Sylvia Hernandez: 0:00

And then on Christmas Day, um, get up, open presents, lots of Mexican food on Christmas Day. And then yeah, and then we just add mashed potatoes. Not usually on this side, but you know.

Crista Cowan: 0:15

Stories That Live in Us is a podcast that inspires you to form deep connections with your family, past, present, and future. I'm Crista Cowan, known online as The Barefoot Genealogist. Counting down to the upcoming celebration of America's 250th birthday, you'll meet families from each state whose stories are woven into the very fabric of America. Tales of immigration, migration, courage, and community that remind us that when we tell our stories, we strengthen the bonds that connect us. So join me for season two as we discover from sea to shining sea the stories that live in us. The summer that I was 12 years old, my family took a trip across the country from Los Angeles up to Wisconsin, down to Arkansas, across Texas, and back home to LA. We spent two weeks on the road in our big family van, and it was one of those really impressionable moments in my life. Particularly impressionable was the trip through Texas. We entered the state on the interstate, stopped at the visitor center, and walked in to be greeted by a woman with quite possibly the largest hair I have ever seen in my life, saying, Howdy, y'all welcome to Texas. Similarly, I grew up with a grandmother, great-grandmother, who was born in Dallas, Texas. But she spoke German her entire life. Her early formative years were in German churches and German schools, living with German immigrant parents who learned very little English. Years later, when her younger sister was born, she had a very different American experience. And Aunt Selma spoke with a Texas twang. It was interesting watching those two women who were sisters separated by so many years and really so many different life experiences, but still with this deep love of Texas. My dad also lived in Texas for two years, where he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the greater Dallas area. And so I spent my whole life hearing stories of Texas. And on that fateful trip when I was 12, we got to visit some of the places that he had lived as a 19 and 20-year-old young man. There are a million stories that could be told about Texas. Today we're going to share one that I am particularly proud of. Our guest today is Sylvia Hernandez. She works for Baylor University and she doesn't like calling herself a Waco native. Instead, what she says is that her Texas roots run deep. And they really do. And so as I shared with her my connection of Texas, and she shared with us her connection of Texas, she also talks a little bit about a project that she works on that's connected to Christmas. Enjoy my conversation with Sylvia Hernandez. Well, Sylvia, I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. I would love to hear all about you. Tell me just about where you're from and a little bit about maybe your education and your background and what you do now for a living.

Sylvia Hernandez: 3:45

Sure. So I actually grew up for the most part in Waco, Texas. Um, I was born in Pasadena, so just south of Houston. But my family has been in the Waco area for generations. I'm fifth generation, and we actually just had a new addition to the family that would make seven generations. So that's really exciting for us. Um I did my undergraduate work at um Baylor University, where I also work now. Um so I didn't leave for a while. I stayed here for a while, but then I had an opportunity to go out to Colorado for a little bit. And then I went to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh and got a master's degree in library and information science. And so that's that's really what um I do now. I am the outreach and instruction librarian at Baylor University for the Texas Collection. So all of the stuff I get to work with is about Texas. So cool. Yeah, and for me, it's really exciting because I grew up here in Waco. Um, we also have some really cool, interesting local history materials. And so for me to kind of see that and earth unearth stories that I've heard about um all growing up, it's it's really fun and fascinating.

Crista Cowan: 4:59

So that is fun and fascinating. And I'm so excited, I'm even more excited to talk to you now. So um I just went to Waco for the first time last year. Uh we had a family reunion in Malone. And uh my dad and I stayed in Waco and got to explore the city a little bit and discovered that we've got uh quite a few cousins who are second and third and fourth generation um there in Waco as well. My dad's great-grandparents were German hill country immigrants, and his grandmother was raised there in Texas, and this was a branch of the family tree that we had lost touch with and were able to reunite with uh just this last year or so. So I am discovering my own Texas roots a little bit recently.

Sylvia Hernandez: 5:47

That that's really interesting that you say that you've lost touch with those. I mean, there are branches in my family that we didn't even know existed on on some sides, because it's like there were so many grandchildren that were born through um on my dad's side. There were 13 grandchildren and his grandparents' um eight um age bracket. And so it's like we didn't know. Um, my sister, we went to a family reunion, and my sister walked in and saw this the back of a head of some kid, and she recognized it from school, and she went and looked at his face, and it was a kid that she went to school with and had been sitting next to all year and didn't know that that was our husband.

Crista Cowan: 6:29

Wow. Well, so tell me a little bit more about your dad's side of the family.

Sylvia Hernandez: 6:35

Sure. So my dad's side of the family actually first came to Waco um with the um the Mexican Revolution. So a lot of stuff's going on in Mexico. Um, you know, young men are getting inscripted into the army to go and fight. And so to avoid um his sons getting inscripted to the army, his family um came to the States Waco area. Um, and they just to escape that trauma. Um, they didn't want the sons to um be inscripted and you know be part of that. They wanted a safer life um for themselves. And so they actually came up and started um they worked on some land. There's a lot of cotton land around Waco, and so that's where they did. They share cropped for a while and then they moved into um the Waco area. And so um, this would have been my father's grandparents. And so, or his great-grandparents, I'm sorry. And so they come to Waco, and in this time that they were um in the cotton fields, they actually had a Methodist missionary come and talk to them because his great-grandmother was putting out a nativity display, and somebody and the missionary asked her, you know, what are you doing? Do you know the story behind the nativity? And she really didn't. And so, um, because I think Catholicism is so steeped in Mexican culture to begin with, that um it's it's just there, and sometimes, you know, not everybody knows the stories. And so the missionary came back several times and they just they began talking about the Bible and you know, learning about scripture, and so that actually inspired um his great-grandparents, my my great-great-grandparents to um when they moved to Waco, they actually helped found a church, a Latin American Methodist church. Yeah, so it was specifically for people of Latin American descent. Um, and it still exists today, and so it's it's a small congregation, but it's still family run and oriented. And so that that was just kind of their introduction to faith and kind of how they've served their faith for many, many, many years. I mean, this family's still very involved. Um, and so that's you know how they get to get to Waco.

Crista Cowan: 8:55

And where where in Mexico were they from?

Sylvia Hernandez: 8:58

So they were from Ciudad Victoria, which is in Tamalipas. Oh, okay. So yeah, so it's not very far from the border, but it's kind of coastal. Sure. Um, but they were a little bit more inland.

Crista Cowan: 9:09

Um, yeah, and so they're they're there for quite a did they come up alone, or did they come up with like other people from their village or other family members?

Sylvia Hernandez: 9:17

Uh from I what I've been told and what I recall, it was just them. And so it would have been um two that so um Ogenio and Cleofas. That's that's the great great-grandparents, and they came with their two sons. Um, that would have been Antonio or Tony, as he was called, and Manuel.

Crista Cowan: 9:39

And which one is your great-grandfather?

Sylvia Hernandez: 9:42

Neither of them, but their sister Maria was left behind, and she came in later. Okay. So, so what happens with um Tony and Manuel? They're brought up to escape being um inscripted into the army in Mexico. They end up joining the army in the United States. Both of them fought in World War II, and so it it it didn't defeat the purpose of them coming to the states, but it was it was kind of weird in that they still ended up in a certain path that they could have ended up in when they stayed. Yeah. Um, yeah, and so when Tony and Manuel joined the army um during World War II, um, citizenship rules for the United States were very relaxed or they became more lax, and that actually allowed them by serving into the army, uh, serving in the army to become U.S. citizens. And so that was something they were granted citizenship. Their parents were, and they were actually able to sponsor their sister, my great-grandmother, um, to come to the states.

Crista Cowan: 10:47

And so how old was she when she came over?

Sylvia Hernandez: 10:50

Do you know 36-ish? I think yeah, and my grandfather was 14. Okay. So she had five kids. She was a single woman with five kids and came to the states to Texas, Waco, um, with five kids.

Crista Cowan: 11:05

And then her were her parents still living at the time?

Sylvia Hernandez: 11:08

Yes. Yes. There they were actually very close-knit family. Um, my dad, um, once his parents were old, um, had gotten married, they actually lived down the street from uh yeah. Our family's always been very close, whether they, you know, wherever they're living, it's always very close. Proximity.

Crista Cowan: 11:26

I love that. That's amazing. So your great-grandmother comes over uh with her five children, one of whom is your grandfather, yes? Yes. And what was his name?

Sylvia Hernandez: 11:37

Matthew, Mateo.

Crista Cowan: 11:39

Okay. And then um, how did do you know the story of how he met your grandmother?

Sylvia Hernandez: 11:44

I you know, I had a cousin. I was with a cousin one time at um a family event, and she asked him, and he told her that they were at um some friends of theirs. Um he was at a friend's 25th anniversary party, and that my grandmother walked in and he saw her and just knew that was her. So they met at a party. Yeah.

Crista Cowan: 12:05

That's sweet. And then those are your dad's parents.

Sylvia Hernandez: 12:10

Yes, those are dad's parents.

Crista Cowan: 12:12

Okay. And how how many children did your grandparents have?

Sylvia Hernandez: 12:16

They had three. So they um, yep, two biological and they adopted um one son, but he's related and was from that same village area that they came from. So yeah.

Crista Cowan: 12:27

I love that. And so the family just kept up their service to the the faith community.

Sylvia Hernandez: 12:33

Yes, always in the faith community. Um, that little church, you know, since the 70s, they've had hamburger sales to help um um fundraise for the church. So selling hamburgers. Um, and they've had garage sales, and those are pretty common things that they've they've always done. So yeah.

Crista Cowan: 12:50

I love that. And so then um, do you know the story of how your parents met?

Sylvia Hernandez: 12:56

I do actually. My parents met um when they were in high school. My dad played baseball, and he had a friend who was also on the team who was dating a young woman who happened to be my mother's sister. And so my mom and sister go to this game um just to watch, you know, my her, my aunt's boyfriend play. And so they were introduced um at this game, and so they started talking, and yeah, they've been married for almost 50 years now. Yeah, yeah.

Crista Cowan: 13:28

I love that. So tell me about your mom's side of the family. How did they end up in Waco?

Sylvia Hernandez: 13:32

Sure. Mom's side, um, they came up, it was her. Well, I'll do it in relation to me. It was my great-great-grandfather. So the same generation. Yeah. Same generation. Yeah. My great-great-grandfather came over um again to the Waco area, just outside of Waco, cotton area. He actually owned or leased land. Um, and so he would do that and did that, eventually moved into town, into Waco. Um, he had several children, I don't remember how many, at least three sons. I don't remember if there were any daughters. Um, and so they can't, he was here in Waco. My great-great-grandfather, or my great-grandfather was born here in Waco. Um, and so for a while, you know, they stayed in Waco for a while. Um, and then my grandfather was also born in the Waco area. Again, outside of Waco, it was Elk. They listed as McClendon County on his birth certificate. And that's that's that same general area where my great-great-grandfather um owned land. And so it's very tied to that area. But eventually, um, during the depression, my great-grandfather and grandfather and great-grandmother, they all moved back um to Laredo. Uh-huh. Um, Nuevo Laredo, so just across the border. And so um they they lived there for a while during the depression. And just because there's not as many opportunities for Mexican Americans during that time in Waco, and so it was just a it was a financial decision that made them move down there. Um, and so they're moving down there, they lived down there for a while. My grandpa becomes a young adult, a young man, a young adult at that time. He is old enough to marry. He's met this young woman in Mexico, and and um his father decides that they're gonna move back to Waco. He actually told his parents that he was not moving back to Waco with this young woman. And so they did that. My grandparents got married very quickly, um, and they moved back to Waco. They moved to Waco, and so for a very long time they lived here. Um, yeah, and then so they lived here, they moved to Waco, but again, um, not completely settled. My great-grandparents buy a house and so they rent it out for a little bit, and then they actually do migrant labor for a while. There is um a lake in North Dakota, Lake Andes is what my grandmother says. And so they went and built this dam. So they're gone, they're built, they're back and forth for a little while, a while um seasonally because you can only build for so long in in North Dakota before it gets cold. So they're um they're in North Dakota. My grandmother gets pregnant, and so they decide, okay, we're gonna move back to Waco. And so from that point, they settle here and are here, um, have been here permanently since.

Crista Cowan: 16:37

Wow. That that is hard work, uh, a lot of hard work. Um, but I love that they were so dedicated to taking care of their family that they did whatever it took. So, how many kids in your mom's family then? There were four.

Sylvia Hernandez: 16:52

Three of them had three of them had children.

Crista Cowan: 16:54

So okay. And it's interesting. So on your mom's side of the family then, um, were they Catholic or did they also join this Methodist church when they came to Waco?

Sylvia Hernandez: 17:07

Mom's side is Catholic. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Mom's side is Catholic. And they were actually Orthodox up until my great grandparents. Um, what does that what does that mean? They they were not Catholic. I mean, it's very, it's similar to Catholicism, but it's not quite Catholic. And so what happened was they're they're in this kind of very similar um faith situation, but they get to one of their anniversaries. I don't remember if it's their 25th, they get remarried in the Catholic Church, and then from there they they're Catholic and the family's been Catholic since.

Crista Cowan: 17:42

Okay. And so when your parents met, was there any friction because he was not Catholic? No, there never really was.

Sylvia Hernandez: 17:52

Okay. Yeah, I mean, he he converted to Catholicism um before they got married, and he he speaks of that experience with you know, with he loves that experience. He talks about the priest who, you know, helped him with his catechism. And like he very, very, you know, a touching experience, I think, for him. And so yeah. And it's really interesting because, you know, cradle cradle Catholics learn um scripture one way, but when you're more of a Protestant religion, you learn it differently. So it's really interesting to kind of hear the way he speaks about scripture versus the way, you know, we've spoken with our mom about it.

Crista Cowan: 18:30

Yeah, that is what what is the difference? Can you articulate that?

Sylvia Hernandez: 18:35

He, for the most part, actually knows where in the Bible something comes from, and so can kind of identify that. Whereas, you know, we hear it um in a Catholic Mass having grown up with it, and somebody will tell us if they're reading it to us, you know, during during that part of mass. But it's like we don't study it the way that um a lot of Protestants do. And so I think you know, there there's something to that that that I don't know, it it's different for both of us. And I think both ways are good.

Crista Cowan: 19:02

So yeah, yeah, but I love that he's embraced that. I think that's really beautiful.

Sylvia Hernandez: 19:07

Yeah, yeah. I mean, and he's very active with our faith community.

Crista Cowan: 19:10

So if you when you think about growing up, I just like I can't even imagine. Like I'm close with my siblings, and I, you know, knew three of my grandparents, but you know, they lived an hour apart, and I didn't always grow up with all of my cousins, but you lived in the community with first and second and third cousins. Um, some you knew, some you didn't. Like what is that like when you get together? Like, were there holiday get-togethers or family reunions, or what did that look like growing up?

Sylvia Hernandez: 19:39

Oh, it's it's even more familiar than that. So on my mom's side, my grandpa actually out in the Lorena area, which is a little bit further south um of Waco, found a plot of 20 acres. And on this 20 acres, it was subdivided into um four pieces of five acres each. And so for a while it was my family was on one plot, my mom's brother was on one plot. And then next door to that was her sister. And so I on my mom's side, we grew up very close. Um, in very close. I mean, we were neighbors. Um, so so that was, you know, closeness that that defines closeness, especially in that first cousin range. Um, on my dad's side, the brother, um, we grew up with um one of his brothers' families um more closely. They actually um they lived in Waco for quite some time and then they moved out to Lorena. They did not go, they did not live in the same pro um area that we did. They lived a little bit, you know, further out in Lorena, but we all went to the same school. So I saw my cousins all the time at school. So on both sides.

Crista Cowan: 20:54

The relationship you had with them, was it like, was it more like siblings or was it just more like classmates, or or did you like recognize the cousin relationship? And and what did that what did that look like?

Sylvia Hernandez: 21:07

We recognized the cousin relationship. And I I think I mean we did for some um some time. We ran in different circles. I mean, we had different interests growing up, and so that that made it easy for us to kind of do our own thing, even though we had that familial relationship. We were still allowed to be ourselves. Yeah.

Crista Cowan: 21:26

Oh, that's so great. I love that. I adore my cousins. I wish I had been able to be that close to them growing up. Um, so I think that's for some people, I think that's a real gift.

Sylvia Hernandez: 21:39

It I mean, and it really has. And I think as we've gotten older, it's like, you know, we were we were close to my mom's side um cousins because we were neighbors for so long. We were closer to them, did a lot of family get togethers, birthday parties with them. But I think as I've gotten older, um, I gravitate more and kind of um hang out with cousins on my dad's side. And I don't know if that's maybe, you know, because we have similar interests at this age, or it's because maybe we're making up for lost time, or it's because we know that our grandparents are no longer around. And so that kind of built-in relationship um is not there anymore. And so we have to be better, you know, we're we're trying to be better about that and keeping those relationships intact.

Crista Cowan: 22:20

Yeah, you have to be more intentional about it for sure. And I think that's really lovely, like that you want to do that. I think that speaks volumes about the way that you were raised and those relationships, the importance of those relationships. So as you think about your grandparents on either side, um, were there um stories or traditions that were passed down that still show up in your family today?

Sylvia Hernandez: 22:44

Um, it's actually really interesting because there's one story that my dad likes to tell about how my families um they crossed paths multiple times before my parents got married. So on my um mom's side, as I said, um that great-great-grandfather owned land. Um and then on my dad's side, that great-great-grandfather worked land. He actually worked the land of my mom's side.

Crista Cowan: 23:14

What?

Sylvia Hernandez: 23:15

Yes. And so so that was kind of like the first generation that met. Um, and so so it it's just really interesting to know that like those small world really is what it is that you know, the this one man's been come randomly to Waco. This other man is fleeing the situation and comes randomly to the Waco area and happens to um be on this land, not knowing that, you know, three generations later something's gonna happen and those families are gonna unite. And so he tells that, but there's also this second part of when mom's family goes to Laredo, they're down there for a little while. My grand, my grandpa is a young man on that side. Um, but also this is after World War II. Um, my family on my dad's side has gotten their citizenship. They've sponsored their sister to come up to the States, and so to do that um at that time, you have to pass through Laredo. And so my grandpa is about 14 years old. My dad's dad um is 14 years old at that time. They get to Laredo, both of my grandpas meet, and they're they're friends for a little bit, and then something happened. I think as teenagers. As teenagers, they meet so crazy. Yeah, and you know, they meet as teenagers, and you know, they're friendly for a little bit, and then my dad's family, they move to Waco. My mom's family stays for a little while longer because we know they're about the same age. Um, and so my dad's my mom's family stays a little bit longer and then they come back to Waco. And unbeknownst to them, you know, their children meet as teenagers and get married.

Crista Cowan: 25:02

Wow. And and at what point in the family lore did everybody put these pieces together?

Sylvia Hernandez: 25:09

I think so. When my parents got together and it was pretty serious, and the parents met, I think that's when they figured out that my grandpa my grandfathers knew each other. Okay. I think it took a little bit longer to realize about the other part, but but it was there. Yeah.

Crista Cowan: 25:28

That's so cool. What a fun, like almost serendipitous right experience. Like they they were faded to be together, maybe. Yeah. Well, as you think about Christmas specifically, because this episode is gonna air on Christmas. Um what family Christmas traditions? Like you talked earlier about the nativity, and you know, you've got now this Methodist family and this Catholic family, and and did those Christmas traditions look different growing up?

Sylvia Hernandez: 25:58

Um, they kind of did. And so, so on the Methodist side, we didn't really um do the church part of that. We did more of the Mexican part of that, where we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. And so, so that's what we did. And so we would get together at my grandparents' house and you know, have Christmas. We would have, um, I always remember she made tacos, um, or there were estamales, because estamales are popular Christmas things, so there was always those. Um, just something that she always in general kind of had on her stove was a pot of mashed potatoes. We we don't know.

Crista Cowan: 26:40

That doesn't seem very Mexican, which is not.

Sylvia Hernandez: 26:43

Maybe did she get that in North Dakota, maybe? The other grandma, I don't know. I mean, there there was a time where my my dad broke his jaw playing football, and so that's all he ate was mashed potatoes. So I don't know if mashed potatoes came from that or I don't know. There were just mashed potatoes, and so we've gotten together with cousins later on, and somebody said, I'm gonna bring the mashed potatoes. Kind of a nice nod to that. Yeah, we didn't I mean we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with that side. With mom's side, um, we did the church thing. We we went to mass, we still go to mass on Christmas Eve. Um, and so when we were younger, we did this a few times where they would have midnight mass. And at midnight mass, what they would do, they would have padrinos or sponsors, they would come in and to populate the nativity scene with the baby Jesus, they would line the center aisle and they call it the Royal. And so it's where baby Jesus is in basically a bassinet, and you rock him back and forth. The padrinos hold the little bassinet, rock him a little bit, and pass it on to the next one all the way up the center aisle. And so from there, then he's placed into the um manger seat. So that's what I remember as a young person going to that. And I remember because my grandparents owned a store, they couldn't go to the children's mass, and so they went to the the midnight service. And so that was all I remember them standing in the aisle, rocking the baby Jesus and putting him in.

Crista Cowan: 28:12

What a lovely tradition. I don't think I've ever heard about that before.

Sylvia Hernandez: 28:16

Yeah, yeah. The my church doesn't do it anymore, and so I'm wondering if it that comes from the fact that the priest at that time was from Spain. So I don't know if there's more of a Spanish tradition behind that or if it's it was just something that somebody in the church said, let's do this.

Crista Cowan: 28:32

So both families Christmas Eve, what did Christmas Day look like?

Sylvia Hernandez: 28:36

Christmas Day was um, we did celebrate that more kind of individually as our family, but we then got together with my mom's side of the family on Christmas Day. And so there were 11 grandchild children total. And so it's like kids everywhere, you know, open up, you know, big old mess from all the presents. Um, but but yeah, I mean, but it was mostly about food and spending time with each other and playing outside with the cousins, even though we live next door to each other. It was about going to grandma's house because again, those grandparents owned a store, and so they were never home. We never got to visit them at their house. So that we went Thanksgiving and Christmas to their house and got to spend the entire day with them. And so that was always really fun to do that and to have that experience with our cousins. And so the um because there were so many of us, the adults always wanted the kids to have a really good Christmas. And so what they would do is um draw names for Christmas, and so you know, everybody's name goes in the cup, you pick one name, you buy a present for that one person. So that happened at Thanksgiving, and then on Christmas, that's who you had. And so my family actually still does that because again, there's the grandchildren, everybody wants the grandchildren to have a good time, and so it's draw a name at Thanksgiving, and then that's how you pick a gift for.

Crista Cowan: 29:52

I love that. That's fun. And of course, growing up in Texas, you can run around outside on Christmas Day.

Sylvia Hernandez: 29:59

Oh, yeah. I mean, there there have been a couple of Christmases where it's shorts and t-shirts. I mean, we we do prefer the ones where we get to wear, you know, kind of a hoodie or something, but yeah, it's it's so interesting because I grew up in Los Angeles and it was a very similar experience, you know.

Crista Cowan: 30:13

Um, but now I live in Utah and you know, Christmas is usually white. Yeah, yeah. Well, um, with your work, um, I saw an article online about some Christmas cards. And I would love for you to tell us a little bit about that.

Sylvia Hernandez: 30:33

Um, previously I actually worked as an archivist, and so part of that job was to um process collections. And so processing means just organizing it and making it available for people to look at. So, in doing this, oftentimes I run across different elements and things that are interesting, whether that's photographs or newspaper clippings or you know, somebody's story um that's out there. And so with this particular one, um, these they were Christmas cards. It was called the Pan American Round Table. And so the scrapbook that these come from specifically is from the 1960s, and so you can kind of imagine that mid-century look, um, the way the stars are drawn, the way, I mean, kind of people are depicted a little bit more, people are a little bit more round-faced. Um, there's just the color on them is absolutely beautiful, and then um just the the content of the cards is a little bit different than you see on a lot of them because it's the Pan American round table, you have this Hispanic influence to them. And so again, deeply Catholic roots in Hispanic culture, you get um there's there's the nativity scene is there, you get um you get the star that guides the three kings to the baby Jesus, you get um it's it's a pilgrimage called the Posada, where it's Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay um to birth their their child. And so, so you get all these different pictures depicted on these. And so for me, like to me, all of this made sense because these are things that I experienced. Like having a donkey in the manger is very normal for me. And so to see this picture of a little boy in you know traditional Mexican dress sitting on the top of a donkey with this very bright star above him, like that that to me is a very normal picture. But when I went to show, you know, all of this to to some of my coworkers, they're like, I don't get it. Like, like, really, and that and that's that to me was a little bit sad. And so I decided to write this blog post. And so this blog post kind of goes through and it talks about the very colorful depictions, it talks about the children, it talks about there's a pinata in one of them, and so it talks about, you know, the way the pinata reflects the star itself that guides them to the baby Jesus, you know, it talks about the posada and what that is and the significance of that.

Crista Cowan: 33:12

Can you explain the posada?

Sylvia Hernandez: 33:14

So the posada is um it's a reenactment of Mary and Joseph knocking on doors, trying to find shelter during um the lead up to the birth of Christ. And so at our church, it it's happened a couple of different ways. And when I was growing up, we would go from um building to building on the church grounds, singing songs and and asking for shelter. You get turned away. No, there's no room, keep going, find someplace else. And so that happens over and over again. And so when I was growing up, we would do that, and then we'd end up back in the church. And then from there we'd sing and and um kind of have a gathering of you know, church celebration. And so for me, that's all it was a very personal thing. And I think that was one of the first personal things that I really wrote as an archivist. Um, because again, I work at Baylor University, which is in Waco, Texas, where I grew up. I did my undergraduate degree here at Baylor University. And so it's like all of this is very familiar to me, but but it's not to others. And so for me, it was a it was a really hard time to kind of explain to people look, this is this is my experience, and I really want to share that. And so, so that's why I wrote this article.

Crista Cowan: 34:35

And it's interesting to me that people can live in the same city, have some of the same educational experiences, and yet live very, very different cultural experiences. Yeah. And that's a little bit what I'm hearing from you is that your coworkers, you know, some of whom are probably from Waco with just as deep roots there as you have, having very different cultural experiences.

Sylvia Hernandez: 34:59

Oh, yeah. I mean, and it's very obvious in some respects. I mean, I've had an opportunity recently to work on a class that is focused on my experience. And so that's been really rewarding that somebody is interested in that and wants to share that with the students here. Yeah. Well, tell me tell me about that a little bit. Sure. So that class um was taught for the very first time. It was called the Mexican-American Experience in Waco. It was taught for the very first time in the spring of 2025. Um, I actually worked with the professor. He had been working on it for at least a year before I met him. And then um over the summer of 2024, he actually stopped by in the Texas collection and spent the entire summer looking for materials related to the Mexican-American experience in Waco. And so that was something that um I had been compiling a list since 2020 about that because there I mean, because I grew up with so many different stories that um in academia you have to have primary source materials for them. And so I started keeping a list of what is the story that I hear about. And so I found, you know, I found the church that my grandparents um helped, my great-great-grandparents helped found. There was also um the first kindergarten for Latin American children in Waco was first hosted at that church. And so I had heard about this story many, many times growing up. And so another collection that I processed was from a um church women's group. And so they were actually the main, that was one of the main ministries they had was with migrant farm labor. And so to as I'm thumbing through these scrapbooks, I find pictures and newsletters about this kindergarten that I grew up hearing about. And so that immediately there's joy and sadness and and so many different emotions that come in with that, because it's like if I wasn't the person who was um doing the work and processing that collection, nobody would have known about that information. And because it's my personal experience being um input into this scrapbook, it's like, no, I know that you know, somebody's gonna want to know about this. I want to know about this. And so so it is very, very personal work that I do. And and I think it's just it had to like all come together perfectly for me to be able to do this for everyone.

Crista Cowan: 37:42

Yeah. Wow. As a genealogist, I like God bless archivists. Like, we're so grateful for you. But to have such a unique experience to be an archivist in a community that is so, you know, integral to your identity and the fact that you recognize things in those collections as being part of your own family story. I like that's so powerful.

Sylvia Hernandez: 38:06

Yeah, I mean it really is. I I every time I run across something that mentions my family or something about a story that I've heard growing up, I'm like, I have a notebook where I've started writing some of this stuff down because I want to be able to find it again. And so, so that's that's really important to me to be able to find it again. I mean, and having those notes is also important for classes like like that Mexican-American experience class. Like, because want people to know the stories.

Crista Cowan: 38:37

Yeah. Um, we didn't talk about it, but do you have children of your own?

Sylvia Hernandez: 38:41

I do not.

Crista Cowan: 38:42

Do you have nieces and nephews?

Sylvia Hernandez: 38:44

I have a niece and two nephews. Okay. Yeah. Five children, there's only three grandkids.

Crista Cowan: 38:51

Well, I don't have any kids either, so I understand being an aunt. Um, as you think about gathering with your family, maybe this Christmas. Like, I don't know what Christmases now look like in your family, but is there, you know, is there a gathering? Is there a means where you're passing those these stories on to the next generation?

Sylvia Hernandez: 39:10

There there is. Um, we actually still attend Mass on Christmas Eve. We go to the children's mass because of the kids. Um, it's a little bit earlier in the day. Um, and and we still kind of split it between Christmas Eve and um Christmas Day. So we'll go to Mass, then we'll go out. Um, so so that five acres of land that my parents lived on growing up, my siblings live on that same five acres now. Um, my parents are still there, so they're neighbors. And so it's been the lot has been subdivided. And so so they make fun of me that I'm I'm one of the only ones that doesn't live out there. And they're like, when are you gonna come and move out here with us? But again, it it's it's very familial connectedness there. And so um we usually go out there, sometimes I'll spend night with them just so I can wake up on Christmas morning with the kids and kind of see them open their gifts. And so that's always I think for a lot of you know families is to do that. But we'll do um we'll do we'll do dinner a little bit later of a dinner. Sometimes there's tamales sometimes there's um just other other different kinds of foods. And it's mostly kind of for us now as adults, we like to make it special for the kids. And so we do stockings and those stockings get stuffed. And and but but it's also one of those really big traditions to us though it's like we always want to make sure that there's an apple an orange and a few pieces of candy like those because we always got those growing up and there's different stories as to why um apples and oranges are included but that like for us we we do that because it was special to us growing up. And then on Christmas day um get up open presents lots of Mexican food on Christmas day. And then yeah and then we just and mashed potatoes not usually on on on this side but you know they pop up when we go and have Christmas with my cousins on my dad's side so fun.

Crista Cowan: 41:11

Well I love that. Sylvia thank you so much for sharing your family your heritage your stories with us I so appreciate that. As you think about what it means to be Texan what it means to be awake from Waco are they called Wacoans? Wacoans yeah what is that what does that mean to you?

Sylvia Hernandez: 41:31

It's a special place I've moved away a couple of times but it's always drawn me back. And I think it's because my roots are so deep here like it it's just this is where I'm meant to be and what I do is what I'm meant to do. Yeah. Yeah.

Crista Cowan: 41:46

Well thank you. Right thank you and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas studio sponsored by Ancestry