Happy ending with Corn Pudding

The day of my visit to the Museum of History of New Mexico, in the Palace of the Governors is in the Old Town of Santa Fe, had no idea that was going to meet an old acquaintance of my Literature classes: Fray Angelico Chavez (1910 -1996). Not only because in the halls could see his image and also some knights and ladies of the time of their stories, but because in the Museum Library is located Fray Angelico Chavez History, which functions as a research center and conserves valuable historical documents the state of New Mexico and throughout the Southwest. 's work this Franciscan priest is varied and interesting, with emphasis on historical research, but also in the narrative description of traditions and customs. During some years I was teaching my students Latino Writers course, a piece of Fray Angelico narrative that, while enjoying its great treating a local issue within the universal, I could not completely dominate until just after visiting the landscapes and environments that inspired his author. I mean the story "A Romeo and Juliet Story in Early New Mexico", which narrates the impossible loves of Manuel Armijo and Francisca Baca, Santa Fe the eighteenth century. As can be seen by its title, this story is inspired by the conflict of the famous lovers from Verona to portray the drama of certain couple novohispana that, in the desert of New Mexico, faced stiff opposition from the parents of the girl. And what was the conflict? Will want to know. Well the usual, class differences and ancestry. Disreputable families could not be mixed with rancid society, who boasted of their descent from the first conquerors and traced its origins and permanence in the region by 1600. Question of lineage that did not allow them to accept those who were not "pure Spanish". And whence came the lover of history then? Here's the interesting thing. At Armijos were regarded as "late-comers", or families who arrived in the region after it was taken up (after the great Indian rebellion in 1680) by the Spanish Governor Vargas in front. To make matters worse, the mother of our Romeo desert, lived in a village (this refers to one of the indigenous communities in the area) since he had been kidnapped and forced to live among the Indians. When, twelve years later, she was rescued by the troops of the governor was forced by him to marry one of their drummers, who was to finish, a black. Francisca Baca, raised in the luxuries and privileges of his family, he dreamed of a wedding at the altar of St. Francis Cathedral, they were building at the time, but his father moved heaven and earth to keep the relationship and wedding and placed in what they called "a house neutral" for a while until desist from the idea as he and his friends tried to convince the claimant (with tempting bribes) to leave the field and join his brother who was then at El Paso, TX . Neither bowed to pressure and therefore, Francisca was sent by arid and dusty roads to the house of her aunt Josefa Baca, who owned a prosperous farm in Albuquerque. The trip from Santa Fe to Albuquerque (which I did in about twenty minutes by car from the highway) was for the young long and tiring, but well worth it. Cahoots her aunt, her boyfriend and the pastor Albuquerque Franciscan, Fray Pedro Montaño, took a religious festival where the crowd gathered in the church of San Francisco then Xavier (now San Felipe) and celebrated wedding surprise the two lovebirds. What happened next can already imagine: fainting maternal, paternal tort, repudiation of the daughter and the son, and his two-year good tantrum to, after this time, accept the inevitable and let your dream come true Francisca kneeling Manuel Armijo (by then her husband) at the altar of the parish of Santa Fe luxury Visiting these locations certainly allowed me to get to the root of the story of Fray Angelico. I regret not doing it sooner, but I'm so glad I went! In the Museum of the Palace of the Governors bought a very interesting booklet. It is a native cookery book: Pueblo Indian Cookbook, published by the Museum of New Mexico. This is a collection of recipes from the different towns in the area, Santa Clara, Taos, Nambe, Santo Domingo, the nation Razor and others who discover the reader both indigenous ingredients, such as traditional methods of food preparation. I tried to find a recipe that could be prepared by a low level of difficulty and especially the possibility of having everything you need to make. It was not easy deciding on one, but finally prepared the Indian Corn Pudding and say that they tried it was very tasty. So in this case was also the dining experience, as history, a happy ending.