Bless Me, Ultima

by Rudolfo Anaya

This one will be a Luna, the old man said, he will be a farmer and keep our customs and traditions. Perhaps God will bless our family and make the baby a priest.

intriguing

Gabriel, they shouted, you have a fine son! He will make a fine vaquero! And they smashed the fruits and vegetables that surrounded the bed and replaced them with a saddle, horse blankets, bottles of whiskey, a new rope, bridles, chapas, and an old guitar.

details if the customs; memories of how we celebrate baby births- money, basketballs, tears and laughter

magical realism

portents.

“¡Ay bruja!”

atole.

“This is good,” I said. I looked at my uncle. He was sleeping peacefully. The fever had not lasted long.

a turning point

atole

“It is because good is always stronger than evil. Always remember that, Antonio. The smallest bit of good can stand against all the powers of evil in the world and it will emerge triumphant. There is no need to fear men like Tenorio.”

good is stronger than evil; a light can chase darkness

“My father and my mother know him,” I said. I could not take my eyes from the garden that surrounded the small house. Every kind of fruit and vegetable I knew seemed to grow in the garden, and there was even more abundance here than on my uncles’ farms.

This is a verdant place. Green and alive with growth and fruit like the Garden of Eden

“I don’t know,” Cico answered, “except that people, grown-ups and kids, seem to want to hurt each other—and it’s worse when they’re in a group.”

sad

“My name means sea,” I pondered aloud. “Hey, that’s right,” he said, “Márez means sea, it means you came from the ocean, Tony Márez arisen from the sea—”

my name means sea-

The excruciating pain broke and I sweated blood.

Jesus sweated blood on the cross before his death and resurrection

The lake seemed to respond with rage and fury. It cracked with the laughter of madness as it inflicted death upon the people. I thought the end had come to everything. The cosmic struggle of the two forces would destroy everything! The doom which Cico had predicted was upon us! I clasped my hands and knelt to pray. The terrifying end was near. Then I heard a voice speak above the sound of the storm. I looked up and saw Ultima.

saved?

the sweet water of the moon which falls as rain is the same water that gathers into rivers and flows to fill the seas.

making peace with your self, family-peace, reconcilliation, the answer to prayer; gorgeous image and it makes my mouth awaken

replenish the oceans there would be no oceans. And the same salt waters of the oceans are drawn by the sun to the heavens, and in turn become again the waters of the moon. Without the sun there would be no waters formed to slake the dark earth’s thirst. The waters are one, Antonio. I looked into her bright, clear eyes and understood her truth. You have been seeing only parts, she finished, and not looking beyond into the great cycle that binds us all. Then there was peace in my dreams and I could rest.

Oh, I should have known. I was proud that they would show the true blood of the Márez, but little did I realize that same pride would make them desert me. Gone. We are all wanderers. And I am here alone—”

I felt more attached to Ultima than to my own mother. Ultima told me the stories and legends of my ancestors. From her I learned the glory and the tragedy of the history of my people, and I came to understand how that history stirred in my blood.

the teacher

before the awful storm that broke over our house.

they always come - storms and plague