Ablaze with Light

If the holiday season was launched with the lighting of Ledoux Street in early December, it's culmination was the Christmas Eve extravaganza of farolitos in Velarde. For two miles leading north into the northern New Mexico village more than 2000 paper bags filled with sand and a glowing votive candle line Highway 68. Based on Las Posadas, the hispanic celebration of Mary and Joseph's search for lodging and a place for Jesus' birth, the families of Velarde have been lighting the roadway for almost thirty years.

Lighting Ledoux

The Christmas season starts in earnest with the lighting of scores of farolitos along Ledoux Street in Taos. Ledoux, one of the town's premiere gallery and museum venues is aglow with the warming light of countless paper bags filled with sand and single votive candles carefully placed to symbolize lighting the way for Mary and Joseph in their search for lodging in the days leading to the Christ Child's birth. Indeed, the ritual is known as "Las Posadas" which means literally "The Inns."