Let’s stop Fiesta Court visits to schools
For years, e Santa Fe Public Schools has allowed the Fiesta Court, composed of the people portraying Don Diego de Vargas, La Reina, members of Don Diego’s cuadrilla and the various princesses to visit every school and present a whole song and dance about the “peaceful” reconquest. Don Diego de Vargas also invites students to dance with him in celebration of an imagined bloodless victory.
From the time I was in kindergarten, I was forced to watch this charade. When I was young, I didn’t understand it, but I did know that the men with the silver helmets killed my ancestors. I was around 11 or 12 when I finally understood what the whole thing was about. The reconquest of Santa Fe by Don Diego de Vargas was by no means “peaceful.” Battles broke out between the Native people and the Spanish colonists in which many Native people were slaughtered by the Spanish.
What’s more, the true history of the reconquest is not taught in the New Mexico history curriculum used by Santa Fe Public Schools. I now realize that my classmates did not know the truth and that was why they celebrated. As I grew older, I also realized that getting out of class was the main reason for the older students to go and celebrate. While I didn’t mind an excuse to get out of class, I didn’t want to go and celebrate with the Fiesta Court. Every year, from the time I was old enough to understand, I would ask to be excused. And I was always met with the same answer: “No.”
When I started seventh grade New Mexico history class, I expected to be taught about my Native culture and history. I sat there every day listening to my teacher present incorrect information about how the Spanish arrived and brought religion and peace. I waited for the reconquest section, expecting the truth to come out, but it never did. We were being taught the same history portrayed by the Fiesta Court. It bothered me tremendously. At the time, I thought that they would teach the truth in later classes ,such as ninth grade history, but it never came. My fellow classmates didn’t know the true history of the reconquest because it wasn’t being taught.
My hope for the future is that the curriculum used by Santa Fe Public Schools incorporates the true history of the reconquest and that the district stops teaching students using an incorrect narrative. I also hope that the Fiesta Court will stop its visits to the public schools altogether. Don Diego tells the students to celebrate his victory in the reconquest. He also states that God is with him and his subjects, and that is disconcerting.
The Fiesta Court visits to the schools are of a religious nature, and it is unethical to impose religion on students. Superintendent Veronica García has acknowledged that the visits may offend non-Christian students. (She also announced a new policy that will allow students to be excused from the visits.) It’s time for a change. Native people deserve to be spoken about with respect and as human beings. I do not want anyone else going through what I went through as a child. Stop the Fiesta Court visits to the public schools and start teaching New Mexico history with a more inclusive, more truthful curriculum.