More Highlights From Santa Fe

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, my sister Susan and I drove down to Santa Fe, New Mexico from Denver last weekend to attend the annual fiesta that has been held there since 1712. This past Friday night, after we arrived, I decided to walk from the luxury Downtown Motel 6 Resort Hotel and Spa, where we were staying, to the Santa Fe Plaza, to check out the action. I found that there was indeed a crowd dancing to the live band in front of the Palace of the Governors, but except for that, the city was pretty quiet. Although there were a few places along the way with live bands playing, most of the restaurants closed at 9:00, and there were not that many people on the street. However, despite this, Saint Francis Cathedral was all lit up, as seen in the photograph on the left, and as usual, looked pretty impressive. And no, the French Pastry Shop located in the La Fonda Hotel was not open, either.

The next morning it was much more lively. As usual. the Native American artisans were in their usual place under the Palace of the Governors portal, selling their wares to the tourists, as seen in the photograph on the right. They have been doing this since the 1930s, with only the Covid outbreak in 2020 and 2021 interrupting this tradition. And do Native Americans still believe that taking their photograph will steal their souls? As I understand it, this was a 19th and early 20th Century belief, and over the years, they have become more comfortable with the medium. After all, it is through photography that they have a permanent record of their culture. That is just my humble opinion, of course, which up to this point has never carried much - by which I mean any - weight.

And as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, the plaza is the center of fiesta events, and most of the locals congregate there with their friends and families to enjoy the fun. This year there was an entire street devoted to arts and craft booths, and many food vendors on the streets surrounding the plaza. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, in addition to booths serving traditional New Mexican cuisine, there was also a booth selling giant turkey legs, just like back in Denver. Of course, in Denver you would have a booth selling "Los Turkey Legs" at the Cinco de Mayo Festival, which I suspect are then frozen, to be taken out and sold at the Taste of Colorado on Labor Day weekend. The remainders to be frozen again, and sold at Oktoberfest as "Das Turkey Legs." A local sitting next to me, waiting to start his job as a security guard at the festival, remarked that the turkey legs at the nearby booth smelled pretty bad, confirming all my suspicions about that industry.

And during the fiesta parade, a highlight of the festival, I was happy to see that St. Francis of Assisi was participating, on horseback no less, waving to the crowd as he went past the Palace of the Governors, as seen in the photograph on the right. Francis is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, and so it makes sense that he make an appearance. As the parade went on, it began to seem like everyone in the city was participating, too, which I assumed would take many hours. Therefore, my sister and I decided to leave the parade and head to Chimayo and Abiquiu for more sightseeing. When we returned to Santa Fe several hours later, the parade was still going strong. Surprise!