Here’s to 2025. I am recovering slowly, after catching a bug that gave me a fever for many days, and am grateful to be home. I enjoyed touching down in Santa Fe, N.M., a city of faith where the neighborhood closed to traffic on Christmas Eve, rooftops and sidewalks were lined with glowing farolitos — lanterns made by filling paper bags with sand and a fat candle — bonfires dotted courtyards and street corners, someone set free paper balloons, and the school hosted an intricate labyrinth. Folks sang carols and shared sheets of music in case you forgot the lyrics; galleries offered steaming cups of hot chocolate and cider, and biscochitos. The plaza and cathedral were festooned with colored lights.
I like to try to do something like this on Christmas Eve. I used to make a boat holding a candle. Sometimes the weather would quickly swamp it, other years it would come right back to shore, and sometimes I could watch it float off.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Jan. 5 Offerings of Music and Light. It is a very moving experience to gather together in the dark of winter and share music, song, spoken words, and a cup of warm soup and freshly baked bread. Thank you, Mrs. Biskis — your vocals and the outstanding musicianship of every member never fails to floor me. Holly Wayman for your flute. Georgia Halliday for your lovely songs and guitar playing. Adele Dreyer for bringing in your electronic piano. It was spectacular. Thank you to the Thursday string players, Emily Broderick, Pam Goff, Mary Sossong, and Jeff Nelson. Thank you, Daniel Waters, for bringing your accordion and reading your poems. All are welcome to join “Thursday Strings,” a loose group that likes to play music, at the Chilmark Church on Thursdays, from 1 to 2 pm.
Thank you to the Loon Lane Players for lifting and rousing us. Warren Doty, inspired by a story the Rev. Charlotte Wright told in December about a New York City bus driver who collected worries from passengers, and at the end of his shift dropped them into the river, introduced us to “Pack Up Your Sorrows,” by Mimi and Richard Fariña. The chorus echoes in my ears: “But if somehow you could pack up your sorrows/ And give them all to me/ You would lose them, I know how to use them/ Give them all to me.”
Thank you all for keeping the light on in Chilmark. Friday the music continues at Pathways in the Chilmark Tavern, at 7 pm, with covers with a fresh and heady twist played by the Jaywalkers,
Barbara Puciul-Hoy, and Jessie Leaman; followed by classic blues by BlueSwitch, Jim Carnazza, Larry Lusignan, Tauras Biskis, and Tom Howland.
Wishing us all a good week. Please send me your news.
If you have any Chilmark Town Column suggestions, email Claire Ganz, cganz@live.com.
