How do you know you’re Mexican American? While not all Mexican American experiences are the same, there is a universality so common to our culture that you can’t help judge them as indicators! You know you’re Mexican American if…
If you’re Mexican American, then you grew up on your parents preparing a meal that was always complemented with a tortilla! Any meats for dinner like carne, chorizo, and even beans. Sometimes, people eat tortillas with non-Mexican meals like meatloaf!
If you don’t get offered tortilla as part of your meal, it’s probably because it already is your meal! There’s no shortage of accommodation for this beloved Mexican classic.
One thing the older generation of Mexicans (well, any older generations, really) don’t understand is the lucrative options of streaming and cable. Instead, they’ll go back to watching El Chavo del Ocho, a very old but classic Mexican sitcom. If you grew up in a traditional Mexican household, you’ve seen your parents play this show on tv at any time of the day. They grew up with it so they’ll put it on any chance they’ll get!
This section goes out to the first-generation Mexican Americans, who are always hearing about how tough their parents’ and grandparents’ lives were either before coming to America or fitting in America. Whether it’s a story about your grandparents’ language barrier or your dad’s life of poverty, they will always remind you of how easy and taken for granted your life is.
And hey, maybe it is, but it doesn’t mean we’re never grateful!
The ultimate weapon of justice (or punishment, depending on your view), the chancla was just a makeshift disciplinary tool consisting of a sandal and the sheer vindication of a scorned elder. Hell hath no fury like a parent or guardian’s wrath!
Whatever trouble or harm your ten-year-old self brought forth into this world, the chancla was always sure to be near.
Waking up on a Sunday morning to Mexican music always meant one dreaded thing: cleaning day. Your mother and/or father will be spending all day sweeping, moping, dusting, and washing every nook and cranny of your house. You either spend the day cleaning up your home or you go out and help out with chores and tasks that need to be done for the oncoming week, like grocery shopping.
Either way, the smell of Pine-Sol and the blaring of Corridos music is a good indicator that you will not be having a relaxing day.
The older generations of Mexican Americans were from a time when having many children was a necessary way of living. Some decades later in our modern period, many of those children went on to have their own children and now the immediate family is big and bustling!
So, if your family consists of five tías and three tíos and a dozen cousins just from your mother’s side… well, at least holiday gathering won’t ever be boring!
Going to family parties knowing the type of music you’re going to expect is a good marker to know you’re truly Mexican American. Parties will be blasting corridos and mariachi and ranchera music genres all night long! There’ll be musical variety depending on the family and locale, but the universality of most Chicano families is…
You can never escape Daddy Yankee.
This is our Mexican Boogey Man! The legend of La Llorona is such a common campfire tale that it’s been told and retold for several generations. In fact, it’s so common that the people who tell you are usually your family themselves!
In a way, it’s a weird cultural induction for young Chicanos everywhere. It is such a uniquely Mexican tale that if you’re not utterly terrified by, you at least admire it.
There’s no way to spend the holidays without tamales if you’re Mexican American! Tamales come out in the late fall and winter seasons, so they’re made around Halloween to Día de Muertos and all the way through New Year’s Day. They’re a seasonal delicacy that comes in many recipes to satisfy any Chicano tastebuds!
Listen, we Mexicans are a superstitious lot. Blame that on our parents beating us over the head with religious consequences. Talkback to your elders? God punishes you. Have sex before marriage? The Devil has corrupted your soul. Question religion? You might as well preorder your ticket to Hell while you’re at it!
Girls in Mexican households are expected to be on top of their chores a lot more so than the boys. If you’re a girl and think your brother(s) get more free passes on chores than you, you’re probably right. Your brother could wash a single dish after not doing them for two weeks and he’s showered with praise. You do it, and it’s just expected of you.
While girls also have stricter rules to follow, boys are expected to play into the machismo stereotype. So that means no showing emotions, no crying, no showing vulnerability of any kind! Truly our gender performative traumas bond us closer!
Being Mexican American means you have a very intimate relationship with Catholicism… for better or for worse. First-generation Chicanos in America have this in abundance, especially when their parents come from a different time in Mexico, a largely religious country.
The newer generations living in the United States means participating in culturally diverse spaces, leading to many young Chicanos reevaluating their Catholic upbringings!
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