'La Vibora de la Mar'
Roll your mouse over the photo below
to see the other side of this gourd.
Friends -
Last week I had an opportunity to attend a scientists
meeting at UCDavis, where I was a student in
the early 70's. It was a trip down memory lane
for me, and I spent most of the lunch break
wandering around areas that I frequented back
then. One of these cherished memories was a
summer job that I had in 1971 and 1972 - 'teaching'
in the preschool at the government owned migrant
camp in Dixon. Oh, man were those little portable
classrooms cookers in the heat of the summer!
But at least I was not in the tomato fields!
We spent a lot of time outside squirting the
kids down with a hose and playing games to keep
them occupied. One of those games was 'La Vibora
de la Mar' - 'The Sea Snake'. Because of it's
shape, this gourd reminded me of that game, which
is kind of like London Bridges Falling Down,
although the verse goes like this:
A La Vibora de la mar, de la mar
por aqui pueden pasar
los de adelante corren mucho
los de atras se quedaran
Una mexicana que fruta vendia
ciruela, chabacano, melon o sandia
verbena, verbena, jardin de matatena
Campanita de oro dejame pasar
con todos mis hijos menos el de atras,
tras, tras, tras, tras
Sera melon sera sandia
sera la vieja del otro dia
dia, dia, dia, dia
Lots of excited, wriggling, kids trying to get
through the arch before the verse ends and they
get trapped. Loosely speaking the first verse
is about kids escaping the snake that might come
around, the second verse serves to delay the
drama and is about a fruit vendor, with the third
verse the kids start rushing to get through the
arch because it is about to fall on some hapless
child! The wriggling excitement gets maximized
at this point! Then with the last verse, the
one that gets captured and has to decide if he
goes with the watermelon group or the canteloupe
group. It has just about as much relevance as
London Bridges but it sure gets exciting if you
are three, four or five years old! I loved those
kids.
So, have fun. That is the message for the day!
Margie Lopez Read
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