Send your problems up in smoke
Santa Fe finds catharsis in burning Old Man Gloom to launch annual Fiesta
In my hometown, whenever a lover leaves, a fight fractures a friendship or a job is lost, we take all of that anxiety or depression and we build a 50-foot effigy of Old Man Gloom we call Zozobra.
He’s thin, white and ugly with big ears, a big nose and a menacing scowl. He wears a white gown with a colored sash and bow tie. We fill him up with our grievances, written on scraps of paper. We stuff him with divorce decrees and bankruptcy notices. And once a year, we gather with all our loved ones to scream “Burn him” as he moans and is lit on fire. We laugh and clap as we watch Zozobra burn.
Then we dance. Our problems are just smoke now.
When I tell Houston friends about this yearly ritual — this year Sept. 2 — the first question is always: “So it’s like Burning Man?” Yes, the town burns a large man. No, it’s nothing like Burning Man, the nihilistic hippie fest in the middle of the Nevada desert.
The burning of Zozobra began in 1926 as a way for Santa Fe, N.M.’s burgeoning artist community to participate in the yearly celebration of the town’s Spanish founding and re-conquest. In a place where the inhabitants count their traditions by the centuries, the burning of Old Man Gloom is relatively new, but it’s also one of the most fun and unusual ways to spend an evening.
Santa Fe is a place where people do things for a long time. It was founded as a Spanish colony in 1610, 10 years before the Mayflower landed. In 1680, the Native Americans revolted against Spanish rule. The many different Pueblo tribes united and forced the Spanish troops from the city. Twelve years later, the Spaniards reclaimed the city, although they did provide some dedicated land nearby for the tribes to keep. It was an uneasy truce, often marked by outbursts of violence. But that truce has been reenacted every September for three centuries nonetheless, in a celebration called Fiesta de Santa Fe.
The roads leading into the plaza, the heart of the city, are still narrow and old-fashioned. Art galleries, jewelry stores and all kinds of shops reside in buildings made from old adobe, a mud brick made thick to keep cool in the summers and warm in the winters. In September, the weather in Santa Fe can run both hot during the day when the sun is out and cold at night once the sun goes down, but the change is never drastic.
During Fiesta, the plaza is packed with artisans selling Spanish “bultos” or “retablos” and Native American “kachinas” as the city presents the best it has to offer in crafts, art and food. One of the main reasons the Spaniards were first expelled all those centuries ago was the Native Americans’ resistance to forced conversion to Catholicism. The Pueblo Indians were devoted to their deities, represented by the small statues called kachinas. Seeing them so close to the bultos and retablos, the sculptures and figures representing saints that the Catholics hold so dear, one finds it hard to imagine why the Spaniards didn’t have a better understanding of what the Native Americans were fighting for: culture, tradition and the freedom to express themselves.
For tourists, this is the best time to sample it all in New Mexico. September is also when chile is harvested and roasted. You can smell it burning in big metal cylinders turning in circles over fire. The chile in New Mexico is unlike the chiles of any other part of the world. Everything we eat is smothered in it, from enchiladas and burritos to hamburgers and potatoes. There is no meal that can’t be improved with a little chile. The first question any waiter will ask you is: “green or red?” If you want both, just answer, “Christmas.” They’ll understand.
Keep strolling the streets around the plaza and you’ll hear musicians play on the main stage near the stalls filled with artwork. Other times you can catch live music from impromptu troubadours on the sidewalk or in the bars and restaurants that surround the main square. Always, you’ll hear people yelling “Viva la fiesta!”
Remember, in the weeks after Zozobra, as the town is celebrating, all of our problems have gone up in smoke. Old disagreements and feuds have been put aside. The party is infectious, and we’re ready to dance at a moment’s notice. There is no better place in the world to be than Santa Fe this time of year.