Tag: Mexican culture

Latino culture

A to Z Challenge Just Became More Challenging: W and X

Mona Alvarado Frazier

Today I’m listing two words in Spanish that beginning with W and X.

Why?

There are no native words in Mexican Spanish that begin with the letter W.

I wonder if that’s the case in other languages?

Most W words are English based, like “WiFi,” meaning wireless networks.

In a sentence, you’d hear someone say “Hay wifi?” translation, “Is there wifi?”

Wifi symbol, photo by rawpixel.com for unsplash.com

 

There are plenty of words that begin with X but most are proper nouns, Mayan or Nahuatl words. Such as:

Xavier, which is a male name,

or the infamous Xolo, short for Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced show-loh-eets-KWENT-lee) a pre-Columbian dog dating back 3,500 years.

The Xolo is featured in paintings by Frida Kahlo, whose husband Diego Rivera had as pets. The breed has been AKC registered since the late 1800’s.

Cute but not fluffy:

The Xoloitzcuintli

So, today’s challenge was short and sweet, like Wifi and Xolo.

See you Saturday and thanks for visiting.

Latino culture

A to Z Challenge: R is for Rana and a Rhyme

Mona Alvarado Frazier
Little tail of the frog. Photo by Jared Evans for unsplash.com

R is for Rana, a frog.

Anytime a kid in the neighborhood (under age 5) fell or got a cut his/her mother would rub or tap the area and sing this:

Spanish:
“Sana, sana, colita de rana,
y si no se cura ahorita, se cura mañana.”

In English, it’s confusing and doesn’t make sense.

“Healthy, healthy, little tail of a frog,
and if not cured now, cured tomorrow.”

 

As a kid, I wondered why the little tail of a frog was involved in a healing rhyme.

The frog tail portion may allude to folklore or tales of healing, involving a curandera’s (healer) use of “tail of frog,” or “eye of newt.”

The rhyme is not to be confused with this frog:

Not this frog. Photo by Jonathan Youssef for unsplash.com

 

I never thought to ask why my mom or aunts sang this song. I went with it and kept the song going with my own kids, puzzling another generation.

This rhyme is only for little kids. Once you hit five, if you fell, cut, or otherwise injured yourself you were expected to get up, dust yourself off, and keep going.