Happy Camper Bus
Zozobra or Old Man Gloom
Happy Camperbus over 3 years ago

The following excerpt was taken from Wikipedia:

“Zozobra (”Old Man Gloom") is the name of a giant marionette effigy which is built and burned every autumn during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September. As his name suggests, he embodies gloom; by burning him, people destroy the worries and troubles of the previous year in the flames. Anyone with gloom that they need to get rid of can come by the offices of the Santa Fe Reporter in the weeks leading up to the burn to drop off slips of paper with personal gloom written on them. Many people put legal papers in the gloom box as well. At the festival the papers from the gloom box are placed at Zozobra’s feet to be burned alongside him.

Fiestas de Santa Fe has been held since 1712 to celebrate the Spanish retaking of the city in 1692 by Don Diego de Vargas from the Pueblo tribes who had occupied the city since the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924. William Howard Shuster, Jr. came up with the idea of creating the effigy, also called Old Man Gloom, and ritual burning.

Today more than 40,000 people go to watch Zozobra, who stands fifty feet tall. His burning marks the start of three days of celebration that includes traditional mass at St. Francis Cathedral; a reenactment of the Entrada, when de Vargas returned to the city; a Children’s Pet Parade; and the Historical/Hysterical Parade. The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe builds Zozobra and burns the effigy at Fort Marcy Park."

I do have a couple of curious and personal observations I made after having experienced the burning of ‘Old Man Gloom’.

I absolutely adore the idea of a ceremonious way to release angst, especially when it happens to involve burning stuff, and would love to host a similar event amongst willing friends and neighbors.

There seemed to be one major hitch though….I was hearing an overwhelming amount of accounts that people were being reunited with folks they haven’t seen in years and experiencing a sense of community and release of troubles….however, this day is somewhat like St. Paddy’s day in that it is absurdly and completely acceptable to get wasted and because of that, a tremendous amount of fights broke out! Kinda puts a damper on the whole notion of togetherness.

The Guinness Book of World Records was in attendance to measure if Zozobra would serve as the largest known marionette. I have yet to confirm if it cut the mustard, but will update you all when I hear the official word.