LL-L "Migration" 2007.10.03 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  03 October 2007 - Volume 04
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: "Brooks, Mark" <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
Subject: LL-L "Migration" 2007.10.03 (03) [E]

Ron wrote: "Many citizens of Santa Elena, Yucatán, are descendants of 213
settlers in the village of Nohcacab in the mid-19th century. These people
all came from Hamburg and surrounding areas. I assume they were of lower
class background and thus probably knew German but had Low Saxon as their
native language."

Back in the '80s my wife and I took a trip to Mérida, Yucután.  One night
while eating in a sidewalk café, we saw a tall blond man in his 20s walking
down the street wearing denim overalls and a straw hat.  I said something
like, "Wow, where did this guy come from?"  I thought a country boy from
Texas had gotten loose in Mexico.  Then, he stopped at one of the other
tables and talked for a second.  I saw then that he had a big "something" in
his hands.  He came over to our table and held it up and said "queso?"  Then
I realized he came from around there, and had come into town to sell his
cheese.  I have always reckoned that he came from a Mennonite community
around there.
Mark Brooks

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From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Migration

Thanks, Mark.

When I said, "I do not know about the fate of the Low Saxon language in
Mexico," I should have added "other than that of Mennonites."

Mexican Mennonites are nationally known for their good cheese (queso
mennonito, queso Chihuahua), bread, cake, and meat products. Apparently,
most Mennonite communities are of the old, orthodox order, preferring
extremely simple lifestyles, where only men speak Spanish with outsiders.
From what I remember our Reuben telling us, the communities of Chihuahua and
surrounding areas immigrated there from Canada to escape what they perceived
as mainstreaming regulations (such as in public education).  I hope I got
this right.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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