Lilac Festival virtually
EVERY YEAR Taoseños and others await with anticipation the blooming of the lilacs, with their spicy aroma wafting through the air in a splash of pink, mauve, violet, pale blue and white. In floriography [the language of flowers], the lilac blossoms symbolize renewal and confidence, and the passage from winter to spring. Traditional associations with the lilac color suggest boldness, femininity and a time for the birds, bees and new buds.
The blossoms mark their presence all over town against the backdrop of adobe walls, gateways and free flowing gardens. In more recent times, Kit Carson Park in Taos has been celebrating the lilacs since 2013.
Lilac festivals in years past have been major events with bands and booths, pruning workshops and lilacthemed epicurean menus. In 2015, there was a pet parade, and in 2017 a 5k run. This year, COVID-19 precautionary protocols may have put the kibosh on a large community gathering, but the lilac blooms are out, with the promise of summer around a near corner.
Beginning with little fanfare today, May 20 to Saturday (May 22), but still steeped in the tradition of celebrating the lilac, the festival has gone virtual. Pedestrian maps to lilac destinations are available in this week’s paper and at downtown Taos businesses.
The history of the beloved plant and its arrival in New Mexico reads like a European travel log. According to the Lilac Festival website, the seeds were delivered from France to Santa Fe, “transplanted by the famous Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy who arrived in 1851. Lamy’s struggles with Taos’ own Padre Antonio José Martínez meant he did not visit this far-flung and unruly parish, so it seems unlikely the Bishop’s lilacs made their way to Taos in those early days.”
However, when The Taos Society of Artists came together in 1915, they created a burgeoning gardening scene in town with lavish gardens like the E.I.
Couse house in the heart of Taos, setting the pace, and sharing seeds with the community.
The relationship between the garden and artist is an exchange as old as time. American artist and gardener Georgia O’Keeffe said, “a flower touches everyone’s heart.” Known for her intimate, up close, paintings of many species including lilacs, there was practicality to painting flowers as well: “I hate flowers – I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.”
Modernists Henri Matisse and Emil Nolde would also paint flowers during their careers, but not with the larger-than-life characteristic used by O’Keeffe.
I asked Earth and Spirit Gallery
owner and artist Shari Ubechel to weigh in on the artist and flower relationship and add a lilac twist to the bouquet.
Ubechel said, “some of my painter friends and I go on flower alert when the lilacs are in bloom. We go on photo safaris and sometimes paint en plein aire. I seek secret lilac gardens and inspirations throughout Taos. The scent can be intoxicating while painting these gorgeous flowers as they waft through the air making it a full sensory experience. Flowers can elevate the mood. When I am feeling blue, I paint flowers to cheer me up and the good mood seems to catch on for the audience as well. Rare and impermanent, lilacs only last for a short time in nature, making them even more precious. Trying to capture this moment in time into everlasting beauty is my goal. The purple in lilacs have connections to royalty, the crown chakra and higher energies.”
Lilac Festival organizers are asking visitors and residents to post pictures of your favorite lilacs on their Facebook page facebook.com@taoslilacfest and Instagram account instagram.com/ taoslilac.
For more information about the festival visit the website at taoslilacfestival. com or contact the organizers at The Taos Chamber of Commerce 575-7518800. Other organizations who helped coordinate this year’s event include local shops and galleries and Taos Downtown MainStreet.
For more information visit the Earth and Spirit Gallery 132 Bent Street or visit the website earthandspiritgallery. com.