12. Drought Summary

In Drought, the dryness continues. It gets very bad. It is August. The heat continues. The corn dries up in the fields. There are less tortillas to eat. Great-Grandmother says the gods punish the farmers because they no longer engage in prayers or ceremonies. These prayers and ceremonies show respect for the gods and bring rain. The villagers pray and make sacrifices. In church, there is a praying ceremony or vigil. The villagers try to appeal to the saints. They are desperate for rain.

Great-Grandmother talks about her memory of the great drought. Old people and the very young died. Only the strongest people survived. Men killed birds, including holy doves, and ate them. Men ate bark and leaves off trees. The drought happened a long time ago, when she was a little girl, but she remembers it clearly. She starts to eat...