Millennium and beyond: Santa Fe to host Burning of Zozobra for 99th time

When the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe took over planning Will Shuster’s Burning of Zozobra – it was in perpetuity.

On Friday, Sept. 1, it will mark the 99th time the Burning of Zozobra will take place. The gates to Fort Marcy Park open at 4 p.m. Music performances will take place through dusk when Zozobra burns. The event is rain or shine.

“Zozobra is about burning your past glooms,” Ray Sandoval says. “It’s unique and it’s a huge cultural tradition for New Mexicans.”

Shuster created the first Zozobra in 1924 as the signature highlight of a private party for Los Cinco Pintores, a group of artists and writers who made their way to New Mexico in the 1920s.

He was inspired by Easter Holy Week traditions in the Yaqui Indian communities of Arizona and Mexico, in which an effigy of Judas is led around the village on a donkey and ultimately set alight.

Shuster and his friend, E. Dana Johnson, editor of the local newspaper, came up with the name Zozobra, which in Spanish means “anguish, anxiety or gloom.”

Shuster’s creation first burned in his backyard in 1924 as a 6-foot effigy, and over the years, has grown to a towering 50-foot high marionette.

Made of wood, wire and cotton cloth, and stuffed with bushels of shredded paper, which traditionally includes obsolete police reports, paid-off mortgages and even divorce papers, Zozobra is a dark and eerie character, part ghost and part monster.

Sandoval says the Kiwanis started The Decades Project, which pays homage to each decade leading up to the 100th anniversary next year.

This year’s decades are the 2000s and the 2010s.

“The Decades Project is something that has allowed a new generation of New Mexicans to be involved and enjoy Zozobra,” Sandoval says. “It really blew the door off what we could do. By paying homage to the past decades, Zozobra didn’t become a rerun. Each year has been different and it’s a great way to interpret history.”

In the months leading up to the burning of Zozobra, the Kiwanis open the door to the public to help stuff the giant marionette.

This is another aspect the Kiwanis wanted to change to make it more accessible to the community.

“Allowing more people to be involved to construct Zozobra, that’s when it becomes a true community event,” he says. “There’s an ownership and pride that comes into play. Having the community be involved from the beginning helps it become real and it makes memories, so people can pass on this tradition.”

Sandoval says last year’s crowd was well over 70,000 people, which is why the event is capped at 55,000 this year.

He says to buy the tickets in advance, as the prices go up the day of. For those that can’t make it to the park, KOAT-TV will broadcast the Burning of Zozobra beginning live at 9 p.m. At 8 p.m. the station will take a look at the event.

More information can be found at burnzozobra.com.