January 6 – New Mexico Celebrates Statehood

nPostednon January 6, 2016

NewnMexico adopted as its official nickname “Land of Enchantment.” n

nHowntrue!

nNewnMexico is a land of mountains and deserts, of fine artists andnartisans in all the traditional handicrafts, of Hispanic and NativenAmerican people and cultures and influences.

Itnhas the highest percentage of Hispanic people in its population, andnit has the second highest percentage of Native Americans (afternAlaska).

nInterestingly enough, New Mexico did not get its name from Mexico. Instead, both of these places got their names independently from the Aztec – or Mexica – Empire.

nNewnMexico originally got its name from Spanish explorers who, in thensecond half of the sixteenth century, named the region Nuevo Mexiconbecause they thought that the Indians living there were as wealthy asnthe Mexica Indians.

The state flag is red and gold, the colors of
Spain’s flag, but it has an ancient
sun symbol from the Pueblo tribe known
as Zia.

nHowever, New Mexico, like Mexico, wasnruled by Spain; later, the state became a part of the republic ofnMexico. Of course, for centuries Navajo, Pueblo, Apache, and other groups ofnNative Americans lived there.

nOnnthis date in 1912, New Mexico became the 47^th U.S. state.

nHere are my personal “bests” of New Mexico:

nBestnart community in NM:

SantanFe has more than 200 world-class art galleries in just two squarenmiles – with three arts districts vying for shoppers’ eyes andndollars. When my husband and I tried to check out every one of thengalleries in just one of the districts, we kept thinking, “Well,nnow I’ve seen it all – the next gallery will just seem likenrepetition, right?” And then we would go in and be totally blownnaway with a totally new never-before-seen sort of sculpture, or anunique painting style, or an especially exquisite sort of handicraft.nWe got tremendously footsore but never jaded!

nQuirkiestnMuseum in NM:

nRoswellnboasts an interesting and self-important International UFO Museum &nResearch Center.

nBestncave in NM:

nCarlsbadnCaverns boasts one of the largest cave chambers in North

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nAmerica, andnthere are at least 23 named rooms in the cave! Another extranattraction is watching bats fly out of the cave every sunset!
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Bestnsand in NM:

nWalkingnaround White Sands National Monument is beautiful and weird. The sandnis so, so white because it is made of gypsum crystals. This is thenlargest gypsum dune field in the world!

nInloved seeing the white-white lizards and the white-white spiders thatnhad evolved to blend into the gypsum sand. I loved seeing the blackntread on our whitened tires. I felt like I was hiking through annimmense pile of plaster of paris! (Which, of course, I was!)

BestnNative American ruins in NM:

nInreally enjoyed Bandelier National Monument, hiking to and climbing upnto the pueblo structures made by the Ancestral Puebloans!

nBestnscience museum in NM:

nLosnAlamos is famous for being the site of the super-secret ManhattannProject during World War II. Scientists developed the firstndevastating nuclear weapons there.

nNowadays, the Bradbury SciencenMuseum sheds light on this interesting and sobering chapter ofnhistory.

nInalso love Taos and Albuquerque and other ruins and museums and andnand! New Mexico is truly wonderful! n

nHerenare some things I’d like to see…but that I haven’t seen yet:

nFridgehenge:nn