Jan
10
Leyendas de Guatemala (1/2)
Posted by: | January 10, 2010 | Comments Off on Leyendas de Guatemala (1/2)
My goodness, so much to read!
These legends are quite incredible in the sense that I felt as though I was sitting in circle, listening to them being told and passed on amongst people, but also gave me a sense of culture and language. The vocabulary being used is just so rich that reading it from a native-English perspective felt so insufficient – I feel as though I have lost so much meaning that has been hidden between the words.
For me, the Leyenda del Cadejo was the most interesting of them all. Some of the metaphors were straightforward (which I find much easier to understand) yet still incredibly descriptive, like “Reptó bajo sus pies como la sangre negra de un animal muerto..” (40). I quite enjoyed the ability to visualize the beginning of the story, with the sounds of the voices mixing with all of the smells, images and surroundings that were described – it was as though you could take part in and experience the legend, not just listen.
The things I noticed the most had to be the biblical references and repetitions of words. As in the Leyenda del Volcán, the repetition of “Nido” made me think that it was not just a name, but rather a cultural significance behind it was not being directly stated. I also noticed a bit of comparison between heaven and hell – in the Leyenda del Cadejo, the use of ‘infierno’ in conjunction with ‘los diablos’ seemed quite contradictory to be used after a minor description of a flower-covered cadaver and all the anguish associated with the loss of a life (however I could be insinuating more to this than there actually is). Another was the difference between dream and reality, and how they both mixed with each other in a situation. It was hard to differentiate between them, and I often wonder if (in legends) ‘sueño’ solely referred to the dream-state, as in daydreaming (that didn’t actually occur in reality), or to fictional/supernatural occurrences (that they believed occurred in reality). My favorite thing in all of these legends had to be the extraordinary use of peculiar adjectives. I don’t think I’ve ever had to look up so many words in my Spanish dictionary, but wow – well worth it!
After reading through these, I’m definitely interested in what we’re reading next!
