Christmas in a Legendary Baja Family
Submitted by administrator on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 21:03.
By: Sue McDevitt
Snow in San Pedro Martir National Park.
Can you imagine what Christmas in1962 might have been like in the mountains of Baja California near San Pedro Martir National Park? For Jovita Zaragoza, who had married into the legendary Meling family in August 1962, it was the most unforgettable Christmas season of her entire life. Here is the story leading up to her Christmas.
Although Jovita came from a very modest Mexican family which struggled mightily just to put food on the table and a roof over their children’s heads, she grew up to be a remarkably self-reliant woman. In their worst times, when Jovita and her siblings were being raised by their temporarily single mother, they lived on the streets in Mexicali.
However, Jovita learned early in life the value of hard work, determination and having goals for oneself from a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and an advocate of cultivating self confidence. Determined to become a grade-school teacher, Jovita went to classes whenever she could and worked to help support the family, even as a pre-teen. At the age of 16, with just a grade-school education, she found herself in the small town of San Antonio del Mar just north of Puerto Colonet.
It was there that she met the Meling family which was looking for a teacher willing to live on the Meling Ranch, also known as Rancho San José. The Meling family valued the importance of education for their children and wanted to provide it at home with a teacher who could handle ranch life in an isolated location.
The ranch is located about 50 miles inland from the Pacific coast and sits in the rocky desert foothills of the San Pedro Martir Mountains which overlook both the Pacific and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). This mountain range contains the highest point in Baja, Picacho del Diablo (Devil’s Peak) which hovers over the fishing village of San Felipe.
When Jovita first traveled to the Meling Ranch in the late 1950’s, it could only be reached by way of a winding, rough and rocky dirt road. Despite the isolation, she accepted the position and went to work for the Melings believing that this experience could help head her in the direction of her desire to be a certificated teacher.
Indeed, the year that she spent with the Melings as a young teacher ended up being a stepping stone to future teaching positions and an entryway into her preparatory studies for teacher’s college. She also met Felipe Meling Johnson.
Felipe was 21 years older than Jovita and a widower with seven children, the oldest of whom was four years younger than she. He was running his own cattle ranch, known as Rancho El Coyote, which he bought in 1950, located adjacent to the Meling ranch and part of the vast holdings of the Meling family.
Jovita pursued her studies in Ensenada, all the while being cautious about entering Felipe’s established family. In the end, she was able to create solid relationships with his children and her growing love for Felipe won the day. They were married when she was 21, some three years after he began courting her. And, again three years later, she was pregnant with their third child when she graduated from teacher’s college.
Jovita fondly remembers Christmas of 1962 as the most significant holiday season of her life: It was her first as the new mother of Felipe’s seven children and she felt richly blessed. Jovita brought her Mexican Christmas traditions into the family and blended them with the American/European customs that had been celebrated in the Johnson/Meling family for generations. At Rancho El Coyote, Jovita added the Mexican traditions of setting up a nativity scene (nacimiento in Spanish) showing the birth of the baby Jesus and of serving tamales and bunuelos. She also sewed decorative figures to hang on the tree as well as tiny horses with saddles to represent the ranch.
Jovita believes that traditions are carried on generation after generation by mothers and it has been very important to her to preserve both the American and Mexican customs associated with the Christmas season which she is now passing on to her grandchildren.
Since Felipe passed away in 1983, their sons Esteban and Alfredo have been operating the cattle ranch at Rancho El Coyote. Jovita joined them after she retired from teaching in Ensenada in 2000 and has spearheaded the development of eco-tourism for the ranch. For additional information and reservations, go online to www.ranchoelcoyote.com.
Submitted by administrator on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 21:03.
By: Sue McDevitt
Snow in San Pedro Martir National Park.
Can you imagine what Christmas in1962 might have been like in the mountains of Baja California near San Pedro Martir National Park? For Jovita Zaragoza, who had married into the legendary Meling family in August 1962, it was the most unforgettable Christmas season of her entire life. Here is the story leading up to her Christmas.
Although Jovita came from a very modest Mexican family which struggled mightily just to put food on the table and a roof over their children’s heads, she grew up to be a remarkably self-reliant woman. In their worst times, when Jovita and her siblings were being raised by their temporarily single mother, they lived on the streets in Mexicali.
However, Jovita learned early in life the value of hard work, determination and having goals for oneself from a mother who was a strict disciplinarian and an advocate of cultivating self confidence. Determined to become a grade-school teacher, Jovita went to classes whenever she could and worked to help support the family, even as a pre-teen. At the age of 16, with just a grade-school education, she found herself in the small town of San Antonio del Mar just north of Puerto Colonet.
It was there that she met the Meling family which was looking for a teacher willing to live on the Meling Ranch, also known as Rancho San José. The Meling family valued the importance of education for their children and wanted to provide it at home with a teacher who could handle ranch life in an isolated location.
The ranch is located about 50 miles inland from the Pacific coast and sits in the rocky desert foothills of the San Pedro Martir Mountains which overlook both the Pacific and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). This mountain range contains the highest point in Baja, Picacho del Diablo (Devil’s Peak) which hovers over the fishing village of San Felipe.
When Jovita first traveled to the Meling Ranch in the late 1950’s, it could only be reached by way of a winding, rough and rocky dirt road. Despite the isolation, she accepted the position and went to work for the Melings believing that this experience could help head her in the direction of her desire to be a certificated teacher.
Indeed, the year that she spent with the Melings as a young teacher ended up being a stepping stone to future teaching positions and an entryway into her preparatory studies for teacher’s college. She also met Felipe Meling Johnson.
Felipe was 21 years older than Jovita and a widower with seven children, the oldest of whom was four years younger than she. He was running his own cattle ranch, known as Rancho El Coyote, which he bought in 1950, located adjacent to the Meling ranch and part of the vast holdings of the Meling family.
Jovita pursued her studies in Ensenada, all the while being cautious about entering Felipe’s established family. In the end, she was able to create solid relationships with his children and her growing love for Felipe won the day. They were married when she was 21, some three years after he began courting her. And, again three years later, she was pregnant with their third child when she graduated from teacher’s college.
Jovita fondly remembers Christmas of 1962 as the most significant holiday season of her life: It was her first as the new mother of Felipe’s seven children and she felt richly blessed. Jovita brought her Mexican Christmas traditions into the family and blended them with the American/European customs that had been celebrated in the Johnson/Meling family for generations. At Rancho El Coyote, Jovita added the Mexican traditions of setting up a nativity scene (nacimiento in Spanish) showing the birth of the baby Jesus and of serving tamales and bunuelos. She also sewed decorative figures to hang on the tree as well as tiny horses with saddles to represent the ranch.
Jovita believes that traditions are carried on generation after generation by mothers and it has been very important to her to preserve both the American and Mexican customs associated with the Christmas season which she is now passing on to her grandchildren.
Since Felipe passed away in 1983, their sons Esteban and Alfredo have been operating the cattle ranch at Rancho El Coyote. Jovita joined them after she retired from teaching in Ensenada in 2000 and has spearheaded the development of eco-tourism for the ranch. For additional information and reservations, go online to www.ranchoelcoyote.com.