Portraits
Beto De Leon:
“Estafiate and Maguey are two plant compañerxs that have helped me in community healing work for years. The maguey, a powerful reminder of our Ndé first foods, our origins from the mesquital and a symbol of powerful transitions. Maguey is protective, nurturing and a provider of medicinal supplies from needles to its sap, agua miel. There was a large maguey in our front yard. My husband and I had planted estafiate around its base to give extra protection to our home. With time, the artemisia spread, its silver green branches reaching through the pencas de maguey like arms rising up. One of my favorite memories has been coming home on the West side of San Antonio after a long day to be greeted by cleansing aroma of estafiate dancing in the Summer moonlight. With time, the maguey in our front yard blossomed and completed its journey. We offered its blue stalk estafiate, corn meal, and tobacco. My family prepared smudge bundles from the estafiate at its base where new maguey pups are now nestled in the mulch. The memory of their origin remains.”