Verdure Part 3: Cactus!
Cactus, the strange prickly plant that seems to grow all over New Mexico… even in the cracks in the sidewalk… even in parking lots… are everywhere! In the state, we have many different kinds of cactus. With names like the Texas Rainbow Cactus to the Horse Crippler to the Fendler's Hedgehog, the list goes on and on. Aside from being an active part of the New Mexican ecosystem, cactuses have a great deal of benefits in this modern time.
Most cacti are edible. The cactus meat contains many essential vitamins and can even reduce certain symptoms of diseases. There is the legend of those who have been lost in the desert surviving on the water found inside cacti. In Italy, the prickly pear fruit is considered a delicacy and, while very messy to eat, is a soothing sweet and savory. Nopales are sections of the pads of the prickly Pear cactus and have been a food source to the native people of the area for a very long time.
Aside from being an all-around benefit, there are legends surrounding cacti. One legend speaks of two childhood friends who became lovers as they grew older. The daughter's father wanted her to marry an excellent hunter of the tribe and so the two lovers ran away into the hills. When the father found out, he sent men to chase the two. Thanks to the light of the full moon, the lovers saw the search party and asked Pachamama, The goddess of the land to hide them. The goddess heard there please and transform them into cacti, the lovers defended by spines!
Another legend speaks of the Cactus Cat in Southwestern stories. Described as being a Bobcat-like creature, the cat is covered in hair like thorns with an armored branching tail. It feeds on the juices of cactus cacti, slicing them at night. Once sliced, the Cactus Cat returns a few nights later to drink the now fermented juice. Haunting and hunting the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona, and the borders of Mexico, this cat, nocturnal in its activities, is pretty cool!
Yet another legend from the Aztecs states that their god of the sun had visited their priests and promised them that they would see an eagle, perched on a cactus, holding a snake. This would be a signal that they had found their home and they were meant to build a city here. One day a priest did in fact see an eagle, perched on a cactus, holding a snake. He ran back and told the others and soon they settled in the Valley Of Mexico along the swampy shores of Lake Texcoco. They named the island Tenochtitlan, the place of the prickly Pear cactus. This story and symbol by the way, became the coat of arms of Mexico as seen on the Mexican flag.
A benefit, something essential for survival, and a symbol of home… The cactus truly is amazing and way more than it seems. Like the pineapples of Polynesia for the apples of Johnny Appleseed, the cactus is the perfect personification of the southwest!
