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.)

Carrie Leven – Kiowa Trail

Posted on by Questa Stories

In this segment of the Voices de Aquí series, we hear about the Kiowa Trail from Carrie Leven, resident of Questa for over 25 years, acequia parsiante, and archaeologist for Carson National Forest Questa Ranger District.

Thank you Carrie Leven, for sharing your research on the Kiowa Trail. Your knowledge of the layered and complex cultural and material history and prehistory of this area is a gift and adds to our understanding and appreciation of the heritage of this place. Read Carrie’s essay on the Kiowa Trail at the Questa History Trail website HERE.

This segment is an edited excerpt from a longer Questa Stories interview with Carrie Leven from April 20, 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.

Gathering Thoughts after Gathering Memories

Posted on by Questa Stories

In the middle of  summer 2018, when the land was bone dry and we dreamed of summer storms, the Gathering Memory: Object, Photos, and Story Community Workshop was held at the Questa VFW Hall. How many people would come on a Sunday afternoon, organizers wondered? Twenty? Fifty?

On July 8, 2018, the VFW parking lot filled to overflowing and more than a hundred people filed in with objects of significance – photos, shoes, lamps, quilts, love letters – along with their stories.

Jeannie Masters

Participants sharing their objects and photos on July 8 at the Gathering Memory Community Workshop. Click photo to enlarge.

Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, former New Mexico State Historian and native son of Questa led the event, inviting participants to bring a special object that held a memory about a person, moment or place, or a photograph that could be used to tell a story. He asked that people bring the name of one ancestor whose life held special meaning to them. The idea behind these particular requests is that storytelling engages and strengthens a community’s sense of itself, that we all hold a piece of history, and that community members are community historians.  

Left: Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, presenting an eloquent introduction. Right: Room full of workshop participants.

At the height of the event, the wished-for rain arrived; everyone applauded until their sounds were drowned out by the drumming of the torrential monsoon. The wealth of stories, and the depth of individual and community history shared that day was as heavy an outpouring as that summer rain.

Questa Stories was there as well, to collect local stories for the online community archive. (Thank you, Sarah Parker for your diligent recording and editing – pictured at left.) We scanned images, recorded audio and took photographs of people with their objects. Now our work is to collate this collection and release individual stories as blog posts.

The day after the event Gaea and Claire sat together in Claire’s yard to reflect on this experience and the potential and purpose of the Questa Stories Community Memory Project . They recorded this audio.     

Audio Time Stamps
00:00 – Introduction
00:30 – Where did you grow up?
01:00 – What do you love about this place?
02:15 – Love of New Mexico, Discussion of Place
04:15 – What is Questa Stories?
06:20 – July 8 Gathering Memory Workshop, Rainstorm
06:45 – Extending an invitation to contribute stories, more description about Questa Stories
10:00 – Community Archive
10:30 – Diaspora Community
11:00 – Questa Stories includes surrounding communities – Cerro, La Lama, Costilla, Amalia
11:54 – End

The July 8 event was hosted by the Questa History & Community Trail (QuestaTrail.org) and its sponsors: New Mexico Humanities Council, Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area, and the National Park Service. The Questa History & Community Trail is a project of the Questa Creative Council, a non-profit organization (QuestaCreative.org).

This post has been re-posted on the Manitos blog, a digital Resolana (gathering place) for people, histories, and stories of northern New Mexico.