Zozobra is a time for adults to burn their past, but might they not consider a child seeing it as murder of a precious local hero?
Author Andrew Leo Lovato’s most recent book, Elvis Romero & Fiesta de Santa Fe: Featuring Zozobra’s Great Escape, focuses on just that.
The book is loosely based off of the author’s childhood in Santa Fe, and he said the annual burning left a strong impression.
“We roamed the entire downtown on our bikes,” he said. “We had a lot more freedom to go exploring during fiesta times. Fiestas belonged to the kids. People are more protective of children, but also I think that we were more connected in some ways … it was more organic back then.”
The book focuses on two young cousins, Elvis and Pepa, during the Fiesta de Santa Fe of 1964. Lovato said he wanted the book to be relevant for all generations, including parents and grandparents.
“I wanted it to be a book for everybody … to capture the feeling of children growing up in Santa Fe in the 1960s. Zozobra is a perfect vehicle for telling that story,” Lovato said.
He said Elvis and Pepa’s characters are a conglomeration of different children from Lovato’s own childhood.
“They’re almost like the atypical kids in the ’60s. Elvis might be a little bit of my best friend and a little bit of me,” he said.
The young cousins embark on an adventure to liberate Zozobra before the eve of the celebration, but end up discovering a new perspective along the way, Lovato said.
“Elvis comes to the realization that, basically, Zozobra has a purpose in life: His mission is why he was created … to be sacrificed,” he said.
More than a colorful retelling of a young boy’s realization, the book is also a narrative of the past, Renee Tambeau, the Marketing Director at the Museum of New Mexico Press, said.
“It’s part memoir, part history, part touching story. Not much has been written about the fiesta in the 60s, so Andy’s memoir fills that gap,” she said.
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Black-and-white photographs of the fiesta’s past, courtesy of the Palace of the Governors photo archives, complete the story.
The exclusive photos also complement the last part of the book, a Fiesta de Santa Fe timeline, which chronicles the start of the Santa Fe Fiesta from 1625 to present day.
Lovato is working on what he refers to as an “outrageous Christmas sequel” to Elvis Romero & Fiesta de Santa Fe: Featuring Zozobra’s Great Escape which he plans to have completed by the 2012 holiday season.
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