Tularosa marks 144th 'Solemn Promise'

The St. Francis de Paula Fiesta continues a series of events today through Sunday for its 144th annual commemoration celebrating the historic founding events of the St. Francis de Paula Church in 1865.
The fiesta begins tonight with a recitation of a rosary at 6 p.m. at the base of Round Mountain, an almost perfect cone-shaped mountain landmark between Tularosa and Bent on U.S. 70 where an armed conflict between the Apache and the first settlers of Tularosa took place. According to history, the settlers in that battle vowed to memorialize their survival with a "Solemn Promise" by building a church dedicated to St. Francis de Paula. Since then, the parish communities of Bent, Mescalero and Tularosa acknowledge the close relationship between the people that has evolved over the last 144 years. Following the battle, in which only one person was killed, families have intermarried and traded; schools have shared students and teachers; and churches have held services for marriages, baptisms and deaths for members of all three communities. After a mass at 5 p.m. Saturday, a traditional processional will be enacted in ancient choreography in a form unique to Tularosa. This is a Matachine dance and is carried out by circling the church with the statue of the saint and traditional costumed Matachine danzantes accompany a young lady selected from the first communion. It is led with drums in a dance found throughout Mexico and New Mexico tracing back hundreds of years. The form that has evolved in Tularosa has been passed from one generation to the next. The number of danzantes participating has been growing in recent years and the costumes are becoming more elaborate...more