The Spanish Community in Albuquerque

Overview and Brief History:
Spain is located on a large peninsula in the southwest corner of Europe. Spain’s early history consists of various colonizers coming in successive waves. Among the first to arrive were the Iberians who came from Northern Africa. They were followed by the Celts and the merging of the two groups created a new race, the Celt-Iberians. The Celt-Iberians were further divided into several tribes such as the Cantabrians, Asturians, and Lusitanians. In the 8th century BC, the Phoenicians founded a number of trading posts, such as Cadiz, along the coast. They were followed in the XX century by Greek settlers. The Phoenicians allied with the Carthaginians to expel the Greeks, but Rome came to their defense in what has come to be known as the Second Punic War. After victory, Spain remained under Roman rule for six centuries and the Peninsula produced the emperors Trajan and Hadrian.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Suevi, Vandals and Alans entered Spain, but were driven out by the Visigoths in the 6th century. The Visgoths in turn were driven out by Arabs from the south in the eighth century. The Arabs ruled most the Peninsula save a small enclave in the north for eight centuries and imposed the Muslim religion and Arabic language on the Spanish people. This eight century period of Arab rule is divided into three periods: the Emirate (711 to 756), the Caliphate (756-1031) and the Reinos de Taifas (small independent kingdoms) (1031 to 1492).

The 1469 marriage of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella united the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and their combined strength enabled them to drive the Arabs from their last Spanish stronghold in Granada in 1492. The Spanish Inquisition began and Jews or Muslims that would not convert to Christianity were expelled from the country. During this same period of time, Christopher Columbus discovered America. With the riches acquired from the Americas Spain became the dominant world power in the 16th and the 17th centuries.

For most of the 18th century, Spain was ruled by the Bourbon dynasty. In 1808 Joseph Bonaparte was installed on the Spanish throne, following the Napoleonic invasion, although the fierce resistance of the Spanish people culminated in the restoration of the Bourbons in the person of Fernando VII. In the late 19th century, Spain briefly became a republic, but the monarchy returned in less than two years. A disastrous if brief war with the United States in 1898 resulted in the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines and completed the dissolution of the Spanish empire.

Following elections in April 1931, the monarchy was again abolished and a Second Republic was established. Political jockeying for power between diverse conservative, monarchist, socialist, communist, and anarchist groups during its five-year existence culminated in the Spanish Civil War. Armed and backed by Nazi Germany, a victorious General Franco plunged the country into a forty year dictatorship. When Franco died in 1975, the monarchy was restored and Juan Carlos I de Borbon y Borbon became the King of Spain.
 

Immigration to the United States and Albuquerque:
The Spanish arrived in the New World well ahead of other European nations, and by 1602 they had established the city of Santa Fe, having come northward into New Mexico in 1598 with don Juan de Oñate. For the next two hundred years many more Spaniards immigrated to New Mexico and the state remained a part of the Spanish empire until 1821, when Mexico gained its independence from Spain. [Albuquerque Tricentennial] Because of its remoteness and long distance from Spain, New Mexico’s isolated population maintained much of their Spanish customs and language in their archaic forms. The evolution of these early immigrants into today’s modern New Mexicans is covered in the Hispanic section of this report. This Spanish report is primarily concerned with more recent Spanish immigrants and the traditions that they have brought with them.

Unlike many other cultures, such as French or German, immigration numbers and patterns of Spaniards moving into New Mexico are difficult to document through U.S. Census data. This is because, for a variety of reasons explored in the Hispanic report, New Mexicans often chose to identify themselves as Spanish. Nonetheless, there have been Spaniards immigrating to New Mexico in small but steady numbers through most of the 20th century. Most of the Spaniards we contacted either have either come here as emissaries of the Spanish government (as in the case of the Cervantes Institute), or came because of the military. There are a few who came to work in the labs or to teach at the University, but many came as spouses of military who have been stationed in Spain and Europe.

Cultural Traditions:
Spain is not one homogeneous nation with a pan-Spanish culture. Rather it is made up of distinctive regions such as Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Castile, Catalonia, the Balearics (Extremadura), Galicia, Navarre, Aragon, and Valencia. Each of these regions has distinctive customs, dialects/languages, cuisine, arts, music, and dance.

Up until the arrival of large numbers of Americans in the mid-19th century, Spanish was the predominant language in New Mexico. Today, although English is dominant, Spanish is spoken by large numbers of Albuquerque’s populace. Mexican Spanish is by far the most common version, but the quaint archaic Spanish still spoken in the villages of northern New Mexico can still be heard in the city. Spaniards interviewed in the survey really enjoyed listening to the Spanish speakers of northern New Mexico. One woman remarked that it was very interesting and pleasant to hear words spoken that she had only read in old literature.

No matter what variant, maintaining language is not difficult for most Spaniards in Albuquerque. In addition to Spanish, four other languages/dialects are spoken in Spain. One of them, Galician is similar to old Castillian. However, there no formal gatherings of speakers of the regional languages, nor are classes offered in any of them locally.

Real Spanish food traditions are less common than language speakers. There are two restaurants purporting to serve Spanish cuisine in Albuquerque, but their offerings are more Mediterranean. There are tapas restaurants in Santa Fe, but none in Albuquerque as of this writing.

Spaniards we spoke with during this survey do maintain some of the culinary traditions of their homeland in their homes. Paella is the most common of these. A paella is specifically the curved pan the dish is cooked in; but in modern terms it has come to mean the Spanish stew cooked in the pan It was originally a dish of whatever was available or in season that was cooked by the poor. Early paellas often contained rabbit. Modern paellas vary widely and can contain many different ingredients. There are two distinct types of paella, however. Most paella is cooked beginning with a roux of olive oil, garlic, and onions. In Valencia, the roux is not the base of the paella.

Gazpacho is another Spanish dish that can vary widely. Gazpacho is basically a cold summer soup dish. It is said that there are as many gazpacho recipes as there are families in Spain. The two main ingredients in gazpacho are dried bread and tomatoes. The rest is culinary improvisation.

Artistic Traditions:
The most prominent and common Spanish art form found in Albuquerque is flamenco. Flamenco is a dance and musical form that developed among the gypsies and Spaniards in the Andalucian region of southern Spain. It has three forms, cante (vocal), baile (dance) and guitarra (guitar music). Flamenco dates from the late 18th century, but reached its fluorescence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the mid-20th century, the guitar became more prominent as a solo instrument and not just an accompaniment to the dance. As an art form, flamenco continues to evolve and thrive in places such as Albuquerque.

However, most of the Albuquerque practitioners of flamenco are not modern Spaniards, but rather New Mexican descendants of earlier Spanish immigrants who came to New Mexico before flamenco was popularized in Spain. Nonetheless, events like the annual Festival Flamenco Internacional de Alburquerque in June at the University of New Mexico do bring in major Spanish flamenco artists and attract local Spaniards to their performances. There are several native Spanish gypsies residing in northern New Mexico who are excellent flamenco musicians and dancers, and a few occasionally reside in the Albuquerque area; but the Albuquerque flamenco community is largely made up of New Mexicans.

There have been a few different Zarzuela troupes that have called Albuquerque home over the last 30 years. During the 1990's, there was a very active organization called La Zarzuela de Alburquerque. A group called Teatro Nuevo México, an Albuquerque-based company of theater artists dedicated to promoting Latino artistic expression, will be performing a Zarzuela this fall at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Zarzuela is a form of Spanish operetta that developed in Spain in the 17th century. A typical zarzuela combines stage acting with witty and topical lyrics accompanied by music that range from sophisticated ensemble pieces and arias to popular songs. It gets its name from a hunting lodge maintained by King Philip IV that was situated in a remote countryside thick with brambles or in Spanish, zarzas. As one interviewee said, explaining their popularity, “not everyone in Spain knows about flamenco, but everybody knows zarzuelas.”

Annual Events and Celebrations:
The Spanish community currently has no annual events or group celebrations. The Club de España de Albuquerque used to host an annual paella dinner in October or November, but it was discontinued because of a lack of attendance. Only 12 people came to the last one. The Club still holds occasional picnics or retreats, but they are neither celebrations nor are they regularly scheduled.

Many Spanish families observe Christmas and Epiphany by exchanging gifts. At Epiphany, some families make traditional Spanish pastries such as Rosca de Reyes (Circle of Kings), a sweetbread made with a present baked inside.

Conclusions:
The Club de España was the central gathering point for most Spaniards in Albuquerque. The club describes itself as a nonprofit sociocultural association whose mission is to promote the Spanish culture, and is open to all people who wish to share, learn, and participate in the different activities that the club promotes and organizes.

At its height, it published and mailed out a newsletter to approximately 60 members; but attendance at meetings was always low. The newsletter was discontinued because only 2 of the 60 members were willing to pay dues to cover mailing costs. Monthly meetings have been discontinued; but there are a dozen or so members who still get together for a picnic or outing to the mountains. A group of Spanish women who met because of the Club try to have lunch together once a month, but it is neither regular nor scheduled. I was told that there had been pervious attempts at organizing the Spanish in Albuquerque into a club or cultural organizations, but that those attempts too had been unsuccessful.

While it is currently inactive, the Club is not yet entirely dead. There is hope that it may pick up again. It can be contacted at: Club de España de Albuquerque, 4924 Indigo Dr. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87120, (505) 899-9192, email: candelariamcrespo@hotmail.com. The current president is Candelaria Crespo de Holland.

The Instituto Cervantes (Cervantes Institute) is a world-wide initiative of the Spanish government to promote the teaching and study of the Spanish language and the culture of Spain. It is currently housed at the National Hispanic Cultural Center and can be contacted at 1701 4th SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505) 724-4777. Email: cenabq@cervantes.es or on the web at www.cervantes.es and albuquerque.cervantes.es.

Also housed at the National Hispanic Cultural Center is the Spanish Resource Center. This small library provides books, audio and video tapes, and other items related to Spain’s language and culture. The result of an agreement between the two governments, materials at the library are provided through the Embassy of Spain and operating funding comes from the state of New Mexico through the University of New Mexico’s Division of Continuing Education /Spanish Resource Center. The Center may be contacted at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505) 246-2261 ext. 141/125, email: langasst@hcc.state.nm.us.

One complaint we heard about the Resource Center is that it is difficult for people working regular jobs to utilize the Center and that it should stay open evenings and on weekends. Another complaint was that most events that feature Spanish music, dance, and theater are extremely expensive to attend and they would probably be better attended if the prices were lowered. The Spanish movies featured weekly at the Hispanic Cultural Center are free and many former members of the Club de España frequently attend them.