Tag Archives: Mexico

Queso Hand Trick

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 23rd, 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English, Italian

“So you write ‘Queso’ on your fingertips (Q-thumb, U-index finger, E-middle finger, S-ring finger, O-pinky). And then you would say, ‘Que’ (put down the ring finger and pinky) ‘Es’ (put down the thumb, index finger, pinky) ‘Eso?’ (put down the thumb and index finger) ‘Eso’ (put down thumb and index finger) ‘Es’ (put down thumb, index finger, and pinky) ‘Queso’ (put all fingers up). ‘What is that? That is cheese’ It’s a thing that we would do, you can come up with all these words with just one word. It doesn’t work in English because what and cheese are different, in Spanish it does.”

The informant said that when he found out about this spelling trick, he was mind-blown. He and all his friends thought it was so cool, and they would do it all the time in elementary school. It was still done in middle school sometimes, but the informant said that it would be done secretly, because in middle school kids are trying to seem cool, even though they’re not. Even now, at age 20, he seemed to enjoy playing the game and the clever spelling trick that it involves. It reminds him of his childhood and native Spanish language, which he doesn’t get to utilize as much here in America.

I remember playing similar games with other English words, such as “this”. I think the meaning of the game, “that is cheese”, is silly, but that’s probably why kids enjoy it so much. It’s fun to appropriate a language and make games out of it. This little hand game is creative and silly, so it appeals to children. I definitely understood what the informant meant when talking about the difference between elementary school and middle school. The games change a lot in middle school, when kids start becoming aware of their sexuality and the status quo. I think this spelling trick is cute and fun.

Street of the Kiss

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 21
Occupation: USC Student
Performance Date: May 8, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

So, in Guanajuato, Mexico there’s a place called Calle de los Besos. Um, and it’s just translated to Street of the Kiss, where this couple lived on opposite ends of the sleep. The woman lived with her family, and the man was a traveler. And every night they would talk and then kiss good-night, and then one night the woman’s father came home from work late and saw that they kissed, and he was furious and he said :If you ever kiss him again, I’m gonna make sure he’s dead and he just freaked out, and so she promised to never kiss him again, And then some weeks passed and she didn’t keep her promise, and then again one night the dad came home late and saw that they had kissed and so he goes up to the guy’s room and kills him, and she freaks out, and she’s really depressed. And then she kills herself. And then now today whenever you cross that street, visitors or anybody, you kiss each other on the 7th step, because there’s like steps on the street. On the seventh step you kiss your significant other, otherwise it’s like 7 years of bad luck for you. But if you’re single nothing happens to you.

This legend tells the story of the town, and tells how the custom of kissing when crossing this certian street came to be. The story also tells us about the culture of the town. For instance, one might infer from the story that it comes from a culture where fathers have a lot of control over their daughter’s love lives, and the father’s extreme reaction, while drastically over the top, is considered within the realm of possibility. It also tells us that the town culture may identify as romantic and passionate.

Queretaro’s Aqueduct of Love

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 21
Occupation: USC Student
Residence: Santa Barbara
Performance Date: May 8, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

In Queretaro, Mexico there’s basically a bridge with arches that runs from one side of the city to the other. And the story is that they used to be two separate cities at the end of both bridges, and on one side of the bridge lived a nun in a monastery, and on the other side of the bridge lived this really rich man and the really rich man lived, oh the really rich man fell in love with the nun, and the whole reason there is a bridge is that it’s basically an irrigation system, because the nun had to get water from the other city because that’s the only way she could because there was no water in her own city, and so, um, the rich man built this bridge that is an irrigation system that brings water from his city to her city. And that’s basically the story. That’s the story of why the bridge is there. It’s like famous. It’s in Mexico.

This is a really romantic legend that attempts to explain the history of the town’s bridge-aqueducts. The bridge is very long, very beautiful, and fairly unusual. Regardless of whether the tale is true or false, it is a lovely explanation for the construction, and reveals some information about the city’s culture and values. We see that the city likely values religious commitment (the nun does not break her vows), but people of Queretaro also seem to feel the love of a man for a woman (perhaps particularly an unattainable one) can inspire great and beautiful actions, like the construction of the aqueduct bridge. The extremeley romantic explanation for the bridge also clearly suggests the city’s prioritization of romance and beauty.

El Cucuy

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 12
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

This JEP informant told an urban legend about a nighttime monster named El Cucuy. According to the informant, El Cucuy walks around everywhere after the sun sets. The monster’s distinguishing physical feature is his one big ear that can hear every sound. It does not matter if the sound comes from nearby or far away. The creature can even hear people who stay silent.

The informant learned about El Cucuy from his teacher in second grade. This legend was also reinforced by his mother who told him not to go out at night because El Cucuy lurked outside. The informant is unsure if he believes in the urban legend of the monster.

This legend seems to have been transformed into a means that the storyteller uses to achieve an end: the informant’s mother used it to scare her young son so that he would not leave the house at night. Perhaps worried parents have encouraged the spreading of this urban legend. This legend is probably aimed at younger children who are more gullible and become scared into obeying more easily. The informant, who is almost a teenager, seems skeptical of this mysterious monster that possesses magical hearing capabilities.

This legend is annotated. It can also be found at the following source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/paranormal/2010/06/27/the-frightening-folklore-of-el-cucuy/

La Llorona

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 13
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“One time there was a lady named Maria, but people later called her ‘La Llorona’ ’cuz one night she used to go out with her sons. She drowned them in the lake and haunts people.”

This JEP informant heard this urban legend when he was five years old. His mother told him this as a bedtime story so that he would go to sleep. His mother learned about this legend from her mother. The informant believes that La Llorona exists even though he has never heard her haunting, because people have told him that she only screams in Mexico. (The informant has never been to Mexico and cannot confirm if the story about the woman’s screaming is true.) His mother, who is from Mexico, does not believe in the legend, though. As an aside, the informant told this story to his little brother to scare him.

“La Llorona” translates to “the weeping or moaning woman” in English. This legend tells the story of a woman driven by madness who drowns her sons in a nearby lake. She then haunts the locals as a ghost woman. This story could have possibly originated and spread greatly to explain the natural phenomena of noises caused by the wind. Also, the story serves as an entertaining, scary story that creates social ties among the listeners.

This legend is annotated. It can also be found at the following source: http://www.literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/llorona.html