Tag Archives: Folk Belief

Sana Sana the Silly Healing Saying

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 44
Occupation: unemployed
Residence: Franklin Park IL
Performance Date: 3.16.20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish


Background: Below is an account of this informant’s memory of a silly spanish saying that was meant to make you feel better. The informant is a mother in her 40s of Mexican Descent. She reflects on the how healing ritual below shaped both aspects of her childhood and parenting. Under the informant’s experience I have clarified the literal translation of this version of the saying according to google translate. 

The main piece: 

“Sana Sana Colita de rana, si no se Sana hoy, se aliviara mañana” 

It means like when you hurt yourself.” Sana Sana” means heal heal, so it’s like you know we would say ‘there there’ if you were rubbing a boo boo. “Sana Sana” is like heal heal.  Colita de rana means— literal translation — a frog’s…tail…butt? Ha! A frogs rump. It’s something about butts I think. “If you don’t get better today, you’ll get better tomorrow.”  So someone would hit their elbow or arm, so you’d be like come here and rub it saying “Sana Sana…” Only my mom did that to me and… it felt better. And it would make me giggle. So I think maybe that’s why too: The touch and then it like makes you laugh, to think of a frog’s butt. It’s something I did with my kids too, out of habit I think. Not because I was trying to pass it on— it just felt like the right thing to do in the moment.

Literal Translation (google): heals heals Frogtail, if he does not heal today he will heal tomorrow

Context: This conversation arose from a video call where we were comfortable chatting with the informant’s mother for some time  talking about her childhood. With the nostalgic memories in mind, I asked the informant to share what Sana Sana means, and what it meant in terms of her childhood. 

Analysis: This another saying I vaguely remember from my childhood. The interesting part of this particular experience is how transformative a silly saying has been in the informant’s life. Not in the sense that her life changed because of it, but in the sense that it changed with her life. The transition between Sana recipient and Sana healer, seemed almost nature to the informant. So natural, that she didn’t even seem to notice why she began performing it with her children, it just happened. This for me shows how some of these simple sayings/ beliefs can be so casually ingrained in our identity. 

Safety Pin Protection for Pregnant Woman During an Eclipse.

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 73
Occupation: retired
Residence: Chicago
Performance Date: 4-10-20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: Below is an account from my informant on an old hispanic belief/ myth on pregnancy. My informant is a Senior Citizen who was originally born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States as a young adult. Spanish is her first language, but she ultimately uses a combination of both Spanish and English to explain this belief. My informant was taught this superstition by her grandmother and always wore a giant safety pin near to her stomach during all five of her pregnancies. 

Main Piece:

When there’s an eclipse if you’re expecting if you’re pregnant you’re supposed to put a safety pin on your shirt on your blouse. You put it near to your tummy to protect the baby from the eclipse. I believe that’s why, I don’t know,  but I believe that’s why uh, uh  some people  that come with something deformed in the body because the people don’t believe in that. The people don’t believe to carry something all the time to carry something metal like near to the tummy. The metal protects from whatever power that comes from… the same way los rayos, uh the same way the metal works to send back the power of the eclipse from the sun and the moon. The moon is more dangerous because some people don’t notice. That’s why it’s good to carry all the time the safety pin to protect you. To protect the baby. 

Context: This conversation took place during the day over a FaceTime call. This was my first interview with this particular informant and I could tell that she was nervous about speaking ‘formally’ about her beliefs. As the conversation went on she became less shy, and even started speaking in more of a combination of Spanish and English in order to explain her point.

My thoughts: I had never heard of this superstition before. At first, I didn’t quite understand that a safety pin is reflective enough for eclipse rays to bounce off of, but then I realized that like most superstitions, people don’t actually believe in them for science. This conversation made it clear to me how much we as humans value information from role models we trust. My informant was given this advice by her Grandmother, and did not once question her. Of course, my informant also shared that this became a familial and community belief, so she was not the only one partaking. After questioning my own family, I learned that my mother did this while she was pregnant with me, and that reason alone is enough to make me tack a pin on when I’m pregnant with my children. Maybe, because it’ll connect me to my mom. Maybe, because it offers guidance during an uncertain time. 

Vaporub to Calm a Cold

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Franklin Park, IL
Performance Date: 4.2.20
Primary Language: English


The main Piece: 

The following is transcribed from an interview about the informant’s use of Vaporub to cure cold symptoms as a child. 

Informant:  You had a cold. And grandma would go get the Vaporub and then I’m pretty sure it went in three places it went into your chest it went directly beneath your nose, and then it went on both your feet. But for the one on your feet that one’s special. Not only was it Vaporub it was also salt and then you’d have to wear socks to sleep to keep it all in. Oh, wait. I forgot before you put the socks on grandma would rub your feet back and forth on the bottom creating friction? Or I guess I don’t know why. It makes your feet all hot for the sock.

Interviewer: Why the feet and why the socks?

Informant: I have no fricken clue!

Interviewer: Do you remember it working? 

Informant: Ahya— I’m pretty sure it was the placebo effect but it worked! 

Interviewer: Do you still use it now?

Informant: Not on the feet anymore, but ya on the chest, and below the nose ya. And I think we only did it below the nose because we actually like the smell of it. 

Background: My informant is a young adult who credits her knowledge of Vaporubs healing powers to her Mexican culture. Here she describes a ritual/ form of folk medicine that her grandmother helped her with when she was young and had a cold. Now that she’s older she skips the more ritualistic aspect of rubbing her feet with salt and Vaporub and simply chooses to add the product to her throat and nose area. My informant believes that this is mostly the placebo effect at work, but she doesn’t deny that the method is successful.  

Context: This piece was collected over a FaceTime call in the evening. The informant and I were having a casual conversation about our childhood and the things we did that felt unique to us as Mexican Americans in the west suburbs of Chicago. 

Thoughts: I am very familiar with this Vaporub practice as the informant and I share the same Grandmother. I, like the informant, still use Vaporub when I’m sick as I believe it does help with my colds. However, the informant did illuminate for me the fact that I have no idea why it works to ease cold symptoms. Or rather, the science of using Vaporub the way we do. This makes me believe that part of the reason the informant and I believed it so wholeheartedly as children, was that fact that it was coming from someone who we also believed would never steer us wrong. The idea of family is intertwined with this antidote which adds to the continuation of this method from not just me and the informant, but also from other Latino communities. 

Sending Someone the Evil Eye

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 48
Occupation: human resources manager
Residence: San Fernando Valley
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

EA: The ojo (eye) is that people do believe that there are other people that have the ability to. If they have something that belongs to that other person like a picture or something they can with bad things upon them. It is called “hiciste ojo”(“gave the eye”). For example, if someone wants some harm to come to someone else they will take a picture of that person to that individual and they will say I want them too whatever. There is the belief that there are people than have that ability to I guess curse them with bad things. You like a form of voodoo because it is kind of like you have an alter for them. You have a picture of them, you have their hair. You have some thing that belongs to them 

Interviewer: Where did you hear this?

EA: I heard this from my parents and like people, aunts. You know when a lot of bad things are happening to you it is common for people to say “ay, alguien me hiso ojo, necessito una limpia!”(“someone gave me the eye and I need a cleaning”). Then you go to someone that does the good and they take that curse away from you . 

Context

EA is my mother who was born in Southern California, but whose parents are both from Mexico. She and her whole family are Catholic. However, she is not as religious as the rest of her family. She is a Human Resources manager at a small manufacturing company in the San Fernando Valley. The information taken from a casual conversation I was having with my mother about any folklore she had for me while my sister was also present.

Analysis 

It is surprising to me how much magic is involved in this considering how religious many of my family members are. Magic is normally frowned upon in the church as God is the only one that should be able to do things like see your future and change your destiny. However, getting the evil seems to be something that many people in Mexican culture are afraid of. The trope of the witch or “bruha” character that many are afraid of even portrayed through their entertainment, and I’m sure people talk about who they feel practices this dark form of magic. It is also similar to many other forms of contagious magic where you need something of the person in order to curse them, since our belongings and images are extensions of ourselves. 

Avocado Pit in your Guacamole

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 48
Occupation: Human Resources manager
Residence: San Fernando Valley
Performance Date: 4/17/20
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

EA: Put the pit of one of the avocados form the guacamole into it after you are finished making you guacamole to keep it from browning. 

Context

EA is my mother who was born in Southern California, but whose parents are both from Mexico. She and her whole family are Catholic. However, she is not as religious as the rest of her family. She is a Human Resources manager at a small manufacturing company in the San Fernando Valley. The information was from when I was making guacamole for lunch and she was telling me what I could do to keep it fresh to eat it later.

Analysis: After I told her I wanted to collect that as folklore she told me it was not folklore because it was true. She said it very matter of fact as if it something that everyone does. Specifically, related to food and medicine the value is placed on whether or not it works. That folklore is something outdated that people believe, but does not actually work. This is obviously not the case given that many recipes and standard cooking practices originated as folklore. It also shows the negative connotation that arises when using the word folklore to describe people’s practices and how they might not like having their culture being referred to as folklore.