Going back to my roots
When I was in Oaxaca this past February, I stumbled upon a store that sold t-shirts and tote bags with a graphic print of corn growing out of the ground surrounded by the quote “de nuestra maíz raíz,” which roughly translates to “of our root corn.”
This quote stuck with me.
Maíz, the Spanish word for corn, is a grain that was domesticated by the indigenous people of Mexico and was a culinary and culturally significant plant in Mexico (including the American Southwest) prior to the arrival of the Spanish. It comes in a beautiful array of colors and shapes that few of us are familiar with. I was lucky enough to have a mother who kept a bountiful garden full of heirloom varieties of many things, and the corn in my mother’s garden became an entryway into my own heritage and identity.
I was raised by my mother to be proud of my Mexican roots. However a guera or mestiza, I’ve always found it difficult to feel confident with my roots. Part of this lack of confidence came from two facts: I grew up across the country from all of my Mexican relatives and, despite knowing that my abuela and her siblings are full Mexican, no one truly knew how to answer the question “where are we from?”
My abuela, Roberta Jean Reynosa, was born in Williams, AZ. According to a combination of family oral history and vital records, her father from Sinaloa when he was a child during the Mexican Revolution and her mother was born in Williams, AZ. According to her parent’s marriage record, her father is “Old” Mexican and her mother is “New” Mexican (it’s a sign of the times). Neither side liked to talk about their past.
My great-grandfather, Manuel Reynosa, moved up North after his father passed away. We don’t know much about his father or his family in Sinaloa - the story I heard growing up was that his father was killed by Pancho Villa and that turned out to be false. What we do know is that he and his siblings were adopted by his step-father Jose Reynosa and they all took his last name.
Virginia, or Virgie, Morales is my great-grandmother, and her roots are a bit more documented. Virginia’s mother, Marie or Mary Garcia, is from New Mexico. Mary had two kids, Virginia and Robert, with her first husband Jose Morales before he suddenly split and went back to “Old” Mexico. Mary remarried and had several more daughters before tragically passing away due to complications of childbirth. Josefita raised Virgie in Williams and my Abuela was very close to her. She, too, didn’t like to talk about her past, but we know that she was born in Belen, NM.
In the beginning of 2020, I accompanied my then-boyfriend to what was then my first Shabbat. I was immersed in a community of people I had never met before. A community full of pride for their culture. Some of whom had met my ex on birthright a few weeks prior.
I felt welcome. However, the common icebreaker was “are you Jewish?” My honest answer was “I don’t know, I could be.” All nuance aside, it’s entirely possible that somewhere in my abuela’s lineage lies a Sephardic ancestor. And, at the time, the Spanish and Portuguese governments were offering citizenship to those who could prove they had Sephardic ancestors who escaped those countries. So, naturally, I was led down a rabbit hole of genealogical research.
I called my Abuela and asked her first. She said she heard we were. But, for some reason, that wasn’t enough for me to feel confident. I wanted vital records. I combed through Spanish Catholic church records, cross-referenced DNA matches on several platforms, and even asked my relatives to give up their spit in the name of research. After all that, I still don’t know the answer. But I know a lot more than I did when I started.
C1B11 - that’s my maternal haplogroup. My mtDNA. My mitochondrial DNA line. The codified name of my maternal lineage.
According to 23andMe:
Haplogroups are genetic classifications or ancestral groupings within a population, typically defined by shared, inherited genetic markers or mutations. These markers are passed down from a common ancestor. They can be traced through the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for maternal haplogroups and the Y chromosome for paternal haplogroups. Haplogroups provide insights into human populations’ historical migrations and evolutionary history, helping researchers and genealogists understand the genetic relationships and ancestral origins of individuals and groups.
Through reading several papers and genealogy publications, I’ve come to learn that C1B11 is an indigenous (North or Central American) haplogroup. I don’t know who she is or where she is from, but I know she exists somewhere in my maternal lineage.
De nuestra maíz raíz.
