Overall...

After digging in deep to a culture I have been bound to in more ways than one I have learned things and appreciate things on a whole other level.  I understand a little more about my husband and why he acts the way he does sometimes.  I get why my mother in law say some of the things she says, and I understand why he wants to do certain things with our son.  Baseball is the only sport that matters in the Dominican Republic, so naturally Yadiel will be playing that.  He eats queso frito, salami and platanos for breakfast because well that is a traditional Dominican breakfast.  When Bachata or Merengue comes on, so does the party.  Why do Haitians and Dominicans have beef, well it can be chalked up to oppression, colonization and other historical events.  Learning about this culture makes me so proud that my son gets to share pride and claim such a vibrant culture! I want him to be proud of where his father and half of his family come from !  Learning about the culture and traditions of the D.R helped me for my present and future !

Food: Lots of fried food, platanos are a staple and they love goat.  My husband actually had a goat named memo who lived in the house with them.

Music: lots of influences (African, Taino, and European)

Language: Spanish but def a dialect like no other, they talk super fast and a lot of their words are infused with indigenous words from the original inhabitants the Tainos.

Religion:  Catholic

Family: Patriarchal

Lots of love and happiness, family is everything and you never go against the family!

Dancing ! Merengue and Bachata !

There are two types of Latin dances that originated in the Dominican republic.  They are called Merengue and Bachata! They are both super fun and the music that goes along with it is so passionate (bachata) and great for parties (merengue)

Merengue has been around since before the ninteenth century and has African and Indigenous roots.  It has two steps and can be modified to your liking adding spins, dips, and other footwork, so long as you keep the one two step or one two three four depending on the song.  Merengue can be used for any event and is usually used to live'n up the mood! There are two types, Merengue tipico and Merengual regular. Merengue tipico is a little more old school or grassroots and has a more natural or street sound (you can hear every instrument) and Merengue regular is stuff you would probably hear on the radio or at most parties.    

Bachata originated in the twentieth century and has European, Indigenous and African roots.  It was originally a dance for the lower class and prostitutes ( it can get rather sexual), it also came from the countryside.  Since Bachata was so risque none of it was recorded until after the dictatorship of Trujillo in the mid 20th century.  It became super popular by the 80's and was played everywhere in DR. By the 1990's it was popular in American particularly Nueva York (New York) where there were lots of Dominican immigrants (and still are, it is only a 3 hour flight).  

Here is a video of me and my husband dancing ! its only like 3 min long :) enjoy !

Growing up Dominican

For this topic I decide to ask my husband about his experiences growing up in the Dominican Republic.  I also am taking advice from my suegra (mother in law) and my husbands tia's.  I wanted to get a first hand experience from people I trust and feel in some ways represent the "common" people from DR, plus his father is from a wealthier family and his mother is from a poorer family so it is nice to see that contrast within DR as well!

Growing up in DR:  My husbands abuela would watch him so she could go to work and because culturally it is just "what they do"(husbands words not mine).  His abuela would take care of all the children feeding them arroz, habichuelas, platanos and pollo. She was strict and would not hesitate to give "powpows".  He grew up only speaking Spanish and drinking dule de leche.  Cousins were an important part of the family and were just as close as brothers and sisters.  Going to the beach was an every other day or weekly thing (they lived right by the beach).

My husbands father's family (who were upper class) were very strict and "proper".  Very much aligning with an upper class family in the United States.

My husbands mother's family had 12 kids and lived happily but could not afford to go college and the nice schools in Puerto Plata.  My husband is very close with his mother;s side because they all grew up together in abuela's house.

When he came to the United States he was surprised at the amount of processed and eating out Americans feed their children.  Also in the Dominican Republic the children have less possessions and opportunities so they learn to do more independent work at an early age.  They know more survival skills I guess you could say than American kids.  (which I have to agree with).

When we had our son Yadiel he was baptized immediately (6 weeks old) and was given a red bracelet with an evil eye pendant.  This is to protect against the mal de ojo aka the evil eye.

They also love their jewelry my husband and his brothers all had gold chains and bracelets with their names on them.

It is customary-given the fact that the culture of DR is Latin and very much patriarchal, it is the mothers' job to cook and clean for the family.  Home cooked meals for the children is a must and you WILL get talked about if you do not cook for the kids (I have experienced this first hand),

Boys are raised to work and provide for their family, at be the epitome of a Latino man,
Girls are raised with a stricter hand and focus more on education.

My husband said, being raised by Dominican parents is dramatic, for example if you don't do your homework you are automatically a drug dealer or a gang member lol.

Last but not least

Vapor rub cures all !








Here is a picture of Yadiel wearing his bracelet to protect him against the mal de ojo!

Palabras y frases !

So, we all know there are many different dialects of Spanish. Mexican, Chilean, Puerto Rican and Dominican to name a few !

I learned Spanish from my dad who lived in Spain and then from school in high school and in college.  So when i met my husband and tried to use my skills, he would basically look at me like o_O.

What I am trying to get at is that there are a bunch of words that mean different things when you are speaking Dominican Spanish.  Not just from Spain to D.R but from Mexican to D.R, I use Mexican because here in Cali most people learn the Mexican dialect.

Word/"regular" Spanish/ "D.R" Spanish

Cake/Pastel/Biscocho
Beans/Frijoles/Habichuelas
Stomach/Estomago/Barriga
A little/Poquito/ un chin
How are you?/ como estas / como tu ta

Those are just a few, these are things that are not always found you just kind of come into them as you speak and they correct you lol.  I will try to find more and will probably add another post or two as i get more words and phrases !!

This topic is very intriguing because different regions experience cultural and regional influences (obvi).  Even the weather of a region can change the way you use language !

Weddings

While researching the topic of wedding traditions and customs in the D.R I had the pleasure of asking my husbands Tia's (aunts) who have been married in D.R.  many of them immigrated here post marriage since it take 20+ years for most to get their papers.  The weddings do not differ too much from a traditional Catholic wedding in the united states.  90 percent of the population is Catholic thanks to Spanish colonization, and being married in the Catholic church is a big part of Catholicism.
I do not know how many of you are familiar with Catholic church ceremonies but you have to be baptized, had your first communion, and be confirmed in order to be married (in the most traditional ceremonies).  You have an actual mass which is typically one hour, which gives you the rite of marriage.  Then followed by the reception.

Here is a picture of my husband's tia and tio married in Puerto Plata, D.R their hometown.



Wedding parties in the Dominican Republic are not usually as big as out here in the U.S.  People that are incorporated into the wedding are the padrinos and madrinas which are the godparents of the bride and groom (again very religious).

Arras: They call it a unity coin. A tradition originated in Spain. A child (usually a boy) carries the arras or coins on a silver tray and there are 13 of them. Coins get passed to the priest, priest to groom, groom to bride.  This is a representation of material goods and that they are to be shared equally between the two.  It also represents the brides dowry. Also someone, usually a child, carries the bible up to the alter for the bride and groom. 

The reception is when the party begins ! Lots of traditional food , music, and alcohol!

Here is a cute wedding video where you can see some of the city in DR. It super cute only like5 minutes long! 

Cute Dominican Wedding video

Interesting facts:

If the groom sees the bride, it is not that big of a deal.
They do not separate based on bride and groom.
Gifts are given to the brides home before the wedding, not at the wedding.
Ceremonia Cantada: guests sing the music at the wedding

A very condensed history of the Dominican Republic

D.R ( I can use D.R from here on out right?) has such a rich and colorful history.  The original inhabitants of the island were the native groups called the Tainos.  There is not much written history prior to the arrival of Columbus and not much oral history survived thanks to the destruction of the native population.  Fun fact, the Tainos called the island Quisqueya which is supposedly translated into mother of lands, and when I am listening to alot of bachata (music type originating in D.R) they always refer to Quisqueya! I was all like "wut is thaaat" but I later learned that many Dominican artist refer to New York as Quisqueya.  Well in New York there are a lot of persons of Dominican descent about 800,000.  My husband Luis even made his way through there when he first came to the U.S.  But immigration patterns of people from D.R is for another time, back to the history...

One Columbus came and "civilized the island" it was bad news bears for the native population.  They suffered a dramatic decline in population thanks to smallpox, warfare, and forced slave labor.  For the Spaniards that meant their free labor was drying up so they got permission from good ol' Ferdinand and Isabella to import African slaves.  By the time the Africans got to "Hispanola" there were less than 75,000 natives.  African slave labor replaced indigenous and off they went to work the sugar cane plantations.  The sugar cane was very profitable for Spain...until the conquered the mainland.  they redirected their attention toward the silver mines and many new Spanish colonists passed the island up.  The island was no longer that important or profitable to Spain so the island began to live in poverty and intermingle (*race mixing).  The intermarriages or interrelations would not have been permitted prior to the 1600's because of the strong belief in the casta system and you know that whole notion of "European superiority".  In addition to Africans, Spaniards and Natives, there was also a Dutch population that brought over goods from the Netherlands! 

Then the French came

Basically, the Spaniard moved everyone over to a corner of the island (modern day D.R) because they were upset with the illegal trading with the Dutch. Many settlements were destroyed and people killed, the Spaniards moved (forcibly) most of the population around Santo Domingo, which became the capital.  The French moved in on the other side of the island and called it Haiti.  

My last name is Eloy pronounced (EL WAH), and it is of French origin so even though my husband says (claims*) he is 100% Dominican, it makes me wonder if there was some Haitian mixing going on :).  

Any who, two European crowns were ruling the island of Hispaniola the French and the Spanish.  There was a lot less race mixing during this time on the Haitian side and they also still heavily relied on slave labor.  So naturally the slaves revolted and the Hatian republic began in 1804.  Haitians took control over the island and were apparently very rude to the Dominicans.  Messing with their land ownership, churches, overall quality of life.  After all the turmoil, the Domincan’s realized they wanted their own independence and thanks to Juan Pablo Duarte & Co they gained independence from Haiti in 1844. Cool beans right? Not! Haiti wanted control and raged attacks all the way until 1856.  Pedro Santana took advantage of all the civil unrest and declared himself president (he was Dominican) without much resistance.   

D.R began to establish itself as an independent nation, there was a lot of trial and error, revolutions and overthrowing of government.  Four revolution and 5 presidents within 7 years, Yikes! Other nations began to see that the country was falling apart and countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands wanted to make sure their debt were repaid (they had invested in the young republic) and that's when captain save a country (the USA) came in a promised to help repay those debts.  

Bad idea... it is always a bad idea to get the U.S involved... especially in Latin America.  Peep Nicaragua, the Sandinistas or how the U.S created its drug trafficking problem by meddling/occupying in places they should not during the 70's and 80's. 

U.S marines landed in Santo Domingo in 1916.  Military presence led to a military government and implementations in the D.R.  Keep in mind the “progressive” mindset of Americans during the early 20^th century, many did not coincide with the culture of the D.R.  Some of the implementations included

“reorganization of the tax system, accounting and administration, expansion of primary education, the creation of a nationwide police force to unify the country, and the construction of a national system of roads, including a highway linking Santiago to Santo Domingo.”

Although this brought some good, many Dominicans resent the foreign presence (duh!).  Especially because none of the foreigners bothered to speak Spanish or care about the actual welfare of the people.  It didn’t help that the U.S imposed censorship laws and put any jail any who opposed the U.S occupation.  They also broke up land to profit from more sugar plantations and left many farmers without anything.  U.S occupation ended in 1924 and Rafael Trujillo came into power.

Trujillo ruled for 30 years as a dictator and created El Partido Dominicao which means the Dominican party.  This guy was horrible.  He massacred tens of thousands of Haitians who had come over to work on the sugar plantation.  He killed many who opposed him as well as the Maribal sisters (google them).  This guy was a dictator in every sense of the word, he kept in power by monopolizing everything.  He owned 50-70 percent of the land and his business were responsible for 80 percent of commercial activity.  Eventually he was killed in 1961. 

This history has set the tone for modern day conflicts, traditions, and customs.  I will try through each part of culture I explore to tie it back into history and make connections :) 

The Dominican Republic holds a place very near and dear to my heart for many reasons.  At first I was like many.. "oh you are from Mexico?"... after a heated discussion, and a lesson on "not all Latinos are from Mexico" I began to become infatuated with this place called Republica Dominicana or Dominican Republic if you will.  That heated discussion was with my now husband Luis Miguel...

 <Luis in D.R next to Dominican symbol>

Growing up in California with not much travel besides the Grand Canyon and Vegas I assumed that if you spoke Spanish and you ended up here in Cali you were from Mexico.  Little did I know that there are a vast variety of Latino immigrants who come to this country every year. As I got to know him I began to wonder about the country he came from.  I did research here and there, asked him questions and what not, but never dove to deep.

 Over the years my interest in Latin American History has gotten stronger.  I have always been a fan of history (it was my undergrad major).  I became very intrigued by the culture of D.R because it was unknown to many, yet so rich in history and culture,  Did Luis have something to do with a stronger desire to learn? probably.  Or perhaps it was my dad forcing-yes forcing- of me to take Spanish all throughout high school which turned into college which turned into an A.A in language studies and a greater appreciation for Latin America.

Three years after meeting this Luis character from the Dominican Republic, we ended up married and decided to take a vacation to D.R and boy was I in for a treat.  We went to museums, beaches, historical sites and most important to me I got to see the city where my husband grew up.  We stayed with his abuela in his childhood home, walked the streets and ate the street food.  Staying in the barrio of Puerto Plata was a humbling and insightful experience.
 <en El Malecon<abuela's shop

4 WEEKS LATER .... I found out I was pregnant.  It must of been in the air in DR because now I was carrying a child whose culture belonged in this country I had just visited.  Not only that, but no one on the west coast knows what a "Dominican" is.  The fact that  I have a child who is half Dominican deepened my desire to find out what traditions, beliefs, and values this culture practice.  I have the surface level knowledge ( thanks babe ) but I wanted more in order for me to help in passing on this knowledge to my son Yadiel.... thus begins my quest for traditions of the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.