Growing up alternatively spiritual (Part 2)

More memories, plus some traditional Mexican recipes for comfort food!

This is a continuation of a new mini-serial about what it was like growing up with a curandera for an Abuelita. Today, I will continue talking about Abuelita’s house as well as go into what she enjoyed doing for special occasions. Or, you can jump to the bottom for more traditional Mexican recipes — this time, we’re covering comfort foods!

You can read “Growing up alternatively spiritual” (Part 1)” here:

Growing up alternatively spiritual (Part 1)

A couple of notes/corrections I want to add from Part 1:

• After reading Part 1, my brother recalled Abuelita’s customers hanging out in the living room and very astutely made a reference to “the waiting couch.” I like that!

• Sonia, my cousin, and my Mom have corrected me about how many siblings Abuelita had — the correct number is 15! But 11 made it to adulthood. Thanks, you two!

Her back room

That’s what we called it because simply, it was a room in the back of the house. It wasn’t the family room, or the den, nor the rec room. Maybe in someone else’s house it would have been the guest room but at my Abuelita’s house, this idea of an extra room was refashioned to serve a truly unique purpose.

I’ll never forget the serious energy that room held. There were no windows, the only natural light came from a door that let out to the backyard. Littered about was a large framed photograph of Jesus Christ, a religious figurine or two, a good sized crucifix hanging on the wall, and what felt like hundreds of tall votive candles. Some of the candles had saints on them, but sometimes they were just different colors. They lived on the biggest homemade altar you ever did see. In the corner, there was always tall stacks of foldable chairs (when not in use). And at the base of the altar, all of her supplies.

What did Abuelita use that back room for, you may be wondering? Well, there’s kind of no other way to put it — the back room served as a sort of temple. It functioned as a sacred space filled with classic Roman Catholic iconography (the Mexican variety, of course) nestled neatly alongside her curandera supplies for ceremony.

Yes, she led ceremonies in the back room. About once a month, a very large group of her customers would descend on the house and they would all gather in the back room for a kind of service. They never went through the house but entered through the backyard, through that door I mentioned.

Did I ever participate in these ceremonies? Funny enough, no.

Did I ever hear them from the living room? Oh, absolutely.

Did I ever watch her perform these ceremonies? Alas, no. It was the one time I was discouraged from going back there or getting near Abuelita. If there was a ceremony going on, I was firmly told not to interrupt her or the ceremony in any fashion. Oh, but sometimes I was just so curious.

I definitely stole a peak every now and then. (Don’t tell my Mom.) I may even, once, have stepped into the back room during the end of a ceremony? — but I think this was only so that I could get a limpieza (cleansing). There was always a limpieza portion to the ceremony and it was always at the end. I think?

A lot of the supplies she used were household items or stuff from the backyard — pots and pans, fruit and branches from the trees, matches. And then, there were other supplies she used which, to this day, I have no idea from where she sourced them. Scented oils, small prayer books, pungent salves, etc.

Heads up, if you Google or look up curanderismo on YouTube, you will find a variety of different expressions of this type of traditional folk healing.¹ I have not actually seen anyone else practice like my Abuelita did. I have a feeling that when she moved to the US, she had to make do with whatever materials were available to her. And furthermore, like all good healing arts practitioners, she used local items and plants because health is always situated in place. A healer learns about the illnesses and maladies specific to a region in order to be the most effective, at least this is what I have learned in my studies and research.

For your consideration:

In any case, I miss her house as much as I miss her. That house felt so comforting, safe, and rejuvenating. It probably also helped that Abuelita would energetically cleanse the whole house periodically by burning incense in a thurible. God, she was great. She thought of everything!

Special occasions

I realized I don’t want to spoil all the details just yet what with the fall and winter holidays coming up! So, I will keep this section brief if only to give you a proper deep dive later. Hope that’s okay with you.

In general, special occasions (birthdays, holidays, etc.) always had:

• everyone you’ve ever met or were related to in attendance

• lots of loud Mexican music blaring

• too much food, like way too much food

• games and/or a piñata to destroy

• extra large pots of food or hot beverages still simmering on her stove

• dancing

• and if it was a religious-based event, prayer — this usually involved praying the Rosary²

Have you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)? — Yeah, the scene where she invites her future-in-laws to have dinner at her parent’s house? Uh huh. Abuelita’s parties were like that.

Recipes

Here is a short list of comfort foods that you could always find at Abuelita’s. This doesn’t even take into account all the goodies from the baskets on the kitchen table or the overstuffed shelves in the pantry. If you are looking to expand your repertoire of cozy meals this fall and winter, give these traditional Mexican dishes a try!

[Confession: I have not made most of these recipes myself but I trust this recipe blog. Her descriptions and photographs confirm that her recipes were what my family cooked and baked, too.]

• Sopa de fideo - ah, the soup of my childhood.

• Avena - this was the only version of oatmeal I ate growing up, and in a mug no less! It wasn’t until much later in life did I find out that the rest of the world made oatmeal differently — and served it in a bowl.

• Sopa de letras - another simple but classic soup, great for kids.

• Menudo - I can’t order menudo at a restaurant because of how perfect my Abuelita’s menudo was. It’s also one of those dishes I wouldn’t dare make myself, but maybe one day.

My Mom and my aunts have a lot of good traditional recipes, too. I’ll sure to share those with you as well in the future!

Thanks for reading this chiquito serial about growing up as a grandchild of a curandera! Join me for Part 3 when I talk about how limpiezas (cleansings) played a memorable role in my childhood. For now, I hope you enjoy the recipes!

Unrelated, this will be my 8th day of posting in a row! (I’ve never done that before.) Hooray! Thanks for celebrating the inaugural week of this newsletter with me. I so appreciate your readership and support.

And if you celebrate both days, wishing you a lovely Día de Muertos!

With cariño,

Maribel

1. The hybrids of folk healing that include curanderismo, and the variety of modalities within curanderismo itself result in a multitude of expressions. It’s pretty cool!

2. Wait till I tell you about what we did for Christmas, oh boy…