Social classes in Mexico

This is my last week in Mexico, and as word now gets around that I’m leaving soon I’ve been receiving a LOT of invitations to lunch (which in Mexico is called comida, is at 3 pm, and is the main meal). So I’ve been a bit of a social butterfly lately, and it has been an interesting experiment in anthropological research.

My first invitation was to a family in Tabachines. Tabachines is the wealthy part of town: to get into the *neighbourhood* (never mind the house) you have to pass a guarded gate and have previously been on a list indicating that you should be allowed in. The home itself was majestic, with a huge backyard and swimming pool. The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well. Yes, there were servants too.

My second invitation was to a more modest, middle-class home. It was a smaller bungalow, with a pool about the size of a snooker table (and about as deep, from the top of the table to the floor — in other words, more for lounging than for swimming). The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well. No, there were no servants — homemade food cooked by the lady of the house.

My most recent invitation was today. Padre Roberto and I parked our car in what was clearly a poorer neighbourhood and walked up an alleyway to a working-class home. It was made of red brick and cinder block (visible both on the outside and on the inside). The floor itself was made of cement, and there was no door to the house itself, just a curtain. Once again we had a very warm welcome. REFRAIN: The lunch was quite delicious, and the company was really delightful as well.

Obviously, there were major differences in the way of life of each family, but I did notice some similarities:

  1. Everybody talked about God. It might have been because priests were visiting, but I don’t think that was the only reason. I think God really is on people’s minds here, in a very natural way, regardless of social class. For example, the woman of the house in the first family has written books meant to help people pray, and has worked a lot with the elderly, while the woman of the house in the last family is a parish catechist with 25+ years experience. I don’t know that these ladies know each other, but it is faith that allowed us to connect even though I was a stranger.
  2. The importance of family. Each family that I visited seemed to live genuine warmth and mutual love. For example, the first family had three generations present at the table — the matron of the house, her daughter (visiting from Europe), and her first child (the only grandchild in the family). All were very happy to be together. The last family also had three generations present, and again there was a lot of mutual love in the room.
  3. Money can’t buy you happiness. There is no question that those on the poorer end of the social scale have concerns regarding money, but to be honest I sensed that these weren’t really concerns about money but about the things that money can buy when you really need them (like medical care, or schoolbooks). As for money itself, though, they didn’t seem terribly concerned by it. As for the wealthier families, obviously money is less of an immediate concern, but it can still be a cause of grief. For example, in the case of the Tabachines family, the husband was apparently kidnapped twice (not once, but twice), and twice they had to pay a huge ransom to get him back, such that their resources have actually now dried up and they have to sell their home. So it seems that not only can money not buy you happiness, it can also bring you grief.