Includes index.

Beyond the kitchen. La mamá se quedaba en cargo de todo = The mother took full charge / Pina Lucero --
Yo en la mañana me iba ordeñar las vacas = In the morning I'd go milk the cow / Macedonia Molina --
Me iba a cuidar las cabras = I'd go take care of the goats / Pina Lucero --
Ibanos a las mesas a trae leña = We'd go to the mountains to fetch wood / Adelita Gonzales --
Hacían sus roperos ellas = Women made their own closets / Frances Lovato --
Happiness comes from a full stomach. Cocíanos frijoles, guisábanos chile, y hacíanos galletas = We cooked beans, prepared chile, and made bicuits --
Las tortillas sínunca faltaban = We always had tortillas / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
En cuaresma no nos dejeban comer carne = We couldn't eat meat during Lent / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
Chicos, tasajos, y rueditas = Dried corn, pumpkin twists, and round dried slices of fruit / Pina Lucero --
Pelaban el duranzo = Women peeled peaches / María Catalina Griego y Sánchez --
Hacíanos miel = We used to make syrup / Macedonia Molina --
¿Qué o llegates a comer tú fideos? = Didn't you ever get to eat fideos? / Elfides Apodaca-Baca --
El día de la matanza = Butchering day / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero --
Washboards, stover irons, and wool mattresses. Yo no tenía días pa lavar = I didn't have any set days for washing / Macedonia Molina --
Nosotros acarriábanos l'agua = We hauled the water / Inesita Márez-Tafoga --
No usábamos jabones de polvo = We didn't use soap powder / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
El jabón es hecho con mantecas = Soap is made with lard / Macedonia Molina --
Desbaratábanos el colchón y lavábanos la lana = We would tear the mattress apart and wash the wool / Pina Lucero --
Cadrar la lana = To card the wool / Dorela Romero --
Sewing, mending, and embroidering. Custoriaban muncho = Women sewed a lot / María Catalina Griego y Sánchez --
Blouses de sacos de harina = Blouses from flour sacks --
Delantres = Aprons / María Catalina Griego y Sánchez --
Bordábamos = We embroidered pillow cases / Dorela Romero --
Mis vecinas hacían sábanas de puros saquitos de tabaco = My neighbors made bedsheets from little tobacco sacks / Mary Jaramillo Gabaldón --
Gypsum, wallpaper, and mud. Acarriábanos las piedras de yeso = We used to haul the gypsum rocks / Macedonia Molina --
Encalábanos todo el santo día = We whitewashed all day long / Adelita Gonzales --
Enpapelaban con catálagos = Women wallpapered using catalogues / Pino Lucero --
Nos hacían pintar flores en la pader = They made us paint flowers on the wall / Dorcela Romero --
Los suelos los lavábamos dos veces la semana = We washed the floors twice a week / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero Hoy vamos enjarrar = Tody we're going mud to mudplaster / Adelita Gonzales --
Planting, hoeing, and harvesting. Muncho ayudaba la mujer = The woman helped a lot / Adelita Gonzales --
Él araba y ella echaba la semilla = He plowed and she planted seeds / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
Nojotras ayudamos muncho en la siembra = We girls helped a lot in the fields / Vicentita Cháves --
La cosecha = Harvest time / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero --
Teníamos que arrancar el maiz = We had to pick corn / Macedonia Molina --
Courtship, marriage, and children. ¿Qué andaban mordiéndoles las orejas? = What were doing, chewing on their ears? / María Catalina Griego y Sánchez --
Una muchacha soltera = A single girl / Inesita Márez-Tafoya --
Con los ojos ya era uno novio = By sheer eye contact you were engaged / Macedonia Molina --
Ése jue el noviazgo de mí y de Juan = That was Juan and my courtship / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
Voy a tener um niño = I'm going to have a baby / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero --
¿Qué vas por la partera? = Are you going after the midwife? / Pina Lucero --
Yo tenía que cortarle el ombliguito = I had to cut the baby's umbilical cord / Macedonia Molina --
Hacíanos muñecas = We made dolls / Frances Lovato --
Teníanos munchos juguetes = We had a lot of toys / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero --
Husband and wife : a case of mutual respect. La mujer trataba al hombre muy bien = The wife treated the husband very well / Pina Lucero --
Yo vi a mis padres que se querían = I saw that my parents loved each other / Frances Lovato --
Eran muy güenos esposos = They were very good husbands / Eremtia García-Griego de Lucero --
La mala rienda pa míjue mi suegra = The bad news for me was my mother-in-law / Susanita Ramírez de Armijo --
The comadres' get-togethers. Se juntaban las comadres = The comadres got together / Macedonia Molina --
Pláticas muy bonitas = Very nice chats / Eremita García-Griego de Lucero --
Chistiando = Joking around / Mary Jaramillo Gabaldón --
Hablaban de las brujas = Women talked about witches / Pina Lucero --
Mi agüelita nos enseñó a rezar = My grandma taught us how to pray / Frances Lovato --
Glossary --
Interviewees/Entrevistadas.

Comadres celebrates a way of life, a generation of women, and a regional language whose contribution to New Mexican history and culture has long been overlooked. Twelve women pay tribute to Hispana experiences on the farms and ranches of the Rio Puerco Valley during the first decades of statehood. Branding cows, birthing children, washing sheets, and building walls, the hands of these women shaped the world in which they lived; their stories make an ongoing legacy of culture and lifeways. García transcribes the women's remembrances in a printed regional Spanish remarkable for its faithfulness to the spoken word. This Spanish is richly dialectic and a vital thread in the varied tapestry that is New Mexican language. English translations render the Spanish with detailed, personal nuance, and a glossary encourages readers with linguistic interests to compare regional variations with the standard Spanish of textbooks and dictionaries --Back cover.

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