Photo: Darren Cordova Y Calor
“We understand that under colonialism, African and Indigenous people had very different experiences,” Dr. Nelson said…
— from ‘Where Did BIPOC Come From?’ by Sandra E. Garcia, in The New York Times, June 2020.
I’ve been thinking a lot, these past few weeks, about the different stories we tell one another, and that we tell ourselves.
And how those stories direct our actions.
Archuleta Seniors Inc. (ASI) has begun promoting their upcoming Spanish Fiesta event, scheduled for July 27. This event was an annual tradition in Pagosa Springs back in the 1990s, but the organizers eventually ran out of the required time and energy. Also, as I recall, one of the key organizers died in a car accident.
Rose Chavez and her staff at ASI have taken on the task of bringing the event back, and they hosted the “21st Annual” version last summer, in 2023. From a recent ASI press release:
This year we celebrate “La cultura cura!”… a transformative health and healing philosophy that recognizes the importance of cultural values, traditions and indigenous practices on the path to healthy development, restoration, and lifelong well-being…
The photo above shows Darren Cordova Y Calor at the New Mexico Hispano Music Awards, where they won 2024 New Mexico “Band of the Year” award. They will be the featured headliner at the 22nd Annual Spanish Fiesta.
The Fiesta Royalty have begun appearing at local events, like the recent Car Show on Lewis Street.
The concept of “royalty” has different implications in various parts of the world, and during various periods of history. When European colonists began settling in the “New World” in the 1500s and 1600s, all their home countries were ruled as monarchies. The colonists who arrived in what is now the American Southwest, for example, came mainly from Spain, with its long history of monarchy dating back to 1479, when the marriage between Ferdinand II of Aragon, and Isabella I of Castile, united their two kingdoms into the kingdom of España.
When Juan de Oñate officially established a colony in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1598, for example, the Spanish crown was passing from Philip II (“The Prudent”) to his son, Philip III (“The Pious”).
Along the east coast, British and French colonies began to sprout up, still pledging allegiance to the British and French monarchs like King Louis XVI of France and King George III of England. But by 1776, the British colonists in America were fed up with monarchy, and decided to try a somewhat different type of government. The Mexican War of Independence culminated with the drafting of the Declaration of Independence in 1821, following the collapse of the royal government. Canada became semi-independent of Great Britain in 1867.
Nevertheless, we still celebrate Homecoming Kings and Queens, and various honorary “princesses” on appropriate occasions. It’s hard to let go, completely, of our love for our monarchical past.
I find it interesting that ASI and the Spanish Fiesta organizers are calling out “the importance of cultural values, traditions and indigenous practices…”
Typically, folks these days are using the word “indigenous” in reference to the peoples living here prior to the arrival of the Spanish and other European colonists… which is to say, prior to the arrival of the Catholic and Protestant religions.
Funds raised by ASI at the 2023 Spanish Fiesta were recently awarded to local BIPOC residents pursuing educational opportunities beyond high school. “Archuleta Seniors Inc. is committed to reviving the Spanish Fiesta to its full potential over a 3-year period. Scholarships specifically for BIPOC or Hispanic youth… were part of fundraising historically by the Hispanic community.”
BIPOC, meaning, “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color”.
Historically speaking, rather few of the (formerly European) colonists in North America have recognized the existing inhabitants of the “New World”, or the kidnapped Africans imported as slaves, as having any legitimate claim to the land and resources. That attitude has been undergoing a change, in certain social circles.
Last week, a friend sent me a link to a podcast titled, “Let Us Sing of the Syncretic Gods of Outcasts and Wanderers”. Joshua Michael Schrei is a podcaster, storyteller, teacher, and lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world; he posts a monthly commentary on his “The Emerald” podcast.
I had to look up the word “syncretic”.
Combining disparate elements in one system, especially as in forms of religious observance, philosophical systems, or artistic creations.
I rarely listen to podcasts, but I take it they’re popular with a growing number of people. It’s a bit like listening to the radio, except you get to pick your content instead of relying on the radio DJ to keep you amused.
The artform apparently dates back to about 2004, and Apple (host of the largest podcast collection) recently announced 2.7 million podcasts available on their platform, up from 550,000 in 2018. About 2-in-10 Americans now say they listen to one of more podcasts on a daily basis.
Mr. Schrei’s May podcast focused on the general idea that the world’s religious and cultural traditions can feel ‘fixed’ in time and place, but in his view, have in fact been in constant flux, blending and mixing as one culture pulls ideas and beliefs from neighboring cultures and traditions.
This blending and mixing is especially obvious to us in the 21st century.
I found Mr. Schrei’s lecture (over 2 hours) to be interesting, but also slightly annoying. Too much esoteric information packed into one podcast, and too much disembodied, out-of-context music that distracted (I thought) from Mr. Schrei’s explanations.
I might have gotten a greater benefit from a written version.
But one key idea that I appreciated:
All around the globe, we are watching a mixing of human cultures unlike any before in history. Yes, cultures have often collided, historically, and values and knowledge and beliefs have been exchanged.
But what’s happening now, as we complete the first quarter of the 21st century, is unprecedented.