Week 2- Cultural Commentary

The Chileans are also very different from our culture and that of the British because they are a very superstitious people. Miss Fresia, a Chilean woman, is the housekeeper for the Sommers family. The reader sees the culture of Chile compared to the British.

When Miss Rose gets seriously sick with an upset stomach then a headache followed by temporary blindness. Mama Fresia attempts to help Rose recover by lighting black candles and fanning the smoke from burning sage everywhere. She then puts a dead lizard in a bottle of brandy. Rose has cloths dowsed in green tea put over her eyes. Although there is no evidence that this "witchery" actually cures Rose, she does recover within 48 hours.


Mama Fresia does many more superstitious things throughout the book. The most interesting medications Mama Fresia uses are those to cause Eliza to bleed away her child. Eliza has to drink chicken crap dissolved in black beer, soak in sulfur baths, and apply mustard compresses to her stomach. When this doesn't work, Mama Fresia speaks to a machi who tells her how to give Eliza an abortion. She has to recite and incantation and can only perform the ceremony on Friday night.


The Chileans also have religious superstitions. During the Cristo de Mayo I discussed in one of last weeks blogs, a Christ statue on a column is taken through the processions. His crown of thorns is around his neck because last time the crown was placed correctly on his head an earthquake began. Since then, the crown remained around the statue's neck.