Bernie Torres: Los Dias

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of Voices de Aquí, Bernie Torres of Amalia and Costilla shares the local tradition of “Los Dias” as well as some early related memories and his connection and role with the tradition.

Bernie Torres, interviewed by Chris Arellano, April, 2021

Thank you Bernie Torres, for sharing your memories and , your mother and family; it is a gift to those listening now and in the future. Your memories add to our understanding and appreciation of the history and heritage of Cerro and Questa.

This is a short segment of a longer interview. Listen to the full interview conducted by Chris Arellano HERE. Also more about “Dar Los Dias” below with video.

We’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors; every week we share a different short story from our community with Voices de Aquí. Join us for the short broadcasts at Questa Farmers Market on Sundays this summer or here, on our website.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

This interview is part of Northern New Mexico Music: Past and Present, a project of the nonprofit, Questa Creative Council, dedicated to strengthening community through arts, culture, history, and education. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts and Taos Community Foundation.

Dar Los Dias
“Dar los Días” has been a traditional way of ringing in the New Year in Hispanic Northern New Mexico for hundreds of years. On January 1st 2019, amidst a driving snowstorm, Bernie Torres and the Costilla Ramblers sing in the New Year in the tiny village of Cerro New Mexico. Part of the “Music Buena” exhibit opening October 6th, 2019 at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, NM and running for the next 2 years. (Copied here from the Youtube video caption. Thank you Wisdom Archive, for this video.)

Kate Montoya Cisneros – Canning Wild Meat

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Kate Montoya Cisneros shares memories of her mother’s love for and skill with cooking, baking and canning, “wild meat” canning in particular. Here she shares a story about this and poaching.

Thank you Kate Cisneros, for sharing these memories of your childhood, your mother and family; it is a gift to those listening now and in the future. Your memories add to our understanding and appreciation of the history and heritage of Cerro and Questa.

This segment is an edited excerpt from a longer Questa Stories interview with Kate on June 14, 2018. Listen to the full interview HERE.

This summer, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors; every week we share a different short story from our community with Voices de Aquí. Join us for the short broadcasts at Questa Farmers Market on Sundays or here, on our website.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Estevan Rael-Gálvez – Object Stories

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez introduces the idea of sharing objects, stories and photographs to create a community-based archive to strengthen community and culture. He shares two of his own stories of meaningful objects, a sewing machine oil can from his grandmother and a wool carder from grandfather.

These sharings took place on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Louisa Aragon – Moly Mine Childhood

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Louisa Aragon shares memories of her childhood experiences living with her family in “company housing” near the Moly Mine between Questa and Red River, near Columbine Canyon.

Thank you Louisa Aragon, for sharing these memories of your childhood and family; it is a gift to those listening now and in the future. Your memories add to our understanding and appreciation of the history and heritage of Questa.

This story was recorded at the Questa Youth Center during a meeting of the Questa Quilters Guild on Novermber 13, 2019; recording and editing by Claire Coté. Learn more about Questa Quilters Guild HERE.

This summer, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors; every week we share a different short story from our community with Voices de Aquí. Join us for the short broadcasts at Questa Farmers Market on Sundays or here, on our website.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Benita Rael – Grandfather’s Woven Rug

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Benita Rael shares her grandfather’s beautiful woven rug-blanket.

Benita shared this object story on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Flavio Cisneros – Matrimonial Letter

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of in the Voices de Aquí series, Flavio Cisneros shares a letter written in 1925, requesting the marriage of his mother, Corina Gonzales (later Cisneros) to Francisco Cisneros. See more images and info HERE.

Flavio shared this object story on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Lillyana Cisneros – Photos of Home

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this fourth segment in the Voices de Aquí series, Lillyana Cisneros describes Questa, her home, through photos she’s taken. This story was recorded in Questa during the Vida Camp 2021. Watch the object story video of Lilliana HERE.*

Lillyana Cisneros

This summer, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors; every week we share a different short story from our community with Voices de Aquí. Join us for the short broadcasts at Questa Farmers Market on Sundays or here, on our website.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

*Questa Stories worked with Vida Camp to record short “object stories” with campers and junior counselors. Participants were invited to bring something meaningful with them to camp. Each was then asked to share the story of their chosen object: what it is? how did they get it? why is it special to them? Questa Stories representatives Claire Coté and Sarah Parker worked with campers and staff to record these reflections as short audio stories. Patrick Hutchison, director of the Vida Camp photography program, led his team of youth photographers in documenting the objects and taking portraits of their owners. Sarah Parker then edited the recorded audio, Freedom Hopkins edited the photos and audio together into 16 short videos and Questa Stories Co-director, Claire Coté oversaw the process. Thanks to Localogy, Vida del Norte and Taos Behavioral Health for enabling this collaboration between Vida Camp and Questa Stories. Appreciation also to QEDF for the use of the Questa Visitor Center and Questa Creative Council for the use of the Youth Center art room for audio recording.

Joseph Marquez – Memories of La Morada

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this third segment in the Voices de Aquí series, Joseph Marquez, briefly shares his experience as un hermano at the Morada, La Cofradia de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, in Garcia Colorado and an excerpt of the first alabado that he learned. Listen to the full interview conducted by Chris Arellano HERE.

Joseph Marquez, interviewed by Chris Arellano, April, 2021

This summer, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors; every week we share a different short story from our community with Voices de Aquí. Join us for the short broadcasts at Questa Farmers Market on Sundays or here, on our website.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

This interview is part of Northern New Mexico Music: Past and Present, a project of the nonprofit, Questa Creative Council, dedicated to strengthening community through arts, culture, history, and education. This project is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts and Taos Community Foundation.

*hermano  – a member of Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, ‘The Brothers of the Pious Fraternity of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene), Los Penitentes, Los Hermanos
**Morada – a religious meeting hall of Los Hermanos
***alabado – a Catholic song of praise

Jeannie Masters – Grandmother’s Shoes

Posted on by Questa Stories

During the 2022 Questa Farmers Market season, we’re listening together to the voices of our neighbors. Every week we listen to a different short story from our community.

Jeannie Masters is our second segment in the “Voices de Aquí” series, in which she shares a poignant pair of shoes.

Voices de Aquí Segment 2: Jeannie Masters

Jeannie shared this object story on July 8, 2018 at the Memory Gathering Event facilitated by Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, at the Questa VFW. This collaborative event was hosted as part of the development of the Questa History Trail (a project of the Questa Creative Council); Questa Stories team supported the event hosting and was on scene recording stories and scanning photographs; the event was also part of an early stage of the Manitos Community Memory Project.

Huge thanks to our collaborators at Questa Farmers Market, Gaea McGahee and all the musicians at the market for allowing us to plug into their sound system to broadcast the Voices de Aquí weekly segments.

We are also grateful to our funders! Voices de Aquí is made possible by support from the LANL Foundation Community Outreach Grant, Chevron Grants for Good and Taos Community Foundation IMPACT Grant.

Esther Garcia, Questa Women’s Tea, 2019

Posted on by Questa Stories

Esther Garcia
1946-2020
Acequia Advocate, Former Mayor of Questa and more…
Questa Women’s Tea Co-Hostess

Recording Occassion: Questa Women’s Tea
Recording Location: Yoga Sala in Questa
Recorded: November 16, 2019

Esther Garcia passed away on January 5, 2020, a month and a half after co-hosting the Questa Women’s Tea in November, 2019. A powerful love for the people, history and traditions of Questa and the surrounding communities was a core conviction in her life. Esther celebrated and studied her roots, family and community history. She was a fierce advocate for land and water, acequia systems, culture and traditions. Her work and words have left a lasting mark on our hearts. Esther will be missed by many and we are grateful to have known and worked with her.

Police Warning

Father, Water, Land + Discussion

Questa History, Acequias, Cabresto Lake