Zozobra

Zozobra ("Old Man Gloom") is the name of a giant marionette effigy which is built and burned every autumn during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September. As his name suggests, he embodies gloom; by burning him, people destroy the worries and troubles of the previous year in the flames. Anyone with gloom that they need to get rid of can come by the offices of the Santa Fe Reporter in the weeks leading up to the burn to drop off slips of paper with personal gloom written on them. Many people put legal papers in the gloom box as well. At the festival the papers from the gloom box are placed at Zozobra's feet to be burned alongside him.

Fiestas de Santa Fe has been held since 1712 to celebrate the Spanish retaking of the city in 1692 by Don Diego de Vargas from the Pueblo tribes who had occupied the city since the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924. William Howard Shuster, Jr. came up with the idea of creating the effigy, also called Old Man Gloom, and ritual burning.

Today more than 40,000 people go to watch Zozobra, who stands fifty feet tall. His burning marks the start of three days of celebration that includes traditional mass at St. Francis Cathedral; a reenactment of the Entrada, when Don Diego de Vargas returned to the city; a Children's Pet Parade; and the Historical/Hysterical Parade. The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe builds Zozobra and burns the effigy at Fort Marcy Park. The Zozobra presented by this club on 7th September 2007 was the largest marionette in the world, measuring 15.21 m (49.11 feet) in height^[1].

References

Zozobra: The Story of Old Man Gloom, Jennifer Owings Dewey; photographed by Jeanie Pulsen Fleming, Santa Fe: University of New Mexico Press, 2004

^ http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/Guinness World Records

Popular culture

In the Pixar short film Mater and the Ghostlight, the Sheriff mentions Zozobra.
The 1947 Film Ride the Pink Horse is set at the festival of Zozobra
The band Old Man Gloom, a collaboration of artists on Hydrahead records, released an album entitled Seminar III:Zozobra. Additionally, two of the members of Old Man Gloom have since formed another side project called Zozobra, releasing the albums Harmonic Tremors and Bird of Prey.
Burning Sosobra is also an album by experimental rock band Floater.