My Family Background Of Monte Grande

Family Background
Being a Latina in 2017 has given me a unique perspective and a different outlook on my culture. I was born and raised in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States when I was five years old. I consider my family to be rich in tradition and culture although we have assimilated into the American Culture. Over the past generations, my family has lived in the same small town of Monte Grande, in our home state of Guerrero on the southern region of Mexico. With a population less than 400, this small town was very limited in all aspects. In Monte Grande there is no middle class, there is either wealthy or poor. Half of the student will not make it pass elementary school and have no possibility to even attend middle or high
school. You see, there is only one school; an elementary school. The nearest middle and high school are in the nearest town, which is about a 45 min walk. My parents both fell to the working class. My father 1 of 10 and my mother 1 of 8 were both only able to achieve a fifth grade education. My dad had to help weed the lands and my mother had to attend the animals. Unfortunately, education was not the biggest priority, not dying of hunger was. Most of the post education my parents received was from their work in the land and the transactions they took on a daily basis. My father was one of the oldest and therefore had a commitment to his family to help out as much as he could to facilitate and make work less complex. My mother had a unique upbringing. Although she came from a numerous family herself, she was raised by her grandparents and not her mother. From generation to generation my family dedicated their life to the farm, whether that was tending the fields or tending the animals there hadn’t been a time outside the fields. Being farmers was their occupation, planting their crops and selling their goods was their only income. Both my parents lived in poverty but considering their life they managed to get by and strive for a better future. After my parents married, they decided to leave everything behind and move to the city for a better life. For approximately 10 years my father worked for Coca Cola in Mexico City. Although he was working for a major world company, he was scraping by, working the night shifts and being the head of the household for my family. We were living paycheck to paycheck and as years passed he realized he couldn’t give us everything he wanted if he kept his daily job. That year, he took a decision of a lifetime and decided he would immigrate to the United States to pursue a better life for his growing family. Leaving his family behind was going to be difficult, risking it all for a better future.
Traditions/Holidays
As a strong Latina, my family has given me the opportunities to dive into my culture and celebrate some memorable dates. Perhaps the most celebrated tradition my family celebrates is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every December 12th my family makes it a day to celebrate. From dusk to dawn it is an all day celebration. It is a tradition to go to mass just as the sun is rising singing her “mananitas,” the Spanish word meaning morning. We join the multitude of people who join the choir and ask or show her appreciation. Since the Virgin of Guadalupe is a national Mexican patron the entire country is at celebration. We all celebrate her appearance to a saint named Juan Diego who shows everyone her appearance. The Virgin Mary is one of the most important saints in the catholic religion. My mother is a strong believer, and even named my older sister after her as she experienced a difficult patch in her pregnancy. As she laid in bed rest, she prayed to virgin of Guadalupe for a miracle of a safe arrival and in exchange would name her unborn child after her, regardless if it was a male or female. With a perfectly safe arrival, my family takes the time to celebrate this memorable date.
El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead);this day is set to honor the close ones that have passed. Every year on November 2nd we set out a small table, normally covered with fine colors and pictures that resembled our loved ones. It is very common to see candy in the shape of skulls and other foods. Decorations are a big part of the celebration, to sit and say a silent pray for our loved ones. This day brings us together to remember my brother who passed away being one month old. We celebrate his presence and we believe by setting water and leaving food out he will not be hungry or thirsty.
Decisions/ Gender Roles
In my family my father has the authority over all. In the Mexican culture it is common to see the father as the head of the household. As far as childrearing my mother was well responsible of this duty, growing up in the United States my parents worked day and night giving full responsibility of our care to my older brother who was thirteen at the time. My older sister who is a year older was responsible in helping me with my homework and preparing food for us. In my house both of my parents work and provide everything that is needed. Not only does my dad help with cooking but also helps with the maintenance of the house. The rest of us split chores among ourselves. As a family we need to keep a close bond on not discriminate or play any type of gender roles. It was hard to accomplish in a Mexican household since the men were seen as “machistas” (man who always want to be in control). Growing up I would always ask my mother why my brother was given the privilege of going out and not having a strict curfew like us girls. Her response was. “He’s a guy he knows how to take care of himself and if anything happens to him he will know how to protect himself”. In her eyes girls are always the first victims of rape and assault in any case. That being said the house rule my sister and I were very limited into going out.
Incident of Discrimination
English was my second language, learning how to speak it well was very hard.
I was placed out of the ESOL department and was put in monolingual classes. I vividly remember a classmate made my second grade experience horrible, every morning she would come and tell me I belong to the other classroom. Putting my head down I knew she meant the ESOL class which had mainly Latino kids. I didn’t realize how much that impacted me; she didn’t know how difficult it was for me to be at the same educational level as them. I was brought from Mexico I was still learning how to adapt to everything around me, it didn’t really get to me that much but one time she started telling me things about my family. I would always try to sit the furthest from her but it never stopped her from making horrible comments. There was a time when we had to draw our family, she was my partner and we had to share crayons she took all and only gave me the brown, white and black crayons. I excused myself while I cried in the restroom. At the time I didn’t know how to handle the situation and saw myself as the target, now I’m proud of my culture and I don’t let discriminator comments get to
me.
Difference of Race
Growing up I didn't see a difference in race.
I was almost always spending time with the kids in my neighborhood. I never recall asking myself why other kids were a different shade. But my parents didn’t see it the same way; since they worked for different races they saw people different. Middle school was when I first started hearing the race jokes from my peers. At first it was just jokes and funny but as I got older it became more offensive. One day my older brother was known to be dating a girl from another race and that's when I realize that not everyone was seen as datable in our family. I've had friends of different race and they were always welcomed in my house but somehow I knew it would be different if it was more than a friendship with them. It was not that my parents/family was discriminating; I think it was more that they were scare of change. Being victim of discrimination my parents felt like it would be safe for us to stay with the same race. Fearing that we would be discriminated the same way they
were.
Practices and Beliefs
Growing older I choose to believe that I have kept a lot of my family beliefs when it comes to religion. I still strongly have belief on the same religious holidays and in the catholic faith, that I've always known. I've learned to cook the same meals and practice the same values. I have also made some new practices. For my future children I plan to make them feel the same as others, teach them that everyone is the same, and that it doesn’t depend on their skin color.