Present Moments

For a season that’s about being instead of buying, we show you how to take part in New Mexico’s holiday traditions with our go-to guide.

It’s in the bag: At least 12 communities host farolito (or luminaria) walks in December (check the calendar of events for specific dates), but the season’s granddaddy events are on Santa Fe’s Canyon Road and in Albuquerque’s Old Town (seen here). Photo by Charles Mann, www.charlesmannphotography.com

Farolitos & Luminarias

Most everyone agrees that, around the holidays, there’s always a special glow in
the magnificent Land of Enchantment. The one thing no one can agree on is
what to call that glow.

That’s because in the northern part
of the state—from, say, La Bajada to Colorado—those charming little candlelit paper bags that frame adobe walls and outline roads and walkways are known as farolitos. But south of La Bajada, toward Texas and Mexico, people call the glowing, flickering lamps luminarias. And making matters even more confusing, up north on Christmas Eve, people build bonfires of piñon, cedar, and pine from the highlands of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and call them luminarias.

But whatever you call these sources of winter light, there are plenty of places throughout New Mexico to stroll along and enjoy them. Many cherished memories throughout the centuries have been created by the smell of burning piñon complemented by the soothing sight of glowing farolitos set against a snow-covered street, leading the way to the warmth of an adobe home with a crackling fire inside. Visit the farolito/luminaria display nearest you, or, of course, you can easily make your own at home.—Arnold Vigil

Traditionally performed at holiday time, the Matachines Dance has obscure origins, but the ritual is consistent across the Río Grande pueblos. Masked dancers, like these at Ohkay Owingeh, carry a small trident or palma in the left hand and a rattle covered with cloth in the right. Usually, pueblo members and visitors gather round to watch the festivities. Photo by Charles Mann

Matachines Dancers

Perhaps the most mysterious of New Mexico holiday rituals is the Matachines Dance, performed at several pueblos during holiday time. Only a handful of papers have been published on the subject, and even those are inconclusive about the dance’s origins. Some elements—such as the music played on guitar and violin—obviously have European origins. Some believe that the word matachine is derived from the Arabic mutawajjihin (to assume a mask) and was brought to Spain by the Moors. Pueblo legend attributes the dance to the Aztec king Moctezuma, who is said to have brought it to northern New Mexico’s pueblos from Mexico.

Masked dancers wear headdresses resembling a bishop’s miter—and are similar, historians say, to an Aztec crown. Theatrical in nature, the principal characters are: El Monarca (the king), La Malinche (an interpreter for Hernán Cortés), El Abuelo (the grandfather), and El Toro (the bull). Crowds gather round—bolstered by thermoses of coffee and hot chocolate—to watch the spectacle.

This month, the Matachines Dance is scheduled to be performed at Jemez Pueblo in celebration of the Feast of Guadalupe on December 12, and at Picuris Pueblo on Christmas Day. Both Ohkay Owingeh and Taos Pueblo have scheduled dances for Christmas Day, and in the days leading up to the celebration, tribal members will decide whether the Matachines Dance or the traditional Deer Dance will be performed.—Tricia Ware

Join in:
December 25
· Ohkay Owingeh. Deer or Matachines Dance. (505) 852-4400
· Peñasco. Matachines Dance, Picurís Pueblo. (575) 587-1099
· Taos. Deer or Matachines Dance, Taos Pueblo. (575) 758-1028

Visitors are advised to call the appropriate pueblo visitors centers for last-minute details.

Los Comanches is a play performed on horseback with elaborate period costumes. It takes place in the village of Alcalde and commemorates the 1779 battle when Spanish settlers, joined by Pueblo and Ute allies, drove out the raiding Comanches, ushering in an era of peace. The event takes place this year on December 27. Photo by Mark Kane, www.markkane.net

Los Comanches

One of New Mexico’s little-known but historically significant pageants will be held St. Anne’s Church in the tiny village of Alcalde, just north of Española off N.M. 68.

The centuries-old play Los Comanches pays homage to the long peace that ensued after Spanish soldiers and colonists, along with Pueblo and Ute allies, defeated Comanche leader Cuerno Verde and his warriors in 1779, following decades of constant Comanche harassment of Spanish villages and Pueblo and Ute communities.

Costumed villagers on horseback portray both Spanish soldiers and Comanche warriors in the pageant, which takes place around noon beside the church, immediately after a Matachines Dance in the parking lot, says Alcalde resident Tomás Sanchez, 56. Sanchez, who has participated in the dance and portrayed a Comanche on horseback since he was 16, says that both lively performances, each lasting about an hour, will follow a Mass that will be celebrated in the church at 10 a.m. There is no cost to attend any of the events. There are no public amenities at the church, but such services are available in nearby Española.

For info and event date: Tomás Sanchez, (505) 753-5893.—Arnold Vigil

Enacted across New Mexico, Las Posadas is a 400-year old Nativity drama in which carolers follow “Mary” and “Joseph” from house to house (or in some cases, store to store) in search of shelter. While the Holy Family probably didn’t find hot drinks and bizcochitos at the end of their journey, New Mexicans are willing to take a few creative liberties. Photo by Efrain M. Padro, www.padroimages.com

Las Posadas

Some telltale signs that the holiday season is upon New Mexico are the many traditional Hispanic folk plays celebrated at communities throughout the state.

Prominent on the holiday marquee are the ever-popular Las Posadas and Los Pastores, Nativity dramas that were performed in New Mexico as early as the 16th century. Las Posadas (The Inns) re-enacts Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem. Two procession leaders, dressed as Mary and Joseph, are followed by a group of carolers from door to door as they ask for shelter, only to be turned away again and again. Finally, at the last door, they are welcomed, and the festivities ensue—usually involving hot drinks and bizcochitos. Los Pastores (The Shepherds), a similar re-enactment, dates back to Spain’s Middle Ages, and depicts the tribulations of the shepherds in their search for the Baby Jesus.—Walter K. Lopez

The dance troupe Azteca del Carrizo displays both Mexican and Native American traditions. Photo by Charles Mann.

Feast of Guadalupe

Each December in Tortugas, the feet of Los Danzantes de la Corperación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe rhythmically pound the earth from dusk till dawn. These dancers, their faces shielded by elaborate, mirrored headdresses, are part of a three-day fiesta celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe that has taken place in this area for more than a century. Many Roman Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary, also called Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Patroness of the Americas, miraculously appeared to Juan Diego, a Mexican Indian, outside Mexico City in 1531, as a sign welcoming the local indigenous people into the Catholic faith.

In the 1870s, Mission Indians living in Tortugas, a village between present-day La Mesilla and Las Cruces, began celebrating the feast day in St. Genevieve’s Church in Las Cruces. People participate in the fiesta today to “pay homage and respect to our Blessed Mother, and to fulfill promises they have made to her throughout the year,” says Felipe Chavez, mayordomo (organizer) of this year’s celebration. The ceremonies in Tortugas begin on December 10 with danzantes from 6 p.m. until dawn. At dawn on December 11, the followers pilgrimage to Tortugas Mountain, where at noon they celebrate Mass. On December 12, the official feast day, there is dancing all day. The public is welcome. For info: (575) 526-8171.—Ashley M. Biggers

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