POPULAR CULTURE AS FOLK CULTURE

I think the first reading can be a little tricky for people who haven't experienced reading Latin American legends, but besides that it's a very good way for people to familiarize with it because it has a lot of elements that represent very well native Latin American culture, for example quetzal plumes, rolls of drums, war songs, faces painted with fruit, etc. (pg. 82, 2nd P). It is also a clear example of our legends, because it incorporates a lot of natural elements, it uses metaphors, and it gives mystical characteristics to normal things. You can also see that in religion they believed in many different gods and it was until the Spanish arrived that Latin America became monotheist. One of the legends also talks a lot about the conquest and how Spanish people ask for "prizes" to the indians to "give" them as presents to their Spanish saints. On the pongo kid story you can see how the indians were always abused and treated like objects. In the eyes of the conquerors they were just possesions that they can do whatever they want with them. But this story has a valuable lesson and is to treat everybody with respect, disregarding their race or background. You can also notice in the story how the catholisism is being impossed and that people prayed to "God" and his saints instead of their old believed gods.