Luminarias vs. Farolitos great Christmas debate

If New Mexico has a state question (red or green?) perhaps it’s time to establish a state controversy. Not mandated by the Legislature, but played out in conversations, whether face to face by the fireplace or on Twitter or Facebook.

Our nominee, the perennial battle across New Mexico each Christmas season — farolito vs. luminaria.

First, let’s be clear about the object being described, that being one paper sack, sand and a lit candle, combining to create a lovely glow that cuts through the darkest night. In one simple bag, we see proof that the sum is greater than its parts.

Around Northern New Mexico (correctly) the sacks are known as farolitos, translated into English as “little lantern.”

Luminarias refer to the bonfires. On Christmas Eve, when the farolitos are placed along sidewalks and streets, the bonfires also are lit; obviously, both can’t be called luminarias, which is how we know that farolito is the proper term.

Somehow, as this tradition migrated from El Norte, the terminology became mixed up.

In Albuquerque and points south, the candles-in-the-bags are commonly called luminarias. That usage, sadly, has spread.

So intense has the debate been over the years that the late Pedro Ribera Ortega dedicated a chapter to it in his classic book, “Christmas in Old Santa Fe.” He gets to the point: The title of Chapter 3 is “Farolitos Are Not Luminarias!” Exclamation point, his.

Ortega explains the origins of the luminarias, the “little fires,” as dating as far back as the first La Noche Buena, Christmas Eve, in Bethelehem. They were the “down-to-earth practical fires that the shepherds needed to keep away wolves and thieves that might endanger their flocks of sheep.”

Bonfires were part of pagan celebrations in Spain, and as Christianity spread, the fires became part of their traditions, eventually winding their way to the New World.

The New Mexico History Museum posted a note on Facebook that offers this tidbit:

“In a Dec. 3, 1590, journal entry, Spanish explorer Gaspar Costaqo de Sosa mentioned the small bonfires his cohorts had lit to guide a scout back to camp. Luminarias, he called them, thereby casting the first stone in a 400-year-old, northern-versus-southern New Mexico debate over the little paper bags that light up our holiday nights.”

Today, on Christmas Eve, traditional people still light the bonfires to celebrate the birth of a baby.

Farolitos, Ribera states, came later — after the bonfires. He traces their origins to China, then to the Philippines and finally to Mexico and up to New Mexico, a route generally accepted by historians.

Both traditions are important — the luminaria, to offer warmth and a sense of peace; the farolitos, as a more festive light to reflect the joy of the season.

“No one,” Ortega writes, “can visit such places as Truchas, Cordova, Trampas and Chimays and not sense the timeliness of the luminaria, not only as festive lighting but as the spiritual need for belongingness.”

A spiritual need, yes, and at Christmas, fodder for a great debate around the fire.

For those who don’t like to debate, there’s a third choice — just buy the electrified plastic bags known affectionately as “bagolitos.”

— The Santa Fe New Mexican