Tag Archives: Mexico

Warding off rain

Nationality: Italy
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Performance Date: 04/17/2021
Primary Language: English

BACKGROUND: My informant, GO, is an international student from Italy who has spent most of her life living in Mexico. She and her family are fluent in both Spanish and Italian. Interested in her unique upbringing, I asked GO if she learned any superstitions or stories during her many travels. GO responded with this piece, a Mexican tradition she learned from her friends. 

CONTEXT: This piece is from a text conversation with my friend to discuss any superstitions she’s learned during her time in Mexico.

GO: A superstition in Mexico is that’d [if] you’re hosting a lunch outdoors, like in a garden or something, you have to stab four knives onto the corners of the garden bc otherwise, it will rain.

Me: Do you think it works?

GO: Lmao it hasn’t rained yet so yea

THOUGHTS: This superstition is something that I’ve heard in the past from another friend of mine. Though I think this fear of rain is interesting because, with other people I’ve spoken to, rain is a symbol of good luck and is welcomed at gatherings like weddings and parties. Particularly for my family, rain symbolizes change and growth and its appearance suggests that there are good things on the way.

La Cucaracha – Spanish Folk Song

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: California, USA
Performance Date: 05/02/2021
Primary Language: English

Context:

Informant JA was an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California at the time of this collection. JA was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, but their dad’s side of the family originates from Mexico. When JA was young, their great-grandmother would sing a Spanish folk song while playing a game with JA when they were about three years old. I spoke with JA to see what they could remember about their experience with this song.

Text:

Lyrics:

“La cucaracha, la cucaracha, da-na-na-na-na-na-na” (repeated until game was over)

Accompanying Game:

While JA’s great-grandmother would sing La Cucaracha, she would hold her arms out in a circle with her hands holding each other almost like a basket. JA would run in a circle in front of their great-grandmother, and when she was done repeating the lyrics, she would put her arms down to try and capture JA while they were within her basket-like arm positioning. If she caught them, she would tickle them. If she did not catch them, JA would win the game.

Analysis:

Hearing about JA’s experience with this folk song and its accompanying game allowed me to consider how it might connect with the role Hispanic/Latina (great) grandmothers play when it comes to sharing cultural traditions and information to younger generations. By singing this song, she is providing entertainment for young JA while simultaneously fulfilling the responsibility of transmitting their shared Mexican culture. In pairing this song with a game, JA’s great grandmother, is perhaps teaching JA that they can partake and enjoy a culture that might feel distant from them as a Mexican American growing up in a suburban area. The performance of this folk song in this context captures the the desire to connect singer and listener to one another all while sharing an aspect of Mexican culture.

“Shame Shame Shame” Hand-clap Game

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Kansas City, MO
Performance Date: 3/10/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“Shame Shame Shame,

I don’t want to go to Mexico no more more more,

There’s a big fat policeman at the door door door,

He grabbed me by the collar,

Made me pay a dollar,

I don’t want to go to Mexico no more more more,

Shame!”

Background:

This piece was recited to me by my informant in reference to their childhood and elementary school memories. The informant is now a junior in high-school but for their K-8 education, she attended a Spanish immersion public school with a large Mexican population. Kansas City, where the informant lives, has a substantial Spanish-speaking population.

Context:

This piece was shared with me several times throughout my life but was recently brought up by her when asking about memories from her childhood. The exact conversation was conducted via cellphone

Thoughts:

This piece is very interesting to me, mostly because it seems to be another version of a pretty recognizable childhood game. My informant told me that she learned this hand-clap game from friends while attending a Spanish immersion school. However, as she grew up, she learned that this is just a variant of a more traditionally accepted version of the game. Mostly, the policeman in this version is usually replaced with a bully. In my opinion, this is a reflection of the fear of authority and programs like ICE, for Spanish-speaking immigrants. The school my informant attended had a substantial population of Spanish-speaking students who were first generation United States citizens, if that. As such, when assimilating into United States culture, they adopted childhood games like hand-clap. However, they changed it to replace the classic bully figure with that of police, maybe because they would realistically have grown up being told that they were to be wary of police officers, as it could mean deportation or harsh punishments on account of their status as first generation immigrants. It also seems to place Mexico as an bad place, which further reflects the goal of moving forward and becoming part of the culture there. In this respect, the game is almost pushing one to abandon their original culture in order to adapt, as many of these students were the children of Mexican immigrants who were attempting to make ends meet in a new culture. 

La Llorona

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 29
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: 4/25/19
Primary Language: Spanish

The informant is marked IN. The collector is marked JJ.

IN: So the story goes that this woman in like colonial times in Mexico, she had a couple kids. And the story changes, like some stories say the kids drown, some say they got lost, or killed. So the story goes that at night whenever people hear any crying outside it’s like this woman that’s coming back to get kids and like kill them. So part of that is saying that you can hear like moaning and crying and you’re supposed to hide your kids and stuff. So I’m pretty sure they like take the kids and drown them in the river.

JJ: Did you hear it in your family like from older generations more?

IN: In my family they didn’t say it that much, but it was more like between friends when we were telling horror stories. I think it’s more of an older generation, and also in smaller towns where people walk around more in a smaller environment. But it mostly came up in people telling their friends or hearing it from like older grandparents.

IN: The main thing is there are people that say that they heard her and it’s actually popular enough that they made a movie recently. But if you hear her you’re supposedly supposed to die, so not many people really claim to hear her.

Context: The informant is my sister in law. I asked if there was any Folklore from Mexico that she remembered.

Background: The informant is from Mexico and has lived in California for about ten years. She heard this tale growing up from friends who would tell the story as being something they heard from their grandparents mostly. For her it was more of a horror/entertainment tale than a cautionary one, particularly because she lived in a bigger city so there wasn’t relevance for la Llorona.

Analysis: I found the informants explanation interesting because from class I always imagined it being a cautionary tale to make sure your kids don’t wander away. I also understand why older generations and people in more rural areas might hear it more often or spread it for caution there to make sure that their kids don’t wander into forests at night.

12 Grapes for the New Year

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 25
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Oxnard, California
Performance Date: 04-01-19
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Main Text:

DC: “On New Years at 12:00 am you are supposed to consecutively eat one grape each second for a total of 12 grapes in 12 seconds for good luck in the new year.”

Context: 

Although I collected this from a Mexican woman who is my boyfriend’s sister-in-law, I also witnessed and performed this tradition on New Years of this year while at a New Years celebration at my boyfriend’s family’s house. To give context, we all counted down along with the timer on the T.V. and my boyfriend’s mom was rushing around trying to give us all 12 grapes off the vine. It ended up being a mess with everyone dropping grapes and stuffing our faces while trying not to joke, but it ended with us all laughing and enjoying the company of each other. I asked DC why she thinks this tradition and folk belief has been passed aline within her family and others and she speculated that grapes is some cultures must be seen as lucky.

Analysis:

Recent articles say that the practice of eating grapes on New Years goes back to as old as the 1880s. In the 1880s, the bourgeoisie of Madrid were said to have celebrated the ending of the year by copying the French tradition of eating grapes and drinking champagne. This tradition then grew over time and led people tp believe that they needed to eat 12 grapes to have luck for all of the 12 months to follow in the New Year. Over time, this practice was used in order to mock the wealthy bourgeoisie and the ‘common’ people of Madrid began eating grapes to make fun of the practice that was performed by the wealthy middle class. Subsequently, this custom caught on and more and more people began to do it because they thought it would bring them good financial like if the Bourgeoisie of Madrid were doing it.

With the known history of grape eating as way to celebrate the end of a year being revealed, the belief in financial gain was probably a big pushing factor to many and encouraged them to share this belief and continue the custom. I feel too that media coverage also has encouraged the adaptation of said belief by larger parts of Europe, people in the United States and Even people in Mexico City. On New Years, the camera for the main national tv centers on the clock tower of the 18th-century Real Casa de Correos in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. Announcers then tell the instructions to all of the people in the audience and they then begin eating the 12 grapes. Centuries ago, TV was not around and these traditions had to be purely face to face, but that feudal folkloric model. With the introduction of tv and the Internet, people are now able to share cultures and practices all over the world in a way like never before even with people they have never met and will never meet in person. This new folklore model creates a world in which folklore can be spread all throughout the world to those with access to TV and internet in such ease that more and more people begin adopting and creating variations of other people’s traditions, like what I believe has happened here with the eating of 12 gapes on the New Year.