Skip to content
VitrineRoyal Houses of Europe
Sign in

Salvador Moncada

b. 1944

Born
3 Dec 1944, Tegucigalpa
Country of birth
Honduras

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

facts
3
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth3 Dec 1944, TegucigalpaProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Tegucigalpa

    Birth, Tegucigalpa

What was it like?

The world around Tegucigalpa, 1944: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Salvador was born the same year as George Lucas, Michael Douglas, and Alice Walker.

Born the same year

  • George Lucas

    American filmmaker and philanthropist (born 1944)

  • Michael Douglas

    American actor, producer and activist (born 1944)

  • Alice Walker

    American author and activist (born 1944)

  • Gigi Riva

    Italian association football player (1944–2024)

  • Ban Ki-moon

    8th Secretary-General of the United Nations

  • Gerhard Schröder

    Chancellor of West Germany (1998–2005)

Fashion

Formal attire for festive occasions

For special occasions like weddings and patronal festivals, women wore dresses consisting of a skirt and blouse, often accessorized with heeled shoes or leather ankle boots. When attending formal salon parties, they decorated their hair with ornamental combs rather than flowers.

Tropical whites and black suits for men

In the early 20th century, Garifuna and Bay Islander men wore all-white outfits known as tropical whites. However, Garifuna men also kept black suits specifically for funerals and Good Friday.

Music

Playful Corn Husk Ritual in Dances

In the dance La Tusa, men would jokingly offer their partners corn husks, which were only accepted once the men placed a corn tassel in the women's hair.

Sandals Creating Rhythm in Dance

The Xixique dance was named for the rhythmic sound made by the friction of leather sandals (caites) against the ground while dancing.

Getting around

Long baronesa bus journeys between major cities

In the 1940s, bus trips between Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula using baronesas—wooden-bodied trucks with plank seating—rarely took less than three days, and could take five to six days during rainy weather.

Ferry travel across Lake Yojoa

Before road infrastructure improved, travelers crossing Lake Yojoa had to use ferries between ports like Pito Solo, El Jaral, and La Guama, a time-consuming process that often determined whether they could catch the train in Potrerillos.

Daily life

Traditional and modern cooking methods coexisted

In the 1940s, Lenca and Pech families continued to cook in homemade clay pots over three-stone fires, while some affluent Garifuna households imported American-style cast iron wood-burning stoves.

Widespread use of traditional petate sleeping mats

In the mid-20th century, 74% of the population slept on a petate, a traditional woven vegetable fiber mat placed on a wooden frame or used alone.

Food

Coffee replaced chocolate as the preferred drink

Before the 1930s, chocolate was the standard beverage for morning and afternoon meals or snacks, but coffee gradually replaced it to become the preferred drink by the third decade of the 20th century.

Low consumption of wheat bread

Wheat bread was not a traditional staple in Honduras during this period, with census data from 1950 showing that only 6 percent of the national population consumed it.

Prices and wages

Cost of an umbrella

An umbrella at a local store was priced at $9.50, nearly equal to a young worker's full month of wages.

Monthly wages of young workers

Young workers employed by the United Fruit Company merchandise stores in this era received wages of only $10 per month.

Work

Dining halls for banana workers

Patronas operated makeshift dining halls within labor barracks, serving three daily meals to groups of 10 to 30 workers.

Commuting to the mines

Miners often walked for one to three hours daily to reach their work site, sometimes using carbide lamps to see in the pre-dawn darkness.

News and letters
Around 1950–1960

Long wait times for letter responses

In the mid-20th century, a person mailing a letter to a loved one could expect the recipient to read it within 24 hours, but they would have to wait 15 days for a response because that was the time it took for the mail carrier to return on their route.

During their lifetime

  1. 1949

    Major labor reform laws passed

    New labor laws were enacted, including the first eight-hour workday and paid holidays for workers.

Family

Spouses