With my broken foot, I can't ride my horse every day. We bought this cute little mobility scooter off Craigslist so I can tool around and play tourist. I wanted to "walk" the Turquoise Trail. You follow the blue painted line for this walking tour to see all the sites.
This was my favorite stop...
One of the stops on the Turquoise Trail.. El Tiradito - also known as the Wishing Shrine or the "Throwaway". Back in the 1880s, when the Barrio Viejo (Old Neighborhood) was first getting started, there was a ranch hand named Juan Oliveras. Juan fell in love with his wife's mother. (I cringe at this entire idea) Juan's father in law caught them in bed together and stabbed Juan to death.
Because Juan was an adulterer, he was not allowed to be buried in the Catholic cemetery. Instead, his body was thrown away. So, his lover and mother in law started this shrine - the only Catholic shrine in the entire United States dedicated to a sinner and not a saint. His father in law was not charged because he was considered the victim and well within his rights to kill his son-in-law.
About a month later, the father in law was out herding his sheep - after killing his wife's lover - and was set upon by Apaches. The Apaches scalped him and tied him to a Saguaro cactus naked and left him there to die. He was found on the wagon trail entering Tucson, dead and still tied to the cactus.
The mother-in-law - now a widow and without her lover - hung herself in despair. Juan's widow who was pregnant, tied the rope of the property's well around her neck and jumped into the well, snapping her neck.
Well, this story is very Shakespearean, with all the players dead at the end of the story.
The shrine sits near the site where Juan's body is buried. Legend has it that if you light a candle and make a wish, if the candle stays lit from sundown until sunrise, your wish will be granted - as long as you have a forgiving heart.
We didn't have any matches, so we were unable to light a candle and make a wish, but it was also pretty windy, so I am not sure if the candle would have stayed lit - although there was one candle burning when we stopped here to check it out.
Another thing I enjoy about these walking tours is to see and learn about different architectural features. These canales are drain pipes. They drain the water from the flat roof of this century old adobe house and because they extend away from the wall, they keep the water away from the walls and foundation. The canales are decorated. They are lovely and a fabulous invention.
We also saw many murals, but this one is my favorite as it has a lot of Mexican symbols - including the eagle grasping a snake sitting on a cactus. The Mexican eagle grasping a snake in its beak and cactus in its talons portrays an ancient Aztec myth.
The myth-story tells that the Mexica tribe, originally from Aztlan (mythic place, and why people incorrectly named them “Aztecs”) were looking for the promised land. The supreme god of the Mexica tribe was Huitzilopochtli, and told them to travel south and establish a big city.
In order to know when they reached the promised land their god Huitzilopochtli would signal them by placing an eagle devouring a snake on top of a prickly pear.
According to the myth-story they found the sign on what today is Mexico City, were they founded Tenochtitlan and created the Mexica Empire that lasted till the Spaniards invaded and conquered Mexico.
Each individual element had meaningful elements for the Mexica tribe:
- Eagle: Strength and freedom, also related with the sun, wind and fire. for the mexicas, the eagle was deeply linked to Huitzilopochtli.
- Snake: Knowledge, and sacred animal
- Prickly pear: Symbolizes the world, the universe, and life. A thorny path that we all should take with pain and suffering to reach the flower and fruit of happiness.
Having both the eagle and the snake together symbolizes the Quetzalcoatl god.
Meanwhile the snow storm in Tennessee means that the medical device that is supposed to help my broken bone heal is being held up. This means we will be staying in Tucson and Catalina State Park a little longer. We need to wait for the device to be delivered before we move on.
No comments:
Post a Comment