Happy Hanukkahmas: The Crypto-Jews of New Mexico

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/to-the-end-of-the-earth/9780231129374

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:35

Welcome to the Enchantment Chronicles today in New Mexico history and Merry Christmas to you .

Speaker 3 0:42

And Feliz Navidad .

Speaker 2 0:44

Feliz Navidad . Thank you , johnny . Yeah , this day in New Mexico history in 2024 is an unusual day . It only happens about once every 19 or 20 years or so on average . But the first day of Hanukkah is following on Christmas Day , so I guess people sometimes call that Hanukkah-ness on Christmas Day . So I guess people sometimes call that Hanukkah-mas . But it's also a fitting day to remember a key population , and you told me about a book , johnny , that a former state historian , david Hordes , wrote , published in the early 2000s , after spending about 20 years collecting interviews and anecdotes right .

Speaker 3 1:24

Yeah , the book that we were talking about is To the End of the Earth , A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico , written by Stanley Hordes in 2008 .

Speaker 2 1:34

And the crypto-Jews . They're also sometimes called Sephardic Jews or Sephardinos .

Speaker 3 1:44

These folks . It's argued in this book that they came to northern New Mexico because this was after the Spanish Inquisition . This was the last , the farthest away place in the Spanish territory , and they came out here to be able to , in somewhat peace , practice their religion .

Speaker 2 2:09

Right , but they were crypto because not because they were into strange currencies , because they were hidden . They were secret Jews and so they would show up for mass on Sunday , but on Friday night and Saturday they were lighting candles and singing some very different songs , right .

Speaker 3 2:30

That's the argument I think in this book specifically and there are other articles that mention this there were quite a few families in northern New Mexico that practiced secret Judaism , quite a few families in northern New Mexico that practice secret Judaism . So everybody kind of knew it , but it was still practice in private .

Speaker 2 2:52

Right , and those families might have traditions like not eating pork , which is kind of unusual out here , and keeping two Sabbaths , which maybe isn't that unusual , given that a lot of times Kiva ceremonies might be held in indigenous communities on Saturdays too . You know , after the and Pueblo Revolt it was kind of like , as long as you show up to mass on Sunday , what you do on Saturday is none of our business anymore . It was sort of the attitude of many of the Spanish imperial officials . Indicate some DNA testing . They would indicate that a lot of these families do have markers of being Eastern European Jews or of that descent dating back to 1492 , when of course Columbus sails the ocean in blue , but also Ferdinand and Isabella order the expulsion of all Muslims and Jews from the newly united Iberian Peninsula , from the Kingdom of Spain , the United Kingdoms of Castile and Aragón , so that tradition is alive .

Speaker 2 4:11

It was a little confusing because in the 1800s another group , the Seventh-day Adventists , came and they were reviving Jewish traditions as part of their practice of Protestantism , and so some of these families are sort of recognizing each other and some of these traditions that they're maintaining and there's a little bit of confusion . So some of the families that might practice . Some of those Jewish Sabbath traditions actually date back to the mid-18th or mid-19th century , to the coming of Seventh-day Adventists to Texas and New Mexico . But it's a long tradition of integrated religious faiths and a good day to celebrate . It is Hanukkahmas , hanukkahmas , Hanukkahmas , yep , all right , well , this has been this day in New Mexico history , although really it's every day in New Mexico history , but again , hanukkahmas is that good day to remember the crypto Jews of New Mexico who came to the end of the earth in pursuit of religious freedom .

Speaker 1 5:21

I'm a new Mexican and a true Chican . I was born in a small town , very humble , poor and sincere . And now I'm going to sing Muy humilde , pobre y sincero . Y ahora les voy a cantar De mi pueblo natural . El pueblo en que yo nací Lleva por nombre La Goya , donde vivían mis parientes , mis amigos , los griegos romenos y los moyas , where my relatives , my friends lived , the Roman Greeks and the Moias . And now I want to sing Of my popular state Arriba Nuevo Mexico .

Speaker 2 6:35

Arriba mi estado querido .

Speaker 1 6:38

Arriba mi Albuquer . Arriba mi Albuquerque y arriba con toda su gente . Arriba Nuevo Mexico , arriba nuestra capital , arriba con Santa Fe y arriba mi Estado Popular .