Tag Archives: Mexico

La Llarona

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 20
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 23, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

INFORMANT: “So, La Llarona, sometimes in English it’s referred to as “the Woman in White,” and basically it’s a story about a woman who, um, was in love with a man but he didn’t love her back so it was unrequited love, so she drowned her two children in the river in order to be with the man that she loved, but he didn’t want to be with her. So after being refused by him, she then drowned herself in a river in Mexico City. And so, basically with the whole heaven and hell aspect of life, she’s kind of stuck in the in-between, and she kind of wanders around at night in Mexico City, so today a lot of parents use this story as a way to keep their kids from wandering out at night. Or else La Llarona will come and kidnap them. Basically she is said to appear at night around rivers in Mexico, and that’s it. I heard about it in Spanish class and then I went home and asked my mom about it, and she was like ‘oh, yeah.'”

COLLECTOR (myself): “How did your mom learn the story?”

INFORMANT: “I think growing up. It’s a traditional Mexican story that a lot of Mexican parents will tell their kids growing up.”

—

This legend appears to be a Mexican story within the widespread genre of ‘legends parents tell their children to keep them in line.’ This breed of legend seems to exist in almost every culture – I suppose childrens’ fear of the supernatural is culturally ubiquitous, because they’re more compelled to obey their parents if there’s a supernatural risk involved.

This story was also an interesting case because my friend Taylor is Mexican-American but not very in touch with Mexican culture. She told me that she felt her mother purposely tried to separate her from her Mexican heritage, so she was never told this story as a child, even though her grandmother told it to her mother. In fact, Taylor didn’t hear about the legend until she read about it in Spanish class. On a related note, Taylor did not know Spanish until she took classes in school, another point that makes her feel alienated from her heritage.

ANNOTATION: Several films have been made about the legend of La Llarona, including the Mexican movie La Llarona (1960) and Her Cry: La Llarona Investigation (2013).

Matamoros Fire Department

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Lawyer
Residence: Oakland, CA
Performance Date: March 16, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Informant: The Catholic church in the small, South-Texas town of Brownsville went up in flames late one evening, after mass had finished. It was a 5-alarm fire, and all local fire stations were called on to help save the little church. The Brownsville fire department arrived first at the scene, but the flames were too intense for them to do anything other than stand by and watch the—the devastation. No more than two minutes later, the Matamoros, Mexico fire department arrived, engine going full, top-speed and lights blaring. The Brownsville firefighters stood back and watched in awe while the Mexican fire department drove their truck right into the flames and managed to put out the fire, saving this historic church. As a token of appreciation, the citizens of Brownsville collected $5,000 and, in a ceremony, the Brownsville Fire Chief handed the Mexican Fire Chief the check and asked him, asked the Mexican Fire Chief, to say a few words to the crowd. Well, he didn’t speak much English of course, but The Chief—in his best English—thanked the crowd for the money and said, thank you, but really, they had just been doing their job. When someone in the crowd shouted out, asked what the plans were for the money, the Chief said, “Well, de furs’ ting we gonna do… we gonna buy new brakes for de fire truck.”

The informant (my mom) was born in Texas but spent most of her childhood traveling from country to country, specifically in South America and regions of southeast Asia, due to her father’s work as a banker. Her first language was Spanish, and today she is fluent in both Spanish and English.

This joke was told to the informant by her mother, who was born and raised in Texas. Brownsville is located on the southern tip of Texas, directly across the boarder from Matamoros, Mexico. The joke plays on economic disparity between the towns, as well as some of the racial bias Texans may have towards Mexicans (this racial bias seems especially prevalent in the punchline, when the performer uses an over-the-top Mexican accent to imitate the Chief of the Matamoros Fire Department).

Holy Innocents Day

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 25
Occupation: PhD student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: Spanish

“En Latinoamérica, diciembre 28th es también conocido como el día de los “Santos Inocentes,” el día en el que niños inocentes murieron de acuerdo con la religión Cristiana. Se acostumbra en mi familia hacer una broma en este día en particular. La broma consiste en pedir algo prestado, y si el que pide prestado dice la siguiente frase:

“Inocente palomita, que te has dejado engañar, sabiendo que en este día nada se debe prestar”

….entonces, la posesión del objeto prestado pasa a ser suyo. (La seriedad de esta broma depende de cada miembro de mi familia.)

Ejemplo: (Suponga que hoy es diciembre 28)

-¡Hola hermana! ¿Puedo mover tu carro para poder jugar en el estacionamiento?

-Claro

-Mmmm… ¿Entonces me prestas tu carro?

-Si

-¡Caíste! ¡Inocente palomita!

-¡Ay! ¡Olvidé que hoy es día de los inocentes!

-Así es, y ahora tu carro es mío. Voy a tomar las llaves de mi nuevo carro.

-¡No! ¡Dame mis llaves! ¡Yaaaa!”

 

“In Hispanic America, December 28th is known as “Holy Innocents” day, the day where innocent children died according to the Christianity. It’s common among my family to play a particular prank during this day. This prank consists of borrowing a special item from a lender and if the borrower says the following saying,

“Naïve little dove, that has let yourself be fooled by me, knowing that today nothing has to be lent”

…then, the ownership of the item is supposedly transferred to the borrower. (The seriousness of this joke depends on the members of my family.)

Example, (Suppose that it’s December 28th)

-Hey Sis! Can I move your car so I can play in the garage?

-Sure

-Hmmm… can I borrow your car then?

-Yes

-Gotcha! “Naïve little dove!”

-Oh no! I forgot today is “Holy Innocents” day!

-Yes! Now your car is mine! And I will proceed to take the keys of my new car.

-No! Give me my keys! Stop it!”

 

The informant is a PhD student at the University of California, studying Electrical Engineering. He is from Mexico City, Mexico, where he was born and lived most of his life. His native tongue is Spanish, but he is fluent in English, as well. He got his undergraduate degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which he graduated from in 2012. He enjoys ballroom dancing in his free time.

 

The informant was asked to send the collector a description of a holiday celebrated in Mexico that has a particular tradition associated with it. He typed it first in Spanish, then was kind enough to translate it. This tradition is a particular game of his family, that everyone participates in, but he knows of other families who participate in similar games or pranks.

 

As the informant explains, his family has a prank that they play on each other on Holy Innocents Day. If a member of their family loans them something, then they get to keep it. The example that the informant gives is that he gets his sister to land him her car, then he says the special phrase, and gets to keep her car. He would likely return her car, but there are other members of his family that take this game more seriously and would keep it. This is a popular game of Mexican children, that they get to borrow things from friends or family and, if they say the phrase, then they get to keep the thing.

This arrises from the forbidding of lending on this holy day. Christians, up to at least Shakespeare’s time, were not allowed to lend money or items with interest. Jews took the niche market and became money lenders. This is a major part of the plot in The Merchant of Venice. This rule is not enforced anymore, but the idea of lending is still enough of a forbiddance that it is attached to this holy day.

The actual phrase said to catch someone lending changes from family to family or town to town. Sometimes it is a short song, sometimes just “Naive dove.” The informant, for example, shortens the phrase to “Naive little dove!” instead of staying the full phrase that his family normally uses. The idea of the dove is the symbol of innocence ties into holy Innocents Day. The rest of the phrase just calls the person out on their lending when it is forbidden.

Ganale Al PRI

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 62
Occupation: housewife
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: 4/09/14
Primary Language: Spanish

Ganale al PRI

            “’Ganale al PRI’ se refiere a anos atras en cuando la corrupcion en Mexico era demasiada que aunque toda la gente sabia que no votarian a favor de el partido del PRI, ellos de todos modos salian ganando. Entonces por eso se empeso a decirle a la gente muy terca que “ganale al PRI”… En realidad no me acuerdo donde fue que lo escuche por primera ves, solo se que es algo muy comun para nosotros los Mexicanos.”

“’Beat the PRI’ refers to years ago when corruption in Mexico was big and even though all the people knew they were not going to vote for the PRI party, they still ended up winning. Therefore, we began to tell really stubborn people, “beat the PRI”… to be honest I cannot remember where exactly I heard this for the first time, all I know is that it is something very common for us Mexicans”

The informant is a native Valparaiso, Zacatecas; in the country of Mexico. She was born in the year of 1952 and lived in Mexico until the age of 26 which was when she migrated to the United States of America. As a native Mexican, proverbs, myths and other sorts of folk tales she knows, all have been influenced by her Mexican culture. Furthermore, she learned most of her proverbs from the household setting, from family members, friends and others who she was in direct contact since according to her, she had no recognition of what a TV was; media did not influence her knowledge of folk tales, people who she had contact to were the ones to influence her knowledge of folk tales. She grew up hearing these proverbs and other folk tales constantly on a day to day basis from people all around her. Because of the constant exposure, the proverbs and other folk tales have now become a part of her daily life vocabulary.

The fact that the informant does not recall where she first heard the proverb or who she first heard it from can hint that this may have been because the proverb is a really common line for the Mexicans residing in Valparaiso, Zacatecas; the place where the informant grew up in. This specific proverb takes upon a very literal situation, the corruption among a specific electoral party and then uses it to sort of mock any future situations which may relate to the same task. In my opinion, I find it to be a brilliant way to make fun of a very difficult time in Mexican history while still using the proverb to not forget about the time either. I guess this proverb serves to keep that part of Mexican Culture reality alive and by it being kept as it is, it is in some way there to make sure that future generations know about a time when corruption among the electoral party PRI was very present.

La Malinche

Nationality: Mexico
Age: 62
Occupation: housewife
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: 4/09/14
Primary Language: Spanish

La Malinche

            “Nosotros le decimos la malinche a alguien que es un traidor. Como por ejemplo, si alguien va y le dice a otra persona algo que tu dijiste, eso viene siend traicion asi que le desimos ala persona que te traiciono, la malinche…Hasta lo que yo se mija, tenemos esa costumbre de decirle la malinche a los traidores porque en anos de los aztecas, la malinche fue la que nos traiciono y por eso fue que los espanoles nos conquistaron pero no me recuerdo como fue que me aprendi este refran. Alomejor de mi mama, porque me recuerdo que ella tambien usaba esta frase seguido pero quien sabe.”

“We call anyone who is a traitor, la malinche. For example, if someone goes and tells another person something you said about them, that would be treason, therefore we could call the person who turned against you, la malinche… To what I know darling, we have the custom of calling any traitor la malinche because in the years of the Aztecs, la malinche was the woman who turned us in and that’s why the Spaniards conquered us but I do not remember how it was that I learned this proverb. Maybe it was my mmom because I remember she used this phrase ofter but who knows.”

The informant is a native Valparaiso, Zacatecas; in the country of Mexico. She was born in the year of 1952 and lived in Mexico until the age of 26 which was when she migrated to the United States of America. As a native Mexican, proverbs, myths and other sorts of folk tales she knows, all have been influenced by her Mexican culture. Furthermore, she learned most of her proverbs from the household setting, from family members, friends and others who she was in direct contact since according to her, she had no recognition of what a TV was; media did not influence her knowledge of folk tales, people who she had contact to were the ones to influence her knowledge of folk tales. She grew up hearing these proverbs and other folk tales constantly on a day to day basis from people all around her. Because of the constant exposure, the proverbs and other folk tales have now become a part of her daily life vocabulary.

In my opinion, this proverb is particularly interesting because it brings back a sense of where Mexicans originated from. By this I mean that Mexicans in specific use this proverb to recall of a time when their ancestors existed. The fact that this proverb has been kept in place only goes to show the strong ties that Mexicans have to their roots, in this case the Aztecs. It is impressive to see that future generations are still using this proverb however, it is interesting that the informant for this proverb cannot recall where exactly she first heard it. This can also give insight to the fact that this is a very common proverb in the Mexican vocabulary. Regardless, I find this proverb impressive due to its ties to Mexican ancestors.