Canutito learns ‘cómo curar el Ojo Malo’
It was barely al principio del verano pero los días were very hot for early summer. Canutito was watching el agua corriendo en la acequia that was near the house. The running water in the ditch looked so refreshing que Canutito felt like jumping adentro para refrescarse. How he longed de quitarse la ropa and just jump in pero tenía miedo to get buck naked porque anyone passing by en el camino might see him. He ran pa’la casa to ask Grama Cuca is he might brincar en el agua.
He found grama en la cocina pinning su cabello to the top de su cabeza in order to feel la frescura del aire en su nuca. The nape of her neck did feel mucho mejor with the fresh air fanning it. He ran into the kitchen gritando a voz alta: “¡Grama ,I want to splash around en el agua de la irrigation ditch! Can I? ¡Está tan caliente hoy that you could almost freir un huevo en el sidewalk outside.”
“Lucky for you m’hijo,” grama smiled, “que en el Día de San Juan; every June twenty fourth, es la Fiesta de Saint John. En este día all water is holy y todas las personas are encouraged to go por un dip. The only thing is, m’hijo, que if you jump en el agua de el Día de San Juan you must echarte agua en la mollera primero.”
“Which part of the body es ‘la mollera’, grama? Canutito asked her.
“In English se llama ‘the fontanel’ or ‘the soft spot’ cuando eres un baby. By pouring water en tu soft spot es como baptizing yourself and asking por las bendiciones de St. John the Baptist. Since he baptized Jesus, en su día, toda el agua está sagrada and so is everything que crece en el agua. Have you ever seen, por ejemplo, a los babies wearing bracelets con coral stones, m’hijo?” grama asked.
“Sí, grama,” Canutito replied. Los babies que usan las pulseras de coral look real pretty con esos red stones.”
“Esas piedras coloradas are more than just pretty, m’hijo,” grama continued. “El coral is used para hacer ward off ‘el Ojo Malo’.”
‘I have heard about the ‘Evil Eye’, grama,” Canutito said, sitting down en una silleta. Pero, how do babies get it?”
“Sometimes algunas personas, como las brujas, can cause maldiciones by cursing them pero a veces even innocent people can bring about ‘el Ojo Malo’ by complimenting a los babies without touching them. Por eso, you will notice,’ that whenever people see babies, los bendicen con una Cruz en la frente .By tracing the sign of the Cross on their foreheads, they are protecting them del ‘Ojo Malo’.”
“Suppose que los babies do get ‘el Ojo Malo’ by mistake, grama,” Canutito wondered. “Entonces how do you cure them?”
“In that case, la persona who failed to touch the baby, antes de darle un complimento, has to take some water blessed en el Día de San Juan and spit three drops into la boca del baby.”
“Wow,” Canutito said, “en la escuela we learned que some people cure by giving up un poquito de su DNA, como Jesus mixing his spit con zoquete, to cure the blind man en la Biblia.
“Now you are ready para brincar en el agua, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca smiled …