Browsed by
Author: Estevan Rael-Gálvez

Nombrando La Muerte

Nombrando La Muerte

As a consequence of the so-called Spanish Flu, in November and December of 1918, La Revista de Taos recorded the names of those who had died in villages throughout Taos County, including Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco, Cañón, Chamisal, Taos, Ranchos, Talpa, Rio Pueblo, Llano de San Juan, Llano Largo/Santa Barbara, Córdovas, Picuris, Peñasco, Valle, Trampas, Questa, and Cerro.

Manito Reflections — The Archive of Time, Place, People & Story

Manito Reflections — The Archive of Time, Place, People & Story

The Manitos Community Memory Project is an initiative to establish a community-based archive, grounded in the living culture of the villages of northern New Mexico, southern Colorado and the diaspora intricately connected to this region. The project was launched with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The following essay is a reflection of the first phase of the project, what was accomplished, what was learned and what is envisioned for its future.

Community Cuentistas – Mapping the Storytellers in Juan B. Rael’s ‘Cuentos Españoles de Colorado y Nuevo Mexico’

Community Cuentistas – Mapping the Storytellers in Juan B. Rael’s ‘Cuentos Españoles de Colorado y Nuevo Mexico’

One of the core lessons I learned from my grandmother was that the best storytellers are those that have mastered the ability to lean in and to listen. In this, I think of the work of now renowned linguist and folklorist, Juan Bautista Rael. As a native son of the region, he had no doubt been raised on stories, however, in the summer of 1930, he returned home, freshly minted with a Master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley….

Read More Read More

Independence Day – Imagining the Nation, in Questa, New Mexico

Independence Day – Imagining the Nation, in Questa, New Mexico

Recently, I came across a couple of photos taken of a Independence Day Parade in my home village of Questa, from circa 1935, which led me to reflect about this commemoration. It is interesting to reflect on this celebration of Independence Day (4th of July) for a mountain village that had been settled by Mexican citizens after Mexican Independence and before the U.S.-Mexican War that resulted in the annexation of the northern portion of Mexico. Questa, which was actually founded…

Read More Read More

RECONCILIATION

RECONCILIATION

The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) opened, Reconciliation. The exhibition responds to last year’s ending of “La Entrada” as part of the Santa Fe Fiestas and using artistic expression, adds to the ongoing dialogue of the astonishing complexity of being and belonging to this place we now call New Mexico.

The Director’s Journal

The Director’s Journal

The Manitos Community Memory Project was recently launched with this ‘Digital Resolana’ serving as a way to generate an interest in the community toward developing a community archive. The blog also serves to document the process and progress of the overall project. In this thread, my own goal as the director of the project will be to use this space to journal short reflections about the project sharing my thoughts about the project, words, ideas, people and places. March 9,…

Read More Read More

Alabados – Voices of Spirit

Alabados – Voices of Spirit

Today, on this highest of holy days to Catholics, I recall the deeply resonant sounds of the ancient spiritual hymns known as alabados. Recognizing the value and importance of recording these spiritual praises and other musical and religious traditions, folklorist and linguist Dr. Juan B. Rael returned home in the summer of 1940 and recorded the voices of fifteen men and four women from villages in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, including these deeply spiritual hymns. Listening to the alabados in moradas,…

Read More Read More

Women and Creativity

Women and Creativity

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t acknowledge the contributions of women, including in shaping who I am as a man to this day. Indeed, When I think of the power of the human spirit, realized especially through the deepest love that one person can hold for another, I think of mamá, my grandmother, one of the two women who raised me up in beauty and vision. Yet, as we close this month, where we pause…

Read More Read More

Reflections of Africa in New Mexico

Reflections of Africa in New Mexico

Every village has a remarkable story and Las Trampas, named for the River of Traps that flows through it, is no different. This village in northern New Mexico was settled in 1751 and holds the legacy of the remarkable families that gathered ground, tilled it and through the centuries made community. These families had come from Santa Fe, but at least one of their progenitors had himself carried an older origin story, one that reflected a journey of thousands of…

Read More Read More