, regardless of their complexity or discomfort, as a means of fostering cultural pride and a deeper understanding of personal identity. This storytelling practice serves as a vital link, connecting past generations to future ones, enabling individuals to grasp their cultural and historical roots more fully.

Sunday School Miracle

Context: “Growing up, my Dad had left the Catholic faith and my Mom was a non-practicing former buddhist. Me and my sister did not grow up religious. When we were 7 (first grade) and my sister was 2, our neighbor was a baptist and the wife would take us to Sunday school. My mom didn’t know how to dress us and would always send me in pants. One day they prayed for God to help Mom buy me a dress and then later that week, her mother took her to buy a dress. Therefore, she and her sister started believing in God in some capacity.”

Analysis:  The story is a personal story of my informant’s childhood. As the progenitor of the legend, she swears that it happened. Since she was raised completely secularly, this moment functioned as a sort of religious conversion in her life. While she is not devout or following any particular Christian orthodoxy, she still believes that some higher power exists to balance the scales of fate and reward goodness. While not quite Augustine’s Confessions, it still represents a moment that challenged and changed her secular perspective. It does share many similarities with other conversion stories, having a protagonist whose choice of faith is met with divine grace. Even to this day, the informant has a strange devotion to the idea of a higher power and good karma, which may be a vestige of her mother’s Buddhist past. 

Truthfully, I doubt that her prayers were truly answered. In actuality, it is likely that somebody just told her mother to buy her a dress for Sunday school after that ordeal. In hindsight, she likely believes this narrative too, considering even she said that she only believes in God “in some capacity.” However, the veracity of the story doesn’t matter. What really matters is that this event has helped shape my informant’s worldview since it happened. In her life, she views a “higher power” as a sort of hand on the scales of fate, helping push her life in certain directions. While she often facetiously thanks “good karma” for her fortunes, this mentality goes beyond mere jokes. This mentality has helped her cultivate a strong sense of responsibility and fairness that has turned her into a highly motivated and successful person. To her, the simple idea that God could have perhaps helped her fit in at Sunday school was enough to convince her that she had His backing to chase down her dreams. 

Story of My Father’s Escape from Communist China

Context: “My grandfather and Nai-Nai were in Chiang Kai-shek’s army when the Communists won. [Their escape from the country] was like the Underground Railroad: they could only move between safehouses at night. My dad [at the time] was only 1 year old and had to be quiet so he didn’t jeopardize their lives. One day, [the family] heard that the Communists had found their safehouse and were on their way. They had to just grab whatever they could find and run, but Nai-Nai couldn’t find [my father] and they just left. 3 long days later they met up at a new safehouse where they learned that one of the grandfather’s friends had grabbed and taken care of my father in the scuffle. He is now called “Uncle” because he saved my dad’s life.”

Analysis: This legend is a textbook example of a family legend. Despite there being no concrete proof of it happening, the story is treated as truth by the informant and her family and has been passed down for multiple generations. While the main claim of the story, that being the losing of the informant’s father for 3 whole days, may or may not be true, the story has persisted in the informant’s family because it represents the chaos and pain of the escape from China to Taiwan. The Chinese Civil War’s conclusion in 1949 was an upending of the social order. Following their victory, the CCP ruthlessly hunted down any remnants of the old China, both landowners and soldiers alike. In this mad dash to escape certain death, the informant’s family was thrust into a period of chaos and danger where all they had was each other and the clothes on their backs. While they were able to safely escape into Taiwan, they remember both their struggles and the strength of their community through this story. While the disappearance of the informant’s father in the chaos was a serious crisis, it was resolved by the strength of their family and solidarity.

Devil’s Foot 

Age: 20

Folk Narrative: Legend 

Text: Devil’s foot 

“My mom told me that her grandpa would go to the clubs very late at night and early in the morning, which would worry his mother-in-law because he would be drunk and careless. On one particular night, he came back home very late and drunk, and when he was about to pass out, he saw a woman in the corner of his room dancing alone. He figured he couldn’t leave her dancing alone, so he got up to dance with her. After a while, he saw that one of her legs was a hoof and appeared to be the Devil’s foot. After this, he ran to his mother and told her he was sorry and would never go clubbing again and became sober after that”. 

Context: My informant first heard this story from her mother, who told it to her various times. The story runs in the family, and everyone believes it true. She also mentioned that on her father’s side of the family, there is a similar story with her uncle, who also saw the Devil after drinking. When I asked my informant how she interprets this story, she said she sees it as a warning or a way to tell kids not to become avid drinkers or act out. She grew up in a Catholic Mexican family with a strong traditional belief system. She thinks this story is a way that her older family members instill fear from a young age, so it will encourage obedience and prevent the kids from worrying their parents, as these other male family members worried their mothers. My informant mentioned that she believes if a person is out there causing worry and harm to their own family, then it is only a matter of time until they see little death or the Devil in front of them. 

Analysis: This folk narrative holds specific characteristics of a legend, such as being believed to be true in this world and having happened to someone in the family. The appearance of a woman with a Devil’s hoof is supernatural, but still presented as an actual warning event rather than a symbolic myth.  Legends often convey the values or anxieties of a culture. In this case, the story warns against excessive drinking, nightlife, disobedience to family values, and reckless behavior, using the Devil as a cautionary figure. He acts as a supernatural enforcer of morality, punishing those who stray too far from accepted behavior. The moral outcome of the story—the man sobering up and repenting—demonstrates how the legend operates as a behavioral warning, particularly for younger generations. This legend may be part of a tradition in Latinx and Catholic communities where the Devil often appears as a figure of temptation and punishment, reflecting religious influences on folk beliefs. The horror of seeing a Devil-woman after a night of recklessness becomes a powerful deterrent, using fear to teach moral lessons and protect family unity. This legend is familial or local and reflects the family values of that particular group. Perhaps these qualities are not a cause for concern for other families and cultures. The repetition of similar stories across both the mother’s and father’s sides of the family shows how this legend functions communally, passed down as a cautionary tale to enforce norms of obedience, sobriety, and familial responsibility. In this case, their upbringing and beliefs influence what they choose to warn against through their legends.

Worker Chosen by Babe Ruth

Nationality: American

Occupation: Corporate Event Planner

Residence: New York, NY

Language: English

Text:

When Babe Ruth showed up for work, he didn’t look or act like a professional athlete. He ate way too much, drank way too much, and would often wake up with a different woman in his bed. When he was playing he was often hung over, which made it harder for him to deal with all of the attention he was getting as a superstar baseball player. Back in that day in the late 1920s, a bunch of kids would line up outside the stadium in hopes of being the bat boy, and the players would pick one and they’d get paid a nickel for the game. [My aunt’s] great-uncle lived in the Bronx, and after a few weeks of showing up at the stadium he finally got chosen to be the bat boy. He was always very quiet, which Babe Ruth loved; all the other bat boys would constantly try to talk to him which he found annoying. With him as bat boy, the Yankees went on a winning streak and went on to win the World Series. Because of his quiet nature, Babe Ruth gave [my aunt’s] grand-uncle the nickname “Silent Pete”, which stuck for the rest of his life. Eventually Pete became the full time equipment manager for the Yankees, and was with the team for 20 World Series titles.

Context:

The truth of this story is very difficult to measure. The nickname of Pete was given to him by the Yankees (although it is unclear if it was Babe Ruth himself), and he went by Pete his entire life instead of his real name of Michael. There is some proof that he was paid five cents per game to be the bat boy, and the reports of Babe Ruth showing up hungover were likely true. However, the part of the story where kids lined up outside the ballpark and the players personally would pick a bat boy is probably false; he held the bat boy job for almost a decade, which would not make sense if they were picked fresh each day, and it is unlikely that the incredibly famous players would choose the bat boy themselves. My aunt claims to have told me this story exactly as she heard it from her father, who claims he tells it exactly as he heard it from Pete Sheehy, but it is likely that they both enhanced elements of the story.

Analysis:

There are two main elements to this story in my opinion. The first is a simple, classic American rags-to-riches story, where Pete Sheehy was a poor young boy living in the Bronx during the great depression, and through hard work and a positive spirit he worked his way up the ranks of the Yankees organization and ended up as their equipment manager. This is very similar to the common stories of someone starting in the mailroom and working their way up to being the CEO of the company. The other main element to this story relates directly to my family. My family were at the time recent immigrants to America, and faced many of the hardships that recent immigrants face. This story was used to tie my family to Babe Ruth, an American legend, which was a way within my family of solidifying status as being “real Americans” when many other people would have discriminated against them as recent immigrants.