Local Folk Lore
Folklore of the Spanish-speaking people of the heritage area has been passed down through many generations. It became an intrinsic and social part of the families who settled here. The story-teller became an important part of the social structure in the community. When the children finished their chores for the day the storyteller would gather them to tell them his cuentos (stories), which included stories of brujerilla (witchcraft) and tesorros (treasures).
The mountains are full of legends of old Spanish, French, Indigenous, and other treasures buried hundreds of years ago, stories passed from generations to generations from padre to hijos (father to children). When searching for such treasures, one must do it in the best spirit of friendship. For any form of jealousy, could cause trigger in spirit and cause compelete loss of the tesoro in the mountains.
Cuentos of brujas inspired curiosity about old, unmarried women that could turn themselves into owls, balls of fire, or cast spells. A curse could be easily cast by a tap on the back, or food eaten. Omens and superstitions were widely believed and practiced. To ease teething one would hang a dime around a baby’s neck. Pregnant women should stay indoors during an eclipse of the sun or moon or risk a deformed child. If a pregnant woman dropped a fork she would have a boy and if she dropped a spoon she would have a girl. Forming a cross of salt outside the front door could stop a hailstorm.
“El Ojo”, the evil eye, was a belief that eye to eye contact, of affection for another person, because unknown power can intercede and the person receiving the affection could get violently ill. Should this illness happen only a prescribed ritual(unique to each village) such as giving water by mouth or spoon can restore the ill back to good health. El ojo could be prevented by wearing a beaded coral bracelet.
La Llorona, the wailing woman, is a classic legend with many variations of this tale, which can be found in African, Aztec, American Indian, Gaelic, Greek and Mexican Folklore. Each local village has slight differences in their own versions. The southern Colorado version is a more contemporary take on this tale. It is of a young women with an unwanted pregnancy. Her fear of family and community disappointment pushes here to abandon her newborn in the river. A short time later she passes away and is condemned by God to look for the child’s body forever. As she wanders the streams and bodies of water for eternity she wails in desperation and can still be heard as a reminder to other young women to be good. Legend also states that you must not be near rivers or bodies of water at night or she will snatch you for her own.
El Milagro de San Acacio has been passed down by word of mouth for generations. Old San Acacio is a village built of adobe houses that formed a square around the central plaza. Legend has it that on a quiet day, when men were hunting and working in the fields while women were washing wool, an elder named Eusebio Valdez, was sitting on a stump. Eusebio Valdez saw a cloud of dust at the end of the llano, or prairie, that kept increasing in size, the dust was created by Indigeous people, to give warning Senor Valdez cried, “Indios!”. Los Indios halted, then the leader jabbed his lance to point to the village to signal the attack. Eusebio Valdez fell to his knees and prayed to San Acacio: “Implore the Lord God for deliverance from this terrible punishment visited upon the defenseless people.” When los Indios were about 300 varas away they stopped. The townspeople saw them point above the village yelled towards the sky. Los Indios then turned and retreated. Years later, after a great snow storm, and older Indio man was found almost frozen, taken in, and cared for. He spoke in broken Spanish and told the story of the day of the attack. “A giant man with a great sword, riding a fierce white stallion hovered over the settlement on that fateful day. There was strong medicine in that village and los Indios took it as an omen that the Great Spirit was a protector of that village. We were afraid and we left.”
Dichos (Sayings)
El que mal hace, bien no espere.
He who does wrong, will not encounter good.
Mas vale callar que locamente hablar
Better to be silent than to speak foolishly.
A buen hambre no hay pan duro.
To great hunger, no bread is hard.
Secreto entre tres no es secreto.
A secret among three is no secret.
Despues de la tormenta viene la calma.
After the storm comes the calm.
Cada cabeza es su propio mundo.
Each head is a world to itself.
El pescado y la visita al tercer dia apestan.
A fish and a visitor smell by the third day.
La vida se vive dia a dia.
Life is lived one day at a time.
Traditions
Luminarias(Farolitos)
Las Posadas
Mis Oremos and Mis Crismas
Los Pastores
Folk Arts
The Spanish revolutionized textile production in the Southwest with the introduction of the treadle loom in 1638. Sheep were brought by the Spanish and were used as sources of hardy fibers for the weaving of estrapajo, jergas, sarapes and colchas. Churro sheep are renowned for their hardiness and adaptability to extremes climate. And are known for their wool.
Historically, weaving was a basic necessity of Hispano settlers as families had to produce cloth for clothing, blankets and rugs. Weaving flourished in the San Luis Valley for a short period of time until the introduction of ready made clothing and manufactured cloth until the opening of the Old Spanish Trail (1821) and later by the railroad (1877). The replacement of the Churro sheep and its long silky wool with the Rambouillet sheep’s short, greasy wool; the end of the trade with the Indigenous tribes, which stopped the supply. Weaving in the San Luis Valley, however, still continued as an art form.
In the late 1940s, Eppie moved with her husband, Frank Archuleta, and their eight children to the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. There, they worked in the potato and lettuce fields and raised sheep. When the children were not in school, they joined their parents in the fields.
Archuleta processed her own wool by carding, spinning, and dyeing it with vegetable dyes. Once these steps were completed, her wool was ready to be woven on the loom. During the day she stayed busy working and cooking for her family. At night, she did her spinning and weaving. “Everybody’s asleep so I can weave. All by myself. Nobody bothers me.” Examples of her work, including a tapestry depicting a wounded soldier during the Vietnam War, are on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.. Archuleta was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1985 and she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1997.
Colcha embroidery Spanish for coverlet, is a special technique attributed to special wool-on-wool textiles in the American Southwest during the Spanish colonial period. Colchas typically depict religious images or scenes from everyday life, and were used to record a stitcher’s memories.
This is another practice, colcha embroidery also reflects the importance of sheep and wool to the region’s economic history. Colchas were often used as altar cloths and altar carpets in churches and in the home as coverlets.
A nine-foot by twelve- foot tapestry in the Colorado State Capitol honors the women who were integral in the settlement and development of Colorado. One of the women depicted in is Genoveva Gallegos-Salazar, from San Luis is. She is in a red Spanish dress with a black veil, standing by a river. Genoveva was the daughter of Don Dario Gallegos who established first mercantile business in Colorado. He also assisted with the building of the San Luis People’s Ditch in 1852, and helped establish the first water rights in Colorado.
According to information, the massive project incorporated hand-stitched embroidery and applique on Irish linen, took over 4,500 hours to complete, 1,600 expert artisans, 1,800 amateurs and imported skilled #artisans from thirty eight states and nine countries. (Info from State Capitol brochure and Colorado State website).
https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/womens_gold_brochure-accessible.pdf
In 2019, Josephine Lucero was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). The artist is from San Luis, the oldest town in Colorado, and began learning the art of colcha in her 50s at a local workshop at the Sangre de Cristo Parish. Her goal as an artist is to make sure that stories don’t disappear.
Before synthetic dyes reached weavers in the southwest in the late 1860s, natural dyes were derived from of vegetables, plants, and minerals. Most of the dyes were obtained locally and the techniques of extracting the colors were learned from Indigenous groups. Chamiso, also known as rabbitbush, is a dominant plant in the semi-arid valley and a primary source of yellow dye. The Spanish did import indigo and cochineal as there is no record of indigo being grown in New Mexico or Southern Colorado. With these two imports providing red and purple, and having yellow, most any color could be produced. Because wool does not readily accept color well a mordant is necessary. In colonial times the most common mordant was human urine left to ferment. Later alum, vinegar, and tin were used.
After the yarn had been washed, it would be mordanted. Placed in an aluminum kettle with enough water to cover the yarn, to this you’d add six tablespoons for each pound of yarn and stir until the water become quite warm. As soon as it is warm the yarn is added let simmered for thirty minutes, being careful to keep the yarn covered by water at all times. After thirty minutes of simmering the yarn should be placed in a sack and hung in the shade to dry, do not wring the yarn but allow it to drain dry.
Mordanted yarn must be used when dyeing with Chamiso, Willow, Walnut Hulls, Hierba de la Piedra and Alder Bark.
Murals
Frederick Fitzjarrald Haberlein, Lightning Heart, was born December 7, 1944. He was given the moniker of “lighting heart” because of the speed of which he completed his works. His name is often signed with his trademark symbol of a heart with bolts of lightning. He grew up at the Conejos Ranch on the Conejos River in southern Colorado. Fred graduated from Antonito High School, attended Colorado State University with a degree in sculpture and anthropology and attended graduate school at Arizona State University, where he studied printmaking. During and after graduate school, Haberlein lived in Oracle, Arizona., working alongside other artists at Rancho Linda Vista. In 1984, Fred returned to Conejos Ranch and began painting murals in Colorado, the first of which was a Virgin Mary for his high school classmate Johnny Johnson, who fought in the Vietnam War.
Haberlein went on to complete 80 murals in the San Luis Valley before moving to Glenwood Springs with his wife, Teresa Platt, in 1988. He continued mural work, completing 140 pieces of public art including pictures on the main streets of Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Leadville, Gunnison, Salida, Alamosa, LaJara, Romeo and Antonito. For 18 years, Haberlein taught Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain at Colorado Mountain College. One of his more recent projects was the repainting of a mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2016 in Antonito. Fred loved Native American culture, painting, juggling, hiking, skiing and hanging out with friends. He is survived by his wife, Teresa; brother, Bill; son, Kort, and daughter-in-law, Sandy; and 2 grand children, West and Ryan.
Naming of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Sacred Heart Church
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alamosa
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alamosa
Alamosa Cycles
Crane building
Alamosa Post Office Mural by Fred Haberlein
SLV Museum in Alamosa
The Rams by Fred Haberlein
Wild Horses by Fred Haberlein
High Country by Fred Haberlein
The Shepard’s Sunrise by Fred Haberlein
Whooping Crane by Fred Haberlein
Our Lady of Guadalupe by Rogelio Briones
Bronco Busters by Fred Haberlein
The Old Plaza at Conejos by Fred Haberlein
Quetzalcoatl de Nuevo Aztlan
Mimbres Trout-Truchas de Luz by Fred Haberlein
Mimbres Rabbit–Conejo for Conejos
Silos by Fred Haberlein
History of the Conejos River Region by Fred Haberlein
Miracle of Tepeyec-Nuestra Señora del Valle de San Luis
Ojo de Dios by Fred Haberlein
Four Season Panel by Fred Haberlein
The last painting Haberlin painted
David Ocelotl Garcia
Bas relief of a stagecoach in San Luis by Carlos Sandoval
San Luis Mural by Huberto Maestas
Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center Mural photo by Kat Olance
Sierras y Colores
Mural by Carlota Espinosa
On the north end of town
Fall Harvest
Santos, from the Spanish word meaning saints, is a folk art found in the Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Santeros are honored artists who experience their craft as a holy calling, produce santos, painted carvings depicting religious figures. Santos carved in the round are called bultos. They are usually carved from cottonwood root, pine, or aspen. This tradition descends from 15th century Spanish colonization of the Americas, when ecclesiastical authorities of the Catholic Church could not supply parishes in remote outposts with works of religious art. The first santos are thought to have been imitations of Spanish Baroque statues carved by priests. Later santos were influenced by native styles.
Retablos are a traditional form of Spanish colonial and Mexican folk art, which often feature oil or acrylic paintings of saints and holy figures on wood panels. This devotional art form, prevalent in churches and homes, particularly flourished in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, using local materials and unique artistic styles.
Striking bronze statues by internationally renowned sculptor Huberto Maestas illustrate the Stations of the Cross along a steep trail to the top of San Pedro Mesa overlooking the town of San Luis has drawn visitors from around the world. It was all inspired by a local priest and built by the hands and funds of parish congregants and donors, dedicated in 1990. Sometimes called the Way of the Cross, the object of the Stations is to help the faithful meditate upon scenes of Christ’s sufferings and death. It has become one of the most popular devotions for Roman Catholics.
