I’m dreaming Mexico – perhaps because I’m back in my fleece shawl this mid-May morning with the early temperature only in the 40s, and perhaps because in the end-of-semester chores we always clean the house and I dusted the little Mexican figures on the built-in corner shelves that came with our 1924-built stucco house, or because in yesterday’s photo post, I mentioned Durango.
In 1984, I went to Durango, Mexico to make a movie and fell in love – with light, with shadows, with a laughing, generous people, with mystery, and after going back to visit a couple of time, moved there in December of 1985. I didn’t know I was moving – I thought I was going for another visit to escape New York City and late December cold, but when it came time to return, I didn’t go back. Mexico’s pull is magic.
Here’s part of the magic – these are two little figures, each about an inch tall, and hand-crafted. How can human fingers do something so exquisitely detailed and so tiny?
This little box below is a 2″ x 1″ glass box with a mirror at the back and three little figures inserted into a glass tube and mounted in front of the mirror. As near as I can tell, it’s a dancing bull with a monkey and a — well, I’m not sure what. A toreador and sword? A hunter and a rifle? A laughing farmer and a pole to prod the bull? Maybe a broom to sweep up the glass when it breaks? If you can imagine what it is, please let me know!
- a dancing mythological bull
I laughed a lot in Mexico. Everyone laughs a lot in Mexico – or at least they used to. Mexicans love to laugh, but I’m no longer sure the laughter is the same since the drug wars. It makes me sad to think of how the drug market in the U.S. and the lack of useful wages in Mexico created such a disaster.
- bell, book, and candle
And there you have a story of my life in miniature.
Mexico re-invented my understanding of the religious and spiritual at a fundamental level. I lived there three years, finally ending my ex-patriot sojourn because I had a six-month old grandson back in the States. Funny how family and love will change the course of a life! But Mexico taught me – and allowed me to experience – the in-dwelling spirit in a way that has remained with me.
So as you do your spring cleaning this year, look at the tiny things that changed your life. They may still carry the spirit that once called you to be who you are.
janetsunderland.com 
Janet, I really enjoyed sharing a little of your time in Mexico with you.
I love the way you invite us to join you on your Memory Lane of dusting chores. I have always enjoyed my family’s tradition of “breathing a prayer” for the ones who gifted us with our treasures, as we dust. Reverie is good for the soul. It revives our subconscious.
Art needed. an explosion of it. those huichol colors, they must be lived.
i miss your Mexico Janet and i hope present struggling will heal. Does not take a great number of people to send a country spiraling down
… and the good news is that the same is true of up. Intentions are important, the crux of the new matter, so to speak
and laughter helps, O G-d, Yes, laughter inspires.
Que Bueno mucho, ce rire qui s’eveille… Aw, thanks Janet, thanks Elizabeth.
How nice of you to post! And yes, those huichol colors do call. And yes, along with Jerusalem, I pray for Mexico!
Que bueno! The miniature ofrenda table is lovely, but I LOVE the candle holder.
I had a local artist who is on commission with Mattie Rhodes come to my class this week to instruct the children on bark painting. How interesting it was to me that they understood well the concept of using images to represent where they have come from, but how timid they were with using color vividly to let the message speak loudly. I spent much of my time “assisting” our Latina instructor by encouraging them to use more color – even the Latino children in my class!
Looking back, I realize the ones who did not need any encouragement were also the children who have a much greater sense of themselves as individuals and are more confident.
We all learned something new this week.
Glad you liked it/them. I sometimes forget just how many little treasurers there are around this house! Sounds like a wonderful day with paint and bark. Well done.