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Mama Fela Could Be All Our Mammas
By Constance M Gotsch
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last
edited: Monday, February 19, 2007
Posted: Monday, February 19, 2007
Ana Baca's Mama Fela's Girls is a universal story.
Mama Fela’s Girls
• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (October 15, 2006) 1601 Randolph Rd. SE Suite 200 S.
Albuquerque, NM 87106
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826340237
• ISBN-13: 978-0826340238
$16.47 Amazon
As Ana Baca’s ‘Mama Fela’s Girls’ opens, the Romeros have lived for generations in Santa Lucia, a dusty little town in New Mexico on Route 66. Now, in the middle of the Great Depression, the aging Mama Fela has become the family matriarch.
With the sturdy black umbrella that protects her from the sun, her no nonsense clothes, and impeccable manners, she rules the women of the Romero clan, daughter Cita, granddaughter Cipriana, and daughter-in-law Graciela. Fela even keeps her husband, son, and son-in-law in their places when she has to, with a wink, a sigh, a sharp look, or a very subtle hint.
But usually, she lets the men take care of themselves. She’s too busy to worry about them. At six, Cipriana must learn how to behave properly with elders, subordinates, and peers. Mama decides to show her how, since Cipriana’s mother, Graciela,. is often away teaching school. Grandmother and granddaughter adore each other, so the lessons are given and accepted willingly.
Author Baca tells the story of ‘Mama Fela’s Girls’ through Cipriana’s eyes. As the child grows up learning that a proper lady keeps hair groomed by licking her fingers and smoothing stray strands off her forehead; says ‘yes’ to an offer by saying ‘no’ first; and puts her husband and children before herself, Cipriana watches her mother support the family when Cipriaina’s father can’t keep a job.
Cipriana also observes her lively Aunt Cita plunge into caring for neighbors and nieces and nephews, all the while trying to figure out out to escape Santa Lucia, and make a life for herself in Albuquerque as an artist.
When Cipriana has a chance to stand up and read a poem in school, her beloved Papa, Mama Fela’s husband, gives her the courage to try performing. Mama Fela provides the material for a special dress to wear for the occasion.
In ‘Mama Fela’s Girls,’ Ana Baca has created a detailed portrait of life in a Hispanic family in 1934. Whether Cipriana plans to make sure she gets to school on time the first day by sleeping in the new dress Mama Fela has made for her, or helps her father fry sausages, Baca catches the joy, tension, comedy, and pathos of everyday living.
As Cipriana goes to carnivals and Shirley Temple movies, Baca depicts loving aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents both protecting and exposing her to the world. Even silly boy cousins add their support in their own way, and there is always a girl cousin around to climb a tree with.
The author details the changes Route 66 slowly brings to towns like Santa Lucia Graciela, Cita, and Cipriana embrace the modern ideas they encounter. Mama Fela does not, despite tragic results for her.
Other sad times come, too. Though they’ve lived in New Mexico probably since the 17th or 18th centuries, Cipriana’s family must work for the wealthy white landowners, who arrived barely a hundred years earlier.
Cita cleans and cooks for a lady who can be nice sometimes, while at other times, she can be a condescending nuisance. Still when Cita goes to her house to help her aunt cater a party, the little girl sees a way of doing things she has not encountered before. The experience adds to her maturity.
‘Mama Fela’s Girls,’ offers a glimpse of how people lived just before the middle of the last century in parts of New Mexico, how they conducted themselves, and how they transmitted their values and culture to the next generation.
At the same time, the story speaks to the universal act of just being human during any historical period. What child doesn’t fear standing up to recite in school? Who has not tolerated the teasing of a boy cousin? Who has not had a relative they look up to, and who finds them wonderful?
The best historical novels, family histories, and memoirs attach universal meaning to personal anecdotes. ‘Mama Fela’s Girls’ does just that, making it a terrific read. It’s funny, tender, tragic, and joyful, just like life in any place during any age.
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