Pueblo, Hispanic, civic and local leaders announced the Celebración de la Communidad de Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on August 29, 2018. Photo: City of Santa Fe

National

New event replaces one that celebrated 'conquest' of Pueblo peoples

Thursday, August 30, 2018

With a long-running event that celebrated the colonial "conquest" of New Mexico out of the picture, Pueblo, Hispanic, civic and local leaders in Santa Fe came together to announce a movement toward reconciliation.

Starting on September 7, the Celebración de la Communidad de Fe (Celebration of Community Faith) will include prayers, dances and cultural presentations. The goal is to heal from the divisiveness that surrounded the Entrada, the controversial re-enactment of the return of Spanish colonists to Pueblo homelands in 1692.

“This a momentous and historic occasion, one that generations yet to be born will reflect upon and express gratitude for the leaders of this time who recognized the conflicts of our past that haunted us and threatened to destroy us," E. Paul Torres, the chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors, said in a press release on Wednesday. "By our collective courage, we resolved ourselves to acknowledge the pain and the suffering inherent in first encounters. This was a time when we refused to accept the threats of division that could have destroyed the spirit of our beloved homelands. Instead we chose to take the high road to resolve our issues in the name of peace.”

The September 7 celebration kicks off a series of events in New Mexico's capital city that will focus on reconciliation. They will conclude with Indigenous Peoples' Day on October 8.

“Our elders teach us that when we make decisions by our core values, we will always make the right decision. We came together to make a genuine offer and commitment to peace as our desired outcome," said Regis Pecos, a former governor of the Pueblo of Cochiti who helped broker an end to the Entrada. "We allowed our shared core values to guide us toward reconciliation. When we wavered, when we deviated, we were guided back by one another to our defined core values."

In August 1680, a diverse group of Pueblo leaders staged the Pueblo Revolt and forced Spanish colonists out of their homelands. The settlers returned in 1692 and forced a declaration of "peace" in Santa Fe on September 14, 1692.

The Entrada depicted the event as bloodless but Pueblo leaders said that was far from the case. Activists staged yearly protests to call attention to the violence suffered when the settlers returned.

The re-enactment was scheduled to occur again this year during the Fiesta de Santa Fe, an event put on by a non-profit group. The Fiesta will continue but without the Entrada as part of an agreement announced late last month.