Tag Archives: Mexico

Potato Tacos

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 73
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: El Paso, TX
Performance Date: 3/15/12
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This is how my paternal family makes tacos.  They are known in Spanish as tacos dorados, tacos de papa, tacos frítos. In English, my informant calls them potato tacos.  My great-grandmother came to America from Durango, Mexico and my grandmother learned from her.  The most important and unique thing about these tacos is that they are made with potatoes mixed with meat and are then fried.  These tacos are typically made whenever, as my informant tells me, her family is there and wants tacos.  Since potato tacos are difficult to find outside of a heavily Latino populated area, the tacos represent family ties and our Latino identity to my family, especially since all of my grandmother’s children moved very far away.

 

Prepare meat for texmex tacos, because this is texmex

First you put a pan with how many cup of water it depends on the pan

I just fill it up half way with the potatoes

And you put the 6 potatoes, peel and slice then you put them to cook and I say at least an hour until they are soft. You put a fork in them to check. And like I said you have to touch them with a fork because you don’t want them to harden.

The meat sho8ld be fried and drained in an hour.

This is about 3.8 oz. I’ll take half of it so that’s…about 2 oz. of raw meat

I’ll start boiling the oil

The rice you put two table spoons of oil on a pan to fry the rice. I just pour; I don’t measure when I cook anymore. Put 1/3 of oil to fry the rice when you have a cup and a half of rice. This is where you have to be very careful with this one’s. Sometimes it gets stuck at the ends and that’s when it burs really fast so you have to keep stirring it till it gets a light golden color

Sometimes it pops like popcorn; it’s cute when it looks like popcorn

Make sure it doesn’t stick to the sides or the bottom because that’s when it burns

When you like the caramel color you take it off the fire and add the opinions and tomato sauce

You put about 1/4 of tomato sauce and a cup of water with it.

Almost, not quite. I want to see one pop

You put too much tomato sauce it’s going to become pink. So it’s easier for you.  You use two table spoons of tomato sauce.

Stir it from the outside in.

About two cups and a half cup of water

Let me see how the salt is

You boil it until it gets really hot then you cover it and let it steam. That’s how the rice gets real nice.

I’ll move this back and start on the meat

With an onion mija you only need half of a small onion. You don’t need that much onion.

 

When it’s boiling hard you have lower it than cover it. And that’s how it steams real nice.

This is about a table spoon of oil to cook your meat. And then you have to drain it.

Here you put in the garlic (like that) get more in the middle and where you missed spots

Now the pepper, be careful it doesn’t get in your nose. I just squeeze it like this. Now you stir it.

Ok, let’s put the top on. If you have more time you can turn the fire up and cook it faster.

The potatoes are almost done but we’ll drain them when the meat is ready

Now we’ll just let those cook a little bit more

See how they cook fast

You have to check them every once and awhile to make sure they don’t burn and get dry

When to potatoes are done I turn them off

You just have to wait for them to cook

You take the water off of the potatoes and then you drain the meat and then you mix them all together.

Get a fork and taste it. If it needs salt or pepper, add it.

I’m going to heat up the tortillas and you fill them with the meat.

Use a spoon. Don’t get too close to the edge or the oil with pop and you get a scar like this.

(What do we fry the tacos in?)

About a tea spoon of oil

If you have a cast iron like this …or any where you can fry

I usually use, how much is that. A cup and a half of oil. You don’t want to use too much or else the meat will fall out.

And then I do this (flips taco) don’t you do that

I think I put in too much oil, so be careful about that

Roll up the lettuce and cut it.

(Oil pops) Eyi, I hate that. That’s where I get all the burns on my arms and my face. I wish I had a sifter for the meat

I have to be careful with that one. When the tortilla was putting up it got a little hole in it

Oh sush (to the tacos)

The slow one is going to go in first like this

 

Beans are done. Rice is done. Tacos are done.

 

I learned the cooking from my mother. My mother had all three

Whenever there is family that wants to eat tacos that night

Because it please my family and I enjoy feeding them

Black Bird sign

Nationality: Mexican/ Latino
Age: 24
Occupation: Academic coach/ Graduate Student
Residence: Compton, CA
Performance Date: 4/11/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

While my informants grew up in Los Angeles, my informant’s family is from Yucatan, Mexico and he frequently goes down to visit his grandparents who live on a ranch.  He heard this information when he was a child visiting his grandparents. His grandfather taught him this:

“A black bird appears, you’re getting bad news or someone is dying.”

 

My informant says that, according to his grandparents, it happens very often.  The birds are common in the area and will appear by themselves and in flocks.

Many Central and South American countries have high poverty and mortality rates, so bad news and death is very common.  The people expect something bad to happen fairly regularly, so it is not surprising that a fairly common bird is the harbinger of death and destruction.  This also fits in with similar accounts of black birds, such as crows or ravens, being messengers of death in other parts of the world due to such birds being carrion eaters and associated with the dead and dying.  Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven had a black bird who taunted the narrator with the death of his beloved Lenore.  This belief is seen in many European countries and those colonized by those countries—Mexico for example.

Funny Bones

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Academic Coach
Residence: Long Beach, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English

My informant was told this by a friend when she hit her funny bone and held it close to her side.

“If you touch your elbow after you hit your funny bone, you will lose money”

Her friend was from Mexico and said she learned this from her mother.  My informant was a bit confused by this advice.

This belief might be because holding your elbow after you hit it could be counterproductive, like it bunches up the muscles which make it take longer to stop hurting.  Also the threat of losing money reveals that wealth is very important to the community that the friend came from and can be used to prevent certain things.

Duendes

Nationality: Mexican, American
Age: 43
Occupation: Housekeeper
Residence: San Diego, California
Performance Date: 3.23.12
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Duendes in this context are described as both little people or little children that are in people’s houses who can be mischievous take your things or want to play. They are creatures that my informant knew of in both Mexico and here in the United States.

My informant talked about duendes as both good and bad and then went on to discuss why she thinks Mexicans tell kids scary stories.

Her description of duendes verbatim:

“People they say those they call the duendes they say they’re little bit people some people said they’re little people and other people said they are kids. I hear two versions. I heard a story from my friend a long time ago because we talking about them and they say they scare you but they say they are play people, they like to play with you. They say they are mischievous? Something like this and they say they like to play, and they like to hide the things for you. Then another person say they are bad when you do something or when you are angry with them they are bad they do bad things to you. Also when I was a girl I had a neighbor and she was an old lady very very old. She was very very old. She has uh big house. She was living alone at that time, she was living alone in the house and she never come out. She’s always sitting in right inside it or behind the window. And she has the window with a gate, with the metal thing that always covered the window. I like to to go next to the house, but we stay outside by the street and we talking with her, she’s behind the window. And she always says she has duendes in her house. She would always say that ‘I have duendes in my house. And they play with me they come to be with me.’ And we we think it’s something bad or something scary and I remember I asked her all the time do you feel scary when they come and she say ‘Oh no, it’s not scary because they are good with me, they play and they come to be with me’ and I ask her ‘Really?’ And she say ‘Oh, yes, they are good.’ But I have friends that say they are bad and they do bad things but I never had that experience.

People in Mexico it’s very popular to scary the kids with uh scary stories. I think it’s something in Mexico we have. Now we don’t do that with my daughter. But we always use the scary stories to tell the boys or the girls. We tell because we expecting that if we say something then they are going to be good or they are going to be better. I think that’s why. Especially in Mexico. Especially Mexicans do. They scaring their children with scary stories because they hope if we tell about the scary stories we are going to be better or we are going to respect our mothers our father our brothers our family. I think that’s why people say that.”

There’s a lot to be said for duendes. I grew up hearing about them myself (I grew up in San Diego) and they were, as I knew it, creatures that took people’s things from them. I never believed in them but I didn’t know them to be scary either. I was also told scary stories by my friend’s parents who were Mexican about magical little people/creatures which scared the living hell out of me. That being said, I know first hand about Mexicans telling children scary stories. My informants theory that it’s to keep them in good behavior and establish respect for family, as most scary stories told to children probably serve that purpose. Duendes are interesting here because she knew them to be both good and bad. Either way, they are playful, and it’s interesting that they are sometimes seen as children rather than little people or creatures of some kind. My informant didn’t not believe in duendes, she just said she never had any personal experience with them, which makes them somewhat of a spectacle. With her neighbor’s description the duendes almost resembled ghosts in their likeness to children, since the name duende clearly distinguishes it from being human. It’s understandable that these entities seen as “bad” or “mischievous” would resemble children too because they can be impish without necessarily appearing threatening or dangerous.

Eberhart, George M. “Duende.” Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. 150. Google Books. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

Día de los Muertos Celebration: Mérida, Yucatán

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 56
Residence: Glendora, CA
Performance Date: 4/21/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant is 56 years old. She is Mexican and was born in Mérida, Yucatán. She moved to California when she was 6 six years old, but still remembers many of the local traditions, especially the tradition surrounding the Day of the Dead.

Before the celebration begins, people clean their houses, making sure the laundry is done and the dishes are washed. This is because if a deceased family member’s spirit comes to visit on the Day of the Dead, you don’t want them to have to do the work for you, or at least feel like they should. The celebration is supposed to be a time for them to enjoy themselves, and like awaiting the arrival of any house guest, you always clean up to make things presentable.

The Día de los Muertos celebration begins on October 31st. As the first day of the celebration, it is dedicated to celebrating the passing of the children. Any babies or toddlers that have died in the past year are honored on this day. Families set up an altar or a shrine. The altar is covered with a white tablecloth that has colorful embroidery around the edges. A green cross is placed on the altar because this is the color of Mérida. Colorful candles are set up too. Then, the deceased one’s favorite dishes are put out on the shrine. These can be anything from favorite candies to Mexican pan dulce bread. Favorite toys and games are set up too. Sometimes these are marbles, or even coloring books—it just depends on whatever happened to be the child’s favorite. Pictures are also put on the altar. After the altar has been assembled, the family gathers to say the Rosary. The altar stays up for the entire day and night of the 31st.

On November 1st, the child’s altar is taken down and another one is set up, this time celebrating the passing of any adults. The decoration for these altars is all black and white. The white tablecloth has black embroidery and white candles are placed on the altar. Pictures are put up and the adults favorite foods are placed on the altar as well. Again, these can be the pan dulce bread or tamales, even shots of whiskey or a pack of cigarettes. The altar is left up all day and night.

On November 2nd, the adult altar is taken down and the day is set aside for going to visit the grave sites of the deceased family members. Sometimes candles are burned on the graves, or flowers are set upon them. This marks the end of the Día de los Muertos celebration.

As my informant said, the entire celebration is a way to celebrate the life of a loved one. The altars are meant for families to pay their respects to the dead by presenting them with all of their favorite things from life. It is a festive way of honoring the dead, and communing with the spirits that come back for a visit.