Ruben Cobos, recorder, July 15, 1975
File — Box: 4, CD: 351
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
The collection consists of 591 recordings of folk songs, folklore and local histories collected by Ruben Cobos from 1944-1974 in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Also included in the collection are about 270 additional recordings of selected music - a few from New Mexico, many from Mexico and Latin America, and others from Spain, Europe and the U.S. The recordings vary in quality between good, fair, and poor. They contain both musical and spoken content. Most recordings are in Spanish, however, a few are in English. Others are Bilingual or represent the use of Spanglish.
The informants are mainly from New Mexico and Colorado, with a few from California, Texas and Mexico. The collections focuses heavily on spoken Spanish, with examples of poetry, riddles, proverbs, legends, anecdotes, folk tales, mysteries, prayers, nursery rhymes, games, jokes, language use, tricky words, tongue twisters, memories, local history and family history. The Spanish songs include alabados, entriegas for weddings and baptisms, inditas, corridos and ballads, pastores, posadas, love songs, folk dance music, etc. Traditions of Los Juanes and Los Manueles, Penitente morada practices, including women Penitentes, Holy Week songs and activities and the role of the church, santos and fiestas in the lives of the people are also included. There are also several lectures on folklore, music and culture by Cobos and other scholars, including Fray Angelico Chavez, Charles Briggs, Alfonso Ortiz, Arthur Leon Campa, Marta Weigle, Guadalupe Baca Vaughn, Anita Thomas and others. Included also are autobiographical accounts by Ruben Cobos and his wife Elvira.
Songs and stories about and for children, their health and education are included. Although the majority of the information is about Spanish and Hispanic traditions, the collection also provides some materials by and about non-Hispanics and the relationship between the races. A small amount of stories and songs relate to Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos, Mexicanos, African Americans, and Anglos (gringos).
Songs and stories by or about males show them in every walk of life, as rich and poor, old and young, as husbands, widowers, fathers, sons, relatives, compadres, friends, orphans, opponents, collaborators, kings, princes, commoners, giants, ranchers, cowboys, shepherds, farmers, woodcutters, shoemakers, vendors, railroaders, hunters, priests, doctors, teachers, politicians, attorneys, meteorologists, soldiers, witches, simpletons, gamblers, murderers, drunks, adulturers and thieves.
Recordings by and about women add value and perspective to the collection. Females are rich and poor, old and young, girl friends, lovers, adulteresses, wives, widows, mothers, comadres, church attendees, housekeepers for priests, nuns, princesses, queens, teachers, curanderas, cooks and witches. Some of the characters found in the collection are Cinderella, Genoveva de Brabanate, Goldilocks, Delgadina, La Llorona, Doña Cebolla, Dona Fortuna and the Virgin Mary, as well as San Antonio, San Pedro, Bartoldo, Don Cacahuate, Juan Charrasqueado, Pedro and Juan de Urdemalas, Ali Baba, Don Dinero, Tio Botitas and others.
The collection contains descriptions, traditions, local history and songs for New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Mexico. There are references to the Civil War in New Mexico, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Stories tell of superstitions, supernatural, unexplained phenomenon, balls of fire and light, lightening, a comet, the sun, moon, finding treasure, ghosts, devils and magic. Additional topics include traditional food and cooking, health and home remedies. Included also are stories and references to insects, animals, birds, fish and snakes, as well as floods and storms, and automobiles and airplanes.
The informants are mainly from New Mexico and Colorado, with a few from California, Texas and Mexico. The collections focuses heavily on spoken Spanish, with examples of poetry, riddles, proverbs, legends, anecdotes, folk tales, mysteries, prayers, nursery rhymes, games, jokes, language use, tricky words, tongue twisters, memories, local history and family history. The Spanish songs include alabados, entriegas for weddings and baptisms, inditas, corridos and ballads, pastores, posadas, love songs, folk dance music, etc. Traditions of Los Juanes and Los Manueles, Penitente morada practices, including women Penitentes, Holy Week songs and activities and the role of the church, santos and fiestas in the lives of the people are also included. There are also several lectures on folklore, music and culture by Cobos and other scholars, including Fray Angelico Chavez, Charles Briggs, Alfonso Ortiz, Arthur Leon Campa, Marta Weigle, Guadalupe Baca Vaughn, Anita Thomas and others. Included also are autobiographical accounts by Ruben Cobos and his wife Elvira.
Songs and stories about and for children, their health and education are included. Although the majority of the information is about Spanish and Hispanic traditions, the collection also provides some materials by and about non-Hispanics and the relationship between the races. A small amount of stories and songs relate to Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos, Mexicanos, African Americans, and Anglos (gringos).
Songs and stories by or about males show them in every walk of life, as rich and poor, old and young, as husbands, widowers, fathers, sons, relatives, compadres, friends, orphans, opponents, collaborators, kings, princes, commoners, giants, ranchers, cowboys, shepherds, farmers, woodcutters, shoemakers, vendors, railroaders, hunters, priests, doctors, teachers, politicians, attorneys, meteorologists, soldiers, witches, simpletons, gamblers, murderers, drunks, adulturers and thieves.
Recordings by and about women add value and perspective to the collection. Females are rich and poor, old and young, girl friends, lovers, adulteresses, wives, widows, mothers, comadres, church attendees, housekeepers for priests, nuns, princesses, queens, teachers, curanderas, cooks and witches. Some of the characters found in the collection are Cinderella, Genoveva de Brabanate, Goldilocks, Delgadina, La Llorona, Doña Cebolla, Dona Fortuna and the Virgin Mary, as well as San Antonio, San Pedro, Bartoldo, Don Cacahuate, Juan Charrasqueado, Pedro and Juan de Urdemalas, Ali Baba, Don Dinero, Tio Botitas and others.
The collection contains descriptions, traditions, local history and songs for New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Mexico. There are references to the Civil War in New Mexico, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. Stories tell of superstitions, supernatural, unexplained phenomenon, balls of fire and light, lightening, a comet, the sun, moon, finding treasure, ghosts, devils and magic. Additional topics include traditional food and cooking, health and home remedies. Included also are stories and references to insects, animals, birds, fish and snakes, as well as floods and storms, and automobiles and airplanes.
Dates
- July 15, 1975
Language of Materials
From the Collection:
English, Spanish
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 13 boxes (12.25 cu. ft.)
General
Fray Angelico Chavez. Begins at 00:05 and ends at 1:52. Cobos introduces Fray Angelico (good recording, he a scholar in Catholic Church and studies and writes about ecclesiastic history, talk given at a college). Talk begins at 2:13 and ends at 26:21. Part I. 1. My Penitente Land (good recording, lecture, he provides background information for his life, states that he was born April 10, 1910 at 10 PM in Wagon Mound, New Mexico, and raised in the valley of Mora, talks about three R's in his life - region, race, and religion, he moved to Ohio to attend seminary, he lived in Detroit for many years and missed the land of Northern New Mexico, discusses race, Spanish language, education, dialects of Spanish, bad Spanish, New Mexico Spanish, Spanglish, childhood, children, ethnicity, Hispanic, Catholic Church, santos, National Geographic magazine, discusses similarities betweeen Spain, Morocco, and New Mexico, discusses how he began writing poetry, author, prose, short stories, history, expository text, use of Velazquez Spanish English Dictionary, La Conquistadora, statue of the Virgin Mary supposedly bought to New Mexico by Diego de Vargas, Chavez denies the belief that General de Vargas had brought the sculpture to Santa Fe, he as historian, education, school, told history of the people, Castilla, Palestine, talks about Villagra - Historia de la Nueva Mexico, epic poem, published in 1610, Iberian Peninsula, Spain, codeswitching into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglish); 2. Talks about the origin of Penitentes (good recording, New Mexico history, church history, Chavez discusses the coming of the Penitentes in the beginning of eighteenth century, he believed they came from Guatemala, the Penitentes came at same time as the idea of Santuario de Esquipulas, Santuario de Chimayo, Nuestro Senor de Esquipulas, Spanish traditions, differences between the New Mexico Penitentes and the European Penitentes, St. Thomas Aquinas, Penitentes and flagellation, Francisco Gomez Robledo, Penitente origins, organization, etc. Part II, Penitentes. Begins at 26:22 and ends at 36:09. Cont. of lecture (fair to poor recording) discusses more history of New Mexico, Our Lady of the Assumption, religion, traditions, Apaches, Father Alonso de Benavides from Mexico City, role of un mayordomo, Santa Fe, discussion from audience, Asturias, genizaros, Lent, more on Penitentes, the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi, lay Franciscans, fasting, King Louis of France, brotherhood, fraternities in Santa Cruz de la Canada, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, the Penitentes took the place of the Franciscans who could not reach all the people, the land grant leaders who were members of the Third Order of St. Francis, the Santuario of Chimayo tradition came around this same time. The first secular, non Franciscan priest came from Durango and brought his family. Penitentes of Santa Cruz going to Taos, opposition of Bishop of Durango, etc.).
Mrs. Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, born 1898, Las Vegas, New Mexico. Begins at 37:59 and ends at 63:28. 1. Introduction (good recording, lecture on folklore, regarding the Spanish influence on New Mexico folklore); 2. Definition of folklore (the popular heritage of a group held together by common interests, folklore is an unwritten science of a people, a mirror in which people can recognize themselves in their most intimate life, folklore provides insight into what people of the past thought, feared, felt, in their lives, songs, tales, sayings, beliefs, customs, religious practices and culture in general); 3. Baca Land Grant (local history, half a million acres were given to her Baca grandfather by the Mexican government in 1821, in 1823 it was confirmed, her grandfather tried to live on the land with his servents and children but they could not keep their livestock safe, dangers, Indian raids, Native Americans, so they left, the American govenrment took over New Mexico in 1846, people settled along the Chihuahua trail, a pact was made with the heirs of the Baca land and they traded land rights with the Town of Las Vegas, gave up land for the town, in place of it Bacas got several other pieces of land, one in Valle Grande (Valles Caldera) by Los Alamos, in Jemez Mountains, Bacas got land near the Bell ranch in San Miguel County and Guadalupe County, Angel Fire, in part of Colorado, the other was in present day Arizona); 4. Cuentos (personal experience, story telling was an art and the story tellers were considered artists, stories from the conquistadores, Colonial days, most of the cuentos are forgotten due to lack of documentation, mixing of folk stories, juegos, children, games, life in Colonial New Mexico, isolation, poor education system, poor roads, lack of industry); 5. Proverbos, dichos ( dichos, sayings, teach wisdom to others, codeswitching into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglisy); 6. Religion (local history, the role of faith in everyday life, codeswitch into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglish, Virgin Mary, Ave Maria, church, parents, blessings, family, traditions); 7. Wedding customs (local marriage traditions, greetings, getting parental blessings at weddings, calabaza, squash used to symbolize a refusal, prendorio to present the bride to his family, women, entrega, entriega, songs, engagement period, etc.); 8. Indian weddings (local traditions, personal experiences of attending Native American Indian marriages, learning customs); 9. Baptisms (traditions, customs, parents turn over the godchild to the godparents, padrinos, compadres de pila, if the parents died, the godparents would take the child as their own to raise); 10. Dia de los Inocentes (good recording, local holiday, tradition, verses, codeswitch into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglish, was celebrated on December 28, the neighbors would ask to borrow items and if the lender forgot what day it was and complied, they would have to pay the borrower to get the item back); 11. Religion and planting (local traditions, prayers and farming, blessing the land, water, acequias, May 3, the feast of the Holy Cross, May 15, the feast of San Isidro and acequias, April 13 the feast of San Antonio, religious holidays dictated to planting and sowing, discusses pa as a contraction of para, Spanish language, usage); 12. Holy Week (Semana Santa, local traditions, religious holidays, Holy Thursday, feeding the poor, mirrors were covered with black cloth, all hard work ceased, woman were not allowed to wear makeup during this week, la golondrina, the city of dreams); 13. Entertainment (good recording, local traditions, riddles, children, youth, activities done for leisure, past times, inditas, folk poetry, songs, local narratives, verses, plays, Navidad, Christmas, Los Pastores, a play on Sunday closest to January 6, Los Reyes Magos, the Three Kings, folk drama, witches, supersition, etc. Talk cont. on CD 252).
Mrs. Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, born 1898, Las Vegas, New Mexico. Begins at 37:59 and ends at 63:28. 1. Introduction (good recording, lecture on folklore, regarding the Spanish influence on New Mexico folklore); 2. Definition of folklore (the popular heritage of a group held together by common interests, folklore is an unwritten science of a people, a mirror in which people can recognize themselves in their most intimate life, folklore provides insight into what people of the past thought, feared, felt, in their lives, songs, tales, sayings, beliefs, customs, religious practices and culture in general); 3. Baca Land Grant (local history, half a million acres were given to her Baca grandfather by the Mexican government in 1821, in 1823 it was confirmed, her grandfather tried to live on the land with his servents and children but they could not keep their livestock safe, dangers, Indian raids, Native Americans, so they left, the American govenrment took over New Mexico in 1846, people settled along the Chihuahua trail, a pact was made with the heirs of the Baca land and they traded land rights with the Town of Las Vegas, gave up land for the town, in place of it Bacas got several other pieces of land, one in Valle Grande (Valles Caldera) by Los Alamos, in Jemez Mountains, Bacas got land near the Bell ranch in San Miguel County and Guadalupe County, Angel Fire, in part of Colorado, the other was in present day Arizona); 4. Cuentos (personal experience, story telling was an art and the story tellers were considered artists, stories from the conquistadores, Colonial days, most of the cuentos are forgotten due to lack of documentation, mixing of folk stories, juegos, children, games, life in Colonial New Mexico, isolation, poor education system, poor roads, lack of industry); 5. Proverbos, dichos ( dichos, sayings, teach wisdom to others, codeswitching into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglisy); 6. Religion (local history, the role of faith in everyday life, codeswitch into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglish, Virgin Mary, Ave Maria, church, parents, blessings, family, traditions); 7. Wedding customs (local marriage traditions, greetings, getting parental blessings at weddings, calabaza, squash used to symbolize a refusal, prendorio to present the bride to his family, women, entrega, entriega, songs, engagement period, etc.); 8. Indian weddings (local traditions, personal experiences of attending Native American Indian marriages, learning customs); 9. Baptisms (traditions, customs, parents turn over the godchild to the godparents, padrinos, compadres de pila, if the parents died, the godparents would take the child as their own to raise); 10. Dia de los Inocentes (good recording, local holiday, tradition, verses, codeswitch into Spanish, Bilingual, Spanglish, was celebrated on December 28, the neighbors would ask to borrow items and if the lender forgot what day it was and complied, they would have to pay the borrower to get the item back); 11. Religion and planting (local traditions, prayers and farming, blessing the land, water, acequias, May 3, the feast of the Holy Cross, May 15, the feast of San Isidro and acequias, April 13 the feast of San Antonio, religious holidays dictated to planting and sowing, discusses pa as a contraction of para, Spanish language, usage); 12. Holy Week (Semana Santa, local traditions, religious holidays, Holy Thursday, feeding the poor, mirrors were covered with black cloth, all hard work ceased, woman were not allowed to wear makeup during this week, la golondrina, the city of dreams); 13. Entertainment (good recording, local traditions, riddles, children, youth, activities done for leisure, past times, inditas, folk poetry, songs, local narratives, verses, plays, Navidad, Christmas, Los Pastores, a play on Sunday closest to January 6, Los Reyes Magos, the Three Kings, folk drama, witches, supersition, etc. Talk cont. on CD 252).
Creator
- From the Collection: Cobos, Rubén (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451