The Tree of Life

May 1, 2013

In the Beyond Borders inventory, we have always had a wide and wonderful selection of Trees of Life.  In its many renditions, it has been steadfastly popular with our customers.  It has a timeless elegance, fits into many decorative schemes, and is naturally appealing.  It’s easy to love.

What’s interesting about it is how Man has understood it through time.  As a symbol, its roots (pardon the pun!) go back to ancient cultures as diverse as the Egyptians, Sumerians and Mayans. All three believed it to be, in some variation, the source of creation. The Tree of Life, with its branches reaching skyward and its roots plunging deep into the ground was viewed as the link between Heaven and Earth; uniting the realm above with that below.

Fast-forward a few millennia to the formation of Judeo-Christian tradition, where in the Book of Genesis, it was growing in the Garden of Eden, guarded by two cherubim and a flaming sword. It bore the Fruit of Immortality, but God insured its inaccessibility to Man. In the Book of Revelations, the Tree of Life is described as, “growing on each side of the river bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

 

In more modern times, science has adopted the Tree of Life as a visual metaphor for genetic relationships and the interconnectedness of all living things. One 19^th century theorist described it poetically, writing, “As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous branch out and overtop many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the Great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the Earth and covers the surface with its ever-branching and beautiful ramifications.”

In all visions; mythological, philosophical, religious, or scientific, the symbol strikes at the soul and its expression is glorious.

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

Getting A Shipment from Haiti

April 24, 2013

 

People that know Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus might know us from retail and wholesale trade shows with our colorful booth full of sculpture displays and fresh flowers.  Or they might know us from our retail shop off of Highway 68 in Toro Park just outside of Salinas, CA. But a HUGE part of the work that goes on for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus takes place at our warehouse.  It too is just outside of Salinas, and though it is known to few, it is there that the receiving, storing, and shipping takes place.

Every month, the process is repeated:  An order is sent to Haiti, along with an average  amount of $30,000 in prepayment, which is distributed among the artists of the village.  About that same time, the completed products ordered the previous month are sent to California from Haiti. Just this past Tuesday, a shipment arrived at the warehouse – almost THREE TONS of folk art metal sculptures to be unpacked, sorted, inspected, and stored until they are sold and shipped to our customers here in the States and beyond.

Among our “warehouse warriors” there is excited anticipation as the delivery truck arrives.  Everyone falls into rhythm as crates are off-loaded and pried open. Pieces come wrapped, but things being what they are in Haiti, wrapping materials simply consist of whatever is available at the time. Sculptures are variously bundled in bits of wire – even barbed wire! – cording, electrical tape, masking tape, surgical tape, plastic strips, fabric strips, or some combination thereof.  In between sculptures, we’ve found newspapers, tissue, plastic sheeting and children’s homework. A surprise in every package – in more ways than one!

 

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

Ring those wedding bells!

April 17, 2013

 

Last week, we received the following text message from Evenson Thenor, who visited us in California a little over a year ago.  He said,  “I would like to marrying 24 September 2013. Please send me big orders for my celebration.”

How exciting! We’ve been having all kinds of fun speculating about what his bride-to-be looks like, the favorite guess being that she was the original model for his sculpture called, “Angel Dance.”

 

 

 

Haitian wedding traditions are colorful and festive, with an emphasis on music, dance, and community.  As you might expect, invitations are spread by word of mouth throughout the church and community of the bridal couple.  The bride and groom process together in the company of her bridesmaids to the church, which is festooned with colorful sheets and curtains.  The couple takes their place in front of the altar, where they are seated, facing each other throughout the ceremony. Lasting for up to 3 hours, the service typically includes several choral selections performed by the choir as well as bible readings by the pastor or priest, and sometimes poetry readings by a friend or family member. The marriage license is also signed at this time. The end of the ceremony is signaled by the wedding party performing an elaborate dance as they exit the church.

The reception, which lasts most of the rest of the day, includes a great deal of feasting and merry-making.  Gifts are often given, but cash gifts are considered to be in poor taste.  The bridal couple eats their wedding cake in their home a few days after the wedding. Of course, Evenson and his bride will put their own signature on their wedding; observing some traditions and perhaps creating one or two of their own.   However they choose to celebrate, it will be a special day, indeed.

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

 

Erzulie Dantor – The Fierce Mother

April 10, 2013

Thinking about Mother’s Day just around the corner, it seems fitting to recall the Haitian spirit of the “Fierce Mother,” Erzulie Dantor.  She is characterized as hard-working, independent, aggressive, wild and strong.  She is recognized as the great protector of children, and will go to any lengths to keep them from harm. Like any mother, she bears the pain of her children’s sorrow but  also radiates the joy of their successes. Erzulie Dantor is often depicted by the image of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, an icon reportedly painted by St. Luke on a cedar table thought to have belonged to the Holy Family that somehow ended up in a monastary in Poland. Curiously, it was Polish Catholic soldiers fighting on both sides of the Haitian Revolution that brought the image to the nacient island nation, where it was quickly embraced and absorbed into voodoo culture.

Erzulie Dantor’s symbol, the veve, is drawn onto temple floors during religious ceremonies to summon her presence.  Meda Ulyssee has recreated that symbol in recycled metal.  Of course, he had all of the cultural background to communicate its meaning with hammer and chisel, but we  had to learn the story before we could fully appreciate the significance he struck into every detail. What we called simply “Meda’s Heart”  is actually much more.  On a pure and elemental level, it is a beautiful representation of the strength of a mother’s love.

 

 

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

Fair Trade – Good for Everyone

April 4, 2013

Since 2007, Beyond Borders has been a member of the Fair Trade Federation, at that time becoming an officially recognized participant in the global fair trade movement. We have always been committed to building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty. Membership has put a stamp on those efforts. In keeping with fair trade practices, our purchasing and production choices are made with concern for the well-being of people and the environment. We work to create opportunity for so that our craftsmen and artisans may have viable economic options to meet their own needs. We engage in trading practices that honor the value of labor and dignity of all people.

Fair Trade Federation members are required to demonstrate compliance with the Nine Principles of Membership.  We are evaluated on these principles not just once to get in the door, but every single year.  The Nine Principles are as follows:

*Creating Opportunities for Economically and Socially Marginalized Producers

*Developing Transparent and Accountable Relationships

*Build Capacity

*Promote Fair Trade

*Pay promptly and fairly

*Support safe and empowering working conditions

*Ensure the rights of children

*Cultivate environmentally stewardship

*Respect cultural identity

 

There is actually a 34 page down-loadable pdf.document on the Fair Trade Federation website  which outlines very specifically The Fair Trade Federation Code of Practice. (View it here: http://www.fairtradefederation.org/fair-trade-federation-code-of-practice/ ) This is a REALLY BIG DEAL and we take our responsibilities of membership very seriously, going above and beyond the minimums required.  For example, we pay  100% for every order up front – not  simply for the cost  of materials with the rest payable on delivery. Beyond Borders sends an average of $30,000 for orders to our artists in Haiti with completed goods shipped to us in return on a monthly basis. The impact of this type of trade in the lives of the artists is enormous.   Yinder Decembre, a talented sculptor  of  beautiful sun-faced children puts it this way, “These children represent the sun shining on the future.  If I can sell my work, I can  build my house and take care of my brothers and sisters.  I have faith that everything will be okay.”

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

 

 

Easter in Haiti

March 25, 2013

Easter week is a time of great celebration in Haiti and, as in so many other aspects of Haitian life; it is a combination of Catholic and Voodoo tradition.  Along with personal reflection and attending worship services focused on the last days of Christ on earth, Haitian Easter observances also include processions in which rara bands play a central role.  During the Lenten period, and continuing through Holy Week, these processions are loosely organized assemblies of musicians playing homemade drums, trumpets, maracas, bells, and whistles.  Dancers and singers perform as they follow along, clad in flamboyant, free-wheeling costumes.  These processions often grow and diminish during their course, and may carry political nuance as well as religious significance. Click here for a video portrayal of both Catholic observance and rara performance. http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGdW4LZFBRmQ8AVtul87UF?p=easter%20celebration%20in%20haiti&fr=ush-mailn&fr2=sfp

Specialty foods for  Haitian Easter include cooked chicken, beets, rice, and black beans such as those prepared following the recipe below.   As they say in Haitian Creole, “Bonn fet Pak!”  (Happy Easter!)

HAITIAN EASTER BLACK BEANS:

2 cups dried black beans, picked through, rinsed, and soaked overnight

4 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

5 cloves minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1-4 oz. jar pimentos, drained and chopped

1/2 c. cider vinegar

1/2 c. vegetable oil

Drain soaked beans and add them to 4 c. water in a large saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes. Add onions, green pepper, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, thyme and simmer the ingredients 1 hour longer, checking periodically and adding more water as necessary. Stir in vinegar, pimentos, and oil and remove bay leaves. Heat through and serve.

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus

 

Public Transportation, Haitian-Style

March 22, 2013

The bright, wildly painted tap-tap buses that fill the roads of Port-au-Prince are a sure bet to be in any photographic record of a trip to Haiti.  They are the basic mode of transportation for the populace, a form of organized chaos that moves people from Point A to Point B.

As Amy Wilenz describes it in her book, Farewell Fred Voodoo, “Being in a tap-tap is like being in an open human sardine can.  As many people as possible are stuffed inside to make the ride more economically profitable; like the Tokyo subway or a bus in New York at rush hour, but twice as crowded.  The seats, should you get one, are not exactly cushioned.  And then, of course, it’s very hot in Haiti.  And then, of course, the shock absorbers are not so good.  And then, of course, the exhaust from the engine comes right back into the passenger area, making everyone slightly nauseated.  Also, there is your neighbor on one side who is someone whose generous lap extends pretty much onto yours, and there’s her teenaged daughter who’s sitting on her lap and yours, and there’s an old-fashioned gentleman on the other side trying without success not to make any body contact.  And then, of course, there are the animals tied to the vehicle’s sides, usually goats and chickens.  Sometimes on top, there are several charcoal ladies with their giant silvery-gray bags of charcoal pushing down on the roof.  And then of course, there are the little street boys who attach themselves to the grillwork at the back and cut off any breeze there might be, should the tap-tap actually move.”  At best, she claims, tap-taps motor through the traffic of Port-au-Prince, “at the pace of sludge.

Jean Eugene Remy re-creates the quirky utility of tap-tap in steel.  Using bits of wire, he embellishes the wheels and gives character and dimension to his finished product.  In his version, the ride becomes a pleasure.

“Brilliant!”

March 18, 2013

 

 

The184^th Philadelphia Flower and Garden Show was as always, a sensational event, with horticultural splendors and retail opportunity in great abundance. Living up to its theme “Brilliant” the show was a tribute to the grace and beauty of traditional English gardens. Click here for a recap on their official website: http://theflowershow.com/

And Beyond Borders was there! The enthusiasm of the shoppers we encountered and their appreciation for hand-crafted original art reminded us how fortunate we are to represent such talented craftsmen and help them provide for their families through fair trade.

Shelove Vilsant’s nativitie’s and Gary Pierre’s sunfaces were great hits, among many others.  Thank you Philly, for your support – See you next year!

 

 

Mermaid Metamorphosis

March 7, 2013

Ever wonder how the form of the mermaid – half fish and half woman – came to be?  Known in Haiti and other parts of the world as “La Sirene,” the original Sirens had at one time been part bird and part woman.  How and why did the change take place?

The story of La Sirene begins, as so many stories do, in Ancient Greece. As Homer tells it, Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. One day, in the blossom of her youth; lovely, virginal and trim-ankled, (I did not make that up.  He specifically described her as “trim-ankled.”) Persephone was out in a meadow picking flowers, blissfully unaware of the ill-intended approach of Hades. Enraptured by her beauty, the Lord of the Underworld abducted her and spirited her off to his kingdom, leaving not a trace. Utterly distraught, Demeter searched far and wide for her darling daughter and summoned Persephone’s handmaidens, The Sirens, to go looking for her.  In frantic desperation, she and gave them wings and bird bottoms to speed them along in their search. (Either that, or she punished them for not finding her by giving them bird wings and bottoms. There exists a bit of discrepancy on that point.)  Persephone did eventually turn up – no thanks to The Sirens – who, bird bodies and all, eventually settled into life on a rocky island where they amused themselves by singing beautifully and luring sailors to their deaths.

Now here is where it gets a bit muddled:  According to one on-line source, time went by and the Queen of the Olympians, Hera, proposed a singing competition between The Sirens and The Muses. The Muses won, so they plucked the feathers off The Sirens to make crowns for themselves, thus signifying their victory for all time.  The Sirens resourcefully replaced their feathers with the tails and scales of fishes and continued their seductive work per usual, with the world’s second-most beautiful voices.  Another story goes that a hungry sea-monster, possibly the Krakken, devoured the bird halves of The Sirens and again, they cleverly replaced their missing halves with corresponding fish parts.

Still a third version says that The Sirens had been cursed would die if a ship passed by them that failed to stop to listen to their singing.  When the adventurer, Odysseus, set out on his voyage, he avoided The Siren’s treachery by putting wax in the ears of his crew and having them bind him to the masthead so that he could hear their song and yet be unable to stop the ship. Thereby, the curse of The Sirens was broken and they fell into the sea, whereupon they didn’t die after all, but metamorphosed into the half fish/half women that we associate with mermaids today. Since all of this is fiction anyway, for my money what “really” happened is kind of a moot point.  All that matters to me is a good story – and here, we have three!

Nightcrawlers in Grandma’s Fridge

February 28, 2013

 

When I was a kid, I used to love to go fishing.  My grandparents lived up in northwest Iowa, a block and a half from one of five of Iowa’s “Great Lakes” and my family would go up and visit every summer.  The centerpiece of each of those summer memories is Grandpa and my brother and I going out in Grandpa’s boat to fish.

But it wasn’t just the fishing.  It was getting ready to fish.  We’d have spent a good portion of the night before going out with flashlights in the dark and digging into the soft, loamy soil for nightcrawlers.  Seems like there was a reliably good spot underneath a sprawling maple tree near the fence on the side yard where they could be found in good quantity; fat and squirming and key to a glorious catch in the morning. We’d put them in Styrofoam cups and punch holes in the lids so the worms could breathe and stick them in Grandma’s refrigerator.  Then off to bed, dreaming dreams of landing a Big One.

Loaded with bamboo poles, fresh nightcrawlers, a well-fortified tackle box, a thermos full of Kool-Aide, and oodles of confidence we would set out. It was always an early go because Grandpa knew, as all great sportsmen did, that the fish don’t bite much when the sun gets high and the water gets too warm.  We’d buckle into our sturdy orange life vests, find our places in the boat and motor over to the far side of the lake where the water was deep and the trees gave good shade well into mid-morning.  It was there that we would bait our hooks, drop our lines……and wait.

At this point, memory fades a bit.  I suppose there were squabbles between my brother and I over which side of the boat was the lucky side and who had the best/most/biggest fish.  I suppose there were days when there was nothing to squabble about because we didn’t catch anything at all.  But I do know that when they were hitting, it was sheer delight to pull up the line and watch the silvery fish break to the surface.  “How big is it?  What kind is it?  Do you think it’s the best yet?” “Can we cast out for one more?” And as our pail swirled with our catch of perch and sunfish and crappies, we would eagerly anticipate the feast at dinner that night.

Truth be told, I don’t know how many hours it took Grandpa to clean those fish, or Grandma to filet and fry them.  And I probably don’t want to know.  But the patience they forbore, their toil, their tolerance of holes in the yard and creepy-crawlies in the fridge assured my grandparents’ places in heaven.

I still love to fish.  But what I love most is the memories I have of fishing and those yet to be made.

 

Contributed by Linda for Beyond Borders/It’s Cactus