 On The Line -- Issue 656 -- October 12, 2007  Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
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On The Line -- Issue 656 -- October 12, 2007 Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
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October is a wonderful month, to some people the best one of the year. It is a time of cooler nights, bright, brisk days, of football, the World Series, of cider, hot soup and hearty stews.
Everyone seems to be more alive after summer's torpor. Although the days are not hot for the most part, neither are they cold. It is sweater weather and an extra blanket feels especially good at night. Football season, even to those who are not inclined to sports, is the time when a fellow can walk down the street with a beautiful girl on one arm and a folded blanket on the other without anyone raising an eyebrow. Some things have changed since youth. Columbus Day then was observed on Oct. 12, the day in 1492 when someone aboard the Pinta, Nina or Santa Maria discerned a mass on the horizon, which was determined not to be a low-hanging cloud but a body of land. Although Norsemen were thought to have made a similar voyage much farther up the coast 500 years earlier, the discovery of America is credited to Christopher Columbus and his crew who were seeking a shorter route to the East; hence the name "Indians" for the people living there as Columbus thought he had landed in India. Trivia note: The smallest of the three ships was called "Nina" or "little girl" because of her size. However, the name given to her at her launching was the Santa Clara. A schoolboy joke: His voyage was said to be the most energy-efficient one ever made because he crossed the Atlantic on just three galleons. The holiday is now an excuse for a three-day weekend for federal and state offices along with many municipal governments and many institutions like banks. It means Columbus Day sales to department stores. Like many other Americans, a three day weekend means another opportunity to pile into the car for some destination, to spend hours getting there and home again, sitting for hours in gridlock, but determined to have a good time no matter how frustrated you become. It is also the month for Halloween. Easter and Christmas belong to everyone but Halloween is the exclusive property of children. Diminutive witches, cowboys, princesses and super heroes haunt the streets from just after sundown, stopping at many homes and demanding tribute from the occupants in the form of candy, cookies, apples and other swag. A parent or so, older brother or sister or someone responsible usually accompanies them. Excited children often forget rules of safety in running across streets. Then, too, about 45 years ago moral cretins began introducing razor blades, broken glass and lye into some of the delicacies, and copycat perverts have continued the practice. Another thing has changed about Halloween. In the 1930s and ?40s, Halloweeners would demand tribute by saying to the people who came to the door: "We are the beggars of the street. Will you please give us a treat?" In the decades since it has become simply, "Trick or treat." For safety's sake, some institutions like Sacred Heart Church has held a Halloween party for local youngsters for many years. The Hollister Downtown Association conducts a daytime tradition called, "No Tricks, Just Treats," with plenty of adult supervision. But even before Halloween, residents and many out-of-towners gather at Immaculate Conception Church in Tres Pinos for its annual chicken barbecue. By late morning many of the parking spaces are taken and a line forms for guests to get served chicken, pasta, salad and garlic bread, with wine for the adults who want it. Pie is served when you think you could not possibly eat another bite -- but you are wrong. Coffee and milk are also available. It falls this year on the 21st, and the committee has been planning it for months. Usually it is held in pleasant weather but if it rains or is too chilly, there are plenty of tables inside to accommodate everyone. It is one of the oldest continuing traditions in the county. The church was opened in 1892, and George Kincaid who died at 99 in 2005, said he went to the barbecue before he was old enough to start school. It is always a full house and diners come in for hours to see old friends, talk, laugh and reminisce about past barbecues, sometimes sighing over departed friends who attended with them years ago. Everyone leaves fulfilled having had a pleasant hour or so in neighborliness and being part of an ongoing tradition. Even the dozens of volunteers who clean up after the last dinner has been sold and the final guest departed have smiles on their faces. Another October event is the end of the cannery season. It happened during the first week of the month. One morning near-by residents jumped out of bed, yelled "What was that?" and ran into the streets because of the silence that had descended upon the neighborhood. Since early July the cannery had been in operation day and night to accommodate the caravan of trucks carrying in tomatoes. Blasts of steam and honking of vehicles soon became white noise as people adjusted to it. Hundreds of workers made a good part of their annual income working there for three months. Noise that is vital is soon shrugged off; it is only racket like amplified music blasting out of a neighbor's home or a motorcyclist going back and forth for an hour or so that is hard to take. Another blessing -- usually -- of October is rain. We have had a few light sprinkles in recent weeks but more is expected and in grater amounts. To an agriculture-based community and especially to San Benito County, that has not had its share of rain for months, it is indeed a blessing Many old-timers recall the seven-year drought that began in 1986 and that many farmers and ranchers would never end. When it finally did, many people had lost a lot of money and some moved away. What a splendid month is October! |
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