First Hand Craft

 
 
 
 


This is really my first hand crafted project as an adult. It will be for sale at the Christmas Bazaar for Los Charcos, it´s my Isabel inspiration. Isabel will get one for Christmas also, I´m on a roll and maybe the craft goddesses are shining down on me! I was pleased with my handwork so I had to show it off.

Los Faroles

 

Roarke, Sebastian and Isabel´s lanterns (faroles) in that order. It was a lovely walk, I wish you all could have been there.

Caminata de Faroles

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose for existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of being.
- Carl Gustav Jung

November 11 is San Martin´s day, a most beautiful festival weekend here. There will be men and boys riding horses passing through San Miguel, processions of pilgrims that can be miles long. The United Sates, or Indiana at least, never offered visions of pilgrims. Pilgrims of debauchery perhaps, going to the Indy 500. My soul however needs the complex beauty of men riding horses, honoring San Martin, marching towards their Lord and chosen patron saint. Children weaving their way through the darkness with lanterns, singing songs of San Martin

San Martin´s story: Martin was from a long line of soldiers, going into the business of marching towards war at the age of 15. His story takes off at the age of 18 when he´s out soldiering and sees a beggar in need of clothes, Martin felt compelled to rip his cloak in half to share some warmth with this poor soul. Martin dreams that night the beggar was really Jesus referred to Martin is the unbaptized Roman soldier that has now clothed him. Martin chooses to be baptized, pagan no more. For two more years Martin continues his life as the now baptized Roman soldier...one day he says; "Enough! I am a soldier for Christ, I can no longer fight." Religion over duty didn´t work so well for the Roman Army, they threw Martin in jail. While he is in jail Martin offers to go into the melée unarmed, the Army liked that idea, one less loco religious dude hanging around. Luckily for Martin and us, the invaders concede to peace! Martin is spared with an honorable discharge, official walking papers to live a life devoted to God.

There is the story of how San Martin chose to walk in the light. It´s hard to renounce what you know, be persecuted and still say "What I have known is wrong, what I have done is wrong but I can move foward and make a much better go of it today." Sure, St. Martin has other fantastical stories associated with him but I love this one story of simplicity. Of a radical conversion in his life that caused him to change. Martin´s journey took about 5 years, change rarely seizes us one night and wham-o, I am a new improved better human being. Change is the gradual shifts of the heart that happen everyday, I talk about those often, but rarely do I see a "New! Improved! Digitally Enhanced! Better!" me instantly. Growing up in a culture of instant gratification, I want those changes, NOW, thank you very much! But we must wait, I ask my children for patience daily. Why is it so difficult for me to wait for the savory gifts in this life?

Each year the children and maestros of Los Charcos have their Caminata de Faroles. For this festival, the school chooses a cause to donate to in honor of San Martin. Last year we brought donations for the state of Tabasco, suffering from the mud-slides and hurricanes. This year the community will focus on the orphans from the girls orphnage, Santa Julia, specifically, two scholarships to Los Charcos. The two candidates deserve the right to a wholistic education, they have lived through trauma...the girls have no family to provide for them, that is trauma enough. My mother heart aches for all of the girls in Santa Julia, all of them deserve the love and support a community can bring, especially one like Los Charcos. I know the capacity for love in this Waldorf school, it is immense and all children have a right to receive this. Not just my children because I can afford to pay tuition.

Parque Juarez, in San Miguel de Allende, this Sunday November 9, 2008, will be illuminated by children from pre-school to junior high, carrying lanterns, walking slowly, singing songs. The children I think are unaware of how beautiful this sight is, a generous moment for all adults present. Last year I could not stop the constant stream of tears down my face. No tears of sadness, only joy and pure love for every child in the procession. Festival de San Martin is the lantern for my soul, watching the children that shape our future...walking, giving, loving in communion.

My belated Mother's Day story

Well, after 3 weeks without a computer i can finally relay the story of the gifts my children gave me for Mother's Day, this was the best year ever. It all began on Friday, 2 days before Mother's Day... Isabel had a friend come home from school with her, on the ride home the girls told me this:

Amarina -Elizabeth, you know what? The boys on the bus said I was ugly and Isabel is beautiful.
Me- Well, those aren't very nice boys.
Isabel- And, mommy, you know what I told them?
Me- What did you tell them Isabel?
Isabel- I said, Amarina is my friend and she is just as beautiful as me!
Me- Isabel, you're right, Amarina is as beautiful as you.

Not only did Isabel speak for a larger sense of what is beautiful, she said it all in her second language, Spanish. My heart was glowing almost as brightly as Isabel's rosy cheeks. My daughter stood up for the underdog, she came to her dear friends defense and said what was right and good. Isabel was given a tool, compassion, from her mama and she used that tool, against "those mean boys" and given her friend a gift, unconditional love. I still tear up thinking about the inner strength of my 5 year old baby girl. Isabel, you are a light for my heart in the darkness.

Move to Sunday, Mother's Day. Our day started out at 7 am, unheard of for Sunday! Richard was in the states and I packed up my 3 kids and 2 dishes to share for the Danza de Listonne at Los Charcos, arrival time 8:30 am. This danza, or dance is celebrated by Waldorf schools to mark the bringing of light as midway between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. The point where light and warmth are bringing the earth to life in a splash of green, I like to think of
it as an appreciation of verdance, that may even be my own word for green spring deliciousness,
I'm not sure.

So, on Mothers Day, I watched Sebastian, my oldest, my gift from God on Christmas day 2000, dance the light into being. Gracias a Dios, what beauty, what tears I shed while the flute played and the ribbons wrapped around the pole in an intricate dance. I cannot describe the gratefulness in my heart for everything in my life, the good, the not so good, the really sucky bad things, it was all sumptuous and beautiful and right at that moment. Yet another gift from my first born!

And then I watched Sebastian demonstrate eurythmy. For those of you that know me well, you've heard my skepticism about eurythmy, which is the natural movement of the body associated with sounds in the beginning, which is where Sebastian is, the beginning of a journey into the crazy, wonderful world of Waldorf education. Well, I am a skeptic no more. Sebastian showed me, along with his classmates, how lovely it is to have movement in conjunction with others. It was not precise but it was deliberate, I was so amazed at how his feet moved in unison with his classmates, how delicate their steps were but so sure of themselves. Of where they were going but happy to ease into syncopation not be hurried and force themselves to march. The word Flow comes to mind and what better word because children are by nature fluid beings, adaptable. At this point, I was on sensory overload and out of tears of joy, I smiled like I had not smiled in years. My heart was content.

Roarke in his infinite amount of energy was the last to give his gift, a 2 hour nap! Maybe this means little to my readers, for me, a nap is salvation. After a nap, I can continue, I can be a better mama. Especially when parenting alone to 3 small people, my small people wear me out.

For all these gifts I must rely on a songwriter that touches my heart:
"I stand in awe of gratefulness
I can and call forgetfulness..."
Sufjan Steven

I will remember these moments when my children transgress, I will call on these moments and open them like a gift again and again. Like right now when no one wants to go to sleep, 45 minutes past their bedtime.