Luminarias

Bobby called it the "Seventh Wonder of New Mexico" and after seeing it for myself, I'd have to say he's right. Last Friday evening we walked up the street to San Juan College to see an event which only happens one evening in the entire year for just a few hours after dark. It's the annual Luminarias.



A luminaria is a very simple thing - a brown paper bag with the top edge folded down, some sand on the bottom, and a tea candle on the sand. That's it. They're so simple, but put about 90,000 together in one place and it's awesome!!!

All of the campus lights were turned off so the only light came from the luminarias which lined all the sidewalks, the tops of the buildings, the open parking lots, the stairways, the stone walls, basically anywhere and everywhere.



The ones on the stairs were some of my favorites because the light reflected off the stones and just looked amazing.




These are some of the fake ones they leave on top of the all the buildings (typical flat roof style seen here in New Mexico so they don't have to worry about them sliding off a slanted roof, maybe just blowing over, so they use fake ones up high. At least that's my guess.)



The camera just couldn't do them justice in the dark I'm afraid, but they spread out forever! I liked when they reflected in the glass doors and windows - it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't, like the landscape just went on eternally.



This is looking down on a luminaria from above. I think they'd make a great abstract art display. Their shapes and lighting were just fascinating.









You could drive around campus and stay in your warm heated car, but then you can't see what they do in the plaza in the middle of the buildings...here they used prettier bags that gave our more light than the lunchbag type.







In the middle of the plaza, there's a small ampitheater which they got creative with and made the zia state symbol in the very center. Worth getting out of the car to see.



Here it is a looking at it straight on and center. I thought it looked like a star, which would add some great seasonal symbolism.






They also had giant telescopes set up in the plaza to look through. We skipped it because of the long lines of people waiting for a turn. There may have been hot choclate, but we couldn't find it. Good thing we bundled up warmly!


So if you happen to near here the first Saturday of December, I would definitely have to recommend taking the time out to see the luminarias. The pictures really don't do justice to how amazing it was to see.