The reading of Don Octavio Paz is quite interesting yet confusing in a sense simply because his words and thoughts are so strong that sometimes I feel like I can not comprehend, yet I can feel the passion and strength he write with. He has great energy and what I do understand from the readings, strength, energy and passion is what I attempt to incorporate into my work. This week we played with the words Fiesta y Tristesa. Two words that I know very well. White reading Don Octavio I came across a passage that I really liked, it reads,"Sugar -candy skulls, and tissue paper skulls, skeletons strung with fireworks... our popular images that always poke fun at life, affirming the nothingness and the insignificance of human existence." I understand this because we in the Mexican culture play with death and images associated with death, we are taught that death is not anything to fear and that it is in fact another part of life itself. You can not have life without death and we see this influenced in a lot of our cultural images including the image that I created this week. While I read the chapter it took me back to a time when I was a young boy, visiting my aunt at her ranch someplace in Guadalajara. I remember a huge valley out in a desolate area with lots of dried grass lands, dried streams lined with boulders and her home perched at the edge of an old lake where the animals drank. It was a large isolated ranch that was just outside a small pueblo. It was Christmas time and the celebration for el dia de la Virjen was approaching. December 12th is a special day in the small pueblos and everyone goes all out in celebration of the Virgin Mary. The pueblo buildings are strung with christmas lights, festive decor and the pueblo celebrates with a local fair. The fair is up and running on December 12th and their is traditional music, carnival rides, games, dancing, fireworks, food vendors of art and clothing. I remember being excited to attend and especially loved playing the Mexican Lottery. The Mexican Lottery is a game that has numbered cards with images of, El Sol, La Muerte, La Dama, El Galan, y El Valiente to name a few. Mostly traditional images. This game is somewhat like bingo and it is played with pinto beans. Cards are called and a bean is placed over a playing square that display the playing cards called. If your playing card has the image of the card called then you place a bean over the image and when full you call, "Lotteria"! At the fair they set up canopies with tables and lighting. People gather to play Lotteria and with prizes. People eat and drink while they play. It was always my favorite part of the Dia de la Virgen celebration. The image I created this week was inspired by the reading and by a specific event that that the reading brought back to mind. I remember being at the celebration and sitting under a canopy playing lotteria with my mama, tias, primos, and family friends. We played lotteria and enjoyed the ambiance. Sometime during the celebration a heavily intoxicated tall lanky man dressed in old dirty jean a button up shirt with rolled up sleeves and a tejana hat, drunk sweaty and dirty and began running his mouth. He was warned by a group of men that he needed to take himself elsewhere and that he needed to shut his mouth. He continued and took the threats lightly. He was the typical, "Valiente" who had no fear and laughed at the presence of trouble danger or death. We all looked on as he ran his mouth when all of a sudden the group of men stud up, and keeping word to their threats as they began to beat the tall lanky man. As he was beat he would not let down and continued to stand his ground. He was no match for the group and would surely lose not only his pride but maybe even his life. He was the Valiente that the lotteria card embodies. He has pride and will not back down regardless of the situation even if it means potentially losing his life. The Mexican as Don Octavio writes, " The Mexican Praises death, celebrates it, cultivates it, embraces it, but he never surrenders himself to it." The Valiente in the traditional image of the lotteria show a man showing no fear holding a bloody knife that will never surrender or back down. I re-imagined the image to show his fearlessness and his acceptance of death. My image represents that man, the one I called the valiente that day. He stood without fear, with an akword forward stance taking his medicine without fear of death. He praised, celebrated and embraced it just like the Don Octivio writes. He was the typical Mexican Valiente. I do not know what happened to the tall lanky man but I do know that it was an experience in his life that he will never forget and probably will not be his last, because he is a mexican and he will never surrender nor back down. I hope you all enjoyed my rendering of, "El Valiente Muerto," and I included the image of the original playing card for you all to compare! Thank you for your time and for reading my blog! I will see you all soon and cant wait to see what else Don Octavio has in store for us! until next time!
