Bless Me Ultima-Luna or Vaquer

Luna or Vaquero? The Vaqueros and Lunas are two very different cultures. Lunas are very quiet people who farm and live by the moon. Vaqueros are very wild people and don’t like to stay in one place. Tony’s parents are both. His moms’ family are Lunas and his dads’ family are Vaqueros. Tony has to decide what blood runs through him before he will know who he really is. The Vaqueros are people of the Llano. “They are exuberant, restless people, wandering across the ocean of the plain.”(6) They like to have a lot of freedom and they like to roam the country. They do not want to be tied down. “They are freethinkers who will not take each others lives unless there is just cause.”(33) “The wind is their brother and the horse their companion.”(247) Unlike the Lunas, the Vaqueros are very rowdy and love to live life as a big party. The Lunas, on the other hand, are very steady people. They do everything according to the moon. “They plant their crops and care for their animals according to the moon.”(90) “They live their lives, sing their songs, and die under the changing moon. The moon is their goddess.”(90) “They will not gather crops or save next years seeds unless the moon dictated.”(249) They come from men who hold earth as their brother and they do the same. Tony had a big decision to make on rather he wanted to be a priest(Luna) or a Vaquero. His dad wants him to be a Vaquero and have lots of freedom. His mother wants him to become a priest and help out the community and live life with God at his side. “Antonio wants to know if he was baptized in the water of the moon or by the salt water of the sea.”(120) Whenever he dreams of being a Luna priest they all of a sudden change to nightmares. “He has so many dreams to be fulfilled, but Ultima tells him that his destiny must unfold like a flower, with only the sun and the earth and water making it blossom, and no one else meddling with it.”(223) Antonio understands this but he still wonders what he will turn out to be. The story ends without telling you what Tony decides. He is very influenced about being a priest when he goes to visit his uncles and by his mother. But, he is also pressured by his father and brothers because they all have thick Maréz blood and want him to be like them. In the end only Ultima knows what he will really be and she dies. Now Tony can only hope that destiny helps him out and he makes the right decision.