Today, there are no pictures.
Today we are going to Taos to meet up with
Lynn. During the planning of this journey, I was looking for places to play the
Drum in the Santa Fe/Taos area. In my online search,
I found Sweet Medicine Drums. We
corresponded for a few weeks concerning our visit to her area, so today we are
excited to finally meet her. She wasn’t sure of places to play the Drum, however
she invited us to go to the Taos Pueblo as her guest for the Procession of the
Virgin on Christmas Eve. We were
very excited about this invitation and unhesitatingly said “Yes.”
We met up with Lynn just outside of Taos,
where we followed her to her house. We ate a wonderful soup she made for lunch.
After lunch, we followed her and her “gang”(as she called them) to the
pueblo.
We arrived at Taos Pueblo after following
Lynn (in her VW camper van) down a muddy, snowy road that was the back way into
the parking area. The Taos pueblo has been around for over 900 recorded years.
As we entered the pueblo area by the church, we saw many small piles of wood
stacked into a lattice pattern that made squares. All along the route where the
procession would walk, the piles of wood got higher and higher until the last
pile that was approximately 8 foot square and 20-25 feet
high.
Standing Deer, a medicine man and friend of
Lynn’s, had invited her to his family pueblo and she was gracious enough to take
us with her. We knew this would be a very special experience for us. While we
were at Standing Deer and Marti’s pueblo, he did a blessing song for his parents
who had passed away two years ago. This was the first time that the pueblo had
been opened since that time. Before the blessing song, Standing Deer took a drum
down from the wall and asked for his beater to be handed to him. When we saw the
beater, we had to laugh because he had forgotten to bring one with him and had
fashioned a makeshift beater out of a piece of wood and wrapped one end of the
stick in duct tape. He made a joke that it was a modern beater and that, when
all else failed, there would always be duct tape. It certainly brought a sense
of levity to the group that was there at his invitation. Near the end of his
blessing song for his parents, someone’s cell phone began to ring. You could see
people surreptitiously checking to see if it was theirs, only to find out that
it was Standing Deer’s. He calmly
finished his song, answered his phone, spoke with the person on the other end,
hung up and made a comment about it being his nephew and family being very
important. We enjoyed meeting everyone and the fact that we were allowed to be a
part of this was quite a blessing.
As the sun sank lower into the horizon, it
was time to go back to the center of the pueblo for the ceremony. We gathered on
a small hill near the last and largest wood pile in order to get a good view of
all of the proceedings.
Since no photographs are allowed during the
ceremonies, all we have are the memories of everything burned into our minds. It
is frighteningly cold on this Christmas Eve evening. There has been plenty of
snowfall in the previous days. The river that runs through the pueblo is frozen
solid enough to walk on without fear of falling in. Everyone is bundled up and
eagerly awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The sun begins to set with a
burst of purples and golds. Imagine the solemnness of the people as they start
the first fires. Each fire is started from the top and as the San Geronimo
Church bell tolls, the procession begins. First are the boys carrying the
fire-lit torches made by enormous bundles of kindling bound together, followed
by men carrying rifles and intermittently firing them into the air. Even though
you are ready for it, the gunshots make you jump because they are very loud.
Next are the men playing drums, singing and leading the procession. Then, the
Virgin Mary is carried on a platform covered with pine boughs and a covering of
white material over her head and following her, everyone who wants to be in the
procession follows after the Virgin Mary. Sparks are flying, guns are firing,
drums are beating, and people are singing. By now, all of the fires are burning
and the flames are growing larger and leaping into the sky. The air is thick and
acrid with pine smoke. The hiss of
the fires turns into a roar. The wind is swirling around in many different
directions and as we stand and watch the procession move around the plaza, we
notice that all of the smoke moves to the center of the plaza and then up into
the sky. The largest of the piles tumbles abruptly to the ground, falling
sideways with a crash and scatters flames and sparks around in a glorious way.
The pyre next to this one suddenly bursts into larger flames and then the wind
grabs the smoke and sends it to the heavens in a twisting, swirling whirlwind.
At times there are two or three of these twisting whirlwinds catapulting
themselves towards the heavens all at once. As they rise, they begin to vanish
into the night sky. We watch this phenomenon until they are no longer visible.
We breathe in the atmosphere and hope to carry the sights, scents and the sounds
back in our minds and hearts. We watch as men walk up to the blazing fire and
then walk back, as if to prove their courage.
If you ever get the chance to go to the
Taos Pueblo for their Christmas Eve ceremony, please do it. You will not be
sorry you did.
As the fires begin to burn down, we
reluctantly returned to the jeep to make the 1 ½ hour ride back to Santa Fe. The
weather has been calling for heavy snow and we hoped to get back to our motel
before the big storm hit. As we drove into the small town of Taos, the snow
began to slowly fall. By the time that we had driven to the other end of town,
the snow had really begun to fall hard and heavy. We had to stop and clean off
the headlights and fog lights and hope that we would be able to get back to
Santa Fe. The road from Taos to Santa Fe is a long, winding, dark highway that
runs past the Rio Grande Gorge. After about 20 minutes of driving, we were down
to 15 miles per hour and locked into 4 wheel drive to help keep us from sliding
off the road. As you looked out the front windshield all you could see was big
white flakes pounding straight into us. This was our most intense driving yet.
Judy told me that her job was to pray and my job was to drive. At many points we
rode with the side windows down so that we could turn the defroster up on high
in order to keep the snow and ice from freezing to the windshield. This also
enabled us to be able to hear if were still on the road or not. In about 2 ½
hour we eventually made it back to the motel with white knuckles and sore hands
from hanging onto the wheel. I admit, I was ready for bed after that drive.
Today we are going to Taos to meet up with
Lynn. During the planning of this journey, I was looking for places to play the
Drum in the Santa Fe/Taos area. In my online search,
I found Sweet Medicine Drums. We
corresponded for a few weeks concerning our visit to her area, so today we are
excited to finally meet her. She wasn’t sure of places to play the Drum, however
she invited us to go to the Taos Pueblo as her guest for the Procession of the
Virgin on Christmas Eve. We were
very excited about this invitation and unhesitatingly said “Yes.”
We met up with Lynn just outside of Taos,
where we followed her to her house. We ate a wonderful soup she made for lunch.
After lunch, we followed her and her “gang”(as she called them) to the
pueblo.
We arrived at Taos Pueblo after following
Lynn (in her VW camper van) down a muddy, snowy road that was the back way into
the parking area. The Taos pueblo has been around for over 900 recorded years.
As we entered the pueblo area by the church, we saw many small piles of wood
stacked into a lattice pattern that made squares. All along the route where the
procession would walk, the piles of wood got higher and higher until the last
pile that was approximately 8 foot square and 20-25 feet
high.
Standing Deer, a medicine man and friend of
Lynn’s, had invited her to his family pueblo and she was gracious enough to take
us with her. We knew this would be a very special experience for us. While we
were at Standing Deer and Marti’s pueblo, he did a blessing song for his parents
who had passed away two years ago. This was the first time that the pueblo had
been opened since that time. Before the blessing song, Standing Deer took a drum
down from the wall and asked for his beater to be handed to him. When we saw the
beater, we had to laugh because he had forgotten to bring one with him and had
fashioned a makeshift beater out of a piece of wood and wrapped one end of the
stick in duct tape. He made a joke that it was a modern beater and that, when
all else failed, there would always be duct tape. It certainly brought a sense
of levity to the group that was there at his invitation. Near the end of his
blessing song for his parents, someone’s cell phone began to ring. You could see
people surreptitiously checking to see if it was theirs, only to find out that
it was Standing Deer’s. He calmly
finished his song, answered his phone, spoke with the person on the other end,
hung up and made a comment about it being his nephew and family being very
important. We enjoyed meeting everyone and the fact that we were allowed to be a
part of this was quite a blessing.
As the sun sank lower into the horizon, it
was time to go back to the center of the pueblo for the ceremony. We gathered on
a small hill near the last and largest wood pile in order to get a good view of
all of the proceedings.
Since no photographs are allowed during the
ceremonies, all we have are the memories of everything burned into our minds. It
is frighteningly cold on this Christmas Eve evening. There has been plenty of
snowfall in the previous days. The river that runs through the pueblo is frozen
solid enough to walk on without fear of falling in. Everyone is bundled up and
eagerly awaiting the beginning of the ceremony. The sun begins to set with a
burst of purples and golds. Imagine the solemnness of the people as they start
the first fires. Each fire is started from the top and as the San Geronimo
Church bell tolls, the procession begins. First are the boys carrying the
fire-lit torches made by enormous bundles of kindling bound together, followed
by men carrying rifles and intermittently firing them into the air. Even though
you are ready for it, the gunshots make you jump because they are very loud.
Next are the men playing drums, singing and leading the procession. Then, the
Virgin Mary is carried on a platform covered with pine boughs and a covering of
white material over her head and following her, everyone who wants to be in the
procession follows after the Virgin Mary. Sparks are flying, guns are firing,
drums are beating, and people are singing. By now, all of the fires are burning
and the flames are growing larger and leaping into the sky. The air is thick and
acrid with pine smoke. The hiss of
the fires turns into a roar. The wind is swirling around in many different
directions and as we stand and watch the procession move around the plaza, we
notice that all of the smoke moves to the center of the plaza and then up into
the sky. The largest of the piles tumbles abruptly to the ground, falling
sideways with a crash and scatters flames and sparks around in a glorious way.
The pyre next to this one suddenly bursts into larger flames and then the wind
grabs the smoke and sends it to the heavens in a twisting, swirling whirlwind.
At times there are two or three of these twisting whirlwinds catapulting
themselves towards the heavens all at once. As they rise, they begin to vanish
into the night sky. We watch this phenomenon until they are no longer visible.
We breathe in the atmosphere and hope to carry the sights, scents and the sounds
back in our minds and hearts. We watch as men walk up to the blazing fire and
then walk back, as if to prove their courage.
If you ever get the chance to go to the
Taos Pueblo for their Christmas Eve ceremony, please do it. You will not be
sorry you did.
As the fires begin to burn down, we
reluctantly returned to the jeep to make the 1 ½ hour ride back to Santa Fe. The
weather has been calling for heavy snow and we hoped to get back to our motel
before the big storm hit. As we drove into the small town of Taos, the snow
began to slowly fall. By the time that we had driven to the other end of town,
the snow had really begun to fall hard and heavy. We had to stop and clean off
the headlights and fog lights and hope that we would be able to get back to
Santa Fe. The road from Taos to Santa Fe is a long, winding, dark highway that
runs past the Rio Grande Gorge. After about 20 minutes of driving, we were down
to 15 miles per hour and locked into 4 wheel drive to help keep us from sliding
off the road. As you looked out the front windshield all you could see was big
white flakes pounding straight into us. This was our most intense driving yet.
Judy told me that her job was to pray and my job was to drive. At many points we
rode with the side windows down so that we could turn the defroster up on high
in order to keep the snow and ice from freezing to the windshield. This also
enabled us to be able to hear if were still on the road or not. In about 2 ½
hour we eventually made it back to the motel with white knuckles and sore hands
from hanging onto the wheel. I admit, I was ready for bed after that drive.
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