California began life as we know it with the Gold Rush of 1849, when more cultures and languages came together than had ever happened on earth before. Carnaval San Francisco has often referred to itself as the greatest multicultural show ever celebrated.  The first gold rush began several centuries earlier with the Conquistadors from Spain and resulted in California becoming the only state named after a deity. A powerful and dark Queen Califia who ruled the golden island of California commanding her Amazon warrior tribe and man-eating griiffins. The story, although the equivalent of pulp fiction, was among the 14th centuries most enduring, which might relate to Queen Kali's throne in the collective world of dreams as a triple goddess. The consort to Hindu Goddess Kali is Shiva, the lord of the dance. This dance is performed in the human heart. Shiva is seldom depicted alone for his energy depends on his union with the feminine energy of Kali, together they give the spark of creation. Many stories describe Kali's dance with Shiva as one that "threatens to destroy the world" by its savage power. Kali is a creator, nurturer and destroyer, or triple goddess, a basic but untaught concept of comparative mythology.
With its abundance of seeds, the pomegranate in the has long been a symbol of fertility, bounty, and eternal life. Some believe it was the actual apple that tempted Eve. The Greeks consider the pomegranate to be a symbol of abundance - a fruit that spills over in plentitude and good luck., it is customary to adorn the holiday table with pomegranates. They are set out in honor of the fertile land and its bounty. With its bold flavors and rich colors, the pomegranate represents the greatest of all of Earth's bounties. The most famous of all pomegranate stories concerns the triple goddess of life, death and rebirth.  | | The 2009 Carnaval San Francisco theme is Seeds of Change, Roots of Revival. This official C'SF 2009 image is a tri-color often used to represent nations or tribes with flags and emblems. These three colors, magenta, cyan and yellow, are known as the primary colors of printing and can be used to create all other colors. | Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her earth mother goddess, Demeter mourned so deeply all living things green refused to grow. Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. However, it was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, which forced her to return to the underworld for a season each year. This story was at the heart of the Eleusinian mysteries, the epic spiritual procession of the Mediterranean for over a millennium. The Virgin, responsible for herself; Mother, the nurturing woman in the fullness of life; and Crone, the wise, old healing woman Hecate who assists Demeter and becomes the lifelong companion to Persephone is the third part of the single process of life. This is the dynamic by which the Cosmos unfolds, giving us our creative magic that allows the creative, continual transformation of the culture. Some believe the archetype or shared collective symbol most alive in our zeitgeist is this triple goddess. In Greek mythology we find the well-known triple goddesses of The Moirae (Fates), the Charities (Graces), and the Erinnyes (Furies) as well as the more powerful case of the Muses, who at three times three, rule a great Carnaval. Carnaval is the people's celebration in song, dance and story. Here in the Mission district, the Latin community has proudly hosted the San Francisco Bay Area's only annual unity event since 1979 as a showcase of the synergetic zenith of the Americas art from the heart. Perhaps this has led these three Latina Icons of dance, story and song to locate here at the dawn of the third millennium. Regardless, the case let us now salute salute are Rita Morena, Isabelle Allende and Linda Rondstadt. |
![[RitaMoreno03.jpg]](http://www.carnaval.com/sf/RitaMoreno03.jpg)
to a period of mourning for her daughter's death with the publication of the high-spirited Afrodita: cuentos, recetas y otros afrodisíacos (Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses, 1998), a collection of recipes for dishes with aphrodisiac powers, the culinary entries accompanied by historical and literary musings on the twin high Carnaval pleasures of Epicureanism and eroticism. The writing of this book was a healing experience for the author, as Allende explains in the book’s introduction: “…I knew that I was reaching the end of a long tunnel of mourning… with a tremendous desire to eat and cuddle once again….”
