It's a good idea to pay one's respects at wakes and funerals,
even if the deceased was not a close relative. If you can't
attend, it's important to express condolences at the first
encounter with a person who's lost a loved one. It's about
sharing the good times and the sad.
No matter why the gathering, there's food, and usually
music, often live by local musicians.
A typical day might start before dawn for those who still
tend livestock or a small orchard or crop. That's the time
to water and feed animals and irrigate gardens or fields
before going to a full-time job. Some of these chores are
dealt with after work, before dark. Hopefully, days off
can be spent on fishing, hunting or home improvement, if
not on traveling out of town to visit relatives, attending
a sports or cultural event or shopping for life necessities.
Folks here take local politics seriously, and you are apt
to find generations of local Hispanos with traditions of
political involvement. Local elections take on a holiday
air, with supporters lining streets near polls exhorting
your vote.
Every village and town has its saint's feast day. These
are celebrated with a Mass at the capilla or chapel, with
processions, feasting and perhaps a dance.
The biggest fiesta for the town of Taos is the Fiestas
de Santiago and Santa Ana, held the third weekend in July.
At this time Hispanic people and other locals return to
Taos Plaza en masse, celebrating traditions rooted in antiquity
by electing a queen from princesa candidates, a fiesta queen
Mass with a procession and a coronation, followed by a dance
and celebrating in the town square.
This is a time for sharing and celebrating life. It's a
kind of throwback to medieval pageantry and customs of honoring
village beauty, talent and intellect. This three-and-a-half-day
event starts with pageants and other activities on Thursday
afternoon; Taos Plaza is closed to vehicular traffic on
Friday; vendors offer special foods and treats, hawking
fiesta and sundry wares from booths. There are parades and
open-air live entertainment until sundown on Sunday.
The town fiesta usually heralds the beginning of the end
of summer, which won't be considered officially over until
chill winds blow and leaves start to turn. If local fruit
survived the late spring frost, women now gather sweet harvests
to can for winter use and gift giving. If you receive a
jar of homemade jelly or preserves, it's unspoken protocol
to return the empty container to the preparer.
The end of summer is celebrated with the historic trade
fair, in late September, a re-enactment of old-time 18th
and 19th century trade fairs between Hispano, Mexican, nomadic
and Pueblo tribal people and mountain trapper traders and
merchants.
To be Hispano in Taos is to try to live each day to the
fullest; greet everyone you know on a first-name basis;
offer polite help to those in need or lost; honor elders,
traditions and spiritual faith; foster pride in community
and family identity - all with a sense of bilingual humor.
