When Nasario Garcia was a boy in Ojo del Padre, a village in the Rio Puerco Valley northwest of Albuquerque, he grew up the way rural New Mexicans had for generations. His parents built their own adobe house, raised their own food, hauled their water from the river, and brought up their children to respect the old ways. In this account of his boyhood Garcia writes unforgettably about his family's village life, telling story after story, all of them true, and fascinating everyone interested in New Mexico history and culture.

A noted folklorist presents this bilingual compilation of the dichos (sayings), adivinanzas (riddles), stories, love quatrains, letters, ballads, and songs from Spanish New Mexico.

These stories come from a variety of Southwestern states - as well as Latin America - and demonstrate how the magical world of witchcraft and the supernatural connects Spain to Latin America, and Latin America to North America. This rich tradition of supernatural tales illuminates an unexplored aspect of the American Southwest's Hispanic heritage. The collection also includes biographical information on the narrators and a glossary highlighting the regional Spanish dialect of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, USA.

"When I moved to northern New Mexico thirty-three years ago," writes John Nichols, "I immediately fell in with my neighbours and commenced laughing". As folklorist Nasario Garcia explains in his introduction to this collection, falling in with the voices of laughter and comic relief is a timeless, vital aspect of Hispanic culture. !Chistes! brings together for the first time in English and regional Spanish a medley of orally gathered humorous anecdotes from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The chistes range in form from practical jokes, pranks, slips-of-the-tongue, hyperbole, solecisms, slapstick, and double entendres. True for most of the villages and towns represented in this collection, Hispanic humour is a function of folks who understand how to deal with difficult times with verve and at time self-deprecation, places with a strong communal identification, where everyone knows everybody's business and tells it with good-natured fun; where nothing is off limits, not even the church; where local politics takes it on the chin and farm animals provide the punch. The original Spanish versions of these tales are particularly flavourful for their colourful vernacular found uniquely in the region covered.

"When I moved to northern New Mexico thirty-three years ago," writes John Nichols, "I immediately fell in with my neighbours and commenced laughing." As folklorist Nasario Garcia explains in his introduction to this collection, falling in with the voices of laughter and comic relief is a timeless, vital aspect of Hispanic culture. !Chistes! brings together for the first time in English and regional Spanish a medley of orally gathered humorous anecdotes from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The chistes range in form from practical jokes, pranks, slips-of-the-tongue, hyperbole, solecisms, slapstick, and double entendres. True for most of the villages and towns represented in this collection, Hispanic humour is a function of folks who understand how to deal with difficult times with verve and at time self-deprecation, places with a strong communal identification, where everyone knows everybody's business and tells it with good-natured fun; where nothing is off limits, not even the church; where local politics takes it on the chin and farm animals provide the punch. The original Spanish versions of these tales are particularly flavourful for their colourful vernacular found uniquely in the region covered.

This title is the winners of 2005 Southwest Book Award. 'The stories are charmingly frank, unexpectedly humorous, sometimes sad, all reminiscent of a simpler, though not always uncomplicated time...The book brims with anecdotes, folklore, and oral history that help define one of New Mexicos most fascinating pockets of enchantment' - ""Albuquerque Journal"". 'Garcia presents stories on life in the countryside, education, folk healing, witchcraft, superstitions, religion, politics, folk sayings, and riddles...All Hispanic Americans with an interest in their cultural heritage should identify with many of the stories told by the viejitosthe old folks...Recommended' - ""Choice"". 'A veritable buffet of reminiscences...An outstanding contribution to the folklore and history of Hispanic New Mexico' - ""New Mexico Historical Review"". 'There is a rich and engaging text in two languages, humor and intelligence mixed in just the right proportion; what else could be desired? Photos! Ancianos, penitentes, cowboys: Welcome faces smile out of almost every page at the beginning of the book...In this book many, many stories will live to be enjoyed and appreciated by generations of new readers' - ""Southwest BookViews"". Nasario Garca, a native New Mexican and leading folklorist in his state, has produced many works on New Mexican literature and folklore, including ""Plticas: Conversations with Hispano Writers of New Mexico"" (Texas Tech 2000).