bajalera
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Pitahayas [more than you may care to know about them]
[This is long and pretty dull, and I don't know how to do italics or accents so there aren't any]
The importance of the sweet pitahaya to the Indians is revealed, sort of accidentally, by Padre Johann Jakob Baegert. He first tells us that the
Guaycura "do not know what a year really is"--and then explains how they kept track of years in terms of the sweet pitahaya. Ambia was the Guaycura
word for the fruit and also for its harvest season.
Thus, a child of "five ambias" would be five years old.
The Cochimi totted up time in the same way, Padre Miguel del Barco said, but their word for the fruit and the year was mejibo. Unlike Baegert, who
seemed to consider this means of tracking time rather peculiar, Barco pointed out that the same system had been common in Europe in earlier centuries,
when people added up years in terms of wheat harvests.
The six divisions of the Cochimi year were based on the availability of plant resources. Unlike the months of our calendar, they had no set length but
were determined largely by the weather.
During mejibo, the first season, the peninsula's nomads could settle down in one place, with so much easily gathered food near at hand that they had a
lot of free time. And these people knew how to party.
The celebrations reminded Padre Juan Maria de Salvatierra of the grape harvests of his native italy, except that pitahaya harvests lasted longer. The
natives, he wrote, "are enraptured, giving themselves over to fiestas, dancing, feasting with distant rancherias, and doing their kind of play and
buffoonery, in which the entire night usually passes with laughter and rejoicing--the comedians being those who best know mimicry, which they do with
great skill."
Sweet Pitahaya, Pitahaya Dulce [Lemaireocereus Thurberi]. Scattered sparsely in the mountains of the peninsula's north, the sweet pitahaya gradually
becomes more common toward the south, although it doesn't grow in the seriously dry parts of the Vizcaino Desert and Magdalena Plains.
The plant looks rather lilke a cardon, except that it has a very short trunk or sometimes none at all. The upright branches are not so large and
robust as those of the cardon, and are usually shorter. But there are a lot more of them [another common name is "organ-pipe cactus"], and great
quantities of fruit are produced at their tips.
Most of the fruit is perched so high overhead that only things with wings have easy access to it. The Indians devised a simple but efficient harvest
tool, sharpening a slim length of bone or wood and attaching it firmly to one end of a long stick or a stiff reed. With this hook they snagged it or
detached it, and put it in their carrying nets. The spines were brushed off with little sticks.
Baegert describes the sweet pitahaya as "round like a ball and the size of a hen's egg. The skin is green, tough and thick, and covered with sharply
pointed thorns, just like a porcupine . . . "
Barco is more colorful: "The flesh of sweet pitahayas with green skin can be red or yellow, with red skin is red, and with yellow skin can be white,
yellow or cream-colored." [I have yet to meet a Bajacalifornian who has sampled all of these, however.]
The gold medal for pitahaya-thorn research goes to Padre Baegert: "I became curious once and took it upon myself to count the thorns on a piece of
plant cut from the center of a branch. It was a span long and as thick as a fist. I counted no less than one thousand six hundred and eighty. . . .
The thorns are arranged in little clusters, ten in a group, resembling the face of a compass and pointing in all directions in symmetrical
arrangement. These little clusters sit on the ridges which divide the furrows running the whole length and completely around the branch . . ."
In addition to providing food, pitahayas also served as a symbol of hostility. In returning from the founding of the La Pa mission, Padre Clement
Guillen's party came upon a sweet pitahaya that had been hacked down, and Indian guides told him this was a declaration of war.
On one of Padre Fernando Consag's expeditions, Indians showed him a pitahaya branch pierced with arrows, warning him that a similar fate awaited his
party if it proceeded into the territory of some unfriendly neighbors.
On a more positive note, the pitahaya was also put to use as a bribe or a bargaining tool. Near San Ignacio, Indians who wanted a mission of their own
welcomed Padre Francisco Piccolo by clearing rocks to make a wider path for his expedition's entry, then plied him with pitahayas to munch on and
children to baptize.
At San Javier, when Padre Juan de Ugarte wanted to move mission headquarters to another location, he asked the people of several rancherias to remain
at the first site. They said they would--provided he would give them permission to take to the hills during pitahaya season. [He did.]
Dependence on the pitahaya harvest didn't disappear entirely when the Indians did. In 1883 a traveler from mainland Mexico wrote that the diet of
peninsula ranchers consisted of beef, beans, cheese, and bread or tortillas--but added, "From June to August many poor people migrate to the hills and
maintain themselves with pitahayas, a delicious and abundant fruit."
The second Cochimi season, mada-appi, extended from August through September, and into October. The other pitahaya usually ripened during this period.
Tart Pitahaya, Pitahaya Agridulce [Machaerocereus gummosus]. Even Padre Baegert, who had few kind words for the peninsula, praised this pitahaya.
"Sprinkled with sugar, this fruit deserves to be set on a princely table." [The need for sugar, however, can be questioned.]
The tart pitahaya is much less productive than the sweet, but its fruit is considerably larger. Baegert found one of them to be more than enough as a
dessert, and had heard of an agridulce that weighed two pounds. The flesh is a brilliant red seen more often in Christmas decorations than food, and
everyone--from the Jesuits down to the Bajacalifornians of our time--agrees that of the two pitahayas, the tart one winds the taste test, hands down.
The branches of this sprawling, untidy cactus, which are smaller in diameter than those of the other pitahaya, can be seen along both coasts from the
latitude of Ensenada south to Cabo San Lucas.
An Individual plant may ramble over a wide area, with much of its fruit perched on thorny branches that while not very tall, are out of reach. The
harvest tool used in collecting sweet pitahayas must have needed some tweaking before it could retrieve this fruit.
Both pitahayas are still popular today, particularly in the Sur, though their status has been elevated from staple food to gourmet fare. When in
season, pitahayas are often sold in markets or by vendors, and pricey jars of preserves are occasionally available at stores and street strands.
bajalera
\"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest never happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.\" -
Mark Twain
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
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Lera
Gracias
Muy interesante
I too am facinated by this fruit
I was in Nicaragua 4 years ago during pitihaya season. While adventuring in the countryside, we came upon a family walking down the road with 3 large
burlap bags bulging with pitihaya fruit. We offered them a ride, tying their bundles to the top of the car. When we arrived at their house, they
gave us a pitihaya juice that was like nectar of the gods or dogs according to your religion. It was bright red, crunchy and so sweet that I asked
them if they had added sugar and they looked at me like I was nuts and said....Why it is already this sweet.
The fruit was much bigger than you see here...about the size of a large grapefruit and the plant looked more like a pineapple than a cactus.
They insisted that we take about 20 of the fruit; probably enough for 20 people. We were very popular on the rest of our trip as we gave out pitihaya
all along the way. And we were very happy to have such a delicious snack.
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John M
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Photos to accompany this story
See disclaimer, next photograph
[Edited on 9-8-2005 by John M]
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John M
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Second photograph
These two photographs are not ours. Please visit this page, from where I got them. Hope I haven't infringed on someone's property, or rights????? So I
thought I'd give proper credit.
http://www.innerexplorations.com/bajatext/rancho3.htm
[Edited on 9-8-2005 by John M]
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
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John Thanks for the pix
But even more thanks for that website. I went to the home page and they have so many interesting things about Baja that I got lost for over an hour.
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Baja Angel
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Mood: ...just cruisin'
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WOW!!!!!
That really is a great site! Thank you John M 
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Bajalero
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Pitaya
Lera :
Not dull at all!
It is the ability to enjoy the simplest of things that makes Baja special .
That is also what will preserve it.
Lero
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Neal Johns
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Thank you, Lera (and you too, Father M).
I like 'em!
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
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bajajudy
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I have been moving all my photos from floppys to hard drive and ran across the picture of the Nicaraguan pitahayas
If anyone is still interested. They really do look different.
[Edited on 9-25-2005 by bajajudy]
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bajajudy
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These are the people we gave a ride.
You can see that the pitihayas look different too
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