Lingering at the dinner table

It seems that it was in olden days when upon finishing a delicious meal, nobody left the table. Diners magically remained stuck to their seats with a single purpose: to tell stories, experiences, successes or failures, animated with the rich flavor of coffee and encouraged by a grandfather’s aristocratic air, who enjoyed his cigar while children secretly tried to steal a few drops of sambuca – at a time when society did not judge this mischief.

In short, this magnificent trilogy – the gathering, the coffee and the time – have disappeared from Hispanic dining halls. 

Perhaps the accelerated American society has stripped us of an ancient treasure: listening, but listening while seated.

The Royal Spanish Academy defines the after-the-meal period or sobremesa as the “time spent at the table after having eaten.” However, the meaning can suggest that it takes place “immediately after eating and without leaving the table.”

These family get-togethers – at lunch or dinner – are a sort of emotional drama whose audience is the most sincere and affectionate: the family. That is how it is explained by psychologist Cecilia Williamson, cited in an article titled “Sharing the family: The rescue of the after-dinner period.”

“Unfortunately, the after-dinner time is in danger of extinction,” Williamson says. “The fast-paced lifestyle, excessive obligations, intensity of work, exhaustion, the stress of work and social commitments, and the limited time devoted to the family in favor of other activities and pastimes undermine family life and especially the time that once existed around the table and that we call after dinner.”

Today, the after-the-meal period is a kind of archaeological artifacts, threatened by a parade of electronic devices. It is time to save this time, otherwise it will only exist in Hispanic literature as a unique element of scholars and intellectuals who used to end a hearty feast with a relaxed conversation.

Photos by Juan Miret

Seeking home remedies

Salsa singer Celia Cruz immortalized the song, “Yerberito,” about a healer of sorts who dispenses herbs as miracle cures, including remedies for those who are lovesick. 

“I bring ‘yerba santa’ for the throat,” says the song, originally in Spanish, referring to hoja santa, sometimes called root beer plant. And the herbalist also has ‘keisomon’ for swelling; “abrecaminos,” a plant known in Florida as Keys thoroughwort, for one’s future; “ruda” (common rue) to combat sneezing; and basil for skinny people. The last line of the chorus says, in reference to another plant: “And with that herb you can marry.”

In fact, many pharmaceutical prescriptions have their origin in medicinal herbs, says Simon Navarro, owner of 2000 HNC, a natural products store in east Tulsa.

Heartburn
Heartburn that arises just after enjoying a favorite food can be countered with papaya juice. “That fruit is the best remedy for heartburn,” said Graciela López, who was in Navarro’s store buying horsetail. “This is very good for tiredness.”

Sciatica
That intolerable back pain can be healed with a massage that uses a mix of ground ginger and sesame oil, Marina Hurtado said by way of Facebook. “My grandparents used that and it helped them a bit.”

Hiccups
That spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm has innumerable solutions such as scaring the patient, holding one’s breath, and pressing the abdomen and counting to 60. But for some the most effective is mint tea, “good and hot,” according to José Pereira, who says he regularly visits natural products stores. “Our grandmothers’ remedies contain much truth.”

Cough
Homemade recipes to stop a cough include an infusion of anise, hot milk with honey, sprinkling drops of thyme oil on a pillow, a glass of rum, or the unpalatable onion tea. “The nettle. There is nothing better for a cough than nettle,” said Laura Salazar, as she purchased a small bag of dandelion, an herb that is said to help with anemia.

And if you can’t find the herb you were looking for, then use the universal remedy that Hispanics turn to: Vicks VapoRub, and surely you will be cured.

Note: The above statements do not constitute any sort of medical advice. Please consult a specialist for treatment of your ailments.

Speaking Spanglish

Hispanics borrow words in English and transform them. For example, one might overhear someone saying in Spanish that their back hurts and hear the word “estrechear,” which takes the English word to “stretch,” adds an “ar” ending used to make a verb into an infinitive, and pronounces it in Spanish. 

Then there’s just pronouncing existing English words with Spanish sounds. For example: With the word “shopping,” the “sh” becomes “ch” and the vowel “o” as in “opus” and the “ping” is like “peen”. The “mall” with Spanish phonology is “mol” with the vowel from “old.”

Also, “junkyard” starts off with a “y” sound, goes on with the “on” from “only” and finishes, roughly, with the sound of the first three letters of the name “Karen.” With the English word “carpet,” the Spanish vowel “a” is added – even though the more common meaning of “carpeta” in formal Spanish is binder or folder. In “push” – as in push or punch the key on a phone – the “sh” in push becomes a “ch” and there is the addition of the ending “ale” (sounds like ah-leh), which is equivalent to the pronoun “it.” Thus, press or push it becomes “púchale.”

With Spanish phonology, “bills” (the kind we pay) becomes, roughly, bee-less, and a “ride” (in a car) gets a rolled “r” and the “d” sound is deleted to arrive at “rai” (rhymes with bye). The word “back” in the phrase “call me back” is (mis)translated literally as “atrás” – meaning behind.
So, is all that a language, a dialect or a strange mix of multiculturalism? In a word, that is Spanglish, a mix of Spanish and English.

For some, Spanglish represents the sure and irreversible result of bilingual societies. For others, it is an aberration, which is what it has been called several times by Víctor García de la Concha, former head of the Royal Spanish Academy, the institution that sets standards for Spanish, and by Humberto López Morales, secretary of the Association of Spanish Language Academies.

But for others Spanglish is a sort of lifeline, a means of adaptation, which slowly incorporates English phrases or words.

Meanwhile, despite the criticism, millions of people with knowledge of English and Spanish will continue using the popular creations: “Click” gets a Spanish pronunciation, plus the ending “ando” –equivalent to the “ing” that marks an English gerund or participle. Similarly, “chatting” becomes “cha” (with the vowel as in “ma”), plus “te” and “ando”; “mouse” pronounced in Spanish is be identifiable (although literally the rodent would be “ratón,”), and for “flirting,” “ando” is again attached to the base form of the verb to get: “flirteando” – with the neighbor.

Spanglish

To read: “Living in Spanglish”, Ed Morales

To view: “Spanglish”, Adam Sandler y Paz Vega 

Photos by Juan Miret 

Toys and Games from our youth

If you ever played with the ball-in-the-cup toys with names such as “balero, emboque, perinola” or “capirucho,” or if you flew a kite, known as “cometas, papalotes” or “papagayos,” or if you spent hours aiming at “canicas” or “metras” (marbles), or if you knocked down mangos with a slingshot known as a “resortera, gomera” or “china,” or if time was irrelevant as you played “escondite” (hide and seek) or “gallinita ciega” (blind man’s bluff) – then, without doubt, you were a Hispanic child.
These toys and games for some are a distant memory. For new generations, it is something that does not exist, something that should be in an archaeological museum. These games may not have the shine and sound of today’s new videos and laptops, but they come loaded with heritage and multiculturalism.
“The games are part of the culture and tradition,” say Gretel García and Eduardo Torrijos in their book “Traditional Mexican Games.” The authors say the games -- “gallina ciega, el patio de mi casa, la víbora de la mar” – which are equivalent to blind man’s bluff or singing or circle games such as Ring Around the Rosie – “and many others can be considered classic traditional Mexican songs, but above all as the most joyful and beautiful games that our children have enjoyed for years.”
Tomás García Blanco, author of the book, “To Play like We Played,” summarizes the need to reclaim the games of yesteryear in his introduction as “a simple idea to transmit memories of yesterday to today’s children."

Yesterday’s games
“Lotería,” a game like bingo, “is a game for the whole family,” Eleazar Delgado said in an e-mail, who explained that his uncle was the caller who would utter a phrase about an old woman and pozole that is often used to start the game.
"Rock, paper, scissors. The game of games,” Carlos Durán said via Twitter.
Miguel Estrada said by way of Twitter that his favorite game was “semana inglesa” (literally: English week), a game in which the days of the week are called out and a boy gets a kiss or a girl gives the boy a slap.
If you can, take a trip back in time, grab a top (known to you as “trompo, peón,” or “peonza”), spin it, and hold it in your hand – and if someone sees it, you’ll have a story to tell.

The art of creating Piñatas

Although some point to the Chinese as the inventors of the piñata, there is no doubt that the Spanish conquerors brought with them a tradition that is always present at birthdays and the Christmas parties known as “posadas.” 

“Piñatas make up part of our Hispanic culture and tradition; that’s how we celebrate,” said Julia Herrera on July 15 as she was making a piñata.

“Making them is an art that is passed down from generation to generation and over time it adapts to the changes.” As examples she gives the creation of a traditional seven-point star for a Christmas posada, or one of a cartoon-like character for a birthday.”

Herrera and her husband, Israel, run a workshop with family members north of Tulsa where they make 200 piñatas a week, which are distributed to Hispanic stores.

She said she learned the trade in her native state of Oaxaca in Mexico and has been making piñatas for 11 years.

“It's an art. Turning paper and cardboard into a star or an animated character is a very beautiful art,” said the artisan. “Of course, now there are tools that make the job much easier.” Some are made with a portion of clear plastic so one can see inside the piñata.

The time it takes to make a piñata depends on the type. “But it usually takes an hour,” said Herrera. “Once you start, you get fully into creating it, and suddenly you realize that you’re done.”

Herrera says December and summer are the times when piñatas are most in demand. “The rest of the year is a little slower.”

Her workshop becomes filled with hundreds of elves, fairies, soldiers and stars – and then every weekend it is empty, but with the knowledge that every Monday work will start again. “It’s a great experience to see all these piñatas that only a few days ago were paper and cardboard and now they can bring happiness to other people,” Herrera said. “That’s why I like what I do.”

Be it December, one’s “santo” (the Catholic saint’s day that corresponds to one’s name), or one’s birthday, do not forget to join in the ditty that is sung as people swing at the piñata, such as the one that encourages them to carefully assess the distance to the target and “hit it, hit it, hit it.”

Notes of interest

The traditional piñata with seven points has been linked to Catholic beliefs, suggesting that this type represents the seven deadly sins, and breaking it symbolizes the destruction of evil and the triumph of good.

During the Spanish colonial period, piñatas were made of clay, shaped like a pot and covered with colored paper, and they were usually filled with fruit.

The Museum of Folk Art of Mexico, located in the historic center of Mexico City, offers regular workshops about making piñatas.

The web site comohacerpinatas.com offers a virtual teacher who explains step by step how to make a piñata.

Photos by Juan Miret 

Serenades

Courtship, reconciliation, gratitude and celebration; those are just some of the reasons that will motivate a man to stand before a balcony, guitar in hand, and let loose a poetic melody in honor of his loved one. 

“Every serenade has something special, a unique meaning, a one-of-a-kind event,” Héctor Escutia, vocalist of the duo known as “Son Café,” said while getting ready with Mauricio Domínguez to perform in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Young people do not ask for too many serenades, but older, more long-lasting couples still enjoy something as romantic as a serenade.”

For Domínguez, the serenades or serenatas are “a way to keep our traditions alive,” and he said that “the new generations have much to learn from these customs.”

Escutia says one of the most requested songs is the ballad, “Tres Regalos,” (Three Gifts) which says: “Love me, because I think I now deserve you, because I was able to get you into my soul: your greatest altar.” Another, “Gema,” is also a favorite.

Perhaps the new generation of suitors will be inspired to use the serenades of the past.
And even though the song might be offered over the Internet, it will still carry the everlasting message found in the immortal song, “Motivos” (reasons or motives):

And I remain here
looking at you,
and finding in you so many reasons;
I conclude
that you are my best motive.

Photos by Juan Miret 

Eating fruits with spicy condiments

Can you imagine devouring a sweet tropical mango that has been sprinkled with salt, lemon juice, ground chile and “chamoy” – a sort of viscous sweet and sour sauce? 

For Hispanics, that is common, although for others that may not be so, says Sandra Alcántara, a cook at Antojitos Mexicanos, a food stand near Plaza Santa Cecilia, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“We Hispanics love that,” Alcántara said while preparing an assortment of tropical fruits with spicy seasonings. “For others, this is something new, very odd. They taste it carefully and then they like it a lot. “

For Alex Ojeda, a native of the Mexican coastal state of Quintana Roo, fruit with spicy additives takes him back to his homeland. “I come from the sea,” he said. “So when I eat my fruit with ‘picante,’ it’s like I’m in Cozumel.”

Alcántara, who is originally from the state of Michoacan in Mexico, has been working for a year at the fruit stand. “People eat it all the time,” she said. “When it is cold or hot, people ask for it.”

So, now you know: When eating a mango or a watermelon, enhance the flavor with some spicy ‘picante.’ 

Photos by Juan Miret