Deadina Antonia Cedeno

Interview by: Noemi Crespo

“ I remember the word Hiroshima. I remember talking about Hiroshima this and war that. I remember I used to pay attention. I use to be very alert when I hear people talking they bombed here and they bombed there.”

“As a child I didn’t really think about anything. The only thing I thought about was the killing. People dying. That’s what worried me as a little girl. The men in the service, all of them were not going to come back home. “

“ Song My sister (Maria Mercedes Martinez) Wrote during the War”

Cuando A Pelear me Marches, No Llores Madre ( When I March Out to Fight, Don’t Cry Mother)

VERSE:1

Cuando A Pelear me marches (When I march out to war)

No llores mi Madre (Don’t Cry my mother)

No suertes ni una lagrima (Don’t let out not even a tear)

Yo se que te da lastima (I know it makes you sad)

Te ver partir a su hijo (To see your son leave)

Quizas sin esperanza (Perhaps without hope)

De volverlo ver hamas (Of ever seeing him again)

CHORUS

Adios Madresita Adios (Goodbye my dear mother Goodbye)

Que tu hijo se va (Because your son is leaving)

Anda manda una plaga del cielo (Send a plague from the sky)

Para que Dios Permita Volvernos a ver ( So that God permits us to see each other again)

VERSE:2

Solo me parte el alma y me consuela (It only breaks my heart)

Que dejo tan solita a mi mama (That I leave my mother so alone)

Mi pobre madrecita que es tan vieja (My poor mother that is so old)

Y en mi ausencia recordara (And in my absence she’ll remember me)

Quien le hara el favor si necesita? (Who will do her a favor if she is in need?)

Quien le hablara de mi (Who will talk to her about me?)

Si Preguntara Por ese hijo (Pause) (If she were ask about that son?)

Le pondre una flor en su sepultura (in case he dies) (I will put a flower on her grave)

Quien le hablara de mi (Who will talk to her about me)

Si pregunta Si. Hmmmmmmmm (If she asks if… hmmmmmmmm)

Si regreso y encuentro Mi____ ma__ma (If I return and find My____ Mother)

Deadina Antonia Cedeno was born on September 2, 1932 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She was the youngest of four sisters and was raised by her mother alone. Her father passed away when she was only two and a half years old. She was nine years old when the war started and remembers quite a bit about what everyday life was like in Puerto Rico during the War. Mrs. Cedeno provides insight about what she remembers as a child during the war. She remembers the Air Raids, the Blackouts, and having to learn and sing the National Anthem in English every morning in school. Her interview was very personal and allowed me to get a sense of what life was like on the Home front specifically in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

This interview is with Deadina Cedeno by Noemi Crespo for the Center of Oral History at the University of CT. November 10, 2001 (Voices of Freedom Oral History Project

Crespo: Okay, where and when were you born?

Cedeno: I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

NC: And can you tell me a little bit about your early life? What was your childhood like?

DC: Well, my childhood life [pause] I was happy. It was a lot of fun in a way because I have neighbors, not many neighbors but I have a few that I can play with them. My mother gave us permission to go out and play. She was very strict. She don’t let us_ you know and uh, As a child brought up by my mother alone cause my father passed away when I was only two and a half years old and uh she was a single mother with four girls. And out of the four girls, I was the youngest. And I always depended on my sisters, you know cause they were older than me. I always respected them. And I was a happy child. I really was happy.

NC: What was your Parent’s education? Were they educated?

DC: Well my mother, my father was a_ my father’s father have a little bit of income [unclear] through fishing boats and he was the only son, the only child and he was not born in Ponce. He was born in Santurce, close to San Juan. And he came to Ponce but I never met my grandparents- don’t know. My mother was brought up by some well-off people. They were Spaniards and they was brought up in Puerto Rico and they brought up my mother. They have two girls of their own and then my mother came into the home when she was only five, [unclear] very well-off people.

NC: Your Mom was adopted? Ohhhh ok

DC: She kept her name but they was adopted by [unclear] and I never met my Grandma. I always wanted to meet my Grandma. There was a lady that use to be my Grandmother’s friend when they were young and I was curious to know about her because my Grandmother_ she was not 100% Puertorican. She was some kind of French. I don’t know where she came from. I never knew her. All I knew was that her last name was Dayron.

NC: This was your mother’s mother?

DC: My mother’s mother. Her last name was Dayron. Her name was Maria Maricinia. And a friend of hers, I was so curious and so eager to know about her because I didn’t know none of my family but my father and my mother, only an uncle, but I want to know about her. So my mother took me to that friend of hers. They use to play together when they were teenagers so she told me about my grandmother, a lot of things. She said my grandmother use to wear a handkerchief on the head and she use to be a good swimmer. Like a Fish!

NC: [laughs] she swims

DC: And when she was already a teenager, she spoke a lot of languages. She said Spanish, and she use to recite the Rosary or sing the Rosary I don’t know, what ever you call it [translates in Spanish] “a leer el Rosario”

NC: yeah recite, that’s it

DC: In wake’s, when people died. They use to pray. You know in Puerto Rico, years ago when somebody died the Wake was inside the living room.

NC: Oh my goodness! I didn’t know that.

DC: [unclear] They put ice in the box to preserve the body and keep it cool.

NC: It’s funny that you say that because I suddenly have a memory, a flashback. When I was four years old the first time I went to Puerto Rico was because my mother’s father had passed away and the funeral was in the house. I remember that right now.

DC: The Wake

NC: The Wake rather, yes, wow!

DC: Year ago it was worst! Now it’s more advanced. They have everything. The funeral Home like here but at that time, there was nothing; they put big blocks of ice underneath the casket. You put them in a big box of or something. I don’t know what they used. Containers underneath the casket from here to here. [shows with her hands] [unclear afterwards] Cause it’s hot in there you know. You can not be there for more than two days. So they put the person in the center of the living room and everybody sitting around. And when I was a child one time, they put them on top of the table.

NC: Oh my God.

DC: with flowers and everything, I remember. And so my grandmother use to sing in French the beats of the Rosary. [unclear] And they use to hire her ever since she was little. Everybody would pay her. [unclear]

NC: And where did you go to school?

DC: I went to school in Ponce. It’s a place they called_I lived on an avenue we called “Avenida Ostos.” It was about__ one mile from the beach [unclear] And in the first school I went, it was kindergarten I think it was and the first grade was more towards the Center of Ponce. And I went to Kindergarten and First Grade_ then when I finished that, then I went to the school that was closer down to my neighborhood, close to the beach. “La Playa de Ponce” they called it. [Ponce’s Beach] And the first school I went to I remember the name. It was Escuela Ruiz Belvis. [spells] R-U-I-Z B-E-L-V-I-S. And I remember graduating from the sixth grade. There was graduation at the sixth grade. They had sixth grade graduation there and there was another school that I went to when I finished graduating from six grade. I passed to the next school which was 7+8 and 9.

NC: Like Junior High School

DC: Exactly. Six to Three system. By that time six to three to three they called it. Six years in there, three in the middle school, and three in the high school. They call it 6-3-3 years ago. So from there I passed to the middle school which the name is, it’s still open. Santiago Gonzalez. Therefore when I graduated from ninth grade there, ninth grade there was a graduation at the school. Then I had to go back to Ponce Center, The Center of Ponce. Ponce Senior High school. It’s a big Senior High school on “Caye Christina” [Christina Street][unclear] You understood me? “Caye Christina?” It’s still there, still up there.

NC: Still up there? [laughs]

DC: Still up there. They call it Ponce High School. I still have my ring.

NC: Your class ring?

DC: Yes, I still have my class ring. You never seen it? I was graduated from there in 1952. Class of 1952.

NC: This is high school?

DC: Yeah.

NC: When was the last time you were there?

DC: In Puerto Rico

NC: Yeah, the last time you saw the high school.

DC: Oh, I don’t know exactly, maybe four years ago. They sent me a reunion_ when they have school reunion, class reunion, I never get to go. One time they sent me a letter to go.

NC: Okay, did anyone in your family serve in WW I? That was the war before the one we are talking about today.

DC: No, no

NC: What were you doing before the war started. You were nine so…

DC: yes I was nine.

NC: So you were probably just going to school?

DC: I was about nine years old. I was in sixth grade I think.

NC: Yeah it would be about sixth

DC: I was in Kindergarten when I was four. I was in nursery school at four. [Counting to herself] No it was fourth grade because in first grade I was six [keeps counting]

NC: And how did you know that there was going to be a war? How did you first realize it?

DC: I hear people talking. My mother use to read the newspaper and uh_ I want to explain you something. You asked me if my family have an education?

NC: Yeah, earlier about your mother’s education, your mother.

DC: My mother was a housewife. My father was a fisherman. He like to fish. [unclear]

NC: Okay, so you became aware of the war because your mom and school?

DC: I remember the word Hiroshima. I remember you said something about that. Hiroshima I remember talking about Hiroshima this and war that. I remember. I used to pay attention. I used to be very alert when I heard people talking. They bombed here and they bombed there.

NC: What was your family like during the war in the house?

DC: [unclear] My mother, she was alone with us.

NC: How did you feel when the Americans got involved in the War after the bombing in Hiroshima? I know you were young but did you have any_

DC: I used to pay attention to the people talking and to the Newspaper in Puerto Rico. They call it “ El Dia” [The Day Newspaper] They still have it I think and I remember the [unclear] and I remember in my eyes, even at that age I remember like the towers. And smoke of the Bombing of Hiroshima in the Newspaper.

NC: really

DC: I remember seeing that my mother use to pick up the Newspaper every day.

NC: How did you feel about, I mean did your feelings change before the bombing or after about Americans being involved in, how about your parents or your mom feel about us being at war after the bombing?

DC: She was very afraid. Always very worried. She was always praying. We were very scared. [unclear] My mother use to worry a lot about the Puerto Rican Men involved in the war.

NC: What thoughts did you have about the war as a child? Like what did you feel?

DC: As a child, I didn’t really think about anything. The only thing I thought about was the killing. People dying. That’s what worried me as a little girl. I was nine years old you know to understand the whole thing. But I was definitely afraid too because all the guys in the service. The men in the service. All of them were not going to come back home.

NC: Did you know anyone in your neighborhood?

DC: My neighborhood? Yes, Yes. I don’t remember them by name_ but quite a few of them left and my sister told me quite a few of them died in action.

NC: Did you have a TV in your house at the time?

DC: a Radio, no TV. I remember another war. This one was in 194…. Was in 1941 right?

NC: yes.

DC: It was a war that a lot of guys were killed.

NC: Vietnam?

DC: There was a troop they called then the 65^th Infantry. I think it was the same war. A lot of them got killed. I never forget that, the 65^th Infantry in Puerto Rico. I was a little girl. A lot of them died. My sister Lola, [unclear] My Godmother’s nephew was in the service by that time. He’s still alive.

NC: And it was during the 1940’s you say?

CD: I think yeah. And my Godfather which was my Grandmother’s son, he was too. He was in the army too. I think he was in the National Guard in San Juan.

NC: Did they talk about the war like when you went to school? Did they talk about the war in school? Did your teachers mention it in school?

DC: Oh Yes! They mentioned it every morning when we go. I think in the fourth grade. I remember we go to class, we have to salute the flag and after we salute the flag we have to sing [begins to sing] “Oh say can you see…” during the time of the war and we had to put our hands on our heart.

NC: The National Anthem.

DC: I remember it just like that. And the flag was in front of us over the blackboard and…

NC: and all of the students knew the National Anthem? Since I know that a lot of kids in Puerto Rico don’t speak English.

DC: Oh yes, Every kid had to memorize it. Every kid.

NC: And did you play war games. I know you’re sisters were a lot older but did your friends ever play?

DC: No, I never played that.

NC: What kind of toys did you play with?

DC: Dolls! [smiles]

NC: Dolls? [Smiles too] Did you ever experience Air Raid Drills or Black outs?

DC: Oh yes, I remember those.

NC: what was that like?

DC: It was scary [unclear] There was no light on the road and then you heard the siren go [makes the sound] wooo wooo wooo. They did it in case of war we would be prepared and then my sister she was a First Aid. In case they start bombing, she had to go out and take care of the people that were_ and she took a training for that.

NC: Do you remember her coming home like with stories? Did she ever talk about?

DC: She had like a [unclear] like a mocking type thing. Like a Drr…

NC: Like a Drill?

DC: A drill! Like a drill but someone had to make believe. They did that every day. They use to go and take care of them.

NC: So she was trained. Did she actually ever go out and help people or was she trained to do so if they called her she would?

DC: Once that siren starts.

NC: During the Blackout’s you mean?

DC: Yeah, and once the sirens start. She have to go out right away, just in case in her uniform and uh, we never have to experience the troops because there was never any war in Puerto Rico. But they have to have a drill and they have to have people calling by mistake [she is referring to drills] by mistake, not by mistake.

NC: People Mocking. Acting it out.

DC: Acting it out! That’s it. And they use to put on the stretcher and bring him over and a lot of commotion. Just in case they have to do it for real. You know like real McCoy_Cause it happened.

NC: Did your family have a Victory Garden cause it was popular here in the United States like any type of Patriotic or maybe flags up. Or maybe not your mom but were there any American flags up. You know like right now after the September 11^th, everyone has flags up?

DC: [While I am talking in the backround] no no no…We didn’t have much of that. We have the flags in the schools and one flag in the front of the school and one inside every classroom and we had to salute it every morning.[unclear]

NC: and you said no one in your family went off to war?

DC: No

NC: Did you understand as a child why people were going off to war? Like in school do you remember knowing that men were off to War because of what happened? Did you know that the United States was against the Japanese or did you just know we were at war?

DC: I knew there was a war and what I understood was that there was fighting for power [unclear] and then because they had to defend the country. That’s what I learned. To go there and fight.

NC: Did you know why people left? Did a lot of people within your neighborhood leave? And when they did, did you understand?

DC: Like so and so… Most of them were 22 and 25. We use to have songs about it.

NC: Do you remember the songs?

DC: Of course.

NC: What were the names?

DC: You know like_[singing]

Van pa la Guerra muchachas Van pa la guerra

Se van todos los muchachos y las muchachas se quedan

Nosotros los viejecitos sabemos lo que se pueda

They are off to war ladies, they are off to war

They are all off and all the women are left here

We the old people know what we can.

And then there was another that was a about a guy who was young that went to school and they called them “ Mama’s boys because they never take everybody. Those that were healthy you know. And it went [singing]

Juan, ahora si que sea puesto malo, malo, malo, malo

Te vas a tener que ir a pelear

Es un muchacho bueno pero la ha tocado a la chica mas linda

Que hay en el solar.

Todos se la miran, todos se la velan [pause] [she laughs]

Dile a Dios al Basilon, Aprietate al Pantalon

Y ponte como una fierra [very hard to understand this word]

John, it’s now that it’s really gotten bad for you, bad, bad, bad

You’re going to have to leave off to fight

You are a good kid but you have touched the prettiest girl

That there is in the vicinity

Everyone looks at her, everyone stares at her

Tell God and all the party people, tighten up those pants

Y become like a mad animal

NC: I’ll have to translate that one later. Do you remember anymore songs?

DC: [unclear, she finishes the song]

Los amigos le decian, Aprietate el Pantalon

Se puso hincho…Y haciendo alardes y enfureciendo

And his friends would tell him, tighten up your pants]

And he got very pale, and making faces and getting angry

NC: You forgot for a moment

DC: Then there was another song that we use to sing in school when they started to kill our soldiers. We would sing it in the morning. [Begins to sing]

Oh Dios mio Gracias te doy

Por hacerme America tierra de paz

Por aquellos hombres que han fellecido…[pause]

Oh my God I give you Thanks

For making America the land of peace

For those men who have died…

NC: You would have to sing these songs daily or those were songs you would sing at home with your family?

DC: No in school

NC: Oh in the school.

DC: (repeats verse again and then long pause) It was very sad.

NC: And I know we talked about your sister being a First Aid, but you also told me that she wrote music songs and she wrote a lot of songs during the war. Did you ever sit in the bedroom and talk with her and sing these songs?

DC: Yes I remember one. I will never forget that one at that age I was. She make a song. She make a song for the group of the First Aid. I don’t remember, she might still have it in her papers. I remember she make one for the guys that went to war. I sang the song for you. Do you remember?

NC: Yeah I remember.

DC: My sister use to [meditates for a moment] oh, Cuando A Pelear Me Marches No Llores Madre [the name of the song] This guy that was going off to war, he was very close to his mother. And according to the song that she wrote, the guy was leaving his mother to go to war and he was very close and he was very sad to leave the mother. The mother was very sad too that her son was leaving to war not knowing whether he was coming back alive. And so my sister wrote that song. [she sings]

Cuando A Pelear me marches (When I march out to war)

No llores mi Madre (Don’t Cry my mother)

No suertes ni una lagrima (Don’t let out not even a tear)

Yo se que te da lastima (I know it makes you sad)

Te ver partir a su hijo (To see your son leave)

Quizas sin esperanza (Perhaps without hope)

De volverlo ver hamas (Of ever seeing him again)

CHORUS

Adios Madresita Adios (Goodbye my dear mother Goodbye)

Mira,que tu hijo se va (Because your son is leaving)

Anda manda una plegaria al cielo (Send a plague from the sky)

Para que Dios Permita Volvernos a ver ( So that God permits us to see each other again)

NC: Very nice

DC: [still thinking] There was another one that was very sad of a man who was off to war and he would talk to his friends. [sings]

Quien le hara el favor si necesita (Who will do her a favor if she needs one)

Quien le habalara de mi si pregunta (Who will talk to her about me if she asks)

Si preguntara por ese hijo (If they ask about that son)

It’s the same song as my sister’s actually.

NC: Yes?

DC: Yes, the same

NC: This is a song she wrote?

DC: Yes there’s more to it.

Le pondra una flor en su costura

In case she dies

Quien le hablara de mi si preguntara

(Who will talk to her about me if she asks)

Si… hmmm hmmm (If…hmmm hmmm)

Si Regreso y encuentro mi___ ma__ma

(If I return and find my mother)

DC: This is the continuation of the song my sister wrote.

NC: And sang in the house?

DC: She wrote them and then she sang them [sings]

Solo me parte el alma y me consuela (It only breaks my heart)

Que dejo tan solita a mi mama (That I leave my mother so alone)

Mi pobre madrecita que es tan vieja (My poor mother that is so old)

Y en mi ausencia recordara (And in my absence she’ll remember me)

Quien le hara el favor si necesita? (Who will do her a favor if she is in need?)

Quien le hablara de mi (Who will talk to her about me?)

Si Preguntara Por ese hijo (Pause) (If she were ask about that son?)

Le pondre una flor en su costura (in case he dies) (I will put a flower on her waste)

Quien le hablara de mi (Who will talk to her about me)

Si pregunta Si. Hmmmmmmmm (If she asks if… hmmmmmmmm)

Si regreso y encuentro Mi____ ma__ma (If I return and find My____ Mother)

DC: It makes me very sad for my sister. [She looks very sad at this point because as we speak, her sister Maria Mercedes is in the hospital and she is very sick] I don’t know how she did it. [pause]

NC: Did you ever feel unsafe during the war like during let’s say for example the Raids or just in general or on your way to school, or when you hear the radio things that were going on. [shaking her head] You never felt unsafe?

DC: Never felt unsafe. I think it’s because my school. I felt sad at times but [pause]

NC: So did life carry on as it normally did?

DC: Smooth…yes.

NC: How did you fell when the war was over? Did you hear from the radio or did your mom tell you?

DC: Yes_ the radio was very loud and everybody was so happy yes. The only sad part was the guys that was coming in the casket. Very sad. They brought the bodies back. It was sadness. Not too much happiness but a lot of sadness

NC: Did you have friends in school that were classmates that may have lost someone?

DC: Parents you mean?

NC: yes.

DC: Probably , but they never talked about it much. They sang songs and praised the flag and all of that.

NC: If you talk to a lot of Americans that were alive during WW II people argue that WWII was the reason why the Depression ended. Do you agree? [phone rings, very long pause] So many thought that the economy got better that there were more jobs. Do you remember that life seemed to be better?

DC: Yes. More easy. Prices were lower and it was easier for people to buy. Before that it was hard. Before that it was Depression, you were right. Everything was scarce. Rice, Blankets, food. The government use to give people Blankets at the house. You know for the families. It was bad at that time. The rice was not as white and nice. Your mother would know but she was too young. They would spray it to preserve it. That was before WW II. I was about six years old. I remember I would have to make a long line to get food, clothes, dresses for the kids and food.

NC: Wow, this was a place that people use to go to.

DC: They have a station like welfare. They gave them a sack of oatmeal, cornstarch, and codfish too. It was cheap. Everything was different in Puerto Rico.

Now I remember, when I was about five, they have “Bodegas” [small grocery stores one or two grocery stores, they were small and you go there and they have a role of paper and you ask for ten cents of rice, and they guy he have a shovel. I remember that. And they have a scale, and they put the paper on the scale and they shovel the rice and then weigh it and they go like this. [makes gestures as if shoveling with her hands] It was funny they take the paper like this [shows me with her hands] and they go like this and that’s how they wrap it.

NC: [laughs]

DC: And fifteen cents for beans, ten cents for codfish, and three cents for coffee and three cents for oil. You have to bring the container and then put the oil in there. Everything like that. Five cents or eight cents of potato…

NC: This was before the war?

DC: Before the war_ I was about five. I remember that was the Depression and I was about five. The Depression was in what years the 30’s?

NC: Yes in the early thirty’s.

DC: I was not born in thirty. I was born in thirty-two.

NC: So you were born in the midst of the Depression.

DC: I remember how the prices were going and people come with coal and people buy the Carbon to cook with, which is made out of in Puerto Rico of wood.

DC: Real Charcoal. That’s the Charcoal they used to roast the pig. That’s the good Charcoal because it’s made out of wood and it’s expensive. It’s a charcoal made out of wood. Your father knows, you didn’t know?

NC: No

DC: It’s a Carbon that is cooked and it is used to roast pig there. They sell it here in Guilford and in other places. It’s made out of wood. How they made it? I remember. I saw it. [unclear] The people make it. They cut the trees okay and branches and they pile it up like that like a Tee Pee. From here to here big [shows how big with her hands] it was higher and then all those branches are there together. They take dirt and they throw it.

NC: On top of the wood?

DC: On top of the wood. And they cover all those branches with leaves and all and they cover that with dirt. They get a shovel and they throwing and throwing until they cover that with dirt. Now in the center they started the fire. They throw matches or what ever or they take the paper and light it and throw it in the middle of that hole. Ah and in between it’s something like this. [shows with her hands]

NC: Like the shape of a triangle?

DC: No it’s more round

NC: oh like the shape of the lamp that you are touching.

DC: So that all the sticks are covered in dirt. So let’s say there is a hole at the top and they put something, I don’t know. I know they put paper and then they light it and little by little it begins to let out smoke…slowly [unclear] and they light it for days.

NC: Days?

DC: Don’t forget, this is something that is amazing! Cause you can’t burn it to quick or it will become ashes. So they let it burn slowly and it will become coal. It makes Carbon. For a week, month when it stops smoking, I think it’s ready. Then they take the shovel and put it in water and they put it in bags. They sell it now. Like long sticks, It cooks with the leaves and it turns into coal and that’s what it was called in those times_ cooking coal.

NC: So who would be in charge of doing that?

DC: Let’s say you were my neighbor and you said let’s make “ogera”[fire for carbon] and they say okay and we go together pick up some branches and we put it together, Five or seven guys do that and they sell the carbon. And they give it away like crazy. Once the water dries it makes carbon. And they sell it so much money per bag. And that’s it. I’ve bought it now. It’s like three or six dollars a bag, very expensive. So that’s how you make it! I know how to make it since I was a little girl. And people use to kill their own animals. They use to raise chickens and pigs in their yard. I remember when they kill them in there they use to go Weee weee weee! [ makes loud screeches like a pig] And my mother’s neighbor use to kill pigs so often and sell them to us. What they use to do was go around the neighborhood and ask, “how many pounds you want”, oh I need four pounds or send me two and a half pounds, or send me the ribs. And they kill the pig and so I want two pounds so they put them in bandage and bags. And they distribute it for money. But when they kill the pig, it was so sad. You hear the pig cry eeeeeee eeeeeee! [makes sounds again] That was sad. And one time I remember they stuck a knife in the stomach and they used the blood because they make sausage. What do you call it? Morcillas [sausages mage out of pig guts, intestines and blood] They call them sausages. And then when I was a little girl so young and innocent, they asked me, a neighbor asked me, “ what do you like from the pig when they kill the pig? Would you like me to save you the screams?” I thought the screams were a piece of the meat. The screams were the crying of the pig_ eeeee eeeee! The crying of the pig. [laughs]

NC: [Laughs also] so he said, you said yeah?

DC: I said yeah because I didn’t know he was joking. [laughs] Then they sell the meat and they make the sausage. You know what sausage is made of?

NC: of blood.

DC: noooooo, well yes, they fill it with blood

NC: Guts?

DC: well their intestines full of shit

NC: uggggghhhh!

DC: I wouldn’t eat that now not even tied up. They take the intestines full of shit and they emptied it out of the intestines like this and they take out the shit. And they rinse it and put lemon juice I think and ashes, and they put ashes from the Carbon and they mix it with water and they mix it with the chemicals from the ashes. It was like Clorox.

NC: So they would mix the ashes with the_

DC: water and with that water they cleaned the intestines

NC: ugghhh the intestines ugghhh!

DC: And then they take soap that they used to wash clothes. They use to make this soap with some chemicals. They took this soap and they mixed it with the guts in a bucket and they rinse it and rinse it because it smells like shit. [with disgust] It stinks. And they kept cleaning it and they put lemon in it and the smell goes away with time. You smell them and they don’t smell like shit anymore. And then it’s very clean. It’s a very long [emphasizes this word] intestine. Then they tie one of the ends and they use the blood, not even with a lab to take tests on it. And they put onions, garlic and a lot of oregano and a lot of “cilantrillo”, cut up, you know that plant that you like? [It’s a special herb grown in Puerto Rico]

NC: Yes. Hmmmmm

DC: and pepper too, about a spoonful. You know those spoons?

NC: With three spikes?

DC: No, I have some downstairs. Like if you want to put something in. I use them for beans

NC: Like a deep spoon you can use for soup too?

DC: uh huh, a paddle. Well that spoon, in a funnel [she says it in Spanish]. You know what a funnel is? Like when you put oil in a car you use that thing.

NC: Like a tube?

DC: Like you want to put water in a bottle? a funnel, a funnel.

NC: Oh a funnel.

DC: They out that in the mouth of the tube until it gets all the way to the bottom filled up like a sausage. In Germany they make morcillas too. Germans like it. And they tied it at the top and after tying it they would boil it and then the blood gets hard and that’s why it looks so black, the morcilla.

DC: [laughs loudly] I like the way your face does that. [laughs loudly while clapping because my facial expression is in disgust]

NC: No because I’ve heard of morcillas and all I know is that it’s blood and you don’t eat it!

DC: I have taught you a lot! And they boil it so it does not break and they cut it in pieces and put it in a pan with grease and they fry it and how good it was! But I would not eat it now not even tied up!

NC: You use to eat morcillas?

DC: When I was little yes. I didn’t know when I found out a lot after I grew older. I haven’t eaten them for year. They smell good though, It’s a sausage. The only difference is that Puerto Ricans use the Real McCoy. [laughs]

NC: Yes

DC: Then the stomach, the other kids, well the stomach was like a balloon, so they would blow it up after they cleaned it and then the masks, you know for Mardi Gras? You know in Puerto Rico, Mardi Gras in February?

NC: Yes

DC: They blow it up, the stomach and since it’s skin it would look like a balloon and they would hit people with them.

NC: [laughs]

DC: They would use the ears, fry them, the heart, the liver of the pig and cut them in small pieces and they would put “Sazon” [a Spanish seasoning] And they would put a lot of potatoes and they would make a lot of them. They would use the WHOLE pig. They would fry the guts until they were real crispy. That was good.

NC: You use to eat it?

DC: Yeah I use to eat it. [laughs]

NC: So was that popular when you were young or as you got older did they stop?

DC: They’re still doing it!

NC: [laughing]

DC: People in Puerto Rico still do it and still eat it.

NC: Now that I have a lesson on how to make morcillas, so um, your neighborhood, was it city like?

DC: No, no, it was like here [Westbrook, CT] It was quiet with many houses

NC: They were spread apart?

DC: Yes, and there were “Bodegas” like grocery stores, markets, many plazas, they would sell olives, these special ones. They look like grapes. Capers, have you ever heard of them?

NC: No, Raisins?

DC: No,no, Capers. I have a bottle. They were like sour. I love to cook with them. They are like olives. Capers are very small. They came from Spain and they cure them and people can cook with them. They are called “Alcaparas” I know your mother uses them to make “pasteles” [a Spanish dish that is made of different types of yams]

NC: Are they red?

DC: They are olives. They are smaller ones that are called Capers.

NC: I have to ask mami.

DC: They are so good. Olives and Capers. I used to eat them They came from Spain to Puerto Rico in that time. They came in barrels and they would sell them for two or three cents. They would give you a lot more than now for your money. They are now about three dollars for a few. And I loved eating them with my sisters and neighbors. I had to bring a cup from the house to the store and he would fill them halfway with Capers. I loved to eat Capers! [laughs]

NC: I’ll have to see them when we go downstairs.

DC: They have them in the supermarket. They are green and they are cured like olives. They take the pits out. In that time Puerto Rico use to make sugar too. Sugar cane and buy it [unclear]

NC: This was after the war that the prices increased?

DC: Oh Yes, The people would make five cents a day or fifty cents a day. But remember, with ten cents you would buy groceries for the week. I remember, I was a little girl but I remember with fourteen cents you would buy groceries.

NC: Your mother worked during the war?

DC: Yes, well my father died when I was two and a half. So my mother worked at a coffee shop, where they actually processed the coffee. My mom worked there.

NC: And she worked there during the war as well or did she stop?

DC: In 1941, no, she stopped working there when I was three because it got slow there where she use to work and she use to take me holding me by the hand to pick up her check. And my later to be Godmother was next to the Cafeteria about three houses down. Very big house. She was a tall white woman with her hair in a white bun and she had blue eyes. And she always wore leather shoes. And she sat on her front porch and she said to my mother, “what a pretty girl!” And she said “Is she baptized?” My mom said no. She asked if she could baptize me. My mom said ok and she invited us in. And she immediately became close to me. And she use to make clothes for me [unclear for about thirty seconds] She was my second mother. Her name was Rafaela, but anyhow they had a two-family house and she asked my mother if I could help her. [very unclear] And she had many bedrooms about nine of them.

NC: wow.

DC: [very unclear, she is speaking very softly at this point. I know she is discussing her godmother’s house but I can’t make out what she is saying.] She had one room for sowing, one for clothes, and she had many trees with fruit and they had a great scent, and very sweet too. And they had ducks in the yard. In the front of the street it was white. The living room and the kitchen were immense in size. And she use to cook there.[unclear]

NC: And how old were you?

DC: I started going there at the age of three until I finished high school.

NC: Wow.

DC: [unclear] She was like my mother and I adored her. She was a blessing. She use to give me clothes, shoes, everything. And not just me, my sisters too. My mother use to help her in the house. She use to cook for her

NC: She use to pay you? Or…

DC: No, she paid my mother, but I tell you, she was like a mother to me. Godmother is like a mother and when your mother is gone they say your Godmother is suppose to take over by the law of God. She loved me and she had like nine children. One was a teacher, one owned a Garage, one was in the army. {very unclear] They gave me many things. I was very careful girl with my things had a box full of them. My dolls, everything. My godmother gave me things daily. She would make me socks, she would make me dresses, she would make me little underwear. I was always pretty… shoes she had money.

NC: Do you know if life changed for her at all during the war?

DC: My Godmother?

NC: Yes.

DC: No, well, she lived even better, I would sleep there. I remember wetting her bed sometimes when I was three and four years old!! [laughs] and they were a very happy family. [unclear] She had a beautiful heart. I saw pictures of her recently when I last went to Puerto Rico, of when she was young because she died at eighty-five years old, but I went to visit her daughter Irma. She was the oldest and she showed me pictures. She was so beautiful… so beautiful. She was angel of a woman. She got along with everyone. Everyone loved her. She was a tall white woman. She was like a mother I tell you. I miss her [pause] she had a nice figure and she was always dressed nice in leather shoes. And she would wear her hair in a bun. [unclear- she is discussing the lives of her godmother’s children] I went to see one of her granddaughters recently. I use to play with her when we were young. I went to visit her with my husband Petey and I saw her son Romancito when he was in the army.[unclear] She use to call me her “negrita” [her little dark-skinned one. This term is used out of love by many in Puerto Rico] I have a card that she gave me years ago and I still carry it in my wallet. Many years have passed since and she said “I love you very much and I hope that many beautiful things occur in your life.” And that’s how she was. I never was a , not to talk good about myself but I never was a promiscuous girl. No man ever touched me. I never stayed with men. My first man was my husband and I stayed with that respect for myself. [unclear] I was raised by Puerto Ricans although I am dark-skinned. and just like in the south here, Racism also reached Puerto Rico.

NC: Was this here?

DC: no,no,no,no What happened here in the United States with Blacks, would be heard through the Newspapers in Puerto Rico.

NC: oh ok.

DC: I was raised hearing those things, I am dark-skinned but I have European blood running through my body. No matter how dark Puerto Ricans are, It’s in the Encyclopedias, we also have… My Great Grandmother and my Grandfather was black from Africa, It’s a tremendous mystery. My mother was not a racist but she preferred me with White (Puerto Ricans) She was very proud of her daughters. She wanted the very best for us. [unclear]

[For the next about twenty minutes she is discussing details about her family and things that are personal. She asked me to edit it out of the interview and continue from where I left off. I eventually stopped the tape during the interview.]

NC: Is there something that I did not talk about that you would like to say?

DC: Well I think it’s very important to know that we are very lucky, ver lucky. Look at what happened in those towers. We are more than lucky. Many lives were lost. All this talk of terrorism and threats…no[shakes her head] It really worries me though. I’m not afraid to die but, [unclear] It’s a new generation, too many nuclear advancements.

NC: I’m sure it was not like this back then.

DC: Oh no, before we knew why we was fighting and we knew the enemy. You don’t know if you own people are doing it. You never know.

[Very unclear, she is discussing the Timothy Mcveagh case and the interview ends. I did not realize that the tape stopped at the time, and I didn’t get the ending when we ended the interview]