El Azabache
Cleaning in my household is always an experience, considering my mother will attack me with la escoba if I dare to dirty her floor that she cleaned with mistolin. Everytime I walk into her house and the stench or aroma (to each their own) of mistolin lingers in the air I check my shoes, make the sign of the cross and hope that my mother isn’t going to yell (but we all know Cuban mother s will, we just hope). The experience in my household is first a “carrajo esta nina tiene tanto pello”, then a drift to “me cago en la hora en que naciste” when mother finds the stash of dirty clothes in my closet. This entry pertains to a certain object my mother found recently in her house as she was doing her daily cleaning (she cleans 4 times a day, la loca).
Ever look back to old baby pictures and see a black little spot on your clothes? I look back now at those photos and always wonder why the same black mosquito is in all my pictures. It wasn’t till last week that my mother explained to me que carrajo it was. Just picture a Cuban lady in her house gown, braless, usually in the kitchen rolling her eyes as she speaks to you because she thinks you’re a comemierda, Ok! got it good! that’s my mother. So what was the little black spot in all my infamous baby pictures, in my mothers words “oye eres estudpida o que? Es un azabache”.
I don’t know any Cuban Catholics who never wore a Azabache, it might not be a part of the religion but it’s a part of my culture. An azabache is the protector of evil that every Cuban baby wears other than violetas. My Azabache was ghetto though, talk about hand me down. It belonged first to my brother which implanted on his pin was his name, then passed down to me (yes I wore a Azabache with a boy’s name on it). My mother swore that this little black stone was my shield from envious people, protector of all things evil especially “la mujer que vive a lado”.
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6 Comments on “El Azabache”
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ah yes keep away “mal de ojo”
too bad every single one i owned broke or was lost.
era un desastre lol
story has it, that when they break or get lost you shouldnt try to fix that particular one or go looking for it. it’s taken away whatever mal de ojo was put on you.
it did it’s job
hey! i was raised catholic with azabache y todo! let me just tell you that maybe until a year ago i wore a cadena with a cross and an azabache hanging from it. very spiritual you know.
My azabache is still somewhere in my keepsakes.
I love Cuban dichos and find this blog to be pretty hilarious. I linked your “le zumba el merequrtén” post in my latest one. ;o}
Thanks for the link. I’m on my way to check out your blog.
Keep the azabache it allows you to never forget your past…. Ok cafecito time