new acquisition

Christmas Memory

by Deborah Rael-Buckley

web # 7353

Sculpture

40"h x 16"w x 12.5"d

This dress form describes the winter event at Taos Pueblo. The pueblo is lit with tall bonfires and everyone waits in the cold for the presentation of the statue of the Virgin Mary, who finally exits the San Geronimo Church. The men of the pueblo announce her presence by shooting off rifles and the women of the pueblo follow her around the grounds. The Matachine dancers, whose colorful costumes glimmer in the night, dance around and tell a story of the conquest of the area.
Key players in the dance are La Malinche, the small girl dressed in white who represents Cortez' Native mistress, El Toro, the small boy dressed in a miltary uniform, and La Abuela, the old crone. Behind the church wall in the front the glow from bonfires are visible as the faithful enter the church grounds. The matachine dancers wear hats in the shape of the Miter hats of the church clergy and carry trident shaped wands, referring to the cross, all of which is a syncratic blending of Native and Spanish ritual, costume and dance. The shift in scale of the figures refers to shifts in time and perspective. The bull horns on the "shoulders" of the female form is a reference to Spain and the bull fight which is a fight to the death, the same way that the native peoples fought to keep themselves and their culture alive.