Happy May Day on Monday. Throughout their early childhoods, my children would gather baskets of flowers on the first of May, hang them on the doorknobs of our neighbors, ring the door bells, and run away.
Flowers, wreaths and may-poles on May Day have their roots in the Celtic holiday of Beltane. The early Catholic Church dedicated it to St. Joseph, patron saint of workers. More recently, May Day has been assimilated as an international socialist workers’ holiday, complete with parades and demonstrations.
Now the pro-illegal immigration contingent is calling for a May 1st work stoppage and economic boycott to illustrate the economic power wielded by illegal immigrants. Some companies, such as Earthbound in San Juan Bautista, are shutting down for the day in sympathy and solidarity.
I hate shopping, but I will make a point of buying something on Monday, May 1. And I won’t be buying any Earthbound products, not on Monday, and not at all till they mend their wicked ways. The boycott knife cuts two ways.
My husband and I walked downtown on Sunday to enjoy dinner at Chips and Salsa. I admit, I was as horrified as anyone when they began to paint the outside of Old City Hall pink. But the city, which retains ownership of the building, dissuaded them.
Once one gets past the incongruity of the outside, the decor inside is fun, even charming. There is a fountain, splashing gently. The ambiance is that of a Mexican vacation – not Tijuana, more like Cancun. The waiter gave us tri-color chips and two kinds of salsa to snack on with our margaritas.
We can recommend the red snapper and the chile rellenos. Bon appetit!
I can certainly understand why people would nominate Jeremy Ailes and Florence Trimble as names for the school being built to replace Las Animas School. Either name would be fine… but my vote at present would be for Las Animas School.
Why? Because the city of Gilroy was originally founded at the intersection of two land grant ranchos: Las Animas to the north and San Ysidro to the southeast. I believe we should continue to remember our heritage by maintaining the name Las Animas for the next school, and we should resurrect the name San Ysidro for the one after.
We should always remember that Spain held California for 53 years, Mexico for 24, and the United States for 160 so far. There are a lot of half truths masquerading as history these days, and it is well to study the topic.
For example, there was no unified nation or culture spanning the Americas prior to the advent of the Europeans: no Anahuac. And the cultures that existed in the Americas were not all peaceful, nor advanced. They had at best Neolithic in technology.
In Mexico the civilizations of the Olmec (1300-400 BC), the Toltec (900 AD), the Maya (500-1200 AD), and the Aztec (1300-1500 AD) succeeded each other. The Inca (1200-1535 AD) were in Peru.
In what is now the United States and Canada, the civilization of the Mound Builders (100 BC) has left its ruins to puzzle archeologists. But most of the peoples whose ancestors crossed the land bridge from Asia 15,000 years ago were broken into small tribes, often at war with their neighbors.
As for accomplishments: the Olmec made some cool stone heads, the Maya built pyramids and invented the numeral 0, the Aztecs created a great calendar. They all warred, conquered their neighbors, and institutionalized slavery and human sacrifice. None of them used the wheel.
Compare those dates to these. In Eurasia, in 1300 AD, Marco Polo traveled to China; in 1215 AD, King John signed the Magna Carta; in 900 AD, the Byzantine Empire was at its height; the Arabs invented algebra by 750 AD; the Roman Empire ruled the known world from 250 BC to 300 AD; the Greeks invented geometry, history, philosophy, drama and democracy by 650 BC; and the Egyptians Middle period had developed agriculture, ship building, government, commerce, law, art, writing, and mathematics before 2000 BC.
If that seems amazing, consider China. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
