Time-honored folk dramas — virtually speaking

TIME HONORED FOLK DRAMAS

VIRTUAL LOS PASTORES PRODUCTION 2020

By Kathryn M. Córdova

This year, the 39th year of the Los Pastores tradition begun in Taos, the cast of Sangre de Cristo Liturgies and Las Pistoleras, both of Taos, plans to present a virtual, creative and innovative piece that observes the current COVID-19 protocols of social distancing.

Director Theresa Córdova, Kathryn Córdova’s daughter, is working with the Southwest studies department of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to produce the annual production despite the pandemic.

“We are not giving up, but we are also mindful that our audience must be safe and healthy,” said Córdova. The college offers Los Pastores via the Southwest Studies YouTube channel.

TAOS NEWS FILE PHOTOS

Los Pastores is a traditional folk play about the shepherds’ search for the newborn Christ Child. The drama dates to the Middle Ages as part of a sequence of plays called auto sacramentales or Acts of Faith. Twelve days comprised the complete spiritual cycle. Franciscan priests and Spanish and Mexican settlers brought the plays to New Mexico during Colonial times.

Three types of plays illustrated lessons of faith to the Christians and remained an important vehicle for sharing because few people in the area could read at the time. Plays consisted of the following types: mystery plays (about the life of Christ); miracle plays (about wondrous signs and events); and morality plays (about the battle between good and evil).

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TOP: Jimena Ballesteros photographed in her Miguel Arcangel costume in her family’s church, Lluvias de Gracia in 2014. Jimena played the Archangel in the Los Pastores that was held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. TOP LEFT: Lucifer shakes his pitchfork at the shepherds in the annual folk drama Los Pastores. LEFT: Little Lamb Sirena Quezada performs in the traditional Christmastime play Los Pastores at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in 2014.

Holy night

For nine nights, Mary and Joseph search for shelter in Las Posadas religious play

THIRD-GRADERS Juan Alcantar and Jamie Valencia portrayed Joseph and Mary in the second Las Posadas Parishioners quietly gather in the historic San Francisco de Asís Church in With the historic San Francisco de Asís Church as backdrop, parishioners that took place Tuesday (Dec. 17) in Ranchos de Taos for Mass before the second Las Posadas Tuesday evening proceed to the first stop in this year’s Las Posadas. (Dec. 17). Ranchos de Taos. The reenactment of the journey to find shelter on the night Jesus Christ was 16 TEMPO | DEC. 26, 2019 – JAN. 1, 2020 ON THE born is part of a nine-day series of SCENE Las Posadas leadBy Rick Romancito ing to Christmas Eve, carried out in this case by parishioners of the historic San Francisco de Asís Church. The series began Monday (Dec. 16). The religious play was “a creative means to teach the early history of the Catholic Faith through a lively reneactment of the story of Mary and Joseph as they searched for lodging in which the Son of God could be born,” according to church literature.

Mary and Joseph are typically portrayed by children or youth in the community. Valencia and Alcantar are studying to have their First Holy Communion in the near future.

LAS POSADAS

Another popular

Tessa Córdova, daughter of Arsenio and Kathy Córdova, grew up watching her father produce the annual Christmas drama ‘Los Pastores.’ Since her father’s passing, she and her mother now take charge of the traditional play, which will be virtual during this winter of COVID-19. community

Parishioners quietly gather in the historic San Francisco de Asís Church in With the historic San Francisco de Asís Church as backdrop, parishioners

Ranchos de Taos for Mass before the second Las Posadas Tuesday evening (Dec. 17). proceed to the first stop in this year’s Las Posadas.tradition, 16 TEMPO | DEC. 26, 2019 – JAN. 1, 2020 “Las Posadas,” meaning the “inns” or the “shelters,”

Los Pastores Virtual schedule

TAOS NEWS FILE PHOTO

Wednesday Dec. 16 7 p.m. Friday Dec. 18 7 p.m. Sunday Dec. 20 2 p.m. Thursday Dec. 24 7 p.m.

See at Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte Facebook; and Colorado College links at coloradocollege.edu/academics/ dept/southweststudies and facebook.com/groups/HulbertSWS.

During Colonial times, the casts and audiences internalized the play and made it their own. They changed a word or two while keeping the meaning of the message intact. This and other year’s productions follow the script provided by Aurora Lucero White in the 1930s. Los Pastores, the most musical play of the auto sacramentales, includes music reflecting the joy of the season.

An alabado (one of the archaic spiritual chants that continue through the spiritual practices of the Hermandad or the Penitente brotherhood) opens the first scene. The entrance introduces all the cast members with the exception of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus, whom the shepherds seek.

Other musical songs such as Bienvenidos Pastores (Mary and Joseph’s welcome to the shepherds) and Alarru Chiquito (the cast’s lullaby to the Baby Jesus, originally written for Mary Kaye Blickenderfer’s music students for their Taos Elementary School Christmas program in the 1980s), allows the cast to use their voices and instruments to entertain and honor the spirit of the season.

Former director, the late Arsenio Córdova, (Theresa’s father and Kathryn’s husband) composed these and other songs to enhance the storyline. In addition, the cast sings El Rey de Belen, a composition by the beloved Father George Salazar, currently assigned to Immaculate Conception parish in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

The sheepherders and their crew experience many obstacles along the way: pushing the lazy Barolo into action; the battle between the devil and the angel amid Satan’s temptations (or the battle between good and evil); and sharing the camaraderie that remains important during the search for the Baby Jesus. In the end, good prevails over evil and the entire entourage receives its reward – interaction with the Holy Family for whom they searched.

Many of the participants remained with the cast for several years, advancing to larger roles throughout time. This custom insures a continuation of future presentations. Actors represent various age groups, places of residence, family involvement and the real meaning of the season.

In the past, the cast traveled to places in Northern New Mexico, Colorado and Mexico to perform. is a religious celebration of Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem and their search for lodging as the impending birth of Christ nears.

Typically performed for nine consecutive nights (Dec. 15-24) before Christmas, at press time there was no news of Taoseños performing as posadistas (Mary and Joseph asking for posada, shelter) nor posaderos (the innkeepers who turn them away until the last night, when the Holy Family are finally welcomed and offered hot chocolate and biscochitos).

At press time, due to COVID-Safe prohibition of no more than five people in a public gathering, this beautiful pageant has been cancelled, until such time as pandemic protocols are modified. Given daily changes, however, call your local parish office for the most up-to-date information.

ABOVE: Scenes from the 2019 Las Posadas in Ranchos de Taos.

RICK ROMANCITO

Giving the essential gifts of lOve, jOy and peace

35TH TAOS FEEDS TAOS

— Staff report

Due to COVID-Safe Practices, Taos Feeds Taos will distribute food certificates to qualified families who will then do their own shopping at Super Save Discount Foods and receive a holiday ham with each certificate. Keeping volunteers and families safe, TFT expects to give out 1,000 certificates this year.

TOP: Posole and fixin’s are what many people look forward to for the holidays – must-have-meals qualified families will buy this year with Taos Feeds Taos food certificates instead of food baskets. Shopping must be completed by Dec. 31 at Super Save Discount Foods in Taos, and includes one Super Save holiday ham per certificate.

TAOS NEWS FILE PHOTOS

AFTER 34 years providing baskets of food to people in need during the winter holidays, Taos Feeds Taos is reinventing how to provide this essential service during this time of COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, hundreds of volunteers prep food and boxes. This year, physical distancing and stay-athome COVID-Safe protocols have changed the way holiday food will reach Taos families in need this year.

Grocery vouchers will be handed out to qualified families (see the graphic to qualify) and recipients will shop at Super Save Discount Food Store before Dec. 31, 2020. A holiday ham from Super Save will also be given to each voucher recipient at the time they shop.

Many folks in Taos County are reticent to acknowledge their hardship, so Taos Feeds Taos also relies on others to call in to register people in need.

This year's Taos Feeds Taos is being dedicated to victims of COVID-19.

Donations sorely needed

Because of COVID restrictions on public gatherings, the usual annual fundraisers such as the Taos Masons’s TFT Breakfast and the annual car show, were cancelled, Ernestina Córdova said, putting TFT in tight money constraints. “The car show makes a lot of money and we don’t have that this year.”

It’s been almost four decades since B&B owner Jim Ulmer saw not only the need to feed Taoseños during the holidays, but, more importantly, the benefits of a coordinated effort to do so. He saw that there was a lot of duplication in different organizations for distributing holiday food, and he had a long-range plan to reach everybody in need. Ulmer also believed the community should pass out food so families could spend their money on gifts for their families. Francis Córdova, along with former Taos mayor Eloy Jeantette, was one of the original moversand-shakers behind getting Taos Feeds Taos off the ground.

Three hundred baskets, including turkeys, were handed out in 1986. Two years later, 500 baskets went out the door. These days, the allvolunteer board of a dozen people, raises funds year round and buys food for 1,000 baskets. In 2019 that number climbed to 1,200 baskets. The average amount of individual donations has been about $72,000 per year and "every penny" is used to make sure there is enough food for qualified families.

While shopping for their holiday meals at Super Save Discount Foods, at press time a virtual ceremony is planned to be airing where there will be one-minute recorded speeches by TFT President Francis Córdova, Mayor Dan Barrone, County Manager Brent Jaramillo and possibly a Taos County Commissioner or two.

For more information, visit taosfeedstaos.org or call (575) 770-4758.

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TO apply

“In order to keep our recipients and volunteers safe we are limiting person-toperson contact as much as possible,” TFT president Francis Córdova and wife Ernestina Córdova said in an email Nov. 6, with the following rules for this holiday season (see the graphic on the opposite page for complete details):

1. Applications will be via phone, beginning Nov. 16 (four dates only for Taos; one date only for Questa, Peñasco and Amalia). 2. Grocery vouchers rather than food baskets to be given out. 3. Vouchers will be mailed by Dec. 10. 4. Recipients will shop at Super Save before Dec. 31, 2020.

Application dates (leave name and phone number and you will be called back):

Taos/Picuris

(575) 770-7841 Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Questa/Cerro

(575) 586-2144 (575) 779-6444 Nov. 30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Amalia/Costilla

(575) 770-9088 Nov. 30, 8 a.m. to noon

Peñasco

(575) 770-1621 (575) 741-8210 (575) 224-4859 Nov. 30, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

TAOS NEWS FILE PHOTO

David Torres unloads ham during a past Taos Feeds Taos distribution at the National Guard Armory. For 34 years, Taos Feeds Taos has been feeding the hungry over the holidays.

TO dOnate

In a thank you letter to Taos Feeds Taos supporters, TFT president Córdova recognized donors’ past generosity and urged as much or greater donations if possible, noting that, “because of the many businesses closing or curtailing staff due to the virus, your contribution is more important than ever. With so many without jobs, a greater need for assistance is anticipated. Given the extraordinary circumstances of this year, please consider increasing your contribution.”

Mail donations to Taos Feeds Taos, PO Box 234, Taos NM 87571. Make Paypal donations at taosfeedstaos.org.

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