Hi México: Let’s Talk! Mothers' Day & Phrases About Mother

camieinmx
7 may
3 Min. de lectura

*There is nothing like the amor of a Madre Mexicana*

By Francisco J. Báez

Every year around May, I don’t have to think much before I’m able to bring back the memory of that sweet old woman passionately running to the door I just knocked on with opened arms to lift me up in her arms with a swirling hug and a tender smooch. Oh boy, do I remember her smile. She’d be all smiles because she knew I’d invite her to the “Día de las Madres” celebration.

Her resilience reminds me of “La Abuelita de México”, an actress whose name was Doña Sara García, a tough-love lady, and a tender figure due to her many roles as a grandmother in most movies she appeared in.

But all that love and affection from my charming “abuelita” wouldn’t come without sweat and pain. Why? Because for the most part, as a young elementary school pupil, you know schools have to plan for “the big day”. For me and my peers that meant starting rehearsals sometime right after March 21st (Spring season and former president Benito Juarez’s celebrations). So, we’d prepare for a typical Mother’s day Mexican Folk Dance Show, and to top it off we’d prepare a nice wooden handcraft as a gift.

To go with this first part of the celebration, and since each of us had the best mom in the world “madrecita solo hay una” (there’s only one mother), the Mexican-indecent-expressions that show surprise, admiration, satisfaction, promise and hope are: ¡Madres! (Whoa!), ¡En la madre! ¡Pa’su madre! (Holy smokes!), ¡Está a toda madre! ¡A Todísima Madre! ¡Está de poca madre! (it’s stunning, impressive, formidable!), ¡No tiene madre! (It’s second to none), ¡Te lo juro por mi madre!, ¡Por mi madrecita santa! (I promise by my—holy—mother), and ¡Hagámos esa madre! (Let’s just do that!)

And that’s how you go from loving to hating a date which used to be “a very private acknowledgment of all our mothers do for the family and the matchless service they render to humanity”. Mrs. Ann Reeves Jarvis and eventually her daughter Anna Maria never imagined how commercialized this would become. That’s how all these hullaballoo became many people’s worst nightmare.

Then, our colloquial—vulgar—expressions that show fatigue, caos, disappointment, unbelief, fear, and displeasure are: ¡Qué poca madre tienes! (Shame on you!), ¡No tienes madre! (I’ll disown you!), ¡Vales pa’pura madre! (You’re not worth it!), ¡Ya valió madre(s)! (This was not worth it!), ¡Qué desmadre! (Shucks!), ¡Estoy hasta la madre! (I’m fed up), ¡Sigues molestando con esa madre! (Why do you insist? Cut it out!), ¡No me tocó ni madres! (I’ve got nothing!), ¿Qué madres se está creyendo? (Who does he think he is?), ¿Qué pasa si jala esta madre? (What if this works?), ¡No te creo ni madres! (I don’t believe you!), ¿Qué tendrá esta madre? (Why is this not working?), ¿Qué es esa madre? (now, What is that?), ¿Cómo funciona esta madre? (How does this work?), ¡Ay madrecita santa! (Holy smokes!), ¡No veo ni madres! (I can’t see a thing!), ¿Dónde dejé esa madre? (Where did I leave that?), ¡Le da en la madre a todo lo que toca! (He’s a klutz!), ¡Esto huele a madres! (This stinks!), ¡Esto sabe a madres! (This is disgusting!), ¡Trágate estas madres! (eat your veggies!)

But… down in Mexico it didn’t go too well either as the initiative to celebrate it was not exactly celebratory but a measure to counteract the feminist measures taken by a Yucatán politician, Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

The culprit this time was a journalist named Rafael Alducin Bedoya, owner and founder of Excelsior, one of the most important and traditional daily newspapers in Mexico City, who, on April 13th, 1922 published a front page invitation to celebrate Mother’s Day, an initiative that was well received by the public and echoed by other newspapers, the Catholic church, as well as by the former Secretary of Public Education; José Vasconcelos, who commissioned teachers nationwide to promote it.

This time around momma’s had it, and she’s ready to let it all out. The choices for rage, curse, and profane insult are: ¡Ni madres! (No way!), ¡Me vale madres! (I couldn’t care less!), ¡Me lleva la madre! (I’ll be damned!), ¡La madre que te parió! (I’m not your mother anymore!), ¡Te voy a romper la madre! (I’ll break your every bone!), ¡Me van a dar en la madre! ¡Me van a partir la madre! (You’re killing me!).