The Burning of Zozobra Kicks Off the Santa Fe Fiesta

The first time I ran into Old Man Gloom I was eleven years old. Also known as Zozobra, he's burned at the stake every year to the cheers of crowds just before the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe a few days after Labor Day in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I visited Santa Fe for the first time during Fiestas of 1960 with my mother, two of my girlfriends and their mother. The Fiestas are an annual celebration of regional culture with parades, special events and regional foods and handicrafts.

The Santa Fe Fiesta has been going on since 1712, but Zozobra wasn't created until 1924, by an artist named Will Shuster. He's never missed a Fiesta since. Shuster created Zozobra as part of a private fiesta for his artist and writer friends. He got his inspiration from the Yaqui Indians' Holy Week celebrations, in which they carried an effigy of Judas filled with firecrackers on a donkey and then burned it. He was named Zozobra by a friend of Will's; it means "the gloomy one" in Spanish.

Fifty feet tall, Zozobra is the original Burning Man, a marionette made of wood, chicken wire and shredded paper from old police reports, mortgage papers and divorce papers that takes three weeks and about 3,500 volunteers to construct. Zozobra helps the witnesses to his burning rid themselves of any bad karma accumulated throughout the previous year and puts everyone in the proper mood for Fiesta.

Unfortunately, some people keep their bad vibes even after the burning. Ten years ago there was a murder on the Plaza right after the event as thousands of spectators were exiting the park. Ever since then, the burning has been scheduled for Thursday instead of Friday to discourage weekend gangbangers from trying to cause trouble.

The audience pours into Ft. Marcy Park near the Plaza in the mid afternoon, hours before the burning, because if you wait too long it's almost impossible to find a parking space, even at a nearby shopping center. But there's plenty of other entertainment, including music and food, to keep Zozobra company on his last night on the planet, and locals and tourists alike have a great time socializing and stretching out on the grass taking it all in.

Finally, at dusk, the burning begins, to the accompaniment of recorded growls, moans and groans, along with eye, mouth and arm movements as Zozobra slowly goes up in flames, accompanied by fireworks. A fire spirit dancer in a flowing red costume tries to drive away dancers dressed as white-sheeted "glooms" from Zozobra's base. Over 20,000 spectators this year will yell "Burn him" and watch Zozobra turn to ashes again.

On that first visit to Santa Fe, the night of the burning of Zozobra we visited La Fonda, a historic old hotel right off the Plaza, and had a close encounter with a striking red-haired woman dressed in a totally black cowboy outfit, from her hat down to her boots. I didn't have a clue who she was, but my mother recognized her immediately and said hello. It was the actress Greer Garson, who, we found out later, lived on a ranch near Santa Fe. Ms. Garson graciously responded, in her low-pitched, British-accented voice, "I hope you're all enjoying Zozobra," and continued on her way. My mother still gushes about that chance meeting.

That first time I watched Zozobra burn was the most memorable and fun. I've returned to see him again several times as an adult, and it's always been curiously cathartic. This year the Guinness Book of World Records is scheduled to declare Zozobra the world's tallest marionette. If you're in Santa Fe during Fiestas, don't miss the burning of Old Man Gloom the Thursday after Labor Day, this year on September 6th.