New Mexico Death Rituals: A History

by Ana Pacheco

New Mexico's harsh terrain, countless wars and epidemics were a challenging and fascinating environment for the many cultures and peoples who settled there. When tragedy struck, their faith and religious rituals allowed them to mourn, celebrate and commemorate their dead. From Pueblo Indians and Spanish colonists to Jewish immigrants and American veterans, many old traditions have endured and blended into modern society. The area is also home to many unique death sites, including the graves of Smokey Bear and Billy the Kid, and the largest contemporary collection of human bones in the world. Author Ana Pacheco guides you through the history of Christmas death rituals, roadside descansos, communal smallpox graves, Civil War memorials and more.

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 25, 2019

About the author

Ana Pacheco, 57, is the daughter of Jesús Pacheco and Natalie Ortiz. Her Ortiz ancestors settled in Santa Fe in 1694. Ana’s mother, Natalie Ortiz, was a descendant of Diego de Vargas who led the resettlement of Santa Fe after the Pueblo Revolt of 1692. Don Gaspar Street in Santa Fe is named after Natalie’s great-great grandfather, Don Gaspar Ortiz. The Ortiz Room at the Santa Fe Hilton Hotel and Ortiz Street located in the plaza area is named in honor of Eleanor and Beatrice Ortiz, Natalie’s aunt and grandmother, respectively. Her Pacheco ancestors arrived in Santa Cruz, N.M. in 1739 and moved to Santa Fe in the late 1800s. The busy thoroughfare Pacheco Street is named after Ana’s great-great grandfather Jose de la Cruz Pacheco

In 1976 Pacheco moved to New York City and three years later began her publishing career. She has held various positions with entertainment, Hispanic and financial service publications as an advertising and marketing executive and wrote free-lance articles for different magazines.
She returned to Santa Fe in 1992 after living in New York for sixteen years to care for her mother who had fourth-stage breast cancer. When her mother died 18 months later she decided to stay in Santa Fe. In 1994 she founded La Herencia, a quarterly journal dedicated to the preservation of Hispanic culture, which she published through 2009. In 2010 she published the official publication for the City of Santa Fe’s 400th anniversary, which included a youth symposium and journal published in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

In addition to publishing La Herencia, Pacheco published and edited four books: Las Comidas de los Abuelos, a cookbook featuring authentic northern New Mexico recipes. ¡Concha!: The Authorized Biography of Concha Ortiz y Pino de Kleven, Matriarch of a Three Hundred Year Old New Mexico Legacy, Albuquerque Feliz Cumpleaños: Three Centuries to Remember and Saints & Seasons: A Guide to New Mexico’s Most Popular Saints, which she authored as well.

During that time she served on the Board of Directors for the National Hispanic Cultural Center for the state of New Mexico for seven years. She hosted a weekly Hispanic radio show for Citadel Communications for three years. Pacheco also served on the Wells Fargo Community Advisory Board and Santa Fe Fiesta Foundation board for several years.

In 2010 Pacheco became a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. The award was in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among people of the world. In 2009 Pacheco received a Certificate of Appreciation from Santa Fe County for her work with the Hispanic and elderly communities in Santa Fe. She received the 2008 Heritage Preservation Award by the City of Santa Fe for Excellence in Community Traditions for her work with
La Herencia. She’s a 2007 recipient of the New Mexico Community Foundation Luminaria award for her leadership and contributions to the state of New Mexico. In September 2006 in Denver, Colorado, Pacheco was awarded two national awards by the National Association of Press Women. The first award, in the inspirational book category, as the author of Saints & Seasons: A Guide to New Mexico’s Most Popular Saints. The second award, in the history category, was for editing, Albuquerque Feliz Cumpleaños: Three Centuries to Remember.

Pacheco was a 2004 recipient of the Governor's Award for outstanding women of New Mexico. In 2004 she also received an award from PEN New Mexico for her efforts to preserve Hispanic culture, history and language. PEN New Mexico is the state's affiliate of the largest international professional association of writers, editors, and translators.

From 2007 through September 2013, Pacheco wrote the weekly column A Wonderful Life for the Santa Fe New Mexican, documenting the oral histories of the elder community. Her biography, J. Paul Taylor: The Man from Mesilla was pu

Reviews

[Sundee Perkins]

I found this book really interesting. There were a lot of facts I didn't know about New Mexico's death culture (this book is mostly from the point of view of the Catholic death culture). There were only two main issues I had. One was that Pacheco has a tendancy to ramble. The other was that when I saw her speak, she gave a presentation that literally was her book in whole, so while there were parts that were new, most of the book had already been discussed.