I just wanted to write something that I found out recently while 
reading Historia de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana, by Bernal Diaz 
del Castillo. Perhaps many of you know about this story, but anyways, 
it is about the first mexican mestizo. It was not, like I used to 
believe, from the union of Cortes and la Malinche, but rather of 
another espanol way before that.

The story says that when Cortes first landed on the Yucatan peninsula, 
he heard the news from the indian translators that two espaniards were 
slaves in that area. He sent for his rescue, and paid a ransom to 
their masters for their freedom. One of them was a priest called 
Jeronimo de Aguilar. As soon as he was freed, he went to look for the 
other espanol. This is what the book says:

"When he had read the letter and received the ransom, he carreid the 
beads delightedly to his master the Cacique an begged leave to depart. 
The Cacique gave him permission to go wherever he wished, and Aguilar 
set out for the place

Not offended at all.

Of course I was brought up over here, not in mexico. I think we left there
for good when I was like 4 or 5.

But I was baptized as a baby a couple months old, then when I was like in
first grade I went to catacizim and then made my first communinon, then 13
or 14 my confirmation.

But I guess things are just different everywhere and with each family also.



              ~~glo~~






From: Smiley 
Reply-To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [ranchos] Re: Question about Confirmations, and Expuestos
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 10:56:55 -0700 (PDT)

...I'm not going to beg to differ with anyone, as I am NOT an authority on
this subject. I spoke in more detail with my MIL and she said that the child
is baptized when they are under 1 year old, then at the age of 3 or later,
they are then confirmed. The timeframe depends on the parents. If the
child has NOT been presented to the church before this time, then

I made my confirmation in my teen years, not shure which but I think it was
like 13 or 14.

              ~~glo~~






From: Alicia Carrillo 
Reply-To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
To: ranchos@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [ranchos] Question about Confirmations, and Expuestos
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 22:50:30 -0700 (PDT)

Chris, this all depends on which years you're looking for. In most parishes
this occured at the same time as baptism and in some parishes shortly there
after.

Alicia

Chris Pineda  wrote:
Hey all,

I was hoping for some quick guidance. I requested and
received the baptism microfilm to determine the names
of the parents of my great-grandfather Nicanor Pineda,
born in Tlaltenango.

The problem is that this is the second time, where I
haven't found him for the timeframe in which he was
born.  This has led me to believe that perhaps he was
born in some other city around Tlaltenango and later
moved there.

Anyway, I'm requesting the marriage

To add a note to the conversation about confirmations - I've read hundreds of confirmation records, both in Mexico and Puerto Rico, and they are not usually worth reading unless you're really desperate.  Most list no dates and no parents, and give just the child's name and the padrinos.  

And as for the expuestos, I've come across several who were expuesto en la casa de Don So and So; and I've found them being married 20 years later or included in a will, and listed as Don or Doñã -- hijo/hija natural de, or hijo/hija reconocido de ---, the natural children of the son or daughter or of the master of the house, but unacknowledged at the time of birth because, for people of a certain social status, to have a child out of wedlock wasn't socially unacceptable. 

I've come across several reference to baptisms in Mexico of children over three months old, and the priest explained in the record that the delay was caused by the fact that the rivers were so high that it prevented the child from

Smiley

Hola Chris

Well I was raised Catholic in Mexico. I got my confirmation when I
was 13 or 14, I do not remember exactly. The same thing happened to
my brother who is 3 years older. However, my oldest brothers and
sisters, as well as my parents, were confirmed on their childhood
soon after they were born. Once, I asked my grandma why I did not
have my confirmation when I was baptized, and she told me that in the
past, it was a common practice to confirm children before their
second birthday; however, some priests adviced the parents no to get
the confirmation at that age and wait until the child was 13 years
old, so that he/she could be able to understand the real meaning of
confirmation. I remember that I had to go to

Smiley

I appreciate all the help people have given me on my
questions.

In regard to the 'Expuestos" question, I did notice
that what followed the 'Expuestos' heading were a
series of names without last names or parental
information (unlike the regular baptism records). So
the notion that these children were abandoned makes
sense. This was for baptism records in the 1850s for
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

As for the Confirmations question, the timeframe I was
looking was for in the Tlaltenango records was 1895 or
so, so if I find