Questions for Natasha

J

Jo Anne

Guest
Hi, Natasha! After reading your response to Amanda, I was very interested in a couple of things that you said. I study Spanish and am fascinated by the DR. Would you tell me what the phrase is, in Spanish, that you say to your parents to ask for their blessing? I thought that is such a beautiful way to greet parents. Secondly, in the DR, is there a day similar to el D?a de los Muertos in Mexico? You mentioned the candles lit for the deceased on their birthdays/date of death. Thanks!
 
N

Not Natasha

Guest
The phrase is:"La bendici?n Mam?" or Pap? as the case may be.

Same as the States: All Souls Day beginning of Novenber.

By the way, this phrase is usually used in the countryside and in the lower social strata of the society. Middle and upper levels are too "modern" to use it, although al the little children are taught to say it.

In the San Juan Valley in the central mountains, it is customary for the Compadres to kneel and ask for a blessing from their Compadres: "La bendici?n, Compai" "Que Dios te bendiga, mi Compadre"

Hope this helps.
 
J

Jo Anne

Guest
Thank you! I had visited Mao and when I walked through the town, the people would say to me, "Que Dios te bendiga" because they knew that I was visiting my sponsored child. It was very touching to have strangers say that to me.
 
N

Natasha

Guest
Hillbilly wrote: "By the way, this phrase is usually used in the countryside and in the lower social strata of the society. Middle and upper levels are too "modern" to use it, although all the little children are taught to say it."

Thanks for answering as I have been away from the board all weekend. Anyway, just wanted to correct you on what said above. This phrase has nothing to do with social class or urban vs. rural. ALL children regardless are taught to greet their parents in that way. I think what you have today is more of a generational "gap" in that the younger people feel like they are too "cool" to greet their parents that way. There are also variations of the phrase. For example, some people shorten it (we do in my family), for instance instead of saying "bendicion mami" we just say "'cion mami".

Regards,
Natasha
 
Y

Yve

Guest
You are right of the money. When I was little I was taught to say "cion Mami and Papi" before I went to bed. It was not only limited to my mother and father. It was to all my family members. "cion tia" "cion tio" etc. My father has 13 brothers and sisters, imagine the mouthful i have to say when the family gets together.
 
K

Keith

Guest
Natasha,

I don't know if I agree that it's a generation gap thing. My wife's family has quite a generational spread (oldest nearly 100, youngest just a few months), and half of it comes from the capital and half from the countryside (Duverge, Independencia province). They ALL ask for the blessing, although it's true that some of the younger ones are not so demonstrative about it, especially when their friends are around. I was always told that if you were "raised correctly" (i.e., polite, well-mannered), the blessing is asked of all parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts and uncles when you first see them. My wife certainly always does. I picked up the habit. I notice it immensely pleases my suegra and tias every time I do it, but it freaked out my tios (still not clear why, although my wife explained it once), so I stopped doing it to them. Our kids, which you know are fully bicultural/bilingual, have picked up the habit and I must admit that I kinda like it when they come every night and say "bendicion Papi" and I reply "Que Dios te bengida, mi amor!"
Regards,
Keith
 
N

Natasha

Guest
Hi Keith,

You've said it better than I did. I agree with you.

Regards,
Natasha