glossarycultural references The Long Valley: Cultural References

 

 

 

Two items commonly used by indigenous Mexicans: the mortar is called a "Metate" and the stone lying across it a "Mano," which is held in both hands and used to grind corn, cacao and other basic foods.

 

 

 

"Flight"

Ave-Marias: Latin name for the "Hail Mary" prayer in Catholicism.

Dulces: Candy or sweets.

Metate: A mortar used for grinding grains and seeds.

Pater-nosters: Latin name for the "Our Father" prayer in Catholicism.

"The Raid"

Come to Me My Melancholy Baby: Popular song produced in 1912; appropriate with its references to "silver linings," since the men try to make the best of a violent situation thinking that taking a terrible beating will ultimate benefit the Communist Party.

Lucky Strike: Brand of American cigarettes originating in 1871.

Peajacket: Also known as a pea-coat, or a double-breasted wool coat with broad lapels and often having large wooden buttons.  Term can be used generally for any jacket made from pea-cloth, or dark blue, heavy wool.

Radicals/Reds: Colloquial terms for Communists derived from the Communist Party's red flag.

"Religion is the opium of the people": An oft-quoted phrase from Karl Marx first appearing in 1843 in his introduction to his Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was an 18th-Century German philosopher attributed with being one of the originators of the philosophy known as German Idealism.