“Hanging of the Greens” is one of UNM’s oldest traditions, and Friday is the deadline to take part in it.
As part of the nonprofit event, students light luminarias that outline main campus buildings during the holiday season, said Shayla Armstrong, president of UNM Mortar Board Senior Honor Society.
“Not only is this a tradition, it brings spirit, and brings us all together,” she said. “This is hugely successful every year. We make no profit on this. We just purchase the bags so student groups can purchase them from one location, which is the honor society.”
Student groups can purchase stations for $50-70, and they’re responsible for folding the luminaria bags and setting them up. In the end, about 13,000 luminarias will light up campus Dec. 3.
Rudolfo Anaya, author of The Farolitos of Christmas, said setting up luminarias is an hallowed New Mexico practice, but it has morphed over the years.
“They used to put them in front of churches,” he said. “They were stacks of wood. The traditional name in northern New Mexico is farolito — and luminaria, I don’t know where that started, and now it’s kind of taken over where everyone calls the little candle in a bag a luminaria.”
Thirty to 40 student groups participate in the yearly event, and organizations use it to participate in community service and ease the emotional burden of not being around family during the holidays, said Alberto Camacho, member of Lambda Theta Phi.
“For us, for our brotherhood, it kind of brings us together, and seeing how most of us don’t have our families here, it brings us the holiday spirit,” he said.
