Many of the Spanish festivals and celebrations
were brought over from Spain, some of them
stemming from medieval times or even the period
when Islamic Moors controlled Spain. Other
festivals were related to the cycles of the year
and the Catholic calendar.
The traditional holy days of the Nativity
were for religious observance. Another
traditional holiday was Semana Santa,
or Holy Week. The earliest brotherhoods of
penitentes, known to practice
self-mortification during Holy Week, came to New
Mexico with the Oñate expedition of 1598.
The feast day of the Virgin Mary took place
in September. In 1540, when the expedition of
Captain Hernando de Alvarado reached present-day
Albuquerque, they initially named the Río Grande
the Río Nuestra Señora, because they
came upon it on the Feast Day of Our Lady.
Pueblo Indians adopted many Iberian
traditions and celebrations, which survive to
this day in both Hispanic and Native
communities. Two such examples are the dances of
the Matachines and the festival of
Moros y Cristianos.
The origins of the earliest Matachines dances
are obscure. They are believed to be a part of a
family of dances known as the Moriscas,
or Moorish dances. The Matachines as we know
them today in New Mexico were originally
introduced into Mexico by the Jesuits to show
Christian triumph over Native paganism. In the
dance a young girl, referred to as La Malinche
(the mistress of Hernán Cortéz), shows the way
to Christianity through her goodness and
innocence. Today the dance is performed by
Hispanics in at least six New Mexico villages,
many Pueblo tribes, and the Rarámuri Indians of
Mexico.
The ceremony of Moros y Cristianos is
actually a playful reenactment of the battles
between Catholic Spaniards and the Moors who had
occupied Spain for 800 years. The first
reenactment took place during the late summer or
early autumn of 1598 in San Juan. There was
singing, dancing, jousting, and gaming. During
the mock battle some men dressed as Christians,
on foot and carried arquebuses, and others as
Moors, who were mounted on horseback with lances
and shields. There has been a Moros y Cristianos
celebration ever since.
The Spanish also brought over the tradition
of the bull runs, adopted by the Pecos Indians.
Their descendants partake in bull runs every
year in Jemez.
Another early celebration is now often
referred to as “The First Thanksgiving.” This
was not Thanksgiving Day as we know it but a
special feast and celebration that took place
when the colonists finished the first leg of
their long journey northward, reaching El Paso
del Norte (now the Juarez-El Paso area.) The
colonists were so relieved to finally reach the
banks of the Río Grande that they decided to
have a great feast to give thanks for surviving
the long hard journey.
Festivals and celebrations were likely
unchanged through the Mexican Era, from 1821
through most of 1846.
