The term farolito is a derivative of farol, meaning lantern. Throughout the years, the term has become synonymous with New Mexico’s Christmas celebrations. Historic descriptions of official and religious processions in the 18th-century include the small lantern-like bags filled with candles and dirt. In colonial New Mexico, neither metal frames nor window glass were available, so lanterns (in Spanish farols or linternas) were none virtually non-existent in New Mexico. The first square-bottomed paper bag was patented by Luther Childs Crowell of Boston, Mass., in 1872. Since the paper bags were largely of the mid-and-late-19th century, theyr wer not a part of Spanish Colinial traditions. However, their popular usage in brightening up Santa Fe’s Christmas season justifies their New Mexican label of farolito, the little lantern.

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The musical artistry of Santa Fe’s own Jerry Lopez will forever be linked to the Fiesta de Santa Fe. His grandmother, Magdalena Griego wrote “¡Que Viva la Fiesta! Which is sung at the opening of the festivity and throughout the three day event. Magdalena also wrote the song that is heard as people process with La Conquistadora, this nation’s oldest Madonna, who along with Don Diego de Vargas, are listed as the two central figures in the 1712 Fiesta proclamation. 

 Before Jerry and his brother Gilbert had reached school age they were on their way as recording artists and performed on the plaza bandstand at fiesta through their teens with performers like Genoveva Chavez and Alan Muñiz. Through the early part of the 1970s Los Hermanos Lopez were part of Santa Fe’s nightclub circuit at La Fonda and El Nido with Vicente and Ruben Romero. In 1975 the family moved  to Las Vegas, Nevada and Jerry’s dream of becoming a professional musician were realized. In addition to working as a musical director on the west coast, his band, Santa Fe & the Fat City Horns tours nationally. At the start of the millennium Jerry was the lead guitarist and sideman to Ricky Martin’s worldwide tour, Livin la Vida Loca, where he was featured on the Today Show and at Madison Square Garden. 

Never one to forget his roots, Jerry Lopez performs annually in Santa Fe during Hispanic Heritage month to raise scholarships for the National Latino Behavioral Health Association. The autumn concert is held at the Lensic Theater just up the street where his grandfather, Nicolás Escajeda, was a weaver and soloist in the choir at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in the 1930s.

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During World War II  Japanese-American prisoners began to arrive in Santa Fe. These people, who were considered of foreign enemy ancestry, were forcibly removed from other parts of the country, mostly the West Coast. Their arrival in Santa Fe was brought about through an executive order signed in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Department of Justice purchased the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that was previously used as part of FDR’s plan to rejuvenate the economy, providing jobs for young men all over the country who came to be known as Roosevelt’s “Tree Army.” They built cabins at Hyde Memorial State Park in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains northeast of Santa Fe as well as the National Park Service building on the Old Santa Fe Trail. The newly transformed CCC became the Japanese internment camp, one of several opened throughout the country in areas considered to be of military importance to the safety of all Americans.

Within weeks, more than 4,000 men were imprisoned at the camp. These so-called “enemy combatants” were teachers, journalists, businessmen, and artists—the type of people the American government felt posed a threat because they were free thinkers. They were forced to leave their families, businesses, and all ties to the community. 

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