Excerpts from Cosas de mi pueblo by Ermilo Abreu Gómez
Translated by Colin Gee
Paper for letters
The paper for letters is sold in the general and dime stores. For lovers they have special stationary with designs: hearts, arrows, doves, and cupids. On these they write their love letters. But a love letter is called a missive and is always a big secret.
The snuff
The older men carried boxes of snuff. The snuff – so they said – cleared the head. The elegant thing was to take a pinch of snuff with the fingers, snort it, and sneeze once or twice. Any more than two sneezes was bad form. One sneeze is discretion; two necessity; three rude. After each sneeze you had to excuse yourself and smile.
Some boxes were so pretty they looked like jewels. The rich men had them engraved with their initials.[1]
[1] The snuff majadería – rudeness
Florida water
Florida water was the luxury of the poor. There was no family living in the slum without their little bottle of Florida water in the dressing table. With this water you could sprinkle the handkerchief and it was a sign of elegance to flash it around so the scent filled the air and the people thought:
-Gosh, what a nice-smelling fellow!
The slingshot
An evil thing is the slingshot, but there´s not a boy without his. The slingshot is the thing that they call a bolt or a sling in other parts and it is for shooting rocks or ammunition. Some kids were such good shots that wherever they looked there went the rock. Not a bird escaped. They sell slingshots in the market but they aren´t the best. The best, the tightest, are those made by the boys themselves, who strip the forks from trees and knot on pieces of tough black rubber.
Dances
The dances of my time were very different from those nowaday. White folk danced lanceros, cuadrillas, mazurcas, schottisches, polkas, gavottes, and waltzes. The Indians and the mestizos danced jaranas, toritos and zapateados. Today everyone dances the jazz.
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