December 24, 2004 Thank you for all your hard work and for sharing the Christmas traditions with us.... 14 inches of snow.. OMG... Well it is very cold here in Albuquerque.. about 7 degrees but that is just a rare occurrence because it's been so warm and dry in New Mexico for the last few years of this drought cycle we are going through.. OK lemme share a tradition and some history along with it.. the area I live is what is called the North Valley of Albuquerque near an old Plaza that some of you will recognize in old census data. The old Plaza was located around the old Adobe Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Nuestra Senora de Carmel) which still exists near the SW corner of Edith Rd. and Ranchitos Rd. Edith used to be call Highland in the 1930's and before that was called El Camino Real by the very Old People. It is the original Camino Real that the Spanish colonial Settlers traversed from Mexico City along the Rio Grande through The old family Plaza called Plaza de Francisco Candelaria, later named Los Candelaritas, later named El Rancho Plaza, later named Ladera Del Carmel with the center of the Plaza surronded by houses that most do not exist anymore on the west side of the chapel with a cemetery on the SE side of the chapel where burial have been done since late 1850's (prior to that the residents were buried at San Jose and Santa Barbara Cemeteries. The residents of the plaza (like most of the New Mexico Villages) would light Lumniarias on Christmas Eve. The Luninaria tradition comes from Old Spain where the local Parishes would celebrate Feasts of the Patron St's but throughout ancient Spain mostly during holy week. the Luminaria was a stack of wood piled up in the log cabin style approx. 3-5 high and lit at night. the Penitentes of Old Spain would let the fire burn out and walk barefooted over the hot coals as penitence. This tradition only existed later on in two parts of the Old Spanish Empire, Philipines and Colonial New Mexico. In New Mexico the Luminarias were about 2 to 3 feet in height and lit on paths to the Mission churches during the feast day Fiestas along with Rockets being fired off while the entire Village celebrated, danced and feasted. The Luminaria tradition soon became a mostly Christmas Tradition after the Railroad Arrived in New Mexico in the 1880's. The New "American" Towns were built of Wood Frame houses, thus introducing the fire brigades to New Mexico where previously no houses ever burned down. Well the Luminaria tradition still existed but became a problem with local fire codes so the Farolito took a more dominant role amongst the new Spanish, Jewish, Italian merchants that arrived with the Railroads from back east. So to keep the Luminaria alive with out the the entire town (Las Vegas, NM for instance) the Luminaria evolved into a different form, Farolito (Little Lantern). Its form was copied by the Chinese Railroad employees that used to make paper lanterns for the Chinese New year Celebrations. The local Spanish citizens of Las Vegas decided to take the newly imported paper bags that they used in the Mercantiles and place sand and a candle and light the way of the Christ Child in the fashion of the Luminaria (Bon Fire), thus the three cultures, (Spanish, Chinese, American), made the evolution of the Luminaria to what we see today in New Mexico, thus saving the new American Railroad Towns from burning down. Well in my neighborhood at Ladera del Carmel (previously noted above) the old people (late 1700's-early 1900's) used to light one luminaria on each night of the Novena in front of their houses to welcome Las Posadas and then on Christmas Eve they would light 9 Luminarias on a path to the Small Chapel and have Midnight Mass. The number 9 is significant here and I wonder if anyone else in other New Mexico communities can relate to this as I know that the hisory of the Luminaria is encompassed in much specualtion and wrong data. Well thank you all for your time and I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Teodoro (Ted) Lopez Albuqueruque