Our annual Fiesta celebrations which date back to the early 1600’s, are held in commemoration of Santiago and Santa Ana, who in the Catholic tradition, are the patron saints of Taos.
Summer in Taos is full of celebrations and having already shared the Taos Pueblo Pow Wow here on the blog, I thought it only right that the annual Fiestas make an appearance here as well. Last weekend as local historian and scholar Larry Torres once noted, “the local population put aside their labor for two days and bask(ed) in the leisure of the holy days.”
The Patron Saints of Taos may have been the original excuse for this Fiesta, but these days it’s one big, weekend-long party.
Originally called Fiesta de Santa Ana y Santiago, Fiestas de Taos (Taos Fiestas) is a community celebration and has indeed been celebrated here since the 1600s. Northern New Mexico has a long history and memory.
One of the biggest summer events in Taos, Fiestas de Taos features three days of live music, dance, parades, and special presentations along with food and crafts vendors and activities for children. Families come from all around to celebrate the connection to their history and culture.
A very choreographed set of events occurs during the parade and the later presentations. There are societies presiding over a royal court and other historical participants, but nowadays even low riders (and Lamborghini’s) make it into the parade!
The Fiestas are a way of not only preserving the rich heritage that has evolved in Taos over the centuries, but also passing these traditions on to the next generation, while sharing them with visitors who happen to find themselves here that weekend, by choice or not.
The traffic is usually insane, people fill the Plaza and streets day and night, but by Monday morning, all signs of revelry have been washed away by the Municipality.
For more information on the Fiestas, please visit their site linked below.
Local photographer Jim Cox was on the streets for the parade last weekend and kindly shared these shots with me.
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Mr.Romancito.Our interest in him came about after seeing Rooster Cogburn,for the seventh time and now posing an iPad.We are 78 years old and many years ago we owned land in the Smith Rock area in Oregon.In the film Wolf states “I want to be a lawman” This prompted me to Google.
Our congratulations to to Mr.Romancito and his fine family.
How great!Thanks so much for commenting. I’ll let Rick know.