This month, my family lost our beloved Tía Cecelia. She was a no-nonsense and glamorous woman who always showed up to everywhere and anywhere with flawless long dark lashes and red lipstick. Of course, her hair was always perfectly coiffed. I learned a lot about glamour from her. Glamour, for her, was not only how you looked on the outside, but about how you felt inside. It was the way we carried ourselves. Because of her, I put a little more effort into wearing makeup and wrangling my hair into a decent look before leaving my house.
I’ll share a story. Once when I was a teenager, I showed up to a family gathering in boxer shorts and oversized t-shirt. In the kitchen, my aunt Cecelia told me that because I was “brown, young, and beautiful” people outside the family were going to judge me. “They always judge Mexican women,” she said with a shake of her head. She added that since they were going to judge me I should do my best to look, dress, and hold myself better than them to teach them a lesson. I’ve never forgotten her words.
Honestly, it was the advice that I needed at that young age when I was grappling with my self image and the constant and unwanted gaze of older men and boys. If I dressed with pride and walked with my head held high, then their stares had nowhere to land. I wasn’t dressing for them. I was dressing like a girl who already knew her own worth. At fifteen, standing in the kitchen in my boxer shorts and T-shirt, what I heard from my Aunt Cecelia was simple: I decide who I am and not them.
My aunt Cecelia was also the first Latina entrepreneur I ever met. She ran a hair salon out of her home. Growing up, it was powerful to watch her make a living doing what she loved: giving other women a chance to feel beautiful.
My aunt Cecelia as a young woman. She was proud of her Mexican American roots and a entrepreneur.Losing her to cancer this past month, made me think about the role tías play in our lives. They help raise us. For me, she helped me rethink what a beautiful Latina could do with her mind and talents.
In our Latinx communities, aunties aren’t only our parents’ sisters, they can also be the close family friends who become like our second mom, trusted confidant, and constant cheerleader.
Maybe you have a special tía in your life or maybe you’re a wonderful tía to a couple of lucky kids out there. If so, here are five recommended books that honor the tías (aunts) in our lives.
All of these books can be found (and ordered) by your local library or at your local bookseller. Don’t hesitate to ask them to order it for you.
Best Books Dedicated to the Aunt in Your Life!
Martina Has Too Many Tías
by Emma Otheguy
Quiet Martina slips away from a party full of loud tías and lands in a magical island world of her own. A bilingual riff on the folktale “La Cucaracha Martina.”
Empanadas for Everyone
by Jackie Azúa Kramer
When Tía Mimi leaves to volunteer at the food center, she trusts her niece, Carina, to gather the empanada ingredients alone. Instead, Carina rallies the barrio to help the food center.
Here Come the Aunties!
by Cynthia Leitich Smith
A young Native child named River is surrounded by aunties who tend the garden, take the cousins fishing, and stitch a pair of moccasins.
How Tía Lola Came to (Visit) Stay
by Julia Alvarez
Miguel is embarrassed by the colorful and quirky aunt who arrives from the Dominican Republic after his parents’ divorce.
Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us
by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez (Non-fiction)
The author unpacks the labels pinned on the women who raised her like the tía loca, the pretty prima, the divorced tía. It’s a love letter to family, community, and Latinas.
