New Year, New Calendar

First day of the new year means I had to choose a new calendar. I receive many mailing labels from charitable organizations, and a number of them have sent me calendars, too. I like the one with flowers, so I will keep that one in the kitchen where we write down all our appointments. The calendar with pictures of wild life is very attractive, too. Maybe that will go in my sewing room--don't have to check that one for coming commitments. I keep a mini calendar by the telephone in the kitchen/dining area. The medium-size calendar with the pictures done by the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists is kept by my computer.

Then there is still another calendar that I frequently refer to and that is the pocket sized one where I keep all the information that is on the first calendar--the one in the kitchen with everyone's appointments. I carry that calendar in my purse. It is handy to have all that information with me when I am at the dentist's office and need to make the next appointment. I know some people keep their calendar in their computer, but I need to have all these calendars to keep me informed of what is coming up next.

The calendars that I remember when I was a child were usually hung in the kitchen area. I remember a popular picture of a calendar was of a beautiful couple of Indians. I remember reference being made to the woman as "La Mujer Dormida" and of the man as "Popo." Not much else explanation do I remember being given at the time. If it was, it probably had little meaning to me at the time. It was not until probably about the time I was a teen-ager that I learned about the legend of the star-crossed lovers Mixtli and Popoca. It is a beautiful story (reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet) of the formation of the volcanoes Ixtaccihuatl  and Popcatépetl.

The other type of calendar I remember we had was one courtesy of the funeral home or of the Catholic church. I liked that one better because every day had the name of a saint. I never found my name among the saints' in the calendars, but I remember that San Fidel was the name on my birthday. The other thing the calendar had were symbols of fish for every Friday and other days designated to be meatless days. I think during Lent there were lot of "fishy" days, too. It also listed the holy days of obligation--when we had to go to Mass! I think I mainly enjoyed reading all the names of the Saints and hoped that one day there would be a saint listed with my name.