Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe, Tortugas and Albuquerque Photo Gallery by Ann Murdy at pbase.com

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe, Tortugas and Albuquerque

In 2008 I was fortunate to witness three wonderful events celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe. These celebrations took place in three different locations in New Mexico; Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Tortugas. On August 15, 2008 the Santuario de Guadalupe celebrated the arrival and unveiling of the 12-foot bronze statue that was made in Mexico City. The outdoor mass was celebrated by Archbishop Shehan in the parking lot to accommodate the crowd that turned out. The event was attended by the Santa Fe Fiesta Court, the Knights of Columbus, mariachi musicians, Aztec and Matachine dancers. On December 12, 2008 the Santuario was dedicated as the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I spent December 10th-12th in Tortugas to observe the Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This was my fourth year in attendance. This colorful event has been taking place for over 150 years. It begins with a procession on December 10th where Our Lady is carried from La Capilla to La Casa del Pueblo. A velorio takes place all night long. Throughout the night the Danzantes dance for Our Lady. On December 11th the people climb the Tortugas mountain where mass is held at 11:00 AM. The next day on the 12th dancing takes place all around the church. Four groups partake in the celebration; the Chichimecas, the Danzantes, the Gudalupano Aztecas and Los Indios. Between each dance a rifle with blanks is shot off. It is believed that this keeps away the evil spirits. At 4:00 in the afternoon a procession takes place with Our Lady and all four dance groups.

This year the South Broadway neighborhood in Albuquerque celebrated the 84th anniversary of honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 14th. Children dressed as angels and Juan Diego were participants in the celebration. After a morning mass by Archbishop Shehan a procession took place around the neighborhood with the Knights of Columbus, mariachi musicians, Aztec and matachine dancing. The neighborhood makes altars for Our Lady of Guadalupe in their front yards. These altars are blessed.

New Mexico is fortunate in the respect that there are so many opportunities to honor and celebrate Our Lady of Guadulupe!

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Our Lady of Guadalupe in Santa Fe	Our Lady before unveiling	The Unveiling	Our Lady after unveiling
Archbishop Shehan at outdoor mass	Knights of Columbus	Offering for Our Lady	Santa Fe Fiesta Court at Mass
Aztec dancers at unveiling	Dancing for Our Lady of Guadalupe	La Conquistadora with Our Lady	Velas y rosas
Offerings	Dancing after unveiling	Dancers kneeling	Walking with the tilma
Looking up at Our Lady of Guadalupe	Juan Diego and Our Lady	Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tortugas	Praying to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tortugas
Waiting to enter La Capilla	Danzantes entering La Capilla	Malinches entering La Capilla	Praying in La Capilla
Taking Our Lady out of La Capilla	Entering La Casa del Pueblo	Danzantes waiting to enter Casa del Pueblo	Prayer at La Casa del Pueblo
The Beginning of the Dance	Prayer	Monarca y Malinche bailando	Serenade for Our Lady
Color swirl	Monarca moving through the line	End of the line	Watching
Malinche y Monarca	Movimiento	The second dance	Movimiento with violinist
Volver	Turn around	Velas para Guadalupe	Silk flowers
Chichimecas	Chichimeca dancers	Chichimeca malinches	Chichimeca with rattle
Chacker up	Carrying altar	Pauline Pacheco	Chichimecas on the Plaza
Moving down the street	Dancing for Our Lady	Chichimecas on Plaza	Dancer
Chichimeca altar	Chichimeca and malinche	Chichimeca girl	Chichimeca dancer early morning
Approaching church plaza	Dancer holding chacker	Dancer with purple headdress	Velas
Detail of bonnets	Dance in afternoon	Dancer with chacker and rattle	Guadalupano Aztecas
Foot up	Guadalupano Azteca morning dance	Dancers and luminarias	Down the middle
Little Guadalupano dancer	Guadalupana Azteca with rattle	Little dancer	Guadalupano Aztecas and Malinches
Lead dancer up the center	Morning dance	Morning celebration	Morning song
Los Indios morning dance	Los Indios Capitan	Brother and sister dancing	Los Indios pair dancing
Los Indios on Plaza	Chant	Feet of dancers	Danzante's feet
Dancer with purple headress	Malinche and dancers	Man with shotgun	Danzante morning dance
Waiting to dance	Movement along the line	Dario	Danzante, Monarca y Malinche
Danzante	Danzante holding palma and guaje	Danzante with pink cuipil	Danzannte with blue cuipil
Danzante turn around	Danzante violinist	Feet of Danzantes	Monarca and Malinches
Palmas up	Archbishop	Giving comands	Circle chant
Song	Cuipiles	Detail of cuipil	Detail of blue cuipil
La Corona de la Monarca	Back of Monarca	Miguel in maypole dance	Rainbow of satin ribbons
Malinche holding ribbon for maypole dance	Mapole Dance	Monarca and malinche scarf dance	Malinche in maypole dance
Moving away	Scarf Dance	Danzantes holding ribbons	Danzantes
Chichimeca dancer late afternoon	Chichimeca dancer in red t-shirt	Chichimeca dancers late afternoon	Chichimecas in procession
Dancer with peacock headdress	Guadalupano boy on plaza	Guadalupano dancer's feet	Malinches
Afternoon dance by Danzantes	Danzante late afternoon dance	Danzantes on Plaza	Meeting
Start of afternoon procession	Carrying Our Lady in procession	Guadalupanos in procession	Chichimecas in procession
Guadalupano leader in procession	Guadalupana dancer	Los Indios carrying Our Lady	The New Mayordomos
Los Indios in procession	Las Indias in procession	Dancing feet	Afternoon procession
Dancing for Our Lady of Guadalupe	Backs of Los Indios dancers	Walking toward Our Lady	Danzantes carrying Our Lady
Little boy Guadalupano	Malinche in green velvet dress	End of procession	Cuipil atop of hood of car
Our Lady of Guadalupe -Tortugas	Tortugas Altar	Sequin Guadalupe in Albuquerque	Our Lady with roses - Albuquerque
Boy dressed as Juan Diego	Angel girl in Albuquerque	Little boy as Juan Diego	Little Angel Girl
Aztec dancer in Albuquerque	Aztec dancers in procession	Aztec dancer Albuquerque	Aztec Dancer with skull
Archbishop with Juan Diego & Guadalupe	Boy holding Our Lady	Altar in Albuquerque	Mariachi Musician
Procession for Our Lady in Albuquerque	Dancer in Albuquerque	Girl dressed as Our Lady	Guadalupe Altar with serape
Returning to St. Francis Javier	Albuquerque altar	Altar with Mexican flag	Detail of Guadalupe on clothing

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comment |

Rosie		29-Nov-2011 16:54
I will be in Albuquerque, NM from 12/7-10...we would love to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe Featst Day in Santa Fe on Saturday (12/10). Can someone please email me the link of events/festivities scheduled? Thank you. Rosie

Guest		12-Aug-2011 03:33
Hello I.invite everyone this year to celebrate our feat of our lady starting nov 19 with a concert honoring our lady and the 2nd week.of.december with our two day festivities

HERNANDEZ VICTOR		13-Sep-2010 23:08
MY NAME IS VICTOR HERNANDEZ. WHEN OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE WAS ON HER WAY TO SANTA FE NM I WAS ON VACATION IN THE STATE OF DURANGO MEXICO, I WAS WALKING DOWNTOWN I HEARD THE CATHEDRAL BELLS SO I GOT CLOSER AND THERE SHE WAS OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE. SHE MADE A STOP THERE IN DURANGO , ONE DAY I WILL TRAVEL TO VISIT HER IN SANTA FE NM, I LIVE IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Guest		29-Oct-2009 23:31
I Love you pictures. My father Pascual use to tell us stories of how his family were and are really involved in the Danza. I would love to see more pictures of the Valenzuela and Pacheco families. It looks very beautiful and im so happy you shared these photos with us. Hope to see more!

Guest		20-Feb-2009 20:52
This pictures are very beautiful. I like how you captured great pictures of my family. i am also one of the dancers. its nice to know someone appreciates our rituals. -thank you. sincerely Veronica Pacheco.

Guest		07-Jan-2009 16:26
A pleasure viewing these wondrous photos of New Mexico culture here in Iowa. Thank you, Ann, for sharing your gift of picture taking. I look forward to Tortugas with you and Jack next year. Such good memories and oh, that dance captain! Happy New Year! Love Chip

Patricia Sigala		06-Jan-2009 02:43
Beautiful and capitavating --like I was there! Peace, Patricia

marga shubart		05-Jan-2009 17:00
Ann - I really liked all the photos, but the ones of children were my favorites! - and the Tortugas group. Many thanks and a very happy Obama 2009!!

Bobbie		04-Jan-2009 19:26
Thank you again for sharing such lovely photos. Happy New Year to you and yours

Guest		25-Dec-2008 19:52
Beautiful gallery, congratulations for this gallery, is colorfull, joyfull, hopefull. You have great photos. Voted!!

hanina		25-Dec-2008 19:21
nice...

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