https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6e0c4f410bbd8194782e808e1c2d213f.pdf 27227af8ba5982b2f57f98a2ebee5d9c PDF Text Text 'l 'J 'j ' 'l J } J i J l ) , ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ) ) ) ) ) _) .) _J ...J ..) .) .J J ...) J ...) ROSITA ROMERO Rosita's daughter, Louise Pesata, believes her mother is in her mid-nineties, but on one knows exactly, for the Taos people did not count the years or the days when she was born. They told their children, "you were born in the snow time or when the leaves were green." Any exact records of her birth were destroyed when the Guadalupe Church burned many years ago, but none of th is counting of years and of dates is of any concern to Rosita. What she does know is that she was born in a dwelling on the second level of the north pueblo at Taos. The same dwelling has been her home for about 90 years and is still her home whenever she wishes to go there. Rosita is the only child of Venturo Romero (he died of a stroke when she was a young child) and of Manuelita Lujan Romero, who lived until 1927. When Rosita was 6 years old, she and many other children in the pueblo were sent to the Indian School at Santa Fe. They were loaded into wagons and driven to Taos Junction to meet the train which came from Alamosa on its way to Santa Fe. This particular train and route was known as the "Chili Line." All students were issued uniforms, the principal feature of which was a large, wide-brimmed, black straw hat. She spent three years at the school. Her memory of those years is primarily of "looking at the books," and "playing on the swings" and of how long the year seemed with no vacations for holidays or feast days. After third grade Rosita attended a one room school near Taos for a while and that was enough school for her. When Rosita was a young woman, the town of Taos began to change from a small, but historic town into a sophisticated center for well known artists and authors. The attraction for the Taos Valley to the artists and their wealthy followers is evident to anyone who visits there today. Its climate and beauty and blend of cultures is still a stimulating environment. The influx of wealthy people was a fortunate circumstance for Rosita, since it provided her with plentiful work as a domestic servant. It was necessary for her to work, since she supported her daughter Louisa entirely by herself. In the course of her work, Rosita was employed by artists such as Blanche C. Grant, Victor Higgins, Eleanor Kissel and John Baldin. She also worked for Dr. Thomas Martin who was clinic doctor in the 1920's, and for John Collier, one of the Indian Commissioners. During all the years of work which only ended when she retired in 1973, Rosita walked the 3 miles from the Pueblo to her place of work and home again through snow and rain and summer heat. At home Rosita's life was little different from the lives of her ancestors hundreds of years ago. The pueblo allows no plumbing, electricity or other changes. Rosita carried all her water from the river, gathered all her wood for fires in the canyons and hauled it on her back to the village and up the ladder to her dwelling. In her spare time she gathered food for the winter, various greens and wild spinaches, mushrooms, plums and chokecherries to be dried. Her principal craft was the making of shoes and moccasins. She learned to scrape and dry and tan the deer skins. One of the most common tanning agents was boiled animal brains, which were rubbed and worked into the drying leather. Rosita chose moccasin making because it could be stopped and J ..) J J -..) J 14 9 �resumed easily at spare moments before or after working in town. Other crafts such as pottery making cannot be interrupted so often. Most of the people at the pueblo are initiated members of one of the clans known as the "knife people", the "wooden earring people", the "water people", etc. Rosita is one of the "water people". Each clan has its own initiation procedures, its secrets, its ceremonies, its projects and its own sacred religious traditions, much of which is probably hundreds of years old. Initiated members receive the security and encouragement of an extended family. Both men and women can be members of the clans, and all attend some meetings in the kivas. However, the clans are definitely male dominated and many meetings are limited to the men. Taos people believe the preseivation of their culture is strongly dependent upon the maintenance of the clans. Therefore, they diligently encourage all their children to be initiated into one of the clans where they can learn the songs, legends and ancient religion of the pueblo. One of the efforts of the clans is to give the young members instruction and practice in the various dances and songs as the feast days approach. The principal feasts occur at Christmas with the deer dance, at New Years with the turtle dance, at January 6th with the Buffalo dance. The corn dances are performed in May, June and July and St. Jerome's feast is on September 30th. Today more than half of the Taos People live outside the pueblos, a trend which is a little worrisome lo the tribe. The pueblo itself was frozen to any further additions or changes about 15 years ago. Maintenance of the ancient structures is a never-ending task. All snow must be immediately removed from the roofs to prevent seepage and rotting of roof timbers. Each family is responsible for its own roof. All exterior walls are mud-stuccoed every summer. Though Rosita is alert and surprisingly agile for a person in her 90's, a scary fall on one of the ladders in 1979 convinced her granddaughter, Josephine Lefthand, that it was time for Rosita to leave the pueblo. Until that time Rosita was still climbing the ladders with her water and fuel. Presently, Rosita lives comfortably with Tom and Josephine in Ignacio. From time to time she returns to Taos lo visit her daughter and to attend the feasts. At home she still bakes bread and tortillas for her grandchildren. She only recently stopped dancing at the pow-wows. When the grandchildren try to tease her into joining the dances again, she tells them, "I've done my part. Now you do yours." P.S. Rosita is adjusting very nicely lo using thermostats, the electric range, etc. in her granddaughter's home. Shelby Smith - November, 1980 (Special thanks lo Josephine Lefthand for translating the inteiview) 150 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosita Romero Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-11 Subject The topic of the resource Romero, Rosita; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Rosita Romero based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1980 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Romero, Rosita Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby; Lefthand, Josephine