I was searching for the keys to take Yolanda home when she suddenly perched against the edge of the couch and stopped me in my search. Now I must admit that we do pretty well on short simple conversations, but she was excited and launched into one of those longer narratives where I captured about every tenth word. In this case, the first word I captured was “eclipse,” which is more or less the same in Spanish as in English. The second was “rojo” which I knew meant red.
Suddenly, I understood the essence of what she was telling me. After a few more questions and repetitions, I learned that I was to find or buy some red material to tear into strips to tie around all of my fruit trees: the banana and lime and papaya and mango. My lime tree was producing large fruit but my bananas were still in a period of gestation–about half the size they should grown to, and If I neglected to do this to protect them from the eclipse, all the fruit would fall off, or at the very least, my bananas and other fruit not ready to be picked would be stunted. As a last warning, she directed me to stay inside. Better to watch the eclipse on the television or on my computer.
Just last week, I had read that a solar eclipse was to occur on October 14 and I had mentioned to a friend that years ago, they tied red ribbons to the gate of the chayote field across from the graveyard and I noticed red strips tied around the necks of horses and cattle and dogs to deflect eclipse rays. I remembered a race down main street and had wondered why I hadn’t noticed any of this during more recent eclipses.
Yolanda then explained to me that any animal or tree or fruit in gestation needed to be protected. Women of childbearing age were told to wear red garments or even red underwear. During the last eclipse, a woman in town who was pregnant had neglected to wear red and her baby had been born with a bent nose. Yes, a race would probably be run but I was not able to understand who would run this race. Perhaps pregnant ladies? It seemed as though that could present further problems. What if someone fell? Would it mean a baby with a bent nose in spite of red underwear or a red sash?
Nonetheless, On October 14th, although I am past the age requiring red underwear, I will be careful not to look directly at the sun and just in case, or perhaps just to please Yolanda, I’ll dip into my Christmas decorations in search of my reel of red ribbon.
For other “Everybody Knows” stories about local legends, stories and gossip, see:
https://judydykstrabrown.com/2023/07/01/everybody-knows-v-the-day-that-death-came-to-town/
https://judydykstrabrown.com/2023/09/12/everybody-knows-iv-the-drunken-dog/
https://judydykstrabrown.com/2023/07/01/everybody-knows-iii-the-martyr-dog/
https://judydykstrabrown.com/2023/06/30/everybody-knows-ii/: The Caguama
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 