EASTER EVENTIDE

BY CHARLES FRANKLIN PARKER AND JEANNE S. HUMBURG It is Easter evening and the departing sun leaves a haze of purple gray over the sprawling rich green of the Salt River Valley. The shadows lengthen and the age-old cottonwoods cast their beautiful, grotesque shade-patterns over the ruins of Pueblo Grande, once the home of the ancient Hohokam.

A choir softly hums, "Onward Christian Soldiers." Plumed Knights Templar, modern successors to the Templars and Hospitallers of the Crusades, come forward in stately ranks. The eminent Grand Prelate speaks the words from Luke, telling of the first Easter, when Jesus walked the road to Emmaus with two of his followers: "Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent."

Thus begins an impressive Easter vespers, held each year amidst the disclosed ruins of an old civilization that thrived within a close proximity of time to the date of our Lord's crucifixion. From Pueblo Grande near Phoenix this solemn observance is broadcast throughout the state over KOY, bringing a message of hope and triumph to all at the very close of the day.

Presented by the Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar of Arizona, the service has a great spiritual background of faith and tradition. The annual location is the ancient home of the Hohokam, so named by archaeologists from the Pima Indian word meaning "the departed ones." Coinciding with the growth of Christianity in Palestine this civilization thrived in the Valley of the Sun. For approximately 700 years these people lived in this area, leav-ing behind them well-defined outlines of a vast network of canals by which they irrigated their crops and a rich archaeological heritage encased in ruins.

Not a Pueblo in the strict use of the word, the Hohokam ruins have disclosed, however, a definite village life. There is evidence that 22 farming communities were established in parts of the great Salt River Valley, each dependent upon an irrigating system that measured 125 miles. The ingenuity of this prehistoric race is illustrated by its canal structures, for there are at least ten separate networks, each with an original diversion dam on the Salt River. The fertility of desert soil that requires only water to make it rich in production was solved by the Hohokam successfully so many centuries ago and is duplicated today in the produce fields that flourish around Phoenix.

The canals and ditches created by the Hokoham, the communal granaries and the protected villages they built, stand as symbols of the faith and hope they had in their own planning. This strength of an ancient people paralleled the expanding truth of Christianity in the far-off Holy Land. Just as the promise of Christ's salvation gave herculean strength to the early Christians-and is our abiding strength today-so life-giving water and a dedicated determination gave the Hohokam energy to develop their admirable civilization that turned the Arizona desert into fruitful harvest.

Thus the message of hope and the triumph of the cross brought at Eastertime resounds more firmly from the Pueblo Grande home of the Hohokam. And in turn the background of devotion to the Christian cause exemplified by the Knights Templar offers deeper solemnity at the vesper hour.

Out of the Holy Crusades which began in 1096 A.D. came the orders of knighthood whose members dedicated their lives as true defenders of the faith. Their defense of Christianity took the form of untiring service. As the battling forces of the Holy Wars to regain the Holy Lands from the Moslems, the knights served victoriously. As defenders of these shrines of faith, they ruled with wisdom. As protectors of the Christian pilgrims journeying thousands of miles from Europe to Jerusalem to worship at these shrines, the courage and strength of the crusading knights never faltered. Arising from these orders of knighthood are the Knights Templar of Masonry, who contribute to the modern world the devotion, tradition and spirit embodied in the crusades. The sixth annual vespers at Easter this year continues this dedicated devotion to the Christian cause.

Towering over Pueblo Grande's amphitheater in which the service is held looms a large rugged cross, standing high against a background of cottonwood trees. In colorful dress Indian men, women and children who reside in the area today each year are seated to one side of the cross, depicting the ancient Hohokam on whose ground the service is held. The sacred music of Eastertime is presented by noted choral groups of Arizona with the a cappella choir of Phoenix College and the Pima Indian choir from Vah-ki Presbyterian Church in Casa Blancha providing the choral setting in past years.

To the visual audience the vesper service in this open air sanctuary is replete with the symbolic strength of Eastertime. For the radio audience the message of faith and hope is heard with reverence in their homes as they share in the solemn worship. For all believers it is the day of tribute to the Prince of Peace.

Nearly twenty centuries have passed since the first Easter, when Jesus walked the road to Emmaus. During these hundreds of years the Christian faith has stretched outward to enfold the world and reaches its completeness annually in the renewal of hope at Eastertime. At Pueblo Grande the promise of salvation is felt with the strongest impact as one acknowledges the spiritual and physical growth expressed in the surroundings. From the days of the time-honored Hohokam, there has developed a great modern civilization, made new and positive not alone by scientific advance, but more poignantly by the power and strength of Christianity.

Yours sincerely BIRDS:

Your March issue is one of the best you have put out in many months. I belong to a small group of local bird watchers and when I showed my copy to members at a meeting recently, the enthusiastic comments it elicited was something out of this world. Congratulations and congratulations again.

I have been a subscriber to your magazine for years. I always enjoy your magazine but the March issue! Well! It is simply out of this world. Never have I seen in any publication anywhere such bird studies in color. Your staff and your photographer are to be thanked for this issue. It will be, I am sure, a collector's item.

What an education your March issue was to me! I didn't dream southern Arizona had such an interesting and varied bird population. The next time I visit your state I'll take my binoculars with me and do some bird studying on my own.

IN ENGLAND:

Miss Florence Packman of New York conpital a series of your publications because she thought that the pictures would be of interest to the children. When they arrived they were handed to the schoolteachers both at the parent hospital in London and the country branch at Tadworth, some twenty miles outside of the metropolis. Both the children and the teachers were delighted with them, the former because of the truly beautiful colorings, and the latter because they found them of considerable help in their geography lessons.

BEAUTIFUL DESERT:

I am a very homesick desert rat presently trying to exist in cold, damp, mud-soaked England. And I am a lot more homesick after having read your Christmas issue-it was a masterpiece, a collector's item that surpasses all previous masterpieces issued by ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. My memories of Arizona are very vivid, and very dear-l would like to nominate, as the most beautiful stretch of desert in the world, the country from the Arizona border near Rodeo, New Mexico, to Douglas in the spring, after the rains, this country becomes a brilliant carpet of the brightest flowers ever grown, with the rugged and fascinatingly eroded mesas providing patches of red, brown, white, and purple.

MY BABY SLEEPS

Hush! Howl not in the rocks tonight, Little gray brother. And wind, whisper when you try my hogan door, For my baby sleeps.

Thunder, growl not in the desert sky; Fall gently, rain, For my baby sleeps.

Beneath the smoke hole of my hogan, Juniper, burn brightly, And keep him warmMy baby, my newborn son.

WHEN CHILDREN PLAY

Laughter like gay ribbons Drifts where children play, And with its happy streamers I bind my lovely day.

THE RIVERS OF THE SOUTHWEST

The brown-skinned rivers! Have you seen them flowing, Thin on the land, a soft line Traced by a moist pencil, followed By a claque of cottonwoods, Clapping their leaves in the bright air?

Or tumbling, tearing themselves To shredded silk among the rocks; Displaying, in glass-blue pools, The pride of their achievementThe lighter-than-water trout, Resting on a bar of sun?

Or coming through a canyon, stampeding Toward the sea . . . White manes and dripping flanks . . . Foam-specked and angry with fear and confinement; Eating the walls of the rocks of time, Nibbling at the core of the earth?

THE SEASON

Wind walks with crisp determined steps into the fig tree boughs; Browned leaves cringe earthward with a sound, half sob, half sigh, revealing purple fruits on silver branches, Violet-shaded tears against the gray inevitable sky.

MOUNTAIN FRESHET

Creeping cloud shadows cover Sleeping taunt hills; Hiding small creatures dart from Gliding wings, poised; Living rain sweeps with greenness, Giving new life; Rushing small rivers coursing Gushing through brush, Frighten wee rabbits playing, Brighten dull stones, Breaking storm flashes skyward, Waking hills smile.

BACK COVER

"SOLITUDE" BY CARLOS ELMER. This secluded spot is found in Granite Dells, a few miles north of Prescott, and was shot towards the end of an April afternoon. The photographer says: "While I had passed through the Dells on U.S. 89 several times in recent years, this was my first visit off the highway since a day many years ago when a group of high school students in Kingman decided it would be a good day to go to Granite Dells for a swim, 160 miles away."

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