Thursday, 18 August 2011 18:29
Popular cuban wisdom. Photo courtesy of Cubadebate
In an earlier article, I told you how Cubans have enriched and cultivated Spanish and African proverbs handed down by our ancestors and, in my view, taken them to a higher level.
Today, I would like to address in more detail what celebrated Cuban comedian, Eladio Secades, defined also as refrains, but in a less proverbial style, those which he considered "informal refrains." I´m talking about the "diacharachos," popular sayings (but not vulgar) full of wisdom.
"Diacharachos" are sentences, judgments, summarized concepts, even categorical, which explain themselves, thus spare us expressive resources. Many are based on native elements, common to us, and certainly very foreign for those not born on this archipelago. Used in some of these sayings are things like sugar cane, mangoes, royal palms, "jutías" (something like a rat that lives in trees), peanut vendors, or a person like "Chacumbele" (a famous, fictional Cuban nickname).To a lesser extent, as they could be more universal, there are also some that refer to baseball or the always refreshing Coca Cola.
What Cuban doesn´t know the intrinsic meaning of "la caña está a tres trozos" (the stalk is three pieces) or the comment, "el cañaveral está encendido" (the sugar cane plantation is on fire)? Also very eloquent, are the statements within '"coger mangos bajitos" (picking the low mangoes) or "a buena hora, mangos verdes" (meaning something like, not at the right time), or the foresight of "poner la yagua antes que caiga la gotera" (turning the palm leaves before the water falls). Having some drinks would simply be "chuparle el rabo a la jutía" (sucking the "jutía´s" tail, a.k.a. drinking too much), and passing away, "cantar el manisero" (the peanut vendor is singing, a.k.a. death), or to refer to self-immolation, "le pasó como a Chacumbele" (they went like Chacumbele). The national sport has an infinite amount such as, "botar la pelota" (throw the ball away), "se llevó la cerca" (it took him to the fence) and "lo cogieron fuera de base" (he was caught off base). And a great one in my opinion, is the masterful synthesis established in "el último que apague el Morro" (the last to turn off the lighthouse).
I also remember one linked to our toponymy, "se acabó como la fiesta del Guatao" (it finished like the Guatao party), when something ends in a fight or argument. Some are downright philosophical like, "que me quiten lo baila'o" (I´m ridding myself of what I danced, "danced" meaning more like "lived") in the sense that what someone has already enjoyed can´t be lost; or this other one, "a mi me matan pero yo gozo" (it kills me but I enjoy it).
"Dicharachos" are even in verse:
"Ya lo dijo quien lo dijo
Al salir del hospital:
Cuando el mal es de…
No valen guayabas verdes"
"I already said what was said
Upon leaving the hospital:
When evil is…
Unripe guavas aren´t worth it."
And finally, a shorter "dicharacho," categorical and absolutely international, which largely defines a Cuban, "chévere," "cool."
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