Keeping traditions alive
Area residents join Pecos Pueblo descendants to celebrate feast day at historic site
BPECOS read baking in an horno. Catholic hymns sung in Spanish. Young boys in buffalo headdresses circling girls clinging to colorful feathers in traditional dance. A drum echoing alongside a stack of red adobe bricks.
These are small reminders that Pecos Pueblo is not dead, not forgotten.
Huddled under vibrant umbrellas, hundreds of people gathered Sunday inside the remains of the 18th century Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciúncula — the mission church of Pecos Pueblo — for the annual La Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles. A Catholic Mass, followed by Feast Day celebrations, is meant to honor Native people who once inhabited the land, as well as pay tribute to a saint to whom the church was dedicated in 1620.
Around 9:30 a.m., a procession wound through the Pecos National Historical Park, carrying an image of Our Lady of Angels to the front altar within the Pecos Pueblo.
“They call it una promesa — a promise,” said Jeremy Moss, the park’s tribal liaison, of the 180-year-old tradition.
“It fosters these connections between the past and the present.”
In 1838, when the last inhabitants of Pecos Pueblo left the land, they entrusted a painting of Our Lady of Angels to St. Anthony’s Parish, Moss explained. Although a replica of the painting is used today to ensure the original is not destroyed, the tradition goes on.
“She’s a savior of our tribe,” said Jemez Pueblo’s Toni Fragua, whose family is linked to Pecos Pueblo. “She guided [our ancestors]. She takes care of all of us.”
Every year, on the Sunday closest to Aug. 2, Native Americans whose families left Pecos Pueblo — many now reside at Jemez Pueblo — gather with people from the Pecos area and visitors from all over the world. Participants give respect to Our Lady of Angels, honor the historical adaptation of Christianity in New Mexico’s Native American communities and pay reverence to their ancestors.
“You think about your ancestors — how they suffered and were forced to leave this place,” said Margaret Loretto, 78, Fragua’s older sister.
In 1540, the population of Native people at the pueblo started to diminish significantly, Moss explained. A variety of diseases — measles, influenza and smallpox among them — and Comanche attacks killed many residents, and land ownership issues forced others to relocate. By 1838, there were only 17 to 21 Natives remaining at Pecos Pueblo.
At this time, leaders of Jemez Pueblo recognized the struggle and invited the remaining residents to “leave for a better life,” Moss said.
Since then, the historic site has evolved from privately owned land to a national historical park in 1990. Although no one has lived at the pueblo in nearly 200 years, Moss said it’s important not to describe the site as abandoned.
“Abandoned means no one is here, no one cares, no one thinks about it,” he said. “And that’s not true.”
“My great-great-great-grandparents came from here,” said Loretto, who said she’s attended the celebration with her sister since the 1960s. “There are spirits everywhere. They’ll never leave us.”
For Philip Trujillo, whose family dates back generations in Santa Fe, the celebration is a reminder of acceptance and community — specifically between Native people and Hispanics.
“Look at the relationships here, the camaraderie. It’s just so refreshing,” Trujillo said, adding he’d like to see people from Santa Fe who are focused on the recent controversies over the Entrada come to Feast Day and see “these positive relationships that have existed here for years.”
Moss agrees that in today’s world, this type of gathering is increasingly important.
“We can share these different faiths and ways of thinking and knowing, which is rare nowadays,” he said. “It represents the coming together of cultures in New Mexico. … We’re here to celebrate together and keep traditions alive.”
Before the close of Mass, Moss presented the church with a professional photograph dedicated by the park, showing Pecos Pueblo at night, illuminated with light coming from the kiva. The photo, he said, is proof “the park is not dead. It’s alive.”
Following the service, preteens performed 600- to 700-year-old traditional dances. People set up camp chairs, laughing, drinking lemonade and eating freshly baked horno bread. The Rev. Chike Ube shook hands with visitors. National Park Service employees wandered the park, hugging returning friends.
“I feel at peace,” said Loretto, smiling at her sister. “We just feel like we’re back home.”