Scope and Content
The collection consists of Peggy V. Beck’s research materials used to create the exhibition Oremos, Oremos: New Mexican Midwinter Masquerades, at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico, in 1987, as well as documentation of other New Mexican midwinter rituals. Included are sound recordings of interviews, some of which are transcribed; recordings of performances and transcriptions for some of these interviews; recordings of performances both in the field and at the museum; field notes, photographs, drawings, and videocassettes.
Beck conducted interviews and documented midwinter masquerades in 1986 and 1987 in eight north central New Mexican locations, from Costilla in the north to Ranchos de Taos in the south. The masquerades centered around the figure of the abuelo (a word that normally means "grandfather" but in this context refers to masked ogres or bogeymen that appeared between December 10 and Christmas). The masked abuelos were said to come down from their mountain caves, attracted by luminaria (square-shaped bonfires made from cross-hatched pitch pine logs). The masqueraders went from house to house, dancing and performing. Children were warned that unless they were good, the whip-cracking abuelos would carry them off. On Christmas Eve, the culmination of the festivities, the abuelos and masked young people roamed the countryside asking for Christmas treats.
Beck documented the midwinter celebrations by interviewing elderly Spanish speakers. She found that the abuelos masquerades had elements similar to indigenous Pueblo midwinter rituals as well as characteristics common to solstice celebrations in West Africa, South American, and Europe (among the Basque people, for example).
In addition to the material related to the abuelos/oremos festivities, Beck also collected information pertaining to Los Manueles or Los Dias, a tradition in which singers and accompanying instrumentalists make rounds within communities, performing spontaneous verses in celebrating of the New Year. Los Manueles (literally, the Emmanuels -- people whose patron saint is Jesus, having names like Manuel or Manuela) are celebrated on their saint’s day, January 1. Since all of the days of the New Year are blessed in this way, the custom is also called Los Dias (the Days). Beck also gathered documentation on the matachines, an Indo-Hispano dance drama, performed in some northern New Mexican communities and pueblos. She also documented the Christmas nativity play, Los Pastores.
A list of names and geographic locations where the materials were collected are in Appendix A.