New Mexico Test

of Cultural Knowledge By Larry Torres

Do you know your Emic from you Etic?

Are you culturally savvy

both in and out

of the classroom?

What did the trailer say to the tractor?

If you knew this answer then you are ready for some harder stuff!!!

What do you do if you see an owl in the middle of the day?

A. Shoot it.B. Pretend you are a rabbit.C. Offer it some salt,D. Poke out its eyes.

What is a Dally Walter?

A. A famous New Mexico cowboy,

B. A slow poke,

C. A lariat roping trick,

D. A person who cleans corrals

Who can lift a curse put on someone by a witch?

A. A person anointed with onions,B. A person who picks oshá at night,C. A person named Uvaldo or Geralda,D. A person named Juan or Juana.

What is a “Gringo?”

A. A Greek,

B. An Anglo,

C. A Greenlander,

D. A person who grins

When is all water sacred and free of all danger?

A. On the 24th of June,B. On the 1st of May,C. On the 25th of December,D. On the 31st of October.

Pérez, Raél and Espinoza are

A. Spanish names,B. Arabic names,C. Jewish names,D. French names.

How do you raise a good crop in New Mexico?

A. Put lots of fertilizer on it,

B. Put a scarecrow in the middle of the field,

C. Pray to Saint Isidore,

D. Scatter salt in the fields.

To whom do you pray to keep lightning from striking your home?

A. To St. Christopher,B. To St. Cecilia,C. To St. Barbara,D. To St. Anthony.

What must you say before beginning any task?

A. Ave María,B. Abracadabra,C. Mumbo-Jumbo,D. Cucamanga.

What must you do if you need to pee outside at night?

A. Mark the spot with an O,

B. Make a sign of the cross over it,

C. Pee with your face to the rising sun,

D. Hope your dog doesn’t lick it.

What does the word “Buckaroo” mean?

A. Someone who’s been bucked off a horse,

B. Someone who rides the buck board,

C. A cowboy,

D. A Buck Jones groupie

What must you do with a tooth that falls out?

A. Throw it at the sun,B. Save it for the tooth fairy,C. Bury it at a crossroads,D. Wear it on a string around

your neck.

To where do pilgrims go to get holy dirt?

A. The Santuario de Chimayó

B. The Cave of the Holy Hermit,

C. The Kneeling Nun of the Santa Rita Mines,

D. The Staircase of the Chapel of Loretto.

What are chicos?

A. Little boys,B. Oven-dried corn,C. The smallest part of any minority,D. Chinese Americans in the Southwest.

What ritual goes on for nine nights before Christmas in New Mexico?

A. Los Posoles,B. Los Pastores,C. Las Posadas,D. Los Pelones.

Who is also known as “La Comadre Sebastiana?”

A. Santa Claus,

B. The head nun at a convent,

C. The fiesta queen,

D. Death.

What happens if a rooster crows at night?

A. Someone will step on bird poopB. Someone will be getting marred soon,C. Someone in the house will die,D. Someone will win the lottery.

What do people like to do on the Feast of Holy Innocents?

A. Borrow objects from each other,B. Make angels in the snow,C. Feed their neighbors’ kids,D. Free the animals from their pens.

What is “La Llorona?”

A. A creature who cries for joy,B. A mother who potty trains her children,C. A lady who steals food from wedding receptions,D. A mother who drowns her children.

What is a “Curandera?”

A. A self-taught medicine woman,B. A woman who picks her nose in public,C. A lady in premature labor,D. A girl who is not married by the age of 15.

What must a pregnant woman wear on her belly?

A. A silk scarf,

B. A piece of burlap,

C. The key to the church

or to the house,

D. A dime from 1912.

Why is some red chile hotter than another?

A. It has too much capsicum in the pod,

B. It has been left on the vine too long,

C. The cook that made it was really mad,

D. Red is the color of Hell.

Who was the first archbishop of New Mexico?

A. Salpointe,B. Lamy,C. Sánchez,D. Machebeuf

Who penned the first known chile recipe in 1662?

A. Doña Tules,

B. María de Ágreda,

C. Gerónimo,

D. Kit Carson

If a woman turns down a suitor’s marriage proposal, what must she do?

A. Put a pomegranate on his window sill,B. Put a pumpkin on his door step,

C. Put a letter of rejection under his pillowD. Give a bottle of chokecherry wine to his

father.

What is a “sopapilla?”

A. A milk sop,

B. A small bowl of soup,

C. A super pill,

D. A piece of fried bread

Jesus was crucified with only three nails. What happened to the fourth

nail?

A. It was stolen by a gypsy,

B. It was rusty and fell off,

C. It was given to Pontius Pilate,

D. It was lost in the tomb.

What are fried lamb’s testicles called in New Mexico?

A. Bolitas del Cielo,B. Besitos del corral,

C. Dulces frescos,D. Rocky Mountain Oysters.

Who was the girl who was crucified by her father for sprouting a beard?

A. Saint Martha,B. Saint Mary Magdalene,C. Saint Livrade,D. Saint Scholastica

How many seat opening should a proper New Mexico outhouse

have?A. One,

B. Two,

C. Three,

D. None

What does Saint Lucy carry around in her hands?

A. Her eyeballs,

B. Two marbles,

C. A couple of jaw

breakers,

D. A hollyhock.

What causes warts in New Mexico?

A. Holding a frog in your hand,B. Holding a snake by the tail,C. Playing with dead skunks,

D. Running around counter-clockwise.

What must a husband do while his wife is having a baby in New Mexico?

A. Pray a rosary,

B. Wait for the stork,

C. Dance to Saint Raymond,

D. Boil water.

What were “Buffalo Soldiers?”

A. Guardians of the buffalo,

B. Soldiers who followed the herds,

C. Black cavalry units

D. Sentries on duty

If a person drowns in the Río Grande, how do

New Mexicans search for the body?

A. They comb the river with oshá,B. They bake a special bread and toss it in the

water,C. They pray to Nuestra Señora de los Lagos,

D. They drop some chokecherries where the body went under.