Mother Goose as teacher
Coming of age in New Mexico, Part 1
Is there a jewel more beloved than a newly-born baby? The parents do everything possible to lull him to sleep: “Go to sleep, my baby for I’ve work to do. I must wash your diapers and make supper too. Go to sleep, my baby, soul of mine as one, my beloved treasure, first light of the dawn. Beloved St Anna, Joachim do keep this, my little baby who doth want to sleep. Beloved Saint Anna, ring the bell on high, because, for an apple, the Baby doth cry. Joachim, most holy, play your violin for the Baby whimpers for the tiny thing. Joseph did the washing; Mary hung the chore: the snowy-white diapers that the Baby wore. Mary did the washing, Joseph hung it out and the Child whimpered from the cold without.”
Another lullaby sings of the baby who is crying for something that he lost. His wet nurse, Lady Janie, tries to comfort him: “The baby is crying oh Janey, dear maid, for a little pebble that he has mislaid. Go down to the river and gather up two; Get one for the baby, the other one for you.”
Whenever a child has a “bubu,” the parents rub it lightly and say: “Be healed, be healed, thou little frog’s tail, if not by today, by tomorrow, without fail.”
There used to be a changing of the guard ceremony here in New Mexico, in which the new godparents would recite upon returning the baby back to the parents after Baptism: “By the font of God’s baptism with full faith I stood within and plucked this baby from all harm and illbegotten sin. A thousand years I wish for him, in Jesus’ name I pray, and that of Mary and her spouse, St. Joseph, here today. Co-parents of this infant, receive this little child, freshly born by God’s own love and sacraments most mild.”
Many new parents who were hoping for their first arrival, quickly become bothered by the persistent questions of a toddler who is trying to understand the world around them. Their most persistent question invariably is, “What’s that?” At length the child’s parents come up with a clever answer in response to his queries. Latinos will answer: “You asked a silly question, now here’s a silly rhyme: a cross-eyed cat
with dish towel paws, let’s hear it one more time.” After they repeat this often enough, the child stops asking.
Sometimes parents use nursery rhyme ditties as a memorable means of teaching their children life lessons: Whoever gets angry sure won’t get to barter nor eat of the sweet corn I keep in my larder, nor get the good food for being a late starter.” In like manner, they may also quote: “Be careful at dances if you would compete, for someone much faster might come take your seat.” That is more memorable than saying: “Move your feet, lose your seat.” The French have an interesting twist to this bit of doggerel: “Whoever goes hunting, loses his place and the dog replaces him.”
From time to time the child has difficulty in trying to decide what to choose. In Northern New Mexico the child points and says the following: “Eeny meeny, miney, moh, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers make him pay fifty dollars every day. One, two, three, and out goes he. Southern New Mexico has other means of choosing: “Twenty four horses in the stable ran out,” or the much shorter: “My mother told me to choose you.” These choosing games don’t make much sense but they are entertaining for the children that hear them.