There are reasons why we are losing our culture
When I was in elementary school we were told not to speak Spanish or we would be punished. I remember my mother telling me that is the reason they never taught us Spanish growing up. Now let’s reverse the situation. Let’s say that English was to be the second language. You Anglos would be yelling all over the place. You know you would.
Does anyone remember the person in Arroyo Seco that stopped the posadas from taking place? I believe it was because they were on school property, or was that the excuse. The posadas had been a tradition for many years in that school to my understanding. Do you think I could go to Israel and tell them they can’t observe tradition in their schools?
I am not angry at anyone in particular. It just happens to be that we are losing our culture. There are reasons for this, and we have to look in the mirror folks. One reason is technology. Two, we have not taught our children what we were taught, or they are not listening to us. This is not true for the majority of families. We don’t have festivals or art colonies and elders/icons that are honored on a weekly basis to remind us. Other issues that hold us back are alcohol/drug addiction, domestic violence, along with poverty and parents working extra jobs. There is also the situation where fathers are hardly present in their children’s lives. This is not a blanket statement.
The only festivals we have are religious in nature like the Fiestas. But then the Fiestas are not held on the Feast Day, except for San Geronimo at the Taos Pueblo. We had more Fiestas and those dealt with harvest and matanza. The mayor had a communal matanza, but that was met with disdain.
Myself and others are now beginning to form a diverse group of community people to begin to address these issues. Thank you Ms. [Judi] Cantu for beginning this dialogue that should have started a long time ago.
I will end with two remarks. First, eating a bowl of green chile stew is not a cultural event. Second, in the words of Father Luis Jaramillo, “if you were born green chile, don’t act like a bell pepper.”
Sawtelle lives in Taos.
