My origins pt.2

In the last post, I talked a bit about part of my origins, now I’m going to tell you about the rest and the culture with which I grew up.

I was born in Venezuela, but my mum is Spanish and my dad Portuguese, and yes, every time I say this everyone says “What a mix”, I know, but getting to age at home with both European countries allowed me to see the world differently, and I am grateful for it.

We speak at home Spanish and Portuguese, and eventually French and Italian (My mum taught me when I was a child).

The normal scenario in a mixed-cultured house was listening to flamenco songs and preparing the Portuguese meal every Christmas.

From mum’s side, the linage is really mixed, Spanish with Africans, Swedens with Spanish and so on, until her, she was born in the middle of big explosions during the civil Spanish war but her parents brought her to Venezuela without registering her as a Spanish citizen, that was the only way they could save the family.

My grandpa by mum’s side was Spanish, he came from a wealthy family, the one who didn’t want to spare or share their treasures, so the rule was or you marry a cousin or you marry a rich white, they escaped from Franchism, that’s the reason why taking my mum to Venezuela was safer than staying there, well… one of them, my grandma instead, she had African origins but she was Venezuelan, so this was outrageous for my grandpa family, he got disinherited, mum’s line was a family of orchards and wine, she grew up smashing grapes dancing on them (because the tradition says if you dance on them wine will be even exquisite).

From my dad’s side of the story, it’s not that happy either, my dad emigrated to Venezuela when he was 16 years old, to help his family after the Second War World, the family of my dad was poor after the ravages of war, grandpa lost an arm during the war and died, so my dad decided to take the reins and got off a long trip on a boat to Venezuela, at the glorious times of the ’50s, the golden times as they say.

Coming back to my home, mum taught me flamenco and the culture of wine, and of course the Spanish cuisine, my dad taught me Portuguese, the bailinho dance (typical dance from Madeira), and the Portuguese cuisine.

I was different from normal Latin American children, I already had my life planned and like to preserve my culture, I’ve grown up with this romantic European stamp, with the Mediterranean touch and a bit of cold minded and of course, a sense of family, the protective side, and it allowed me to recognize and respect different cultures around the world, which I find fascinating, your nationality defines you to a certain point, but what really does the difference is your principles.

But I was different from the normal stereotype of a Latin American because of my physic as well. I’ve been skinny since my birth, Latin American girls are usually with huge hips, curves, prosperous breasts, not delicate physiognomy and structure bones, I’m completely the opposite, and they used to make mock me about that.

I will never forget dancing in the evening while my cousins and uncles played the guitar and sang for me, the way my dad allowed me to try wine since I was 14, the exquisite Portuguese biscuits of my auntie every happy new year, the joy of sharing both cultures at home, the champions were tight tho, you could see mum and dad both dressed in the football uniform from their countries but I always supported both. But what really matters still today is the love and the morals we have as a family, my father died a few years ago, even though mum continues to pursue both traditions.