LOVE-MAKING IN YUCATAN. A Process that is Extremely Slow but Always

Otago Witness, Issue 1918, 24 August 1888, Page 31

LOVE-MAKING IN YUCATAN. A Process that is Extremely Slow but Always

Poetical and Chivalrous. (Philadelphia Record Letter.)

Our little handmaiden, Jesusita (which is Spanish for " small Jesus '') has a lover, and every evening a pineapple-shaped noosegay, tightly tied with maguey fibre, comes bouncing into the sala, tossed from without between the window bars, and immediately after is heard the twanging of a guitar. Generally the lover sings something of this sort :— Do not kill me I Do not kill me I With a pistol nor a dagger ; 1 "> Kill mo witha little kisa From your lovely coral lips. The sombreroed singer — in bright blue breeches and silver-embroidered jacket of yellow kid, with complexion like an old shoe and black eyes of marvellous brilliancy — is the valet of a local dignitary and rejoices , under the name of Juan Bautista — John the Baptist. These gentle people, by the way, mean no disrespect to sacred things in their rather startling nomenclature, but, on the contrary, desire to prove their loving reverence by giving to their children the holiest names they know. Don Juan Bautista has been singing to our Jesusita nightly, so she tells me, for about four years, and squandering a good share of his income in b«uquets to toss between the bars, uncertain whether they be appropriated by maid or mistress. " Are you engaged to marry him ?" I asked. "Engaged 1 Senorita, he has never asked me to marry him," replied she in surprise. " Then why does he come every night and give you so many flowers if he is not in love with you 1" "In love with me, Senorita, oh, yes," said the blushing maiden, " but he has not yet had time to tell me so, ONLY IN HIS SONGS. He means me for his esposa (wife) by-and-bye, and he would kill any other man who came to serenade me." To Northerners it seems absurd that a lovesick swain has not found time, after 'four years of constant attendance, to declare himself ; but that is the way with these queer peeple. They fall in love literally "in the twinkling of an eye," and postpone the consummation of it often half a lifetime, content ' meanwhile to moon about the windows and write the most extravagant billet-deux, full of tender expressions, such as " My life, light " of my eyes, my heart's treasure, I love thee \ lovost thou me ?" Yucatan gentlemen higher in the social scale than John the Baptist are not less extravagant in their expressions of gallantry. In saluting ladies they still observe the Spanish form : " A losjnes de vsted" (At your feet), to which figure of speech the correct response is : " Be&o a listed la mano" (I kiss the hand to you.) In closing an ordinary letter of business or friendship everybody in this part of the world always adds B. S. M., meaning beso sus manos (I kiss your hands).

The Spanish - American, like his Latin brethren across the sea, talks quite as much

WITH HIS HANDS AND EYES as with his tongue, and shrugs his shoulders as frequently as a Frenchman. One of the prettiest of the many gestures in general use here is called tne leso sojrtado, throwing kisses by gathering the fingers of the right hand into a close group, touching the lips, then throwing them out like a fan, at the same time blowing in the hand as it is outstretched toward the person for whom the demonstration is intended, thus signifying that five kisses are given at once. Gentlemen manifest their appreciation of female beauty by gazing intently into the faces of the ladies, whether in the street, in church, or at the opera. This custom, which else-, where would be resented as an impeitinence, is here accepted— as it is meant — merely as a flattering tribute to a fair one's charms. Between acts of the opera men rise to their feet, and, with levelled glasses, pay admiring I, homage to those dark-eyed senoritas whose beauty may have attracted them. Then the I pretty language of the fan comes into play, and the well-pleased maidens carry away blissful memories of gallant knights and " eyes that spoke again." In ascending a stairway the lady takes the gentleman's arm, as at the north ; but in descending he, to avoid accidents, always , goes a step or two ahead, holding her firmly by the hand, with as much solicitude, as if she was an invalid or a cripple. The same careful attention is offered to the veriest stranger, as naturally as, and with far more regularity and promptitude than our own countrymen show in relinquishing a seat in a crowded car to one of the weaker sex.

On leaving a~house after having made a friendly call the salutation with the hand, the oft-repeated bow, and the " a lotpies de usted" are continued just as long as one may be in sight, and instead of finding anything tedious and wearisome in this long-drawn-out civility, one feels as if he had been transported back to the days of chivalry.