Metaphorical flora

This bilingual tale begins far from the Land of Enchantment and hollyhocks aren’t mentioned until late in the tale.

King Herod is infuriated that Jesus also is called “king” and doesn’t show up before him as demanded. So Herod orders the death of all the children of Bethlehem. An angel named Sueño tells Jesus, Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt.

	“How Hollyhocks Came to New Mexico” by Rudolfo Anaya, illustrations by Nicolás Otero, Spanish translation by Nasario García Rio Grande Books, $24.95, 43 pp.

Because Egypt is so far, the angel comes to their rescue, offering them a ride on his back. Trouble is Sueño gets lost and they all end up in New Mexico, parts of which apparently resemble the Holy Land. Sueño later blames the misdirected flight on his nearsightedness.

The Holy Family find their way to some of the Pueblo people. Joseph helps the men cut trees for doors and roofs. Jesus helps the boys carry adobe bricks to workers building houses. Mary grinds blue-corn kernels in a metate for unleavened bread.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph head north to a large pueblo where they witness dances. They notice the ladders for access to second stories of pueblo homes and to cave dwellings.

The Holy Family doesn’t plan to remain in New Mexico forever. Jesus wonders if Sueño needs a ladder to climb down to retrieve them and take them back home. So Joseph cuts trees for the ladder. Before they depart up the ladder with the now bespectacled Sueño, Joseph plants his walking staff in the ground. Miraculously, hollyhocks make their appearance in the next growing season exactly where the staff is. The flower has since spread statewide.

In Spanish, hollyhocks are called “varas de San José” or staffs of St. Joseph.

Anaya says the tale was inspired by the surprise appearance of hollyhocks in the garden of his Albuquerque home.