Zozobra

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For the Metal band, see Zozobra (band).

Zozobra burning

Zozobra ("Old Man Gloom") is the name of a giant marionette effigy that is 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, the worries and troubles of the previous year are destroyed in the flames. Sometimes shoppers in the Santa Fe area will see tin cans with pieces of paper next to them in department and local stores. Anyone is welcome to write about anything bothering them. These small papers are put in the cans, and eventually they are all collected and put at Zozobra's feet to be burned alongside him.

Fiestas de Santa Fe has been held since 1712 to celebrate the retaking of the city in 1692 by Don Diego de Vargas after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924, when William Howard Shuster, Jr. came up with the idea of creating the effigy, also called Old Man Gloom. Today over forty thousand people go to watch Zozobra, who stands fifty feet tall and whose burning marks the start of 3 days of celebration that includes 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. Zozobra is built by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe and burned at Fort Marcy Park. One of the best places to watch Zozobra is from the Cross of the Martyrs north of the Plaza.

[edit] References

Zozobra: The Story of Old Man Gloom, written by Jennifer Owings Dewey and photographed by Jeanie Pulsen Fleming, University of New Mexico Press, 2004
In "Mater and the Ghostlight", the Sheriff mentions Zozobra.
The band Old Man Gloom, a collaboration of artists on Hydrahead records, released an album entitled Seminar III:Zozobra. Additionally, two of the members of Old Man Gloom have since formed another side project called Zozobra, releasing an album entitled Harmonic Tremors.
Burning Sosobra is also an album by experimental rock band Floater.