Mexican-American Folklore

By John O. West

Book Overview

Mexican-American traditions are richly nourished by the folkways of three cultures: Indian, Spanish, and Mexican.

This comprehensive look at the Mexican-American world includes a range of traditional proverbs, riddles, stories and folksongs; folk narrative, from Pancho Villa to urban ghosts, saints to revolutionaries; customs, from household shrines to irrigation rituals to charreadas, or Mexican-style rodeos; children's games, home remedies, folk foods, crafts, dress, and more.

Besides its wide range of folk genres, Mexican-American Folklore is also broad-ranging in space--it covers the entire American Southwest, and in time, it includes material from several generations back, as well as very recent adaptations of customs to modern life. These stories teach readers the importance of courage, resourcefulness and respect for Mexican-American traditions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874830591
• ISBN13: 9780874830590
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: August House Publishers
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 7

Customer Reviews

Mexican-American Folk Expression

The final chapter of this book is subtitled "A Little bit of Everything." That would also make a good subtitle for this entire volume of folklore that reflects Mexican heritage in America. The book has good folktales and legends from Mexican-American culture, but these texts comprise only a small portion of the interesting volume. There are good chapters on Mexican-American folk speech, proverbs, riddles, ballads and folksong, and folk poetry. The book moves beyond many compilations to include good chapters on folk drama, dance, traditional games, foodways, folk art, and vernacular architecture. The presentation of these forms of folklore is interesting, and West also includes good discussions that place the genres and folk expressions within cultural and historical contexts. It's a good source for general readers who wish to learn a bit about Mexican-American culture, and the supplemental materials and extensive bibliography will appeal to those who wish to delve into a more in-depth understanding of the subject.

Mexican-American Folklore

I just bought this book for Father's Day. It includes many well known folktales, folklore, sayings, and stories from the Hispanic culture - many I had forgotten from my youth. Very interesting.