One of my favorite books took place in New Mexico — Bless Me, Ultima
, by Rudolfo Anaya. Ultima is an old wise woman, a curandera, with magical secrets and an owl for a familiar.
One of the things that intrigues me about this book is the juxtaposition of Catholicism and the old beliefs that remain an important part of the culture. That’s where the fishes come in. The Golden Carp is a symbol of the old beliefs, this large, wise and beautiful fish.
So, of course that ties me into Halloween, because I wanted to be The Incredible Mr. Limpet in honor of Don Knotts. I’ve been searching the Internet and costume shops around town, trying to find a fish costume for Tuesday. If you search the online costume stores for “fish,” pretty much all you get is slutty costumes that feature a pair of black fishnet stockings. And the closest thing I found in town was a rubber fish head with an elastic band used to strap the fish to your nose. Not quite the look I was going for.
Anyway, I decided it would be much easier to dress up as Henry Limpet before he turns into the fish, so I bought some round glasses, which strangely make me look like an owl. See how I did that? Full circle, baby.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, October 29th, 2006 at 6:43 pm and is filed under US and Canada, losing my religion, magical realism.
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