BorderLore, December 2016
Foundational to folkways, seasons are nature's invitation to turn the page and reveal cycles in everyday life.
The cold and long shadows appear, as winter settles into a coziness that beckons us to pile on the layers. Tender traditions cocoon us, and we relish the solitude that folds us into places and spaces in unique ways.
Humanity also counteracts winter's characteristic sparseness with sensations that warm our body and soul through taste, adornment, performance, stories and festival. BorderLore connects with a few of these seasonal practices and cultural objects rooted in this holiday month:
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Little bundles of comfort like the tamal are the centerpiece of many holiday gatherings, and we learn about food traditions special to this season from food scholar Linda Berzok and Lerua's Chef Mikey Hultquist, here.
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There is a folklife behind the performance of the Tucson Pastorela. Learn more about its interplay with local music and political satire, as well as its connections to the centuries old Mexican Pastorela, here. |
The material culture and traditions of the Chanukah season, including the dreidel and the menorah, are explained byJewish History Museum director of operations Lisa Schachter-Davis, who gives us personal perspectives on these ancients symbols in Jewish faith, here.
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What is more beloved this month than the Las Posadas procession, brought to the community since the late 1930s by the Carrillo K-5 Magnet School? We learn about the observance and the procession, here.
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Ready for some Jim Griffith storytelling? This month, Jim shares local folklore and photos about saints (and a stranger called el Arrastradito), called upon to find lost objects, here.
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Our December News and Resources Roundup is here.
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Folklife bears witness in even the darkest winter days. We're compelled to traverse winter's often harsh path, but the natural journey also is restorative. We absorb its pages, and are strengthened by its cultural traditions and community gatherings. Soon spring will appear, and, with it, renewed clarity.
Ikh vel zitsn oyfn boym, Un vel im farvign, Ibern vinter mit a treyst, Mit a sheynem nign.
I'll sit in the tree, And lull it during the winter, and comfort it with a lovely tune.
"As the trees bare their skins to embrace the cold, and the skies grow silvered when the daylight deserts them, I feel a sense of finality. All of the year comes into focus....Still, one after another, the holidays march across the face of winter, providing stuffing for cold stomachs, colored lights for white lawns, and warm embraces for empty and loving arms..."
Enjoy this multicultural collection, from the BBC, of artists depicting winter:
One year, as the cold season approached, Sparrow was injured. He would not be strong enough to fly to the warm lands with his family by himself, so he made his family fly south to the warm lands without him. Injured, he knew he would not survive the cold season. So he sought the help the trees. ... Creator had seen and heard all that had happened between Sparrow and the Trees. And Creator called a great council of the Trees and spoke to them...
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STAY CONNECTED  
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