Proud of her roots, of the typical costume of Yucatan, of her customs, an example of life, of eagerness to learn, an accumulation of experiences and anecdotes, that is Doña Romualda Carrillo Jimenez, who on February 7 turned 100 years old, and did so in full health, in an excellent mood, surrounded by the affection, love, respect, and admiration of her large family.
Originally from Cuzamá, Carrillo Jiménez married Mr. Zenón Pérez Kuk (deceased) and they had six children: Orlando, Eloy, Rosario, Freddy, Diana, and Leilany, and today Doña Romualda has the privilege of having 23 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, and 21 great-great-grandchildren.
“She is a very strong person, she does not suffer from a single disease, neither hypertension nor diabetes, and she is a very intelligent woman. We have always admired that part of her, she studied up to the third grade because there was no economic condition, but she learned to read and write, she educates herself constantly, and she knows how to defend herself very well, if she could have studied a college degree she would be an excellent lawyer”, said her granddaughter, Yamily Bracamontes Perez.
“Everything she reads, wherever she goes and that is also admirable, she is a mestiza, authentic. She tells us that when she was little there was no electricity, they used to live with candles and stoves, and she has been adapting to everything, improving more and more, she is not afraid of anything, she has lived the evolution”, she added.
As part of this passage of time, Doña “Amada”, as she is also known, has witnessed the technological advances and constant changes in Yucatán, Mexico, and the world.
“She is fascinated by television, to this day she loves soap operas (telenovelas), she is passionate about melodramas, she likes intense stuff, but now she just falls asleep earlier. She told us stories about the time when there was only one television set in the whole town, and people paid one peso to sit and watch the soap operas.
“Nowadays, technology amazes her, she doesn’t use a cell phone, but takes calls on her daughter’s phone, we make video calls and she is always cheerful. During the pandemic, we used to call and greet her. She says that we are privileged to have all these things today”, Yamily added.
It is also worth mentioning that Doña Romualda was well cared for during the pandemic and left proof of her strength, as fortunately for her and the family, she did not contract the virus, unlike other members of her own family who got infected at a certain point in time.
“She likes to eat everything, we believe that is her main weakness, food, she loves candy, merengues, everything sweet. In the past, she ate what they harvested from their land and the animals they raised,” they said.
Although we have to help her get up from her hammock and talk to her a little louder than usual, her granddaughter says she is in extraordinary condition, in her five senses.
Carrillo Jiménez is the 20th of 20 siblings, all of them with green eyes, although none of her offspring inherited that particularity.
“My grandmother was the town’s praying woman and she tells us that she was called to several places. If the people needed her at two o’clock in the morning she would go, here she prays to everyone when she comes and we remember that part of her very well,” she said.
Doña “Amada” is deeply rooted in her origins, in Yucatecan traditions such as the Hanal Pixán, in the clothing of her state, and she praises it every chance she gets.
“She is very proud of the hipil, the terno and gets upset when a family member doesn’t like it, besides being beautiful, precious, it is expensive, it is not just wearing anything and she likes to look like that,” she said.
“What we admire the most is her memory, she even knows the time and day we were all born, sometimes if one of my aunts does not remember a date, they ask her,” she said.
She is Doña Romualda Carrillo Jiménez, how much can’t you live in a century, but above all the accumulated experience, pure and full wisdom, to follow, listen, assimilate and learn, for all her family and for the whole society.
TYT Newsroom
