Susan's Christmas Shop Newsletter
– Santa Fe Fiesta –
September 1st, 2026
Dear Customers and Friends of Susan's Christmas Shop,
Autumn is coming. These beautiful leaves recently blew onto my front porch. Surely more will follow. At the same time a new large yellow flower is blooming in a pot in my backyard, so summer lingers for a while. Days are warm and nights are cool.
August is ending September will bring Labor Day Weekend and Zozobra
Zozobra is Old Man Gloom and for Santa Fe Fiesta to begin, he needs to be burned. Zozobra was invented by Will Shuster, a Santa Fe artist who wanted Fiesta to be more fun and less serious and religious. He and his artist friends also invented the Historical / Histerical Parade, and descriptions of those early parades had people holding their sides with laughter. Will Shuster was inspired by the sight of a human size figure of Judas being burned in the Easter celebrations of Yaqui Indians in Tucson, Arizona. Over the next century, Santa Fe's Zozobra has grown to about 50 feet. He is packed with flammable shredded paper and erected at the top of a wide set of stairs close to Fire Station #1. This week the public is invited to write down their 'glooms" to be stuffed inside Old Man Gloom. He is also loaded with fireworks and when he eventually goes up in flames, the crowd loves it, and more fireworks are set off for a spectacular display.
These Zozobra ornaments would make a nice Christmas ornament for anyone who loves Santa Fe and its traditions but was not able to get one last year. This tradition is fun, but there is also a Catholic tradition.
Santa Fe's Fiesta began long before Zozobra and Will Shuster. In 1626, a Spanish priest brought a three-foot wooden statue of Mary to Santa Fe. Santa Fe was a brand-new town at that time. 400 years is recent history by European standards but significant in New Mexico's history. In 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted. The Spanish fled to the south, taking with them the precious statue of Mary. Some Pueblo Indians loyal to the Spanish went with them and founded a pueblo near El Paso. That Pueblo is still there; it is called Isleta del Sur, Isleta of the South. Thirteen years later the Spanish returned with the statue of Mary and named her La Conquistadora. They declared that a Fiesta would be celebrated every year in honor of the reconquest of New Mexico. In the 20th century she was given yet another name, Our Lady of Peace, but she is popularly known as La Conquistadora.
La Conquistadora is the oldest statue of Mary in what is now the United States. She has a wardrobe of over 300 gowns. She has many wigs, crowns, and veils. Women donate their hair for new wigs. Julia Gomez, a famous colcha artist recently honored at Spanish Market, made a beautiful colcha outfit for her. Colcha is a New Mexico Spanish Colonial embroidery technique that keeps most of the yarn on the front surface.
In 1973, La Conquistador was kidnaped from the Cathedral and hidden in an abandoned mine shaft for a few weeks before she was rescued and returned to her place in the cathedral.
Before Santa Fe Fiesta begins, La Conquistadora is taken in a procession to Rosario Chapel, which is close to the National Cemetery. She stays there for nine days during which Mass and Prayers occur. Then she comes back to the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe Fiesta can begin. So, take your pick of ways to begin Santa Fe Fiesta...La Conquistadora or Zozobra. There are glass ornaments to represent both traditions on your Christmas tree. La Conquistadora glass ornament is also blown by mouth in Poland, silvered inside and hand painted outside. Her history is on the back. She is also $65.
If you come to Santa Fe during late summer, you can still see sunflowers. A sunflower on my street shows one flower in full bloom, one fading. Each has its own beauty.
If you cannot come to Santa Fe for Fiesta, I send my fond greetings, no matter where you are in this wide world.
Your friend in Santa Fe
Susan Topp Weber
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