Spring Training

It's that time of year. Pitchers and catchers report this week in Florida and Arizona. Players say the first week of spring training is the most difficult. It's not just the physical deterioration. It's that every team is reconstituted, even a world champion. New teammates, new coaches, sometimes a new manager.

For many generations, in the area around what is now called Tempe, the Hopis gathered at this time of year in one of their few ceremonies not presided over by the elders. It was grass roots, for lack of a better term.

It wasn't a spring ritual; spring was still six weeks away. It was an act of faith. In the face of a hibernating desert, the ritual was a recognition that winter would pass. It was an act of remembrance, looking backward instead of forward. Remembrance of those who had not made it through. The old, the young, the foolish who didn't respect the mountains.

The remembering must come now, at this time of year, because very soon, our job will be to grow again, live green and full. The Hopi ritual is spring training.