Happy Hanukkahmas: The Crypto-Jews of New Mexico

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/to-the-end-of-the-earth/9780231129374

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome to the Enchantment Chronicles today in
New Mexico history and MerryChristmas to you.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
And Feliz Navidad.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Feliz Navidad.
Thank you, johnny.
Yeah, this day in New Mexicohistory in 2024 is an unusual
day.
It only happens about onceevery 19 or 20 years or so on
average.
But the first day of Hanukkahis following on Christmas Day,
so I guess people sometimes callthat Hanukkah-ness on Christmas

(01:07):
Day.
So I guess people sometimescall that Hanukkah-mas.
But it's also a fitting day toremember a key population, and
you told me about a book, johnny, that a former state historian,
david Hordes, wrote, publishedin the early 2000s, after
spending about 20 yearscollecting interviews and
anecdotes right.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, the book that we were talking about is To the
End of the Earth, A History ofthe Crypto-Jews of New Mexico,
written by Stanley Hordes in2008.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
And the crypto-Jews.
They're also sometimes calledSephardic Jews or Sephardinos.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
These folks.
It's argued in this book thatthey came to northern New Mexico
because this was after theSpanish Inquisition.
This was the last, the farthestaway place in the Spanish
territory, and they came outhere to be able to, in somewhat

(02:05):
peace, practice their religion.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Right, but they were crypto because not because they
were into strange currencies,because they were hidden.
They were secret Jews and sothey would show up for mass on
Sunday, but on Friday night andSaturday they were lighting
candles and singing some verydifferent songs, right.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
That's the argument I think in this book specifically
and there are other articlesthat mention this there were
quite a few families in northernNew Mexico that practiced
secret Judaism, quite a fewfamilies in northern New Mexico
that practice secret Judaism.
So everybody kind of knew it,but it was still practice in

(02:51):
private.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Right, and those families might have traditions
like not eating pork, which iskind of unusual out here, and
keeping two Sabbaths, whichmaybe isn't that unusual, given
that a lot of times Kivaceremonies might be held in
indigenous communities onSaturdays too.

(03:12):
You know, after the and PuebloRevolt it was kind of like, as
long as you show up to mass onSunday, what you do on Saturday
is none of our business anymore.
It was sort of the attitude ofmany of the Spanish imperial

(03:34):
officials.
Indicate some DNA testing.
They would indicate that a lotof these families do have
markers of being EasternEuropean Jews or of that descent
dating back to 1492, when ofcourse Columbus sails the ocean
in blue, but also Ferdinand andIsabella order the expulsion of

(03:57):
all Muslims and Jews from thenewly united Iberian Peninsula,
from the Kingdom of Spain, theUnited Kingdoms of Castile and
Aragón, so that tradition isalive.
It was a little confusingbecause in the 1800s another
group, the Seventh-dayAdventists, came and they were
reviving Jewish traditions aspart of their practice of

(04:21):
Protestantism, and so some ofthese families are sort of
recognizing each other and someof these traditions that they're
maintaining and there's alittle bit of confusion.
So some of the families thatmight practice.
Some of those Jewish Sabbathtraditions actually date back to
the mid-18th or mid-19thcentury, to the coming of

(04:43):
Seventh-day Adventists to Texasand New Mexico.
But it's a long tradition ofintegrated religious faiths and
a good day to celebrate.
It is Hanukkahmas, hanukkahmas,Hanukkahmas, yep, all right,
well, this has been this day inNew Mexico history, although

(05:04):
really it's every day in NewMexico history, but again,
hanukkahmas is that good day toremember the crypto Jews of New
Mexico who came to the end ofthe earth in pursuit of
religious freedom.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
I'm a new Mexican and a true Chican.

(05:51):
I was born in a small town,very humble, poor and sincere.
And now I'm going to sing Muyhumilde, pobre y sincero.
Y ahora les voy a cantar De mipueblo natural.
El pueblo en que yo nací Llevapor nombre La Goya, donde vivían

(06:17):
mis parientes, mis amigos, losgriegos romenos y los moyas,
where my relatives, my friendslived, the Roman Greeks and the
Moias.
And now I want to sing Of mypopular state Arriba Nuevo
Mexico.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Arriba mi estado querido.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Arriba mi Albuquer.
Arriba mi Albuquerque y arribacon toda su gente.
Arriba Nuevo Mexico, arribanuestra capital, arriba con
Santa Fe y arriba mi EstadoPopular.