Natalia translated

The name story for Natalia is included in issue #2 of Hello My Name Is in an extremely edited version. I had to cut out so much good stuff because in the end I had about a 2" square to fit the text into. In addition to the 'zine story being highly edited, it's also in spanish which makes it difficult for all the non-spanish speakers. This is my mom's name story and I wanted to keep it in her native tongue, the way she told it to me. So, for this post I've not only included the original unedited story but also an english translation. Enjoy!

NATALIA

De mi nombre te diré qué cuando yo nací nadie sabía si era hembra o varón hasta el día del nacimiento. La mayoría de las personas si era varón le ponian el nombre del padre pero si era hembra le ponían el nombre del Santo de ese día. Lo podias ver en el calendario además qué en el radio 

todas la mañanas decían los nombres de los Santos de ese día.

Así qué Mima decidió ponerme Natalia qué era ese día. Ademas habian dos mas, Eloy y Eligio, los dos de varón pero algunas personas si era hembra le ponían Eloísa o Eligia. Yo busqué en la internet y me salio la imagen de la Santa y la biografía pero en portugues. Pero como yo todavía me recuerdo del portugues lo pude leer fácilmente.

Esto sucedió en el año 305 después de Cristo. El emperador de Nicomedia, moderna Turquía, tenía dos prisioneros Cristianos, uno de ellos llamado Adriano, esposo de Natalia, al cual lo tenían amarrado por sus piernas y brazos muy torturados para que regresara a su antigua religion. Pero al ver que el no se aceptaba los romanos trataron de quemar su cuerpo, pero Natalia oró a Jesus con tanto fervor qué una lluvia inexplicablemente calló apagando el fuego. A causa de la gran confusión ella pudo rescatar el cuerpo y llevarlo para enterrarlo. Con sus manos ella abrió la tumba pero al terminar fue tanto el esfuerzo que murió junto al cadáver de su esposo.

Bueno, yo me entere de la historia por casualidad pues nunca había leído nada sobre Santa Natalia.

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About my name, I’ll tell you that when I was born nobody knew if I was a girl or a boy until the birth date. For the most part if you were a boy they would name you after your father but if you were a girl they would name you after the Saint of your birthday. You could find it in the calendar in addition to hearing it on the radio where they would say the names of the Saints for that day in the mornings.

So, my mother decided to name me Natalia which was the Saint attributed to my birthday. There were also two other Saints, Eloy and Eligio, both boys names, but some people would name their girls Eloísa or Eligia instead. I searched the Internet and found an image of Santa Natalia and a biography, but in Portuguese. As I still remember how to speak Portuguese I was able to read easily.

This happened in year 305 AD. The Emperor of Nicomedia, modern day Turkey, had two Christian prisoners, one of them Adriano (husband of Natalia) who was tortured and whose legs and arms were bound painfully so that he would return to his old religion. Upon seeing that he would not accept the ways of the Romans they tried to burn his body, but Natalia prayed to Jesus with such a fervor that an inexplicable, torrential rain fell and extinguished the fire. Due to the great confusion she was able to rescue his body and took him to be buried. She opened the tomb with her own hands but in the end the effort was too much for her and she died next to the corpse of her husband.

Well, I found out the history of my name by chance, I had never before read anything on Santa Natalia.