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Querencia the Soul is Ensouled:
The Sense of Place, Scent of Place, Scent of History and the Taste of Place
Estevan Arellano. January 20, 2007.
Excerpt from Conference Program:
"Querencia, the love of place, the soul of place is experienced by us differently; from the gut, from the heart, in the light, its texture, its noises or lack thereof. It's a Sense of Place. That silence which is so profound, so dark, yet so light, as it brushes against the body and reality doesn't sink in until somewhat later, querencia is also an acquired taste. It's not always great to wake up to a cold smell of winter after the first storm of the year, the first one, the uprepared for, but the ruggedness of the moment sows the seeds of querencia. Or the burning July sun, no rain in sight, the acequia has water for one more week, the murmurs reverberate throughout the acequias, post office, and the garden might not survive. Under an old chamiso is a mangy older dog, older than dirt, saying to his human companion, 'it's fregón here is the shade, vato,' that is part of querencia and what bakes the landscape into the human soul.
"So is the smell of green chile on the estufa de leña, where the tortillas deserve to be cooked, they get such a special taste, then with green chile, rescoldado here, pasado en Mexico. This is the Scent of Place, piñon, cedar burning.
"The Scent of History, the smell of history, yes, here in this landscape history becomes sensory experience. Even people that died 200 years ago, merely become 'los viejitos,' and their stories are still told and retold, that they are still fresh, as the taste of those 'manzanitas mexicanas,' horno cooked corn, 'maiz concho,' made into chicos. History here definitely has a different scent, rebellious, just, etc.
"Definitely, the Taste of Place, not only in food, but those who settled here, liking as a landscape, that Palestian landscape, but somehow in their memory when our 'viejos' settled here, this type of landscape was engraved in their souls and minds.
"Querencia, that which like toro goes to a certain corner, after he is stabbed repeatedly by the torero, and he knows of his impending death, many are brought home as viejos, when like the bull, they sense 'taste of place,' the final resting place."
Estevan Arellano. January 20, 2007.
Excerpt from Conference Program:
"Querencia, the love of place, the soul of place is experienced by us differently; from the gut, from the heart, in the light, its texture, its noises or lack thereof. It's a Sense of Place. That silence which is so profound, so dark, yet so light, as it brushes against the body and reality doesn't sink in until somewhat later, querencia is also an acquired taste. It's not always great to wake up to a cold smell of winter after the first storm of the year, the first one, the uprepared for, but the ruggedness of the moment sows the seeds of querencia. Or the burning July sun, no rain in sight, the acequia has water for one more week, the murmurs reverberate throughout the acequias, post office, and the garden might not survive. Under an old chamiso is a mangy older dog, older than dirt, saying to his human companion, 'it's fregón here is the shade, vato,' that is part of querencia and what bakes the landscape into the human soul.
"So is the smell of green chile on the estufa de leña, where the tortillas deserve to be cooked, they get such a special taste, then with green chile, rescoldado here, pasado en Mexico. This is the Scent of Place, piñon, cedar burning.
"The Scent of History, the smell of history, yes, here in this landscape history becomes sensory experience. Even people that died 200 years ago, merely become 'los viejitos,' and their stories are still told and retold, that they are still fresh, as the taste of those 'manzanitas mexicanas,' horno cooked corn, 'maiz concho,' made into chicos. History here definitely has a different scent, rebellious, just, etc.
"Definitely, the Taste of Place, not only in food, but those who settled here, liking as a landscape, that Palestian landscape, but somehow in their memory when our 'viejos' settled here, this type of landscape was engraved in their souls and minds.
"Querencia, that which like toro goes to a certain corner, after he is stabbed repeatedly by the torero, and he knows of his impending death, many are brought home as viejos, when like the bull, they sense 'taste of place,' the final resting place."
$10.00
Estevan Arellano