Farolito walk: Residents hope for quiet affair on Canyon Road

Farolitos were what we called the bag/candle combo. Luminarias was a bonfire in the churchyard lit after midnight mass.

Were they really trying to do buses from ABq? Don't they have their own "luminaria" thing? It has changed over the years...and not for the better.

I understand there's some friendly disagreement about the definitions, but somewhere I got the impression that a luminaria is an event where an entire neighborhood displays farolitos en masse. Lots of folks use "luminaria" to describe the candle in the bag. My my, such ignorance.

They are so beautiful, and ingeniously inexpensive and perfectly safe...if I owned a house, believe me, I'd set out farolitos here in Kansas City.

One year after a meaningful and breathtaking Christmas Eve Mass at St. Francis Cathedral We thought we’d walk down Canyon Rd., to witness the display. I was never so depressed to see thousands of people walking in the dark up down Canyon Rd., and Acequia Madre; they reminded me of lost sheep without a Shepherd!

Nancy R in KC wrote:

I understand there's some friendly disagreement about the definitions, but somewhere I got the impression that a luminaria is an event where an entire neighborhood displays farolitos en masse. Lots of folks use "luminaria" to describe the candle in the bag. My my, such ignorance.
They are so beautiful, and ingeniously inexpensive and perfectly safe...if I owned a house, believe me, I'd set out farolitos here in Kansas City.

It’s the Albuquerque media with their small brains that call candles in bags luminaries and stacks of wood burning Farolitos. They just don’t seem to get it after all these decades!

the reason they dont like this event is because they dont make money off it. if they charged to walk-- these vendidos wouldnt be saying a word. also rich people dont like it when their money cant shield them from the poor... i for one hope the event is huge and we all realize what its about! Jesus Christ.

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.

ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

SFcitizenX wrote:

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.
ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

psst: mr. la farge is a native.

Psst psst: Mr. Lafarge is a distinguished native. Hasn't SFcitizenX read "Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog?" One of your library branches is named for his father Oliver, who won a Pulitzer for "Laughing Boy," a novel of Navajo life.

Nancy R in KC wrote:

Psst psst: Mr. Lafarge is a distinguished native. Hasn't SFcitizenX read "Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog?" One of your library branches is named for his father Oliver, who won a Pulitzer for "Laughing Boy," a novel of Navajo life.

Oliver of the "Oliver La Farge" branch of the santa fe library.

SFcitizenX wrote:

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.
ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

I'm confused. Do you *want* commercial activity and bus tours from out of town at the event your forefathers created?

Bring your boom-boxes and fireworks folks!
Okay, don't ... but come one, come all. This is exactly the sort of event we need to remind us of a simpler time, when commercialism didn't mean more than community.
p.s.
A "luminaria" clearly has a regional definition. In Texas and Arizona, it IS a bag of sand with a candle, as it is in most parts of Mexico and Spain. New Mexico's version doesn't follow the tradition that was brought up through Mexico, along "the Mission Trail" (through South Texas, across Arizona and into California). They didn't use paper bags though (duh), as the tradition has included everything from broken and intact pottery to cactus ears to set the candles in.

The confusion doesn't stop there, though ... Reminiscent of another holiday, I understand that this year, Bush's version of a "luminaria" will simply have flaming bags of poo lining his walkway, with DICK Cheney hiding in the shrubberies crooning "Go f**k yourselves" as the chorus to any song performed by passing carolers. Any song.

Merry Christmas everyone!

SFcitizenX wrote:

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.
ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

Oh screw you and "YOUR", forefathers crap. You're a typical example of one who thinks because a person doesn't have a hispanic last name that they can't have possibly lived here more than 5 minutes. Get the frickin chip off your shoulder and get educated in SF history. You're really a sorry sack.

You go, KD!!!!!!

SFcitizenX wrote:

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.
ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

you. I hope you grow up and learn something in the new year.

Here is today's hint: all caps = nutjob.

It doesn't sound at all to me that the Association is trying to close this off to the locals. As a matter of fact, they seem to want to make it more local. You know, they don't HAVE to do any of this. I am certain that it takes not only money, but time to put on such an event and I think it is a very lovely tradition.

With traditions, for them to stay true, you have to understand them. It is just like Christmas itself. People have lost sight of the true meaning of what Christmas is and now it has morphed into something totally different than when we were all growing up. This year I expect that there will be many unhappy children.

The same things have happened with Zozo and Fiestas.

SFcitizenX wrote:

"It was meant to be a quiet neighborhood celebration, so that's one of the reasons we've discouraged commercial activity, and we've discouraged buses from Albuquerque and that sort of thing," said John Pen La Farge, president of the Historic Neighborhood Association, which has sponsored the Farolito Walk for three decades.
ANOTHER FINE, EXCLUSIONARY EXAMPLE OF THE OUT-OF-STATE IMPORTS WHO MOVE INTO OUR TOWN AND WANT TO CLOSE THE DOOR TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE ELSE. AS A 5TH GENERATION SFEAN, WHO LIVES ON CANYON ROAD, I WELCOME ALL, NOT JUST THE OPPRESSIVE, RICH EASTERNERS. ENJOY WHAT MY FOREFATHERS CREATED AND WHAT I STRIVE TO CONTINUE!!

the reason wrote:

the reason they dont like this event is because they dont make money off it. if they charged to walk-- these vendidos wouldnt be saying a word. also rich people dont like it when their money cant shield them from the poor... i for one hope the event is huge and we all realize what its about! Jesus Christ.

Pray tell, what *is* it about?

They were lining Highway 68 with farolitos or luminarias or whatever you call bags with candles and sand in Velarde today.

Those people aren't rich snobs from the East.

We call them "Bagolitos" It would be nice if you`all stayed away.
I`m big on intimate settings.

If you are trying to keep the crowds at a more manageable level, why do you have city buses shuttling people and suggesting that people from out of town ride the train up here? Our Christmas Eve
Canyon road walk doesn't need advertising. Park your car somewhere and walk...and then eat at a local restaurant!