A Time to Mourn, a Time to Leap By BERNICE YEUNG Published: March 18, 2007 ON Wednesday night, one week after the fire that claimed 10 lives in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, and less than a mile east of the house on Woodycrest Avenue that had burned, nearly two dozen people gathered in a community garden at dusk to light a more healing flame. In a celebration of the Zoroastrian new year, which heralds the coming of spring and honors those who have died, a group that included both longtime local residents and some who could best be described as hipster-environmental activists from Manhattan lighted four bonfires near a tree trunk festooned with candles. But before match was put to kindling and the congregants began their traditional leaps over the bonfires, they circled the tree, hand in hand, to remember the dead and the ailing. “I’m from Iran, and my country has a tradition,” said Aresh Javadi, the 43-year-old co-founder of a group called More Gardens!, which has sponsored this event in the Bronx for five years. “At the end of winter, people welcome the spirits of the people who have passed.” In quick succession, each member of the circle called out the name of a lost or ill loved one. Nikki Crook, a teacher at P.S. 157, called out the name of her friend Tim, who had died a year ago that day. Frank Madera, who goes by Captain Frank and favors seafarers’ caps, and who grows collard greens and cabbage in the Courtlandt Community Garden, intoned the names of his parents and grandparents. For Mr. Javadi, who used to participate in similar ceremonies in Iran even though he is not Zoroastrian, this was also a moment to remember the recent neighborhood tragedy. Speaking of the children and the mother who had died in the fire so close to that very spot, Mr. Javadi said: “I call their spirit. I ask these spirits to be with us, that we can honor them and carry them in our hearts.” The fire-leaping began slowly, with only a few timid hops over the struggling flames. But as the bonfires took on strength, the crowd seemed emboldened. Soon, men, women and children were soaring over the flames, running from one fire to the next in a giddy circle. Leading the way was Mr. Javadi, a slender figure wearing an olive green fedora and an emerald corduroy coat and looking like nothing so much as an urban leprechaun. After an hour, the fire-leaping dwindled, and the bonfires were consolidated into a single pyre. A few people gathered around it to reflect on the experience. “It was totally more than I thought it would be,” said Christian Austin, an environmental activist who had built all four bonfires. “Leaping through the warmth, it’s a bit euphoric. “Fire can be destructive, but it can also take away the negative and infuse things with the positive.” BERNICE YEUNG

Poem for Brad and More Gardens Submitted by AminaSusan on Sun, 03/11/2007 - 22:10.

I will not be able to attend, but this is a poem I wrote recently.

Poem for Brad (and More Gardens)

I shook your earth-covered hand
that chilly day
in the South Bronx,
the Bruckner Boulevard behind us.
We picked
tomatillos
at the Cherry Tree Garden
as the autumn wind
blew through my hair
and the sun extinguished itself
into a fire
into a feast.

Today
whenever I touch the earth
I shake your hand
and your voice is the wind
that scatters and plants
the seeds.

Because everything that dies
becomes a seed
which will start a life again,
and when the seeds and the roots
cover more ground
than the asphalt
the dirty hands of men
will be the one language
understood
and women's dirty fingernails
the only currency.