Farolitos or Luminarias? - This Day (Christmas Eve) in New Mexico History

Christmas Eve on the Enchantment Chronicles. The Men of Enchantment discuss the hotly debated Christmas Even tradition of the "Farolitos v. Luminarias". What do you call them?

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Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Enchantment Chronicles . It's Today in New Mexico History . Today is December 24th , 2024 . Christmas Eve , drew Luminarias .

Speaker 2 0:14

but the famous book is Farolitos for Christmas by Rudolfo Anaya , UNM professor . What do you say , Johnny ?

Speaker 1 0:33

I say Luminarias . I'm from the south , deep south , the far south , Las Cruces , and we say Luminarias . In fact , I never had heard Farolitos , really , until I moved northward to Albuquerque .

Speaker 2 0:49

Yeah . So what is the restaurant ? In Spanish , el Farol , up in Santa Fe , and a farol is a lantern , so farolito means little lantern , but luminaria just means Illumination in Spanish .

Speaker 1 1:05

Light , and so a little , a little light , a little lantern .

Speaker 2 1:11

All right , and presumably everybody that's listening to a New Mexico history podcast knows the tradition about the the lighting the lanterns before .

Speaker 1 1:23

I use at this point in my life I use electric farolitos luminarias . I think they're called luminaries at Lowe's Kind of funny , but we use that now but what it is ? It was traditionally a lighting of the way for people at night and there's arguments on how they were made , but really I think it was stacks of wood and then they would be lit so people knew how to get somewhere .

Speaker 2 1:54

A stand-filled paper bag . Over at the hospital where I work they have something they've made in appreciation of the different units and departments that take care of people at UNMH On that walkway . But it's everywhere , right , in fact . The Weekly New Mexican wrote In 1864 , as the natural darkness of night sets in the whole city and suburbs around light up with a blaze of light . So this tradition goes back centuries . And you're right , originally it was small stacks of wood , just little fires you could get away with in the desert , then candles candles in that paper bag . It actually was patented in 1872 , johnny , according to the National Park Service . So that's when we switched from stacks of pinon bark and dry wood to those little candles .

Speaker 1 2:59

Those little candles in the bags that you have to fold down , which is always a pain . Yeah , you have to fold it down without ripping the bag .

Speaker 2 3:07

Yeah , yep , it says it may have originated in 1590 , when Gaspar Castaño de Sosa's men led some to guide a scout back to their camp . Guide a scout back to their camp , but in the New Mexican Catholic traditions they were originally only lit on Christmas Eve , symbolically , maybe , guiding the Holy Family on their journey , but practically , yeah , guiding people to maybe the church for Mass or to a home that's having an open house . So those traditions came through here . The pueblos would perform traditional dances , and that tradition is actually spread across Latin America , but it may be originally from New Mexico .

Speaker 1 4:01

Well , on that note , Merry Christmas or Feliz Noche Buena , or whatever you Happy Hanukkah .

Speaker 2 4:11

Yeah , yep , and if you want to hear more about that , tune back in tomorrow for another day in New Mexico history . Spend another five minutes of your holiday with us . All right , thank you everybody .

Speaker 1 4:25

Adios .

Speaker 2 4:26

Adios , adios .