Which Comes First the Margareta or the Flowers?

 

One year, when I was younger than six, either Mom or Grandma and I made a May Basket, I took it to the neighbors and hung it on their doorknob.

Our May Basket was a little holder made of colored paper and filled with flowers. The idea is to sneak over to your neighbor's and anonymously hang it on their doorknob.

That reminds me of Aloha and the lady on the beach in Hawaii who told me that Aloha is a way of life. It means to do good without expecting anything in return. (Aloha also means Hello, Goodbye, and I love you.)

I don't know where the May Basket tradition in my family came from, and I don't remember who instigated it, but I thought of it this morning when I realized it is May 5 and thought it was May Day.  However, I got my holidays confused, for May Day is May 1, while today is May 5, the Cinco De Mayo—Mexico's Independence Day, and for us Margareta Day. Hey, happy to celebrate a country's independence. We used to celebrate it in San Diego, and I would rather miss hearing a Mariachi band play Cielito Lindo, Mexico's folk waltz song. (See below for the translation and to listen to it played.)

This morning, I wondered what and if I should write. I usually post a blog on Tuesday and I will be busy tomorrow.

My uppermost thought this morning was what happened to us as people. Has entropy settled in?  Is it me? Is it prevalent that many people seem not to care?  Do you?

I felt that all our hard-fought-for rights are being stripped away, and somehow we are allowing it to happen. And why are people so concerned with how people are—black or white or yellow or red, gay, straight, bisexual, transsexual, Christian, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, and want to legislate it somehow?  Do we really want everyone to be the same? So, see, I wasn't on the best end of the happiness scale.

 

 Then I thought of the May flowers and called my daughter to ask about the day of their wedding anniversary. I knew it was in May when the wild Iris' are in bloom. I looked out into the gorgeous spring day, and I thought of the fun and the Margaritas my best friend and I would order at the exquisite Bizarre De Mundo in San Diego, and remembering those salt-rimmed glasses makes my mouth water even now. 

 

 

My friend would order a fishbowl-sized Margareta as I was the designated driver. Her little boy and my two girls would run around within the confines of the courtyard, and we would send them to the toy store with enough money to purchase a tiny figurine they could add to their collections. My friend and I would talk for so long we would be clear-headed by the time we left, and on the Cinco De Mayo there would be a celebration with a spread of hors d' oeuvres in the court yard, and a mariachi band would play, among other songs, Cielito Lindo.

The rousing refrain is:  

Ay, ay, ay, ay,

Canta y no llores,

Porque cantando se alegran,

Cielito lindo, los corazones.

"Woe, woe, woe, woe,

Sing and don't cry,

Because singing, darling,

Lifts our hearts."

To Listen:

 

https://youtu.be/ojghyoSxsys

Cielito Lindo   (Sweet Belle, Oh Heavenly One, Pretty Darling, Lovely Sweet One)

One person described the song as a celebration of love, life, and the human spirit.

(The translation is more like from a lover to a loved one.—but then romance lifts our hearts.)

 

 

Through dark tresses, heavenly one,

a pair of deep brown eyes,

lower as they approach,

a stolen glance.

Ay, ay, ay, ay,

sing and don't cry,

heavenly one, for singing

gladdens he...

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/cielito-lindo-heavenly-one.html

Ah Shucks

This past week I stumbled into someone who said we had entered the Age of Aquarius on March 23, 2023. Oh, joy!

 

I've been looking for the Age of Aquarius since 1967 when I saw the stage play Hair in Los Angeles, California.

 

 

"When the moon is in the Seventh House

And Jupiter aligns with Mars,

Then peace will guide the planets

And love will steer the stars,

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius,

Age of Aquarius"*

 

The Age of Aquarius represents an age of world Peace, where we love one another without prejudice and fear—I was looking forward to that. 

 

However, upon further investigation, I found that we are still on the cusp of the age. And Astrologers can't agree on when the next age will happen.

 

I don't know how much stock we can put on the Sun's passage across the sky. Astronomers say that as the earth wobbles, we see the Sun move through the constellations--the 12 houses of the Zodiac.

 

Ages last 2,150 years, and Pisces began in 68 BC.

 

That adds up to 2597 years until Pisces ends and Aquarius begins.

 

I don't know about you but waiting for 579 years is out of my ballpark. We can't wait for the new age to drop on us like the Aquarian lady pouring water out of her urn.

 

 

"Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding

No more falsehoods or derisions

Golden living dreams of visions

Mystic crystal revelation

And the mind's true liberation"*

 

 

So the story goes…The lyrics to the song/poem Aquarius, were scribbled on a piece of paper and found in a wallet in a NY taxicab.

 

(What a brilliant piece of marketing and/or a contribution to humankind.)

 

And that piece of paper, the song, a mash-up with "Let the Sunshine In," sung by the music group "The Fifth Dimensions, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on April 12, 1969. It stayed there for six weeks, on the chart for 17 weeks, and earned three Grammy nominations in 1970, winning for both Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

 

The song's album, The Age of Aquarius, peaked on the Billboard chart at the number two spot in late June 1969 and spent 72 weeks on the chart. It garnered two Grammy nominations."

 

Hair and the song The Age of Aquarius lit a fire under a generation that changed our culture. They protested the Viet Nam war, changed dress codes, sexual mores, championed Civil Rights, supposedly ended segregation, (again), burned bras, draft cards, and gave permission for both men and women to grow hair, for men to grow facial hair, to wear jewelry, and burn draft cards, and for women to burn bras. Oh, and co-ops came into being where people wanted organic food, and natural childbirth was ushered into hospitals.  

 

Why are we losing some of those hard-fought-for rights and changes?

 

Why is there so much fear and quick resort to violence when once we championed Peace, put flowers in our hair, knew we could make a difference, and believed in a better world?

 

I want the enthusiasm we once felt. I want to believe again.

 

 “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.” –John Lennon

 

“Oh, let it shine, c’mon
Now everybody just sing along
Let the sun shine in
Open up your heart and let it shine on in
When you are lonely, let it shine on
Got to open up your heart and let it shine on in
And when you feel like you’ve been mistreated
And your friends turn away
Just open your heart, and shine it on in.”*

 

*

*Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Galt Mac Dermot / Gerome Ragni / James Rado

Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures) lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC