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One of the more enchanting aspects of New Mexico culture is its popular folklore, and in Ray John de Aragón’s book, he retells in fascinating, detailed stories told for more than 400 years around campfires or inside hushed, dimly lit adobe homes.
The book includes the usual suspects like “La Llorona” and “El Chupacabra,” but also lesser-known tales like “The Headless Horseman of Santa Fe” and “Los Voladeros,” (“The Flyers”) which, like all of these stories, have a moral or lesson summarized in Spanish at the beginning of each story.
In “The Headless Horseman,” the moral is “El que desea mal a su vecino, el suyo viene en camino,” or “What goes around comes around.” It’s a chilling story of a young man so in love with a beauty from Santa Fe that he dared to seek a love potion from a coven of witches. When he bungles the recipe and the potion fails, he loses his head in anger, and returns to wreak his vengeance.
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“Enchanted Legends and Lore of New Mexico: Witches, Ghosts and Spirits” by Ray John de Aragón The History Press, $16.99 107 pp. |
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It is said that on some misty nights at the witches’ home on Santa Fe’s DeVargas Street, now known as The Oldest House, you may witness what other way the young man lost his head.
“Los Voladeros” tells of a man named Angel who ignores the warnings of his family and friends not to enter a forbidden mountain village. He goes and returns, unwittingly accompanied by two witches. They are hideous in appearance and manner, but to him they’re the most beautiful women in the world. The moral in this story is “Con cuidado se evita la brasa” or “Forewarned is forearmed.”
De Aragón, who was born and reared in Las Vegas, N.M., weaves beautiful descriptions of some of New Mexico’s most intriguing customs, like a re-enactment of a traditional wedding dance, “Entriego e los Novios” (“Delivery of the Newlyweds”), in which the couple lead the merrymakers in a snakelike dance. The dancers form two lines with hands joined over the rest of the dancers passing underneath the human tunnel of love.
With “Enchanted Legends and Lore of New Mexico,” Aragón passes on the stories that have been passed down in his family for generations. The tales are charmingly told, mainly in English, but with Spanish expressions instantly translated. The book also is generously illustrated with artwork from the artist’s own collection.
De Aragón’s book should be of special interest to those seeking a little enlightenment about the dark side of New Mexico’s enchantment.
His newest book, due out next week, is “Hidden History of Spanish New Mexico.” His previous books are “The Legend of La Llorona” and “The Penitentes of New Mexico.”
Ray John de Aragón reads from, discusses “Enchanted Legends and Lore of New Mexico” at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Silver City Museum, 312 W. Broadway, Silver City.
