Saturday, July 3, 2010

Las Vegas Fourth

We had our "Fiestas Fourth" Parade here in Las Vegas today. Always a favorite around here, the whole town turns out, either lining the the streets or walking/riding in the parade.

The theme was "Tradition, Heritage, Love, Family, and Freedom." Quite a mouthful, though a few less words in Spanish.

I've been always impressed with aspects of this parade which are part anachronism, part racist, part small town precious.

I have pictures of a few choice moments. Firstly come the men dressed up as "Conquistadors," on horseback of course.



Most New Mexican towns have a fiestas celebration at some point in the year. Santa Fe celebrates the bloody subjugation of New Mex by the Spanish Crown and Church during the feast day of La Conquistadora in September. It's a bit like the DAR, only instead of celebrating revolutionaries it is all about inflating aristocracy. All the old Spanish families around Santa Fe put their coats of arms up around the plaza and hoot and hollar about their pride in pretending to not be related to any Indians or gringos despite 400 years of rubbing elbows and god knows what else.

Here in Vegas we are much more practical. We celebrate the racial pride and domination of some fictional Old Spanish Pure Aristocracy
at the same time as US independence from precisely such domination. Why spend money on two celebrations when you can have just one and everyone can have a good time in July? This is one of the most interesting cultural mash-ups I have ever experienced. The Monumental Denial involved to achieve this is one of the hallmarks of this oh so dysfunctional town.

I had hoped that the reason for the shared holiday was because the folks here still resent the failure of the US government to honor the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. While it is true that many people who draw their ancestry to mid nineteenth century land holds granted by the Mexican Government are actively pissed off about the last almost 200 years of Anglo interests and outright thievery. This point of view is held in tandem with staunch US patriotism mixed with racial disdain for all those "other" non-Spanish mixed race Latinos south of the border. And (sadly) has nothing to do with launching Conquistadors after the VFW in the fiestas parade (I only wish it did. I could get behind a serious Fuck You to the fourth of July.).

Truth is, the "tradition" of fiesta was invented by a bunch of white business men in Santa Fe during the early twentieth century as a way to generate tourist money. Admittedly they were riffing on folk traditions of processing through the fields with saints to stimulate the bean crops, so some kind of tradition is indeed involved. It just isn't the kind of tradition most folks around here say it is. Really it is just plain old traditional hootin and hollering to make who ever happens to be in charge at the moment feel "traditional" pride.


I thought photographing the horse's ass was the best way to depict this cultural train wreck.


Next we have the endless royalty floats from all the small towns in northern New Mexico. This is the float from Espanola.




Gentlemen, choose your princess bride here. But you better have the right pedigree, or no touchy no feely.

Lastly I have pictures of the true revolutionaries and patriots in our nation's culture wars. Why have separate gay pride parades when every town in America could be uplifted on the fourth of July through the vehicle of home grown identity politics? This is what keeps me interested in this crazy town.








So, happy Independence day to one and all! Enjoy the noise and fireworks and irony.

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