Little Lanterns
It's not enough that we have red states v. blue states, urban v. rural, Yankees v. Sox. In New Mexico we have luminarias v. farolitos. Let me explain.
Apparently hanging evergreen wreaths on the door is not how Santa Fe decorates for Christmas. I'm starting to see candlelit paper bags everywhere now that Christmas approaches. There are rows and rows of lit bags closely spaced along the flat roofs of neighborhood houses, restaurants, shops, and car dealerships.
They line walkways and border sidewalks. Canyon Road is decorated all up and down the street with them and the street is closed to traffic for a special Christmas Eve walk to see them.
This is simply how Santa Fe decorates for Christmas. Homes, hotels, everywhere. Paper bags filled with sand and a lit votive candle inside.
If you think these lighted lunch sacks are called luminarias, you are just wrong. In Albuquerque they are luminarias, yes, but in Santa Fe they ARE NOT.
They are farolitos.
The name farolito comes from a muddled but dearly held Santa Fe mashup about torches illuminating the holy family's path, or maybe a bandit's getaway by lighting bags of stolen cash on fire, or there's a third vein to the story involving bonfires on street corners but it gets confused.
The only thing to know is that the word divides the state sharply. Lighted bags are called luminarias in the southern part of the state, even though everyone knows luminarias are just piles of piñon cones lit on fire and there's no backstory. They are called farolitos in northern New Mexico, which is the true and superior name for beautiful small bonfires that have lighted the ways of saints or outlaws and isn't there a little bit of both in each of us?
They seem to me to be fire hazards at such concentrations in a dry climate. I was relieved to learn there are electric ones, but they are derisively called bagolitos.
This naming divide is apparently pretty entrenched. If you come to visit Santa Fe at Christmas time, do not remark how pretty the luminarias are. You'll hear a snort, or worse.
They are farolitos -- "little lanterns".
Apparently hanging evergreen wreaths on the door is not how Santa Fe decorates for Christmas. I'm starting to see candlelit paper bags everywhere now that Christmas approaches. There are rows and rows of lit bags closely spaced along the flat roofs of neighborhood houses, restaurants, shops, and car dealerships.
They line walkways and border sidewalks. Canyon Road is decorated all up and down the street with them and the street is closed to traffic for a special Christmas Eve walk to see them.
This is simply how Santa Fe decorates for Christmas. Homes, hotels, everywhere. Paper bags filled with sand and a lit votive candle inside.
If you think these lighted lunch sacks are called luminarias, you are just wrong. In Albuquerque they are luminarias, yes, but in Santa Fe they ARE NOT.
They are farolitos.
The name farolito comes from a muddled but dearly held Santa Fe mashup about torches illuminating the holy family's path, or maybe a bandit's getaway by lighting bags of stolen cash on fire, or there's a third vein to the story involving bonfires on street corners but it gets confused.
The only thing to know is that the word divides the state sharply. Lighted bags are called luminarias in the southern part of the state, even though everyone knows luminarias are just piles of piñon cones lit on fire and there's no backstory. They are called farolitos in northern New Mexico, which is the true and superior name for beautiful small bonfires that have lighted the ways of saints or outlaws and isn't there a little bit of both in each of us?
They seem to me to be fire hazards at such concentrations in a dry climate. I was relieved to learn there are electric ones, but they are derisively called bagolitos.
This naming divide is apparently pretty entrenched. If you come to visit Santa Fe at Christmas time, do not remark how pretty the luminarias are. You'll hear a snort, or worse.
They are farolitos -- "little lanterns".
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