Camilo JiménezApril 13

One should cut wood or palm leaves from the time that the moon begins to wane until the new moon, so that it “does not bite” (“no se pica”). One exception is oak, which one should cut when the moon this is full and the bark “loose” (“suelta”).

Once a sugar miller from Ixcatlan came to San Martín and began to build his sugar mill. He set the posts in the corners first—something he should never have done. “Soon thereafter he sickened and died” (“Luego luego se enfermó y se murió”).

One should never dig a grave before a person has died, because an open grave is not good. Many people will die immediately.

Camilo JiménezApril 15

The light of St. John is blue; it increases and decreases. They make (cast) money, so when someone finds money there; it’s always brilliant and shining, as if it were new. “This is certain!” (“¡Eso sí es cierto!”) There’s also lots of money in the graveyard, but no one is adventurous enough get it.

Leonardo RonquilloApril 16

When a married man speaks with a deaf person while his wife is pregnant, and if the signs of the deaf person “don’t sit well” (“no le caen bien”) with the man and he gets angry, the child will be deaf.

In addition to being tigers, etc., people can be roads, rocks, or trees.

Camilo Jiménez

In Cabeza Tilpan “Head Tilpan” (or Paso Campana [“Bell Pass”]) one can hear the peals of bells from the water. At noon one hears the crows of roosters.

Silvestre Cuevas, Melchor García

An earthquake happens when Christ, who holds up the earth with a finger, gets tired and switches the world to another finger. An earthquake is also caused when the waves of the ocean move in various directions and collide against each other.

Columbus gave birth to Mexico. “There were no people before. “ (“No había gente antes.”) There was nothing more than savages who dressed in feathers, slept in trees and caves, and ate raw meat.

When Christ was born, the sun, moon, and the dawn appeared as well. Before that everything was in darkness. The animals, that before were all mute, began to speak: the rooster crowed, the burro brayed, and all the other animals sang in their own way. When a meteorite passes in the sky, a person dies, “whoever it may be, according to his fate” (“cualquier, según su suerte”). There is no remedy.

Silvestre Cuevas

He had heard that the Viceroy lives 300 years. He wanted to know if the Viceroy was “almost a Christ” (“casi un Cristo”).

He had heard that gringos (North Americans) live forever.

Melchor García

In another age all people spoke the same language. One day the elders decided that they wanted to go to the sky to see what it was like. They called a meeting to determine the best means of getting there. After listening to various ideas, one of them suggested that they build a wall of stone. They did so, and they were just about to reach the sky when all of a sudden everyone started to speak differently. No one understood what everyone else was saying, and for this reason they were unable to finish the construction.

Silvestre CuevasApril 26

Creation of the Moon– Once San José was walking in the street with a little sparrow perched on his little staff. The little black sparrow (sp. Spizeates, common in hot country) fluttered into the air, sang, and then returned to the staff. The daughter of a Jew was passing and asked San José to give her the bird so it would be able to sleep in her navel. San José agreed and the Jew went to her house with the bird. The bird slept in her navel, but with the passage of time the girl became pregnant and two eggs were born. The girl’s mother went to the river to throw away the eggs. She did this but a priest and a rector, who were in the river, found the eggs and saved them. Two people emerged from the eggs. The priest brought the people to a house. But it happened that the mother of the Jew found them there and asked their names. They told her they were named Moon and Sun. When the youngsters walked through the streets they wrote and painted three crosses wherever they went. The Jew, with a lot of nerve, asked why they did this. They answered that each cross stood for one person. But in truth the three crosses were one. The Jew told them that they were very wicked children, but they answered her: “You will see who wins in life after death” (“Ud. va ver quién ganará en la vida después de la muerte”). These people then bounced a rubber ball with great force. The ball disappeared in the sky before returning to earth. And these (two) people told the Jew in triumph, “You cannot even see where the ball goes, but as for us, yes, we can see.” (“Ud. ni puede ver hasta donded llegó la pelota, pero nosotros, sí, lo vemos.”) The Jew took the ball from the moon and killed the moon. Then the Jew put on a celebration, with food and dance. She ate the moon and threw the bones on the earth. But the dogs gathered all the bones and piled them up, with the exception of the head, which stayed in the pot. The sun told a dog that all that was missing was the head. The dog answered that if the Sun would play another piece he would bring the head. And so it was done. Then Christ blessed the bones, but explained that a heart was needed. Christ requested that an animal with two hearts come to sit on the mountain. But they were unable to find such an animal. Then the rabbit, who did not have two hearts, but was very brave, offer to take a seat, contributing it’s own heart. Christ blessed the bones again and so brought life to the moon.

Explanation –only the heart gives birth, everything else is pure bone. One can see the rabbit in the full moon. It is seated, eating a chili plant. (Rabbits destroy a lot of hot chilies.) A bone is like a mirror. The sun has the light of gold, the moon in the light of silver.

To avoid hunger (literally “want”-- “carestía”), one hangs up in the house a corncob with white, black, and yellow kernels, or yellow and black kernels, or white and yellow kernels.

RML

I have seen corncobs hanging in the houses of Placido Cecilio and Antonio Antonio. One day there was no corncob in the house of Placido. I am asked about it and he answered that he planted it in the cornfield.

Leonardo Ronquillo, Norberto TorresApril 27

When Christ was born the rulers from all over the world went to give him gifts. People from elsewhere, gringos and others, brought him flowers, whereas we brought him money. For this reason you (gringos) are rich and we are poor.

Silvestre CuevasApril 29

One should not eat avocados or scaly custard apples when drinking café con leche— the people say, “It’s poisonous.” (“Se envenena.”)

Silvestre knows the story of Noah’s Arc, but instead of saying God he says Christ. Noah tells Christ when the arc is ready, and then Christ sends the water. The part about the dove and the [olive] branch is not known.

Story—Silvestre does not remember well how the story begins. Many years ago the world burned up, leaving a man and the dog. Gods told the dog, a female dog, that she should wear a dress when the man was not there. The dog, seeing that the man was leaving with a dress on his arm, followed him, grabbed the dress and left. The dogs returned to the house, put on the dress, and made tortillas. When the man came home he found that dinner has been made but only the dog was in the house. The following days were the same, until the man became suspicious and hid himself near the house instead of going to the field. When he saw that the dog put on a dress, the man returned home and slept with the dog. For this reason people say that we are descendants from dogs.

When one dies there is a black dog that carries you to the other side of the river.

The black dog can never dirty its “clothing” (“ropa”). One cannot hit a dog because this is under the command of the “God of Death” (“Dios de la Muerte”). There is also a white dog. But this dog never carries people to the other side of the river because it said that it doesn’t want to dirty its “clothing” (“ropa”) carrying people. [Here “clothing” means the dog’s fur.]

Melchor GarcíaMay 3

The story of the dog wearing a dress only refers to people from Soyaltepec.

Leonardo RonquilloMay 7

On the peak of Rabón Hill there is a lake with very clear water and many fish. In the center of the lake there is a tree of gold that produces all the flowers of the world. This well is “The Head of the Sea” (La Cabeza del Mar”). Once a parish priest went to bless the water, but he never returned. A woman also went to gather the fish, but she did not return either.

From the top of Rabón Hill one can see the United States.

Jalapa de Díaz; Cerro Rabón

Jalapa de Díaz; Cerro Rabón

When lightning touches the earth, it leaves a little stone, obsidian.

Sometimes a shaman uses it to cause evil-- he speaks over the obsidian, repeating then name of the person against whom he wishes to direct a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt strikes the house of that person and destroys everything.

Arcadio ServínMay 8

When a person approaches the lake on Rabón Hill, the water begins to boil, and a fierce wind begins to blow so that no one can get there.

Silvestre CuevasMay 9

The tree on Rabón Hill has roots uncle that extend to Otitlán. This tree produces seven kinds of flowers. About a century ago the parish priest went there to bless the water and is still there now.