Little Red Handprints
Earlier this month, my wife and I went on a very moving camping trip outside of Comstock, Texas. If you’ve never heard of Comstock, you’re not alone. I had never heard of it either. This small town is just outside of Del Rio on the border of Mexico. Along with a few other friends, we ventured out to the White Shaman Preserve for a weekend of exploring caves and historical Pecos artifacts.
If you’ve been to the Witte Museum, the exhibit upstairs is based on the White Shaman Preserve and the native artifacts that are found in the area.
The first day we did a small hike to the White Shaman mural. I could write an entire article on that, but I want to get to the main point of this story. The second day we did a day hike through Seminole Canyon. For those of you campers, you should definitely check out Seminole Canyon State Park…. It’s beautiful. Before heading home on Sunday morning, we did a short hike into Tijana Canyon.
After a short and steep descent down into the canyon, we were greeted with a view of a beautiful waterhole sheltered between smooth limestone bluffs. On the walls of the limestone there was Pecos rock art dating back over 1500 years.
The rock art was small hand prints painted in red paint. There was also a stick figure of a human and a dog on the wall. The hand prints are thought to belong to the youth of the tribe. And this water hole was thought to be a gathering place for women and children to socialize, swim, and remain sheltered while the men hunted.
Of all the rock art we saw that weekend, these little red hand prints left the biggest impression on me.
The whole theme of this trip is to connect you to people of the past, and it certainly did that. However, it’s very hard to relate to people who were hunters and gatherers. I’ve never experienced that life. But seeing this social gathering place for mothers and children really touched me.
One of my favorite activities to do with my kids is to take them to our local rivers. Outside of being on a bike, the Hill Country Rivers are my happy place. It’s hard to beat the joy I get from being in a cold river on a hot day with my children.
The little red hand prints on the limestone wall connected me to this group of people that lived over 1500 years ago. Just like many of us, they enjoyed similar past times with their children. They looked forward to bringing their kids to the water. They enjoyed watching them play together. They helped their children do finger painting on the walls of caves. They even had domesticated dogs.
Sitting on the edge of a water hole I couldn’t help but think about how complicated today’s society can feel, and things that we view as challenging as parents. We stress so much about the experiences we give our children - the schools, social circles, extracurriculars, etc. No doubt, these are important decisions. Viewing this bit of history put these issues in perspective for me. At its core, giving our children warm and welcoming shelter, giving them community, and enjoying simple leisures in life, like playing in a cold water hole on a hot day, are enough to bring fulfillment and produce children who value the simple things in life.
