The Burning of Zozobra

I was in Santa Fe this weekend because Michelle (Eloise's bassist) got married to one of my close friends, Valente. I think that the most bizarre thing I did was witness the Burning of Zozobra on Thursday night. It took place on a baseball field, and families gathered early to have picnics and find their spots for the day. As soon as night fell and the ceremony began, it felt as though these warm families turned into some strange cult, yelling, "BURN HIM!!!!" at this gigantic effigy.

The effigy is also known as "Old Man Gloom". He's about 50 feet high. They burn him during Fiesta Week as a symbol of letting go of the glooms and sadness of the past year.

Throughout the whole thing, there was a guy groaning into a microphone. You can hear/see it in the video below. That lasted for like 45 minutes, and after about 20 minutes, you could tell he was getting tired of groaning. It was hilarious at first... then it got old... then it got so old it was hilarious again.

One of the puzzling parts was that they played "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes, so we thought maybe he was a NYC police officer. That was followed by that guitar solo version of Star-Spangled Banner. WTF?

Old Man Gloom groaning


Old Man Gloom burning



The event went on for about an hour... there were fire dancers and kids dressed as "glooms". People wrote down their glooms from the past year and put them into a box which went down burning too.

Anyway, here are some pictures...

Enjoy!