Keeping the faith: El Macho community retains tradition as it awaits return to beloved mission church

PECOS — Spanish song comes out of the dark, weaving its way into the restaurant, only to exit again in a heartbeat.

The centuries-old Hispanic Christmas tradition of Las Posadas, The Inns in Spanish, was celebrated Friday evening at Frankie's at the Casanova in this old, San Miguel County village.

Singers outside the restaurant, representing Mary and Joseph, request lodging, but are denied by singers inside, innkeepers, until the blessed couple is recognized and granted entrance.

Las Posadas is celebrated at different locations in a Catholic community on nine consecutive nights (Dec. 16-24) leading up to Christmas.

The community of El Macho, 9 miles north of Pecos, hosted the pageant at Frankie's.

In years past, Las Posadas, Mass and other services were celebrated at El Macho's Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Catholic mission church that dates back to the 1850s. But the venerable church has been closed for several years, first due to COVID and now because of structural damage that makes it dangerous to enter.

Repairs on Our Lady of Guadalupe are slated to begin this spring, but El Macho's Catholic community was ready to renew its Las Posadas heritage now.

"I just don't want the tradition to be lost," said Brian Sandoval, 55, owner of Frankie's. "That's why we are doing it here."

Sandoval said New Mexico is dotted with numerous old churches that are now abandoned, and he doesn't want El Macho's place of worship to be one of those.

"Traditions fade, then the use of a church and then the church is gone."

Grass-roots effort

Earlier Friday, El Macho's mission church appeared forlorn and weary as it sat in cloud and mountain shadow in the middle of snow-covered churchyard and cemetery.

An adobe structure with a ribbed, metal panel roof, the church can accommodate about 100 people. It has no water or electricity. Light is provided by candles and lanterns and heat by a wood-burning stove.

Severe cracking in the south wall, caused by moisture and soil erosion, threaten the church's stability and its future. A latticework of timbers inside the church support its roof above the deteriorating wall.

A grassroots fundraising effort spearheaded by siblings Irene Romero, Lucille Quintana, Emily Ortiz and Mary Helen Biles, mayordomas, or caretakers, of the church, has to date collected $139,000 to renovate the building.

And that's another reason Sandoval wanted to host Las Posadas at his restaurant.

"That church is our (El Macho community's) family chapel," he said. "These ladies have worked so hard, pounding the pavement to raise money. We want to celebrate that."

Historic and spiritual

The crowd from outside, including two children portraying Mary and Joseph, flooded into Frankie's to joyous singing.

About 100 people, from infants to the elderly, were shoulder to shoulder, singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" in English and listening to a verse from Matthew recounting the birth of Christ.

Among them were El Macho residents Mildred and Kenneth Melendez. Both have Ph.D.s, Mildred, 83, in linguistics, and Kenneth, 82, in mathematics. Kenneth is a retired Air Force officer.

Mildred was born in El Macho, but moved to Pecos when she was in first grade. Kenneth moved from Mora to Pecos when he was in eighth grade.

Their careers took them away for 50 years, but they have been back about 18 years and live now about a mile from El Macho's mission church.

"It's been terrible not to have services there," Mildred said. "I have family buried in the cemetery there -- my sister and her husband, my aunt, my grandparents."

Kenneth values Our Lady of Guadalupe for its history, but he said there is more to it than that.

"It is actually very spiritual to be in the old church," he said. "It is small, but very well attended. It is very cozy in there."

Mildred said she has learned by experience not to sit too close to the mission church's wood-burning stove.

She said she was not about to miss a Las Posadas hosted by the El Macho community.

"This brings the people who are interested in (the old church) together," she said.

Starry, starry night

The spirit and the feeling of family at Frankie's on Friday was likely very similar to that at Las Posadas celebrated in the mission church, but the setting was markedly different.

Frankie's has electricity, tables and chairs instead of pews and mounted elk and deer heads on the wall.

During Las Posadas at Our Lady of Guadalupe, candles and lanterns cast flickering illumination on the altar and the Stations of the Cross hang on the walls. Outside the church on a still night, people can hear the reassuring serenade of the nearby Pecos River.

"The atmosphere in that church is really something else," said Leonard Quintana, 68.

He and his brother, Lorenzo, 71, attended Las Posadas at Frankie's on Friday. They have roots in El Macho and own property there.

Lorenzo recalled that following Las Posadas at the mission church there was once a mile-long procession in the dark to a ranch for food and camaraderie.

"It is so dark there, you can see all the stars," Leonard said.

Wait 'til next year

Our Lady of Guadalupe is administered by San Antonio de Padua, or St. Anthony's Church, in Pecos.

The Rev. Christopher Nnonyelu, pastor of St. Anthony's, was at Las Posadas on Friday and led the crowd in prayer before they settled in to eat posole, beans, chile, tortillas and various desserts.

The pastor said that when El Macho's Catholics requested his permission to host Las Posadas at the restaurant, he willingly granted it.

"We value our El Macho community and want to help it return to its church," he said.

Nnonyelu said he expected renovations on the mission church to begin by the end of March and thinks it possible that Las Posadas will be celebrated in Our Lady of Guadalupe next year.

That's what El Macho's community wants to hear, that's what they need to believe.

"It's a nice substitution," Kenneth Melendez said of Las Posadas at Frankies. "But I look forward to it being back in the old church."