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Mexican-American Heritage Journey

Sukey Villagrana was born in Mexico and registered with the slightly different name "Sujey" instead of her mother's preferred name "Sukey". She identifies strongly with Mexican culture though her family adopted some American culture after moving to the US. Spanish was her first language but she became most comfortable speaking English. She now values being bilingual and passed Spanish on to her daughter. She was baptized Catholic but her mother became Pentecostal Christian, and she continues practicing Christianity today within various church ministries.

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138 views2 pages

Mexican-American Heritage Journey

Sukey Villagrana was born in Mexico and registered with the slightly different name "Sujey" instead of her mother's preferred name "Sukey". She identifies strongly with Mexican culture though her family adopted some American culture after moving to the US. Spanish was her first language but she became most comfortable speaking English. She now values being bilingual and passed Spanish on to her daughter. She was baptized Catholic but her mother became Pentecostal Christian, and she continues practicing Christianity today within various church ministries.

Uploaded by

api-406688093
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Cultural Biography of Sukey V.

Villagrana

Names

Sukey Vanessa Villagrana is my birth name. Being that I was born in Mexico, birth

certificates were not issued until the newborn child was officially registered with the Civil

Registry’s Office and, parents were not required to be present during the process. Anyone could

register a child with documentation from a hospital. So it goes that one of my maternal aunt’s

registered me with the official name Sujey (pronounced Su-hay) instead of the name my mother

wanted, which is Sukey (pronounced Su-key). This was a mistake my mother never had

corrected. After decades of hearing countless mispronunciations, I’ve learned to handle it with

much more grace as an adult than I did as a child. Since I am not married, I continue to carry my

father’s last name, Villagrana, which can be traced to my great-grandfather who settled in

Mexico from Spain.

Ancestry/Culture

My mother and father are both of Mexican ethnicity and, my ancestors have lived in

Mexico for many generations. Although we adopted part of the American culture when we

moved to the United States several decades ago, I identify more with the Mexican culture we

continue to embrace. Traditionally, we celebrate or observe Cinco de Mayo, Mexican

Independence Day, El Dia de Las Madres (Mother’s Day), which is celebrated May 10th, and

Quinceañeras, to name a few. This celebration occurs only when a young girl is turning 15 and is

transitioning into adulthood.


Birth Order

I am the youngest of five children born in my family. There is some truth when people say the

last child gets away with more than the older siblings do. My father was very strict with my

three sisters during their junior high and high school years. Most of their time was spent at home

and, they had very little freedom. I, on the other hand, was hardly ever home. Most of my days

were spent at my best friend’s house, attending school sports games and activities and, there was

no curfew established for me. My parents definitely loosened the reins when it came time to

experience what I thought were the best school years of my life.

Linguistic

Spanish is my first language. When my mother and father came to America, they learned

to speak English but wanted us to retain our native language and, so they spoke Spanish only to

my siblings and me. However, I picked up on English from my brother and sisters before I

entered kindergarten. We were very comfortable with the new language and no longer spoke

Spanish to each other. As an adult, I embraced the Spanish language as I realized what a

privilege it is to be bilingual. I chose to pass that on to my daughter and, she is the only one of

my parents’ 13 grandchildren who speaks Spanish.

Religion

As a baby, I was baptized in the Catholic church because my father was raised Catholic.

My mother was not raised in any religion but became a Pentecostal Christian when I was very

young. The earliest memories I have of attending church are when I was about five years old.

Today, I continue to practice the Christian faith and serve within the children’s and youth

ministries, as well as the ladies’ ministries.

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