Roque Tudesqui House - Historic Santa Fe Foundation

TAR'EA
Ruth Holmes,
Volunteer ditch cleaner
Tar' ea: Work,job, special
assignment, homework, responsibility for
section of the ditch marked off by the
Majordomo for a person to clean.
For almost 389 Aprils, the
Majordomo of Santa Fe'sAcequia Madre has
sent out the call to vicenos to clean the Mother
Ditch. For the last fifteen of those Aprils, I have
responded. It is my favorite day ofthe year.
With work gloves, shovel and rake, I join 385th: April 26, 1995
perhaps thirty other participants - workers,
yes, - but I say "participants" because I do feel we are enacting something;
staging an event that must be put into a collective memory bank, like the
unchanging Indian dances at the pueblos, or the singing of" ~mos Todos
a Belen" at Christmas.
I work in the ditch, removing leaves, beer bottles, other debris of
the previous year, and an epiphany occurs. Yes, we sweat, earn blisters,
curse the dog dung, but an epiphany, nonetheless. I am grateful for the
exercise, the special closeness to my neighbors, there at my elbow or at
the end of my rake, and for the beautiful spring day.And yes, it is always
a beautiful day, even though one year it snowed eight inches. God must
have made a mistake - surely not Majordomo Moya!
I reflect on the people who for those almost 400 years before me
have done this same labor. I feel their presence and encouragement. They
knew, in their time, that I would be here today. And I think, too, ofthe
people who will be working here 400 years from now, for exactly the
same reason. My confidence, my pleasure, my belief in the importance of
this participation, will call them forward, when their tar' ea comes.
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