Chasing Dichos through Chimayó

Chasing Dichos through Chimayo. By Don J. Usner. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2014. Pp. vii + 232, prologue, introduction, photographs, postscript. $39.95 hardbound.)Chimayo, a small hamlet situated within idyllic and bucolic surroundings in northern New Mexico, is the epicenter for Don J. Usner's book. Renowned for El Santuario, a religious sanctuary, every year thousands of pilgrims flock to Chimayo during Holy Week to fulfill their vows and to offer prayers for loved ones and friends suffering from health ailments, or to pray for relatives who have departed this Earth.But Chimayo transcends devoutness. It is a village of contrasts and contradictions, of dark and light shadows, of heroes and villains, of artists and farmers, of the downtrodden and the infirm, and of wise old people versus naive and suspicious youth. Amid this labyrinth of scenarios, Usner, a coyote (Anglo/Hispanic) with deep roots in the area like his mother, deftly takes the reader on an unforgettable journey, with his mother oftentimes at his side acting as "tour guide." She acquaints him with the local landscape, historic sites (e.g., chapels and cemeteries), and ordinary people and relatives whose ancestries date back several generations in the locality.Chasing Dichos is a labor of commitment that required six years to assemble before seeing the light of day. And what a fortuitous undertaking indeed for readers of New Mexico and beyond our borders who have an interest in the state's longstanding history of the Spanish language and culture. Usner's compilation of dichos-folk sayings-complements Ruben Cobos' 1985 book. Refranes: Southwestern Spanish Proverbs. The works of both scholars have a direct link to Spain. "Del dicho al hecho hay gran trecho!Easier said than done" or "El hombre propone y Dios dispone!Man proposes and God disposes," invoked by the inimitable Sancho Panza in counseling his master and knight-errant Don Quixote, are a case in point.Myriad traditional proverbs comparable to the foregoing carved a circuitous route to the New World and found their way to a remote corner of New Spain called the Land of Enchantment. Here those sayings joined hands with numerous dichos conceived by our own ancestors (e.g., Haz las cosas al reves y las haces otra vez!Haste makes waste, composed by my father). Oldtimers, viejitos like my father and those featured in Usner's opus, are among the last bastions of folkloric gems that until recently enjoyed immense popularity in villages like Chimayo and throughout northern New Mexico.The key word, la palabra clave, indisputably is dichos. "Habia un dicho!There was a saying," was a common phrase among elders in my village when I was a small boy. A dicho of their own usually followed when offering advice to young kids like me. In Chasing Dichos, the central character is dichos themselves while the older men and women play the pivotal role of a supporting cast in their quest to bring to the fore centuriesold folk sayings. …