Don Diego de Vargas

The sun was hot as we wandered around the plaza at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The year was 1958 and it was my first time to the Fiestas of Santa Fe. Native Americans spread blankets on covered sidewalks to

show their wares; mostly jewelry. Different musical acts were on a main stage. I managed to take a few photos before some Native American man scolded me and told me to never  take pictures of the Indians. There is a belief that the camera takes their souls!  I obediently put my camera away. I did not get my camera out when the parade began and Don Diego de Vargas and his Spanish soldiers came riding in on beautiful horses with silver saddles. The Fiestas are celebrated for de Vargas' return to Santa Fe without a fight with the Pueblos, and even though there were problems and uprising, he is given credit for a peaceful reentry into Santa Fe.

When I began taking groups on Pilgrimages to Chimayo I tried to arrange the trip to coincide with the Fiestas. Each year we went, there would be a new Don Diego de Vargas. I managed to get my picture taken with some of them.

Don Diego de Vargas was born in 1643, married and had five children. Wanting money and a title, he came to New Spain (Mexico) and became a royal administrator. He had three more children by a woman he never married. The governor of New Mexico accused de Vargas of cheating and de Vargas was under house arrest from 1697-1700. When the King of Spain reinstated him and gave him the title of Marquis de la Nava de Barcinas, de Vargas returned to New Mexico as governor in 1703. Vargas died on April 8, 1704 at the age of sixty.

 

"de Vargas had prayed to the Virgin Mary, 

under her title of La Conquistadora, 

for the peaceful re-entry.

Every year the fiestas are celebrated

in her honor."

Wikipedia