San Isidro Day Celebration

The Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association, in conjunction with the New Mexico Acequia Association, the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area and Barrios Unidos, is sponsoring a San Isidro celebration at the museum on May 7, although the feast day of San Isidro falls on May 15.

San Isidro Labrador, (Isidore the Farm Laborer or Isidore the Farmer) (ca. 1070 – May 15, 1130), was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. His birth name was Isidro de Merlo y Quintana. When he was canonized in in 1622, he became known as the Catholic patron saint of farmers and of many cities, including Spain’s capital, Madrid, as well as small towns throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including several in New Mexico. His feast day is celebrated on May 15.

The Spanish profession name labrador comes from the verb labrar (“to till”, “to plow” or, in a broader sense, “to work the land”). To refer to him as simply a “laborer” is a poor translation of labrador as it makes no reference to the essential farming aspect of Isidore’s work and identity.

The celebration will begin at the Chimayó Museum with a blessing of the Acequia de los Ortegas by the hermanos of the local morada. Local youth will help to divert water from the acequia and then will follow it in a procession by the museum and into the Plaza del Cerro, where they will plant seeds in a small plot. Each child will be given Chimayó chile seedlings to take home.

The celebration will also include a performance by the Teatro Acequiero, a group of farmers from the Taos Valley Acequia Association who are using guerrilla theater to inspire and invigorate the acequia communities.

Please join us for a day of gratitude and appreciation for farmers, the land and water, and our wonderful community of Chimayó.