RE: [ranchos] Margarita's rememberance of Jerez, Zacatecas

[Irma GomezLucero <igomezlucero@...>]

I envy you Linda.  I tried to get my dad and family in Mexico to take me to the cemetery where my grandmother was buried.  My dad interrupted and refused to take me there.  His response was, "Why do you want to go to a place where everyone is dead when you have all of these live relatives?"  Okay how do you respond when your "live" relatives are staring at you.  Enjoying history, I have always "enjoyed" going to cemeteries because there is so much history there.  No, I don't like funerals though.  Next time I will go on my own even if I have to walk there.

Along the same vein...  a few years ago, I was asked to do a cultural presentation of sorts to my daughter's class around Halloween.  I decided to build "un altar" for El Dia de los Muertos.  When I asked my parents about this custom, they said, " We don't do that.   Once we bury our dead, we go to church have Masses said for them, pray for them, but we don't hang out at cemeteries."  I actually had to do research on the custom which more a combination of Indigenous beliefs coupled with Catholocism.  I felt this was a wonderful way to honor your family which has passed away.  I built an "altar" to my grandparents.  I had my daughter explain what every item meant to my grandparents.  Her classmates were surprised to find out that she had never met my abuelitos.  My goal was to remind these children to talk to their grandparents, ask them questions about themselves, etc., before it was too late.  It was an awsome experience for all.

Tonight I will see my folks, and plan to ask them more about cemeteries in Mexico.  I didn't know they buried individuals on top of others.  Yep, I have more homework to do before I visit the cemeteries in Mexico. 

Irma

 

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From: Erlinda Castanon-Long [mailto:longsjourney@...]
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 10:13 AM
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ranchos] Margarita's rememberance of Jerez, Zacatecas

The whole idea of death in the District of Jerez is different than here stateside.  I wanted to visit all the cemeteries I'd found in the research records.  Our host could not understand my desire to go to cemeteries, he said the past was the past!  He did take us to the cemetery in Los Aros/Los Haros, I found all the names I have been researching clear back to the 1750's.  One could almost feel the ancestors... I also went to the cemetery in El Durazno.  They absolutely refused to take me to Panteon de los Dolores in Jerez, they said enough was enough...

 

 I did notice in Jerez that coffins are sold in shops that display them in the window, that was kinda shocking to me. They said when someone dies they have to be buried within 24 hours since they don't embalm.  In El Durazno they have the "viewing" in the home then go to the church for the service and then carry the coffin on their shoulders,complete with Mariachi's if they can afford them, and walk the 1/2 mile to the cemetery in a procession.  I found lots of huge marble monuments but all cemeteries were badly neglected because they don't like to go their unless it's to bury someone.. they do not go to visit and pay respects. Everyone in El Durazno paid for the land for a cemetery 20 years ago and when a family member  dies they are "prepaid" for burial.

 

The burial practices were different in the old days too.  They would put up to 5 people in each grave, removing the bones to the foot of the grave and then putting the new 'box' as it was described to me... I was standing over a neglected Alcala grave and noticed something round so I bent over to pick it up, turned out to be a leg bone much to my surprise.. After getting over the shock I moved some dirt, reburied the bone and said a prayer for the ancestors and me!

I would highly recommend visiting an ancestral homesite if it's ever possible, it's very humbling and highly emotional to walk the ground your ancestors lived on.

Linda

zendean <usa20@...> wrote:

Margarita;
    My great grandfather and ggmother were from Jerez, Zacatecas. I wonder,
is it a big town ? Francisco Macias and his wife Leonarda Ramirez are and
have always been a mystery to me. My Aunt told me that they visited them in
Zacatecas when they were little and that the Macias's lived on a farm there.
    I wonder if you know some one that is there now that I can correspond
with to ask about them.

Jose Macias
usa20@...




----- Original Message -----
From: "Margarita Vallazza" <TeaCozyGran@...>
To: <ranchos@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:51 AM
Subject: Re: [ranchos] FOOD:Mole/Pipian/Genealogy


> My dad's mother was from Jerez, Zacatecas, and she died just before my
> sixth birthday so I don't have a lot of mem! ories of her but here's one
> or two:
>
> I remember her fixing something called atole, which I didn't like, but
> remembering it from a fog of some years' distance, I would say it's a
> healthy drink.  She also had prunes in her oatmeal, so when I'd pop in
> to visit her in the morning and she had some, I'd be served a dish of
> it and enjoy it.  I liked it better than my mother's porridge (which I
> realize now was a true Scots dish).  At special times, don't know what
> they were, Abuelita would have capirotada, which I didn't like too
> well.  Remember, I was just a kid!:)
>
> I'll have to think about some more food...some of it was just the food
> from northern Mexico that my grandfather liked--he was from Chihuahua
> city.
>
> I wish I had had the blessing of more time with my grandmother, maybe I
> would have learned things about her family in Zacatecas.&n! bsp; I believe
> even she didn't know a lot about her family history and I say that
> because my Tias, dad's sisters, don't know much about their mother's
> life in Zacatecas.  I'm the one who told my Tia Carmen that my abuelita
> had a full sister named Paula, a full brother named Jose (who died in
> 1919)  and 2 half-sisters and a half-brother...they never knew!  People
> in the old country NEVER discussed anything private.  Marge:)
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
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>

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