Beto Na Beto
Claude
What does Christmas look like if we look at it from another point of view? Say, the experience of a Christmas tree? Or from a young person whose family recently arrived in Austin from Central America? This December, the Zilker Botanical Garden and Teatro de la Tierra are proud to present Beto, Beto el Abeto, a play that blends languages, cultures, genres, and biological kingdoms in an inventive, unorthodox approach to Christmas amidst a world that is changing rapidly.
Tickets for Beto are offered free of charge. The tickets are valued at $35 each, so any donation you and your family are able to offer will allow us to continue offering programming like Beto in the future!
*Because of circumstances that are beyond our control, we unfortunately need to postpone our opening night from Thursday December 7th to Friday December 8th. We have many additional performances in Spanish and English through December 17th. If you reserved a ticket for the December 7th show, please reschedule via the button below.
Beto marks the second collaboration between the Conservancy and local award-winning director Khristin Mndez Aguirre. Earlier this year, they presented Estado Vegetal/Vegetative State, a play by Chilean Playwright Manuela Infante (in collaboration with Teatro Espacio), a botanical drama about a community rocked by a calamity triggered by overgrown trees.
We are excited to have you in the audience tonight! We have some information to share about getting to the Garden.
All the performances will take place inside the auditorium at the Zilker Botanical Garden (2220 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX, 78746).
Free parking is available onsite. If this is your first time at the garden, the auditorium is located inside the stone building, the only building on site, which you will see right as you enter/drive through admissions.
Due to the Trail of Lights taking place at the same time, we have some very specific instructions that we ask all attendees to follow in order to ensure the smoothest navigation to the performance.
Navigating to the Garden:
All vehicles must arrive via the northbound MOPAC access road. All other routes will be turned away. Please do not use GPS directions. Stay out of shuttle lane. GET IN pre-paid parking only lane in order to be directed to the Garden.
Once your parking pass and ticket are reviewed you will be directed towards parking. All Beto attendees will be able to park in the Zilker Botanical Garden Parking Lot.
Come Early and plan for 40-45 minute wait in line to get through Trail of Lights traffic. You can arrive early if needed, the gate will open at 6pm but please note that the Garden grounds will not be open due to lack of nighttime lighting.
The show starts at 7:30pm, but we may hold the house a few minutes to allow for late arrivals due to traffic.
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Parking Pass Required:
Parking passes have been sent out to ticket holders and they MUST BE PRINTED AND DISPLAYED on your dashboard. NO VEHICLES WILL BE PERMITTED WITHOUT A PASS. Please have your mobile registration confirmation readily available.
The people of Quezon, Quezon incredibly looked up to my grandfather as the oxymoronic ideal gambler. He had the respect of his family and the community and thus the best of both worlds. He could be anywhere: Gumaca, Lopez, and Calauag and pitted with the best of the best mahjong players thereabouts. Once he played in Paco, Manila and at the age of 60 nearly slashed the throat of a cheating youthful adversary who apparently underestimated his skill in the game. He sported a balisong antigo snugly hidden in his bulsa de reloj. One time he accompanied my mother in attending a court dispute. There was a commotion, and I saw my grandfather being pacified as he was about to attack the other litigant in that case. Had he had his way, he would have gone to the jugular as was his wont. At eight years old, I could have defended him at that time as I was gunning to be a cop at that early age. No charges were pressed as obviously the threatened party did not want to see my lolo again for the rest of his life. I had no idea then of what lawyering was all about.
Under the tutelage of my grandfather, I learned how to count. Money in all denominations passed my little hands. My grandmother saw to it that I had a thorough washing once we got home. My nails were clipped short to ensure that no dirt seeped in my nimble fingernails.
One might say I had an awful childhood. But I lived with a husband and wife whose interests were whales apart. While my lolo was a fixture of gaming places, my grandmother on the other hand was a Church habitue being a member herself of the Manangs or the Magdadasals. Not a weekend passed did we attend padasal for the departed. Just by being there, I committed to memory the Latin mantra of Kyrie, eleison; Christe, eleison; Christe, audi nos; Christe, exaudi nos; Pater de Caelis Deus; miserere nobis; Fili, Redemptor mundi, Deus; Spiritus Sancte, Deus; Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus; etc. With my Nanay I became a linguist believe it or not. But most important, I was told that there was an omnipotent God. It was right after the Angelus that these prayer meetings took place and they were anxiously anticipated what with the festive merienda of pancit, pasingaw, minukmuk, sinukmani, served with hot cacao and a host of other kakanins. My tatay introduced me to cockpit Kristos and I knew them by name. I was at first confused when my nanay told me that there was only one Kristo, and he does not bet in the sabungan.
The first and the last week of May every year are my most anticipated time of the year. Not Christmas because my ninongs were a no show. May 3 is the Feast of the Holy Cross in Quezon; and May 25 is the Calauag town Fiesta. Why are they special to me?
Feriantes in droves from all over the province descend these two towns. Fiesta Carnival or Enchanted Kingdom or Universal Studios or Orlando Disneyland was not in conception yet but the fiestas in Quezon and Calauag are simply too fascinating for a provinciano like me. There were circuses yes and unusual creatures, but they were not the object of my interest.
I double bet and the triples. I placed my bets on the borders or shotgun bets. I mastered the technique on how the banker shook the dice. There were nuances in the style of shaking the ivories. I knew there was a trick somewhere but I placed my providential trust on the dealer. He could not cheat or my Patron Saint San Pedro or Majal na Sta. Cruz would send him to Hell. I squatted like a geodetic and levelled my vision on the table just to have a peek on where the cubes went or settled. There were enticing tricks like pooling the three cubes at the rim of the minibasin before completely covering them with nary a tremor tantalizing the clueless to place their bets on the obvious. Not me. I mastered how the dice moved about, their intricate cuts, uneven corners, and unequal weights; and that invariably caught the goat of the banker. I never went home empty handed. I was a young tajor in beto-beto.
Beto-Beto-sanNameJapaneseべとべとさんRōmajiBeto-Beto-sanMeaning"beto-beto" is the sound of footstepsProfileSpeciesYōkaiGenderMaleAbilitiesInvisibilityFirst AppearanceMangaThe Great Yōkai War (1966)AnimeSeries 6 Episode 4Portrayals2007 filmKazuhisa Ishii (voice)Gallery
Beto-Beto-san makes his anime debut in the fourth episode of the 2018 series, The Taboo of the Mysterious Forest. He follows Yūta as Kitarō and Neko-Musume escort him through the GeGeGe Forest. Yūta impresses them both by knowing the proper way to dispel him. After Yūta lets Beto-Beto-san through, he bows politely and goes on his way, disappearing into the forest.[1]
He is seen among the yōkai gathered around the GeGeGe House, trying to drive Agns out of the forest. They listen to Medama-Oyaji's warning that if they drive her out then the tragedy Malay yōkai will repeat somewhere else. Soon followed by Kitarō as he explains how grave the consequences are if Japan becomes a part of Backbeard's empire, causing them to look at one another. Until their attention is drawn to Kitarō as he stands on his resolve to fight.[2]
Beto-Beto-san first appears in the 2007 live-action film sneaking up on and scaring Kenta Miura as he walks home from the Yōkai Post. He is later seen chasing humans away from their apartment building with Kasa-Bake, Bake-Zōri and Nupperabō. They were paid by Nezumi-Otoko and immediately return to the Yōkai World after being defeated and scolded by Kitarō.
Invisibility: Beto-Beto-san is capable of turning invisible, as when the people he follows turn around, they see nothing. When Yūta lets him through he becomes visible momentarily, taking several steps ahead of them, slowly disappearing again.[1]
The Beto-Beto-san will follow people walking alone at night. They will hear footsteps, but when they look back no one will be there. To get rid of the Beto-Beto-san, you only have to step aside and say "After you, Beto-Beto-san".
When he was older, Mizuki Shigeru included Betobeto-san in his comics, and he was the first one to give the yokai a physical appearance. In all prior accounts, Betobeto-san was nothing more than the sound of footsteps. Mizuki imagined with the footsteps might be attached to, and the round yokai with the large friendly smile is what he came up with.
I suspect that Betobeto-san is one of those youkai that has relatives in other countries. Several times; when I have been walking down a lonely street, I was sure I heard someone (SomeThing???) following behind. It also makes me think of the Behinder, a supernatural found in the Southeastern U.S. Although it is said you DO NOT want to see IT.
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