Melchor GarcíaApril 11

The owl and the night owl tell a person that they are probably going to die. For this reason if they sing close to the house the people take care of themselves, or, if they are sick, they seek a remedy. The owl is killed because it is “a witch” (“un brujo”).

Camilo Jiménez

If someone goes hunting in the mountain he smokes, because the smoke stupefies (hace “atontados”) the animals.

Silvestre CuevasApril 12, 13

Silvestre confirms the belief of Melchor; an owl sang a lot near the house of Silvestre before his wife died.

If a carpenter or a blue butterfly enters a house, they portend sickness or death.

The “witch bird” (“pájaro brujo”- tichiá) portends that a family member will be visiting.

If a chicken crows at night like a cock, “sooner or later into the sauce pan” (“luego, luego a la cazuela”): it is because it carries sickness or death.

One should not kill the black snake because she eats the deaf.

One should not look at the “Old Lion” (“leon viejo” - shaschí): it has only grey hair, and the hair of the person will become the same when looking at it.

One should not step on the excrement of the fox because one will get a cramp in the thigh, and though it doesn’t last long, it does hurt.

~April 13

One should not kill vultures because they were created “to clean the earth” (“para limpiar el mundo”). Silvestre knew of a belief in Tenango: if one throws a stone at a vulture all of his children will be girls.

~April 15

(If) a black snake encounters a sleeping person, spit in the mouth of that person and, afterwards, they will suffer an attack, but will always recover. Snakes have more venom when the moon is full because they lose and then change their rattles each time the moon is in conjunction.

Amador ServínApril 15

He verifies the influence of the moon, but believes it is on account of the moon, and not the snake.

Leonardo RonquilloApril 16

People may be “tigers,” “lions,” or “raccoons.” If a hunter shoots and kills one of these animals, then the person who has the spirit of that animal dies. Or if the animal is wounded the person becomes sick. If someone hurts all over, it’s most likely that his or her animal fell from a branch. A person may have the spirits of more than one type of animal. They live longer because if one animal is killed they survive through the lives of the other animals. Men, women, and children can have these spirits. There is the case of a drunken man who passed out in the forest—the drunk was a “tiger” and was cared for by a tiger of a lion (lions are feminine). The tiger carried the man very close to his house.

Silvestre CuevasApril 17

A man has two animals that are his best friends. The lion that protects him and the horse that carries him.

When a raccoon is killed a highlander dies. When I told Silvestre that we believe that a cat has nine lives, he replied, stupefied, “No, man!” (“¡No, hombre!”).

Leonardo Ronquillo

Once a woman from San Martín discovered, in a trap she had set, a bird with a paper in its beak “in the form of a ring” (“como sortija”). The paper had two numbers and some words in English. Leonardo considered this as something inexplicable and at the same time very significant.

Silvestre CuevasApril 19

Garlic makes deaf people crazy (“enloca”). People carry garlic with them when they go to the forest.

`April 24

Children are not born deformed. Their deformity occurs later, owing to the same wound in the little tiger or the little lion.

`April 25

A story. In the first years of the world the cat was the master of all the other animals, and taught them to hunt. Three of the cat’s students were brothers, the lion, the dog, and the opossum. The lion (a woman) was the first to practice her new knowledge and whistled twice to the dog. The dog came closer and was eaten by the lion. Later the lion, while you was walking along the road, came across the opossum, who standing in the road, shivering as if it were cold. The lion asked the opossum why it was shivering so much. The opossum answered that it was shivering out of sadness because he didn’t know where to find his brother, the dog. The opossum then asked the lion to do him the favor of carrying him on his shoulders. The lion accepted and the opossum climbed on. But the opossum complained that he was very cold and started to climb down until he grabbed the lion. Then the opossum fled into the forest with the lion chasing him. The opossum grabbed a crab, a snail, and a shrimp; carrying them along, he made for a spring on the mountain. When he arrived at the spring he threw the three creatures in and sat down on a palm tree that grew next to the spring. When the lion arrived at the spring, he asked the opossum why he was sitting there. He answered that he was “mourning” (“tristeando”) because his sadness would never end. The opossum asked the lion to sit by his side to watch the dance in the spring. The opossum grabbed a firm hold of a branch on which the lion approached. The lion sat on the palm and slid down into the depths of the spring, where he remains until this day.

`April 26

On the feast day of St. John the Baptist it’s possible to do away with leaf cutting ants (that commonly eat lemon trees) by striking the earth where their nest is located 400 times. “The mother” (“La mamá”) then leaves and takes all the rest of them with her. Then seedlings of dwarf banana are planted over the nest so that the colony does not return. After doing so the person must remain celibate for 16 days.

Leonardo RonquilloApril 27

In another era, when the peacock did not have beautiful clothing and the potoo did [Northern potoo, Nyctibius jamaicenis, a nocturnal bird known for its camouflaged plumage], the peacock asked the potoo to lend his clothing for one night to go to a dance. The potoo accepted, and the peacock exchanged his clothing. But after the dance the peacock was so enchanted with his resplendent clothes that he did not come back to the potoo. For this reason one always finds the potoo waiting on the side of the road for the peacock to pass by.

Silvestre CuevasApril 29

In the first days of the world the birds went to school to learn how to sing. Spring learned most quickly, and even the dead can hear her song. After God sent a flood of 40 days and 40 nights, he sent some of his angels to earth to verify if there were still people alive. But the angels did not return to advise God. So god sent a white dove to the earth in order to find out what happened with them. When the dove arrived it saw that all the angels were devouring the cadavers. In its sadness in seeing all of this, the dove began to sing “cucurucu,” the same song it sings to this day. So it is that the dove returned to report the news to God, and the Angels stayed on earth. For this reason there are vultures.

Melchor GarcíaMay 2

Tigers protect women, and lions, men.