Synopses & Reviews
One of the great festival traditions shared by Pueblo and Hispano across New Mexico is the celebration Los Comanches. In this series of winter festivals, communities come alive with colorful processions, boisterous ceremonial dance, allegorical nativity plays, and a folk drama on horseback which portrays the 1779 defeat of famed war chief Cuerno Verde. In a mixture of defiance and emulation, these events honor the historic relations of war and peace with the Comanches, the feared and admired warriors and traders of the south plains who once held the fate of all New Mexico in their hands.
Lamadrid and Gandert provide historic, poetic, and photographic documentation of one of the richest legacies of the upper Rio Grande, a cultural crossroads known for its mestizo traditions and transcultural exchanges. A CD anthology of "Comanche" music accompanies a stunning selection of Gandert's photographs.
Synopsis
One of the great festival traditions shared by Pueblo and Hispano groups of the Southwest is the celebration Los Comanches. Between the end of September and mid-February, communities come alive with reenactments of centuries-old rituals. Colorful processions, heroic historical dramas, religious morality plays, and boisterous ceremonial dancing combine to form a mixture of defiance of and tribute to the Comanches by the Pueblo and Hispano villagers.
Enrique Lamadrid's and Miguel Gandert's account of Los Comanches offers a historical context and typology, but, more importantly, it includes: Cuerno Verde y sus hijos, the eighteenth-century victory play depicting the defeat of a Comanche chief; several nativity plays performed in different parts of New Mexico; and Los Comanches de la Serna, from Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.
With Gandert's documentary photographs and a CD that includes performances of songs from the plays, this volume preserves one of the Southwest's least understood cultural traditions.
About the Author
Enrique R. Lamadrid is a literary folklorist and cultural historian in the University of New Mexico's Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Miguel A. Gandert is professor of journalism and communication, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.