LAS CRUCES – Elders gathering with arms full of desert
materials to teach traditions to a new generation. Sweet, spicy treats that
warm the heart and palate. Excited kids (including my then-small grandson) scrambling
to pick up eggs and candy and break cascarones …
As I talked to people about their memories of their favorite
spring outfits this week, I realized my memory banks have garnered some rich
deposits during the more than two decades since I moved to the Mesilla Valley.
Many of the best center around this time of year.
I’ve been privileged to sit and spend some time in the
village of Tortugas, while residents shared stories, prepared traditional feast
foods and just before Easter, gathered to make ramos. One of the years I
visited, they’d gathered stacks of yucca palm fronds, fragrant
cedar branches, stacks of yucca palm fronds, river reeds, Spanish Dagger and
other desert plants to make their beautiful organic high desert county bouquets
for Palm Sunday celebrations at the Sanctuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Some
of the people I talked to had been making ramos for half a century and they
were a little concerned about passing on a tradition that dates back more than
a century here. I hope it’s all going well, and that the congregation has
a good supply of ramos for today’s services.
There are some lovely places here to
celebrate a seasonal message of hope and rebirth. The Mesilla Valley is blessed
with some beautiful churches, from the adobe grandeur of San Albino Basilica in
the Mesilla Plaza to the unique and beautiful new chapel at Holy Cross Retreat.
And our multicultural populace finds intriguing ways to add to spiritual celebrations with our own All-American and
Southwestern touches.
I’ve had fun sampling several versions of
capirotada, a traditional Mexican bread pudding that’s great for breakfast,
lunch and/or supper, and traditionally involves bread, nuts, cheese, dried
fruits, cinnamon and other spices. My all-time fave versions are conjured up
right here in the Mesilla Valley, with native pecans and green chile.
Everything is better with chile, any time of
year, and I’ve discovered it’s also a fine addition to traditional Easter foods
of my Midwestern tribe. Anything horseradish can do, chile can do better, and
I’ve become semi-famous in my native and adopted homelands, for my fusion
specialty: green chile deviled eggs.
I’m willing to share: just use your own
favorite recipe for deviled eggs, add finely chopped green chiles to the
filling and dust the top of each egg with red or green chile pepper powder
instead of paprika.
And speaking of eggs, there are lots of
multicultural ways to have fun with a more secular symbol of the season.
I once spent a fun weekend embellishing
white, tan and brown eggs with motifs inspired by ancient Mimbres pottery.
Artist and Mesilla historian Preciliana
Sandoval first introduced me to cascarones, egg shells filled with confetti
which you can throw or break with (or on) friends. Preciliana’s version is a
tiny piñata on a stick. It’s made with an egg shell dyed a bright fiesta color
on a wand with fringed crepe paper, filled with Tootsie Rolls, as well as the
usual confetti. They’ve been an hit with friends and family members from Oregon
to our Las Cruces Sister City of Nienburg, Germany.
I love Christmas, but the older I get, the
more I have come to appreciate Easter. Christmas is a pledge and promise born
and Easter is love, hope and faith reborn, an adult mission fulfilled. It’s the
perfect time to ponder what our best selves might be and how great and noble
aspirations could be realized.
This is a season to contemplate the best of what has been
and what could be.
S. Derrickson Moore may be
reached at 575-5450, dmoore@lcsun-news.com or @derricksonmoore on Twitter.
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