Tag Archives: Mexico

Luna

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 56
Occupation: Electrician
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/19/2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Main Piece: Luna

The following was an interview of a Participant/interviewee about a folk riddle that is passed within his community. He is marked as AO. I am marked as DM.

AO: Les voy hacer una adivinanza. Quiero que me digan una palabra de cuatro letras que cuando le quitan una letra queda una.

DM: I don’t know. No puede ser porque si le quitas una letra no mas queda tres letras es impossible.

AO: No si hay. Queres ver?

DM: Si a ver.

AO: Mira la palabra es L-U-N-A (writes down luna on paper). Si le quitas una letra (crosses out L) queda U-N-A.

Translation:

AO: I am going to tell you guys a riddle. I want you to tell me a word that has four letters and when you take one letter away one is left.

DM: I don’t know. It’s impossible because if you take one away you are left with three.

AO: Yes there is away. Want to see?

DM: Yes, lets see.

AO: The word is M-O-O-N (writes it down on paper). If you take away one letter (crosses out M), one is left.

Background/Context:

The participant is 56 years old. He grew up in Mexico City, Mexico. Alberto, who is marked as AO, is my grandpa. When I was growing up, my grandpa loved to tell me and my sisters jokes or riddles. He would tell us it helped us develop a different way of thinking. This joke only works in Spanish since it a wordplay riddle. The word “luna” means moon and the word “una” means one, but “una” is also the last three letters of the word “luna”. The riddle is to find a word that when you take away one letter “una”, “una” is left meaning taking away one letter, which is the L in “luna” leaves “una”. Below is a conversation I had with AO for more background/context of the joke, which was originally in Spanish.

DM: Why do you know/ like this riddle?

AO: I like to tell this riddle because I want to make people think. The word was also very popular in Mexico.

DM: Where and from who did you learn this riddle from?

AO: I learned this joke in Mexico from my brother, Gavino.

DM: What does this riddle mean/ signify to you?

AO: Telling jokes or phrases that make people think was a tradition in Mexico. Also, since there was no internet or tv in my time, this was a way to pass time. Telling stories, jokes, riddles was a game or form entertainment to us.

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

Every time I heard this joke I never thought about it as a way to pass time or a game. I think it is important to know that at one point riddles were a form of entertainment in some communities. The fact that people in Mexico would sit around telling each other proverbs, jokes, and riddles that learn from their families and to not think about it as folklore is amazing. The fact that one daily conversation can turn into something that will last forever.

Novenas

Nationality: Colombia
Age: 27
Occupation: IT Project Specialist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/1/17
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

Novenas 9 days before Christmas, novenas happen. They are a custom done at home in Columbia in which family gets together and has potluck style meals as well as praying together. The meals usually consist of home grown fruits as well as white meats. The Novenas, are usually more prayer oriented, the potluck tradition just grew as a well-mannered custom. Alex is a Colombian native who immigrated here when he was just a little boy. His family left Columbia in response to all the violence that was emitting from Pablo Escobar’s reign of terror. In order to keep his family traditions alive, his parents constantly told him about the vast events and beauty of his homeland and people. This tradition kind of reminds me of when someone dies, you light a candle for 9 days as well as praying together with family and sharing potluck meals.

Protection with Holy Water

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 22
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/7/17
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This is a tradition in which the user drops a little bit of blessed water from a Church around the entrances of their homes in order to keep bad spirits away. This tradition comes from Veracruz, Mexico. The water is supposed to basically cast a protective spell over your home, especially during times of hardship.

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Ruby is a young Mexican-American woman who truly connects to her Catholic roots and leads her way of life through that method. She is also a single mom who works at a Non-Profit feeding the homeless of Los Angeles

Candles

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 22
Occupation: Nurse
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/7/17
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

You are supposed to light up a candle, so that the spirit of a recently passed family member or loved one can be guided to heaven. The candle is supposed to keep away the bad demons and evil itself from guiding the spirit away from the path to heaven. If the candle gets blown out, you need to restart the process and pray so that the spirit can also use your voice as a guide to “the light.”

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Ruby is a young Mexican-American woman who truly connects to her Catholic roots and leads her way of life through that method. She is also a single mom who works at a Non-Profit feeding the homeless of Los Angeles

Broncollin Remedy

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 45
Occupation: Construction
Residence: Tijuana

Broncolin is a all natural herbs and honey folk remedy that is used to treat colds and congestion in its folk method, but it’s actually a diet supplement. You apply the honey under your tongue and after that you give a small massage around the Adam’s apple area and you are supposed to wake up healed.

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Juan is a Mexican-American from Mexico city. He works demolition, but is super into his religion of being a Jehovah Witness. He has been passing down his traditions to his kids, just how they were passed down to him by his dad and grandpa