View of Heritage Field with Casa San Ysidro to the right. Drone imagery: Consuelo Martinez-Moya
Casa San Ysidro This Summer ACEQUIAS, THEIR HERITAGE
an adaptation of the Arabic as-
People: NM Acequia Heritage
who recently participated in
AND HISTORY ARE THE
saqiya, meaning water carrier.
in Global Context, Lamadrid's
the program is author, oral
FOCUS OF AN UPCOMING
talk will highlight how
historian, and Corrales native
TALK BY ENRIQUE R.
know as Yemen was the most
irrigation came to New Mexico
Gloria Zamora. She has been a
LAMADRID, distinguished
fertile and well-watered region
and its Arabic roots.
docent at the National Hispanic
professor emeritus of
in the Arabian Peninsula.
Spanish at the University of
Before Islam and the Arabic
BILINGUAL AND NATIVE
places, and is passionate about
New Mexico.
language arrived, Yemen
AMERICAN DOCENTS
history. “I made my first Holy
Although the Spanish
For four millennia, what we
Cultural Center among other
was part of the Kingdom of
Casa San Ysidro graduated
Communion at the church!
brought their system of
Sabaa (the Biblical Sheba)
a multi-cultural class of
I love old houses, and I love
irrigation to the New World,
and Sabaean lent Arabic
docents at the end of April.
history,” Zamora says. Although
the acequia system came
its extensive vocabulary on
Nine docents went through
she already knew about Casa,
from Muslims who invaded
watering the desert. There
the training and six of them
she says she learned a lot
Spain in the 8th century. When
are hundreds of Arabic words
are bilingual. Docents
during the training, including
Umayyad Caliphate collapsed
for wells, water containers,
aren’t just guides—they are
the difference between a
in 750 CE, the survivors of its
water quality, canals, and
passionate citizens with
hacienda and a rancho, plus
dynasty relocated to Córdova,
many more. Based on his new
strong connections to New
all about the old tools found
Spain. The word "acequia" is
book project, Water for the
Mexico history. One docent
at Casa.
10
SUMMER 2022
Art. History. People.
