ABSTRACT
A journey of migration to a new land, language, and culture involves many losses and the challenge not merely to adapt but to reinvent a life. The process of acculturation challenges the immigrant to develop this new life by assimilating new elements without forfeiting old ones. During cultural, developmental, and other life cycle transitions, many immigrant Latino families turn to the comfort and continuity of past traditions such as prayer and folk medicines. The human tendency to find comfort and stability in the midst of change by revisiting cultural beliefs and rituals has been called ideological ethnicity (Harwood, 1981).
