When a Woman Rises

by Christine Eber

  I was wrong. Bee bites can kill, even a big animal. I felt so sorry for my husband. He depended on his mule to collect firewood and carry bananas and other things to market. Now he’d have to carry them on his back. “Oh, no!” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “No, it’s worse. Not only the mule is dead. The bees killed our neighbor’s pig too!”

  Victorio turned his anguished face in the direction of our neighbors’ patio. A wave of dread washed over me as I looked across the field. In my mind I could see little Ana Cristina, our neighbor’s daughter, running home from school looking forward to seeing her pig and then finding him dead.

  I remember when her parents bought the pig for her to take care of. For a couple years, she had been fattening it up and was planning to sell it soon to buy her school supplies. One day when I complimented her on her pig—she kept him very clean—she told me how much she loved him. She said she didn’t want to sell him, because he had become like a companion, but she needed the money.

  I sent Verónica to see the pig. When she returned she was crying and said, “He looks even worse than the mule. His whole body is covered with swollen bites. The poor creature’s eyes and mouth are still open, and there are even bites in his mouth. How could God let this happen, Mother?”

  I didn’t have an answer for Verónica. I never did when these kinds of things happened. Finally we sat down beside Victorio who hadn’t left the mule’s side. I prayed a silent prayer for this poor creature who had suffered so greatly before he died.

  Victorio had to wait until our neighbors returned from San Cristóbal to explain to them what had happened. He told them how their pig died and that he would pay them what the pig was worth. He offered to help them bury their pig and afterward the neighbor and his sons took pity on Victorio and helped him bury our mule. When Victorio got home that evening, he was the saddest I’d seen him since our little son died. I didn’t have the heart to ask him about Ana Cristina.

  We never found out how the bees escaped from the box. For about a week, Victorio stayed at home and didn’t work in the fields or go to meetings. More than once that week when I went outside in the night to urinate, I saw light in the kitchen and Victorio kneeling before a row of candles. I paused and heard him praying in a low voice, like Lucia did when she prayed. I caught a few of his words and understood that he was asking God to protect us against envy.

  Once, I felt a presence beside me and realized that Verónica had come outside too. She whispered, “What is father praying about?” She didn’t want to believe my answer, to accept that people would envy us, but then I reminded her that her father is a Zapatista leader and that alone is enough to make people resent him.

  For a couple days, we took a break from working on Lucia’s story. We needed time to recover from the day of sadness. I finished weaving a blouse to sell at the co-op store while Verónica began a new one for herself.

  She wanted to embroider hearts on the blouse. She had seen other girls put hearts in place of the true design around the yoke and wanted to try it herself. I liked how it looked and told her to keep going with it.

  “Are you ready to hear about Lucia’s prayer for the co-op store?”

  It was late in the afternoon of the second day after our mule died. We were sitting in the kitchen where Verónica was working and all at once I stood up, put my hands on my hips and stood there, as if asking Verónica why she didn’t have her tape recorder ready! I played with her sometimes, telling her I wanted to talk when she least expected it. She was surprised that I was ready to talk again, but a big smile came over her face, and she quickly laid her blouse on the back of the chair. It didn’t take long before she returned with the recorder and notebook.

  “Ready, Mother!” she announced. “Are you going to speak some of the prayer into the recorder? You know I want to hear Lucia’s words.”

  “We’ll see how I feel when we get there,” I said. “First I need to talk about how we got ready for the prayer.”

  The evening of the prayer—it was a summer night about twenty years ago—we met Lucia and the other Believers in the co-op store in Lokan. When your father and I arrived, most of our compañeros were already there standing beside a table organizing all the things we needed for the prayer.

  Earlier we had taken a collection among the store committee members to buy the candles, sodas, and pox that Lucia requested for the prayer. The candles cost a lot! I think the big white ones were five hundred pesos at that time.

  Edgar and Javier, two of the store committee members, had laid out, on the floor, all the candles that Lucia had asked for in three groups, for each of the three prayers that she would pray. She said she needed thirteen white candles for each prayer and some orange candles too, but I can’t remember how many. Prayers to counteract envy always require orange candles.

  Of course we also had incense, pox, and sodas. Lucia only used the pox to spray on the candles to blind the eyes of the evil ones.

  Once we were together and had everything we needed for the prayers, we left for the lum where Lucia would pray twice, once in the Chapel of Holy Cross on the hill near the cemetery, and once in the main church in the center of town. We carried pitch pine torches to light the way because the store committee had set midnight as the time to start the first prayer. Lucia had told us that prayers against envy have to be done after midnight to make them work.

  When we got to the lum about an hour later, we climbed straight up the hill to the Chapel of Holy Cross where Lucia prayed first. She knelt in front of the chapel with Edgar and Javier on either side of her, and together they prayed a few words, first to the crosses in front of the church and then to the closed door.

  They said, “Through the sign of the Holy Cross, free us from our enemy, my Lord, our God. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

  Then Lucia opened the door and entered the chapel. We followed behind. The ancestors say that one can pray for both good and evil in the Chapel of Holy Cross. I don’t know why Holy Cross allows someone to pray for bad things to happen, but that’s what I’ve heard.

  Anyway, Lucia needed to appeal to Holy Cross to use only its good power to counteract the envy we faced.

  The church was cold inside, and it had very few decorations. I was glad that Lucia got down to business quickly so we could go to the church in town where there are many statues of the saints wearing beautiful woven blouses. I always feel closer to God there.

  Once everyone was inside, Lucia directed Edgar and Javier where to place the candles on the floor. They started by placing thirteen white candles in the back row. Then in the middle row they put two bottles of Pepsi on the ends and a Pepsi bottle of pox and a shot glass in the middle. In the front row the men placed orange and white candles, one white, one orange, then one white, then two orange, and on and on like that.

  Edgar and Javier knelt on each side of Lucia and the rest of us knelt behind them. Lucia prayed for a minute and then directed Edgar to light the candles. He started with the white ones in the back. After the candles were lit, the three pounded their chests and bowed their faces on the floor all the while saying, “Through my fault, through my fault, through my fault.” Then Lucia began her prayer. As was her custom, she rested the left side of her face on her hand and braced her left elbow with her right hand. I think it helped her keep kneeling for a long time.

  “Now I’m going to read the words of Lucia’s prayer. You didn’t know that it’s written down, did you?”

  Verónica looked astonished. Then she said, “But why would Lucia write down her prayer?”

  “She didn’t write it. Another person did. A few weeks after she prayed for the store, someone came here, an anthropologist. I don’t remember his name. He had learned our language and wanted to know about our prayers too. He had heard that Lucia knew how to pray, and he went to see her to talk with her. She agreed to say a sample prayer for him, and since the store prayer was still in her heart she prayed that. He recorded Lucia in
his tape recorder, just like you’re doing.

  “About a month later, he returned with the prayer typed out on many pieces of paper and gave them to Lucia. Lucia didn’t need it because it was in her heart, so she gave it to me to keep for the store committee, a piece of our store’s history. Bring me the box under my bed. I’m sure the prayer is there.”

  Verónica didn’t waste any time bringing the box to me.

  “Here, Mother, do you know where the prayer is?”

  “Yes, it’s easy to find because I put it inside a piece of plastic to keep it safe.”

  When I found the pages of the prayer wrapped in plastic, I realized that it would take a long time to read. But I had promised Verónica to let her hear Lucia’s words. I took a long drink of water and prepared myself. Then I began, using the same tone of voice and pace that Lucia used. My words floated away on the air as soon as they left my mouth. When one group of words left, another followed quickly behind.

  “Merciful God, Jesus Christ, Lord,

  Flowery Father, Father Holy Cross, Holy Virgin María,

  I take this opportunity to enter beneath your feet,

  I take this opportunity to enter beneath your hands,

  along with your children, Lord,

  whom you brought to light, whom you begot.

  “Although my words aren’t much, Lord,

  nothing more than a word or two,

  I am here with your children,

  whom you brought to light,

  whom you begot,

  before your flowery body,

  before your flowery face,

  merciful Holy Jesus Christ,

  Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Father God.

  “That’s why, Lord, it’s been a while,

  it’s been a good while,

  that some of your other children

  have another way of talking,

  have another way of thinking,

  those that are gathered together to do bad.

  “That’s why, now, Lord,

  the envy, the quarreling,

  and also the anger in their hearts,

  don’t let it be fulfilled, Lord,

  the pleas of the bad ones,

  the rage in their hearts,

  don’t let it be fulfilled, Lord.

  before your flowery face, Lord.

  “That’s why we’ve come on our knees,

  and with our face to the soil.

  We have brought our candles and our flowers,

  that there be a change for our well-being, Lord,

  for the well-being of our flesh,

  for the well-being of our bodies, Lord,

  Saint Jose, the Holy Virgin María

  who is in the Center of the Holy Sky,

  before her flowery body,

  before her flowery face.

  “That’s why, please intervene, Lord,

  throw the bad words to the side,

  let all the bad words be discarded,

  all the problems,

  all the envy and sadness,

  let it be erased now,

  from your presence,

  from before your flowery body,

  from before your flowery face.

  “The envy can’t continue, Lord,

  before your flowery face,

  your flowery countenance, Lord,

  Holy Sindico, Holy Jesus Christ.

  That’s why, Lord, we ask that

  everything be the opposite of what it is.

  “Let them go far away, Lord,

  your children that you gave birth to,

  that you begot, that you raised,

  who want to do bad.

  Don’t let their hearts be like this forever,

  always bad, always with anger,

  with envy in their minds,

  and in their hearts.

  They always say about us,

  ‘We’ll see if they make a lot of money.’

  “Please Lord, stand up and send your power.

  Don’t let them be provoked to do bad,

  don’t let them be deceived,

  don’t let them be idiots in their hearts,

  or be distracted by something bad, Lord.

  Don’t let the wickedness in their mouths find a place to go.

  Let their bad words be frozen in the wind,

  let the wind take their words far away.

  “Make the wind and the clouds walk on other paths,

  that they don’t find your children that you gave birth to,

  that you begot,

  that are here before your flowery face,

  before your flowery countenance,

  Flowery God, merciful Lord.

  “Let them have their things, Lord, because for them

  it’s not possible to live without their earnings.

  And also they can’t work for the mestizos any longer,

  because that way they can’t buy the things they need.

  They can’t obtain the money to buy their corn,

  the money to buy their clothes,

  the money to buy their salt.

  “All the wickedness that brings death, Lord,

  don’t let it be placed on their path,

  don’t let them step on the wickedness.

  Don’t let anything bad happen to them,

  don’t let them fall ill, or death come to them, Lord.

  “Before your flowery Earth, please Lord,

  fill the Earth with holy light,

  let it always be clean,

  before your flowery face,

  before your flowery countenance, Lord.

  “Holy Merciful Jesus Christ, Lord,

  and all the holy beings,

  let their eyes be blinded,

  let their faces be blinded,

  the bad ones, so they can’t see what’s happening,

  and also blind the eyes of the Demon who drives evil.

  “Please, Lord, cover their mouths,

  and cover their lips,

  so they can’t go through

  with what they are thinking about,

  those who have envy and anger,

  in their minds and in their hearts.

  Don’t let the words from their lips have more power,

  Tell them the truth and show them clearly that they can’t do

  what they’re doing, Lord.

  “That’s why we bring candles so you have more power,

  in your body, in your flesh, Lord, Holy Flowery God.

  Holy Flowery Jesus Christ, Father Apostle, Father Holy Cross,

  Father Saint Jose, and Holy Virgin María.

  Now, I ask that you unite

  together with the owner of the skies,

  together with the owner of the Earth,

  together with the owner of the Holy Hills,

  together with the owner of the Holy Mountain Peaks,

  stand up and send your power,

  stand together with the Sky and the Earth,

  do me the favor of coming now.

  “That’s why they have come here enduring hunger,

  these children that you brought to light, that you begot.

  They are passing to you their flower,

  they are passing to you their candles.

  “Holy Mother María, who is in the Holy Sky,

  bless my humble words,

  and also my stories and my histories.

  Get up and send your power,

  stand up and send your power

  over your children,

  and all who are gathered here,

  beneath your feet, and beneath your hands.

  “Forgive us, from the littliest one to the biggest one,

  flowery God, flowery Jesus Christ.

  Let them never suffer strange dreams,

  or some sadness in their hearts.

  That’s why I’m asking with my whole heart

  for their well-being, because you are Lord.

  “Now, Lord, I come bowing my body,
r />   which has to end, which will decay.

  I have to die, Holy Merciful Jesus Christ, Lord.

  Forgive my flesh, my body,

  that which is here seated beneath your feet,

  and beneath your hands, Holy God,

  that which is here kneeling under your hands

  and under your feet,

  so I can come closer to thee.

  “May you accept the foul odor of my body before you,

  and also that of your children whom you gave to light,

  to your children whom you begot,

  who are here gathered before your holy presence,

  beneath your feet and beneath your hands,

  Holy Flowery God, Flowery Holy Ladino.

  “Father who is in the sky,

  please stand up and send your power,

  together with the Holy Sky and Holy Earth,

  Holy Jesus Christ, Holy Sindico, Holy Virgin Mary,

  and also, you owners of the Holy Hills

  and owners of the Holy Earth

  and owners of the Holy Mountain Peaks.

  “Receive from me all that I bring,

  beneath your feet, beneath your hands, Lord.

  Merciful Holy Judge, Holy Virgin María

  who is in the Holy Sky,

  stand up and send your power.

  “This is all that I want to say.

  Forgive me as far as I could ask you a favor,

  as far as I could worship you.”

  I felt very tired after I finished reading Lucia’s prayer, but the prayer seemed to give Verónica energy, and she wanted to talk about it.

  “Mother, listening to you read Lucia’s prayer was like you were praying for real, as if Lucia’s words still have power. You know I’ve never thought much about traditional prayers until you started to talk about Lucia. I have so many questions. But first, tell me, why would Lucia ask God to forgive the foul odor of her body and the co-op store members’ bodies? What’s so wrong with our bodies?”

  I was surprised by Verónica’s question. She didn’t seem to have some basic information that I thought she had learned. That’s what happens when we follow different ways, and we don’t always learn everything we need to know about each of them.