types of kingdoms

mi hacienda...su hacienda....

Low doorways into another world on a cloudy mild day. I visited the Martinez Hacienda to continue research for an article I'm working on. The place has a rich and complex history. Padre Martinez had many children and was an important and wealthy man in The Kingdom of New Mexico in the 1800's. He had the first mercantile/factory/hacienda here in the north and that involved Native slaves and servitude. (Actually there were kidnappings of Indians by Hispanos, and Hispanos by Indians and mostly involved women and children because, according to old journals written by missionaries, "males are hard to subdue, as they resist and run away"). An important trade route was developed from Taos along the Santa Fe Trail and back again. There is very little information about one of the most important trade items ~ stockings! aka: handknitted socks! We know they were important because Padre Martinez included 44 pairs in his hijuela, his will ~ which in those days was an inventory that presented a picture of the economic condition of the times.

They were most likely made from churro wool because that's the type of sheep the Spanish brought up from Mexico along with the art of knitting. The yarn is coarse. It makes me itch just to look at it! Churro wool is still used today but not for clothing. It's used for colcha embroidery (wool embroidered panels) and rug weaving.

The socks in the photos are samples knitted in recent years. No socks from the time survive and the information about them has been extrapolated through the years by archeologists and historians based on bits of information, manifests, and wills.

specters...
We know there are ghosts, too. A friend told me that when she and her family lived there many years ago before it became a museum, they often heard children's voices and footsteps running through the courtyards and under the portals, especially at Christmas.  She said they were happy sounds. All I heard today were pigeons' mournful coo-ings. The place felt lonely. The weavers who come in once a week to work on the old rustic looms were not there on this day.

Very few tourists visit the hacienda in January. In fact, I was the only person there besides Louisa in the gift shop. During other seasons the place is lively with events that include music and trade fairs and traditional foods. In the stark January afternoon light the place looked run down and sad. I heard no children running nor  any happy voices. The joy was in visiting the weaving room with its unexpected hit of color.