NMPedia

In Spanish: Dia de Muertos, Dia de los Muertos. Remembrance of the dead, traditionally observed on November 2nd, All Soul's Day. The celebration arose in Mexico; in contrast to the "monstrous" night of Halloween, Dia de Muertos is a loving remembrance of those who have passed, with altars called ofrendas bearing food offerings and pictures of the deceased. Traditional elements include consuming of sugar skulls (often with one's own name upon it) and calavera face painting to resemble skulls. The graves of family members are often decorated, and food shared at the cemetery. In the Pueblos, Day of the Dead is marked with night-long vigils and the cracking of whips and firing of guns at dawn to remind the dead to return to their rest. Public celebrations often are held on the Sunday closest to Nov. 2; Albuquerque's Muertos y Marigolds parade is the largest such celebration in New Mexico. Curiously, the Day of the Dead is little observed in southern New Mexico.

AKA: Ed DeLavy. (1916-1989) Painter and illustrator; his works about the Southwest were featured in many magazines from the 1930s through the 1950s. Homesteaded land near Bernalillo where he built his home and studio, near the home of his friend author John L. Sinclair for whom he illustrated the book Cowboy Riding Country. DeLavy left his home to the Sandoval County Historical Society, which organization uses it for their headquarters and museum.

AKA: Deming duck races, Great American Duck Race of Deming, Inc. Annual August event held in Deming. Ducks are indeed raced, and there is variously a parade, dance, barbecue competition, etc.
Deming Duck Race website

AKA: Deming Museum, Deming Luna County Museum. Features a wide range of historical materials about life in the area, a collection of Mimbres pots, and a mineral room. Housed in the former National Guard Armory, which building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a State Historic Site.
Deming Luna Mimbres Museum website

See Deming Luna Mimbres Museum

(1943-1997) Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. in Roswell, to a military family. Well-known songwriter and musician with hit songs in the 1970s.

Roadside monuments, often marking the spot where someone has died (or received injuries resulting in their later death) but sometimes simply serving as a memorial or tribute in a public place. The most common element is a cross, but descansos may be built of a wide variety of materials and customized to the interests of the person being memorialized. Descansos may also appear as crosses carved into or painted onto roadside rocks, traditionally indicating a place for travelers to pause and pray for the souls of the departed. The descanso dates back to at least 1700; modern versions include bicycle sculptures where cyclists have died. The roadside memorials are typically maintained by family members, with fresh decorations on Memorial Day. The New Mexico Department of Transportation has an unofficial policy to preserve descansos wherever possible, including carefully replacing them after roadwork is completed.
Descansos.org website

Dramatic canyon with tall steep walls, near Santa Fe. Jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. Popular with sport climbers; offers hiking trails and primitive campsites. Used for filming over a dozen movies including Cowboys & Aliens and 3:10 to Yuma (2007).
BLM Diablo Canyon website

See Day of the Dead

For originator, see Everett M. Rogers

See David Shiffler

Colloquial term for a mayordomo

AKA: The Padre of Isleta, Tashide. (1852-1928) French-born Franciscan priest who lived at Isleta Pueblo 1891-1925, also serving as priest for surrounding communities. In 1919 received the royal family of Belgium, who presented him with the Order of Leopold. Friend to Charles Lummis (who also had close ties with Isleta Pueblo) and Adolph Bandelier. Served as the basis for a character in Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop.

(1860-1947) AKA: Hastiin Adiitsʼaʼii (Mister Interpreter), Kiiłchííʼ (Red Boy). Henry Chee Dodge. During the Long Walk of 1864 became separated from his mother and was taken in as an orphan, later raised by his aunt. Chairman of the Navajo Business Council 1922-28; co-founded the Navajo Tribal Council and served as Chairman 1942-46, elected Vice-Chairman in 1946 but died before he could take office. Lobbied in support of funding for education of Navajo children, (somewhat) controversially arranged for mining on tribal lands.

Outlaws operating around Las Vegas New Mexico in the late 1870s. The Gang (whose name reflects the Kansas origin of most of the members) was blamed for stagecoach and train robberies, cattle rustling, and murders. Prominent members included "Mysterious Dave" Mather, "Hoodoo Brown", J.J. Webb, and Dave Rudabaugh. Stopping the Gang was complicated by the fact that some served as peace officers, working in collusion with Las Vegas City Marshall Joe Carson. The Gang's hold on the area was only broken when a citizen's vigilante committee was formed in April 1880; faced with organized resistance from the citizenry of Las Vegas, surviving members of the Gang went elsewhere.

See La Tules

Reporter and television personality, born in El Paso but raised on the family's farm in Chamberino, a small town south of Las Cruces. Attended the New Mexico Military Institute. Operates a cattle ranch in Lincoln County.

(1808-1887) Involved in the Mexican-American War as a Colonel of the Missouri Mounted Volunteers; was left in charge of Santa Fe by Stephen W. Kearny. Led an expedition into Mexico, winning several battles. Was involved in writing what would become the Kearny Code.

(1842-1916) United States Senator from Arkansas in 1872. Began a cattle ranching operation in eastern New Mexico in the late 1870s, with the centerpiece a huge house now known as the Dorsey Mansion. The village of Chico grew up around the house, and the town of Clayton is named for Dorsey's son.

(Occasionally: Dorsey Castle.) At Chico Springs, Colfax County. Built 1878-80 by Senator Stephen W. Dorsey, who in 1884 began remodeling with the addition of a stone castle and tower. The Mansion eventually featured an art gallery, billiard room, library, nine bedrooms, a 60-guest dining room, servant quarters and the first indoor bathroom in the area. The grounds included a swimming pool. Ranching neighbors nicknamed it Dorsey's "Castle Ranch". The home was for a time used as a tuberculosis sanatorium. On the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places. Managed for a time by the Museum of New Mexico, the home is now in private ownership and operating as a llama ranch.

Rumored alien installation within/under Archuleta Mesa (sometimes reported as Mt. Archuleta, or Archuleta Peak) near the town of Dulce in northern New Mexico. One version of the legend says that the Army discovered the already-occupied alien "base" while looking for a site for the Manhattan Project; another version has our government ceding a base to aliens in exchange for technology. The legend further encompasses a schism between groups of aliens within the base, an uneasy alliance of humans with one of those groups, and violence between aliens and humans which left many dead. Other elements of the legend are tunnels connecting Dulce to Los Alamos and beyond, and area cattle mutilations performed by aliens. Proximity to the Los Alamos Labs and the existence of some real underground projects in New Mexico has helped fuel the legend; Albuquerque UFO researcher Paul Bennewitz claimed to have evidence of the existence of the base, which helped standardize the details.

AKA: "Buck" Dunton. (1878-1936) Painter; one of the "Taos Six", founding members of the Taos Society of Artists. Noted for paintings of Western themes, Native Americans, and New Mexico landscapes.

On the campus of the United World College in Montezuma, near Las Vegas. Designed by Virginia Dwan (conceptualizer and funder), Charles Ross (solar spectrum artist), and Laban Wingert (planner-architect) and opened on October 25, 1996.The circular building features twelve large prisms in the apses and ceiling which spread rainbows across the floor and walls of the interior. The Sanctuary is available to the public after checking in at the College's Welcome Center.
Dwan Light Sanctuary website

(1878-1966) Came to New Mexico in 1923. After decades of unsuccessful petroleum speculation one of the world's richest uranium deposits was discovered in one of the dry wells in 1955, making her very wealthy. Biography: Stella Dysart of Ambrosia Lake by Merle Armitage.