Upper-class Women in Early 1900s Mexico
It is difficult for a foreigner to advance an opinion concerning the women of the Mexican upper classes, because of the restraint in which they are held by Mexican custom…
From: Unknown To: 1917 C.E.
Location: Mexico
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Mexico of the Mexicans by Lewis Spence.
It is difficult for a foreigner to advance an opinion concerning the women of the Mexican upper classes, because of the restraint in which they are held by Mexican custom and etiquette—a restraint almost Oriental, and dating from the Moorish usage of female seclusion in old Spain.
Mexican girls of the upper classes are most jealously sheltered by their parents, and duennaship is prevalent. The whole life of the Mexican woman centres in love and marriage. Before the latter event, her social intercourse with men is of the scantiest, and she is usually "seen and not heard." Dark and Castilian in appearance, she possesses great feminine charm, ripening at an early age and usually attaining the appearance and proportions of maturity when most Anglo-Saxon maidens are in the transition stage of "flapper"-hood. She is romantic in the extreme, and prone to the consumption of novellas which recount the exploits of mediaeval dames and courtiers rather than those which deal with the realities of everyday existence.
Her chances of meeting suitable partis are rather limited. In the evenings she will seat herself at one of the barred windows of the paternal residence; and should she be sought by a lover, he signifies his desire to pay his addresses by passing and re-passing her dwelling on horseback, sometimes at a trot, at others at a furious gallop. If the youth be considered eligible, he is, after a while, admitted to the house, where, however, his converse with the object of his adoration is scrupulously superintended. He is now known as the lady's novio (fiance), and marriage usually follows after what is considered a suitable season of courtship. But should the young people not "take to" one another after a reasonable period of acquaintanceship has elapsed, it is not regarded as a slight by either party should the other withdraw from the companionship.
The courtship period of a Mexican youth or maiden's life is assuredly the most romantic in his or her career. British people accustomed to absolute freedom between the sexes can scarcely comprehend the conditions prevailing in a community the female portion of which is so closely and jealously guarded as is the case in Latin-America. The Mexican lover considers no stratagem too novel or too extreme which will gain him access to the object of his devotion, who, on her part, if she be amenable, will practise every art to further his object and defeat the watchful parents, duennas, or servitors in charge of her. It is not uncommon for a Mexican suitor to disguise himself as a workman, a postman, or otherwise, so that he may have speech with his beloved or convey a written message to her; and even after parental consent has been given, the young people frequently put a romantic finish to their love story by an elaborate and theatrical elopement!
Once married and settled down, the Mexican woman's existence is usually placid and home-keeping. Should she have children, she is a mother to them in the real sense of the word. Divorce is most unpopular in Mexico and, besides being discouraged by the Roman Church, is looked upon with disfavour by the people at large.
The Mexican lady is, as a rule, a hard-and-fast devotee of etiquette, and Europeans visiting Mexico should bear in mind that they and not their neighbours are supposed to make the first advances in the establishment of acquaintanceship.
The general custom is to announce one's arrival in the local Press, and to send a copy of such announcement to everyone of importance in the neighbourhood. It is also absolutely essential that the stranger should be well and suitably recommended by letters of introduction to someone in the vicinity where he is to take up his abode, as the Mexican, like the Spaniard, attaches the greatest importance to such introductions, and will assuredly give no countenance to anyone who is without them.
It is quite a mistake to regard the Mexicans or other Latin-American peoples as resembling our colonists in frankness and indiscriminate hospitality. The Mexican is not at all casual. His code of etiquette dates from Spanish colonial days, and is thus even more rigorous than that of modern Spain itself. But once his confidence is gained, there are few more hospitable than he or more ready to extend full domestic intimacy to the properly accredited stranger within his gates.
Mexican ladies of the past generation were not far removed in their customs from their great grandmothers of the colonial period. But their emancipation has proceeded apace within recent years. No longer do they set out upon a shopping expedition accompanied by a duenna and veiled, and closely concealed within the depths of a carriage Their amusements, too, have greatly changed, and to-day include lawn-tennis and even golf.
They, in common with their men-folk, do not share the Anglo-Saxon relish for afternoon tea—a meal which they affect more because of its universal popularity and "smartness" than because they care for the principal item in its restricted menu In Mexico, the afternoon cup of tea is nearly always accompanied by wine, even champagne being partaken of along with the tea, for the purpose (one may be pardoned for suggesting) of drowning the taste of the infusion, which is nauseous to most Mexicans.
Spence, Lewis. Mexico of the Mexicans. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917.
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