While often intangible, this cross-cultural exchange is evident in numerous works of art and often resulted in new and exciting creations that reflected the complex cultural history of the region.
The Indians of Mexico and the Southwest were proficient in weaving with cotton, plant fibers, and turkey feathers long before the Spanish arrived. However, the Spanish introduction of domesticated “Churro” sheep and European weaving methods, including the treadle loom, transformed the weaving industry in the Americas.
After its appearance on the scene, both Pueblo people and Navajos became excellent weavers of wool as well, and textiles became one of the principal trade items among these communities and along the Camino Real from Taos, Peñasco, and into Mexico. El Camino Real is the oldest road in the nation and is still traveled at the present time. El Camino Real is only a few miles from the Spanish settlement of Santa Barbara. As early as the 1630s, weaving workshops were in operation in Santa Fe and other locations in New Mexico. Larger quantities of coarse yardage (sayal), blankets (today called “Rio Grande” blankets), and other items were produced for trade.
While Spanish methods dominated the weaving industry in both Mexico and New Mexico, indigenous influence was still strong in the design and use of some textiles. The popular serape (wearing blankets or poncho with neck slit) was a popular article of male attire that retained Indian design motifs that had no direct antecedents in Spain. Certain design elements, such as serrated borders, diamonds, and crosses were here in Nuevo Mexico long before the Spanish arrived and are found on surviving textile fragments and on ancestral pueblo pottery. The use of these motifs was ubiquitous among all the Spanish weavers of Nuevo Mexico, who transformed them in creative ways.
In prehistoric times, woodworking was done with stone implements using obsidian and chert for blades. With the introduction of metal tools, the Spanish carpinteros taught the indigenous peoples of Nuevo Mexico to use these tools to make furniture based on Spanish models using Spanish construction techniques of mortise and tenon and dovetail joinery. Documents indicate that soon after the introduction of these tools, many Pueblo Indians became excellent carpinteros. Most of the existing examples of colonial furniture were done in a distinctly Spanish style. At the present time, many carpinteros from various villages in Northern New Mexico still carry the Spanish traditions which have existed for over four hundred years.
Many New Mexicans called themselves Hispanos or Spanish Americans, as distinguished from other Mexicans. They rationalized that they were the descendants of the original settlers, who were Spanish conquistadors. According to them, New Mexico was isolated from the rest of the Southwest and Mexico during the colonial era; thus, they remained racially pure and were Europeans, in contrast to the mestizo (half-breed) Mexicans.
These villagers have considered themselves Spanish Americans of European ancestry for several centuries, although they established relationships with the Pueblo Indian communities in the area. Picuris Pueblo, one of eight northern pueblos of New Mexico, is west of Rodarte, New Mexico, along El Camino Real, downstream on the Rio Santa Barbara, which eventually connects with the Rio Pueblo at Picuris Reservation. This village in North Central New Mexico sits at the base of the Sangra de Christo Mountains. Its original name was “Santa Barbara” for its patron saint, and the river that runs through is also known as Rio Santa Barbara.
Eventually, these Spanish-speaking villages developed a distinctive rural culture, as was seen in the mother country Spain, constructing a church in the center of La Plaza de Santa Barbara with four passages. The culture of the mountain villages included shared land, extended family systems that were strongly patriarchal, leadership by the village patron, and the strong influence of folk Catholicism: a Catholicism revolving around the worship of family and the village santa or santo. The village patron saint is Santa Barbara, and the church sits at the center of the village, always establishing the Spanish traditional plaza and the church in the middle of the plaza with four exits or entrances—this is the village of Rodarte, New Mexico, la plaza de Rodarte. To the south is the Rio Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara River), and to the east is the Sangra de Christo Mountain range, La Jicarita, “las Truchas Peaks,” and the Pecos Wilderness.
In 1846, the United States began its occupation of New Mexico; and in 1884, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established New Mexico as part of the United States. Surveyor General Henry Atkinson attempted to change the status of other land grants to a private grant in order to deed it to the New Mexico Land Livestock Co., of which he was president. Notice was put in the Albuquerque newspapers. Fortunately, the land-grant members found out and fought the legal maneuver, which failed in the courts. The case dragged on for nine years, with the final decree vindicating the residents on September 6, 1915. Senator Thomas Carton appealed, and the matter was finally settled out of court by deeding Carton 35,000 acres, with the attorney taking another 100,000 for his fee. Many other communities were not as fortunate and today are still fighting to regain their ancestral land. This remains true for the Santa Barbara land grant. This illustrates the level of corruption in the surveyor general’s office (according to history books).
In the early 1800s, as the railroad was being linked from east to west, la Mercedes de Santa Barbara was sold to the gringo without knowing the impact it would take on the villagers. The land east of the village of Rodarte, what is known today as the Pecos Wilderness, was depleted of its timber for the railroad going west. The timber was cut in short pieces and floated downstream in the spring runoff, which was ingenious for transportation, and the local villagers were not credited for the idea, which was the biggest hurdle. Men were assigned to a short distance of landscape to make sure the timbers were floating downstream from the base of the Santa Barbara River to the Rio Pueblo and into the Rio Grande at the Embudo Station (Embudo, New Mexico), which was the Chile Line. At this point, the timbers were shipped via rail to continue the railroad to the west, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Flagstaff, Arizona. After depleting the forest of its timbers, the land company sold the land (la Mercedes de Santa Barbara) to the government, which became part of the United States Forest Service (according to folklore). In a sense, this transaction can be seen as a positive milestone in history, for had it not taken place, it would not be what it is today. This wilderness is the best water source in the state of New Mexico. No motorized vehicles are allowed in this beautiful wilderness, and no development will take place as long as it continues to be a “wilderness”—Pecos Wilderness.
It was during the time of the United States Postal Service expansion that the name of this north central New Mexico village was changed from Santa Barbara to Rodarte. The United States Postal Service was establishing small postal services throughout New Mexico, and a new name and geographical area was needed. It came before a village vote, and the name Rodarte was proclaimed the name of the United State Post Office. Once the name was established, we had a village with the zip code established by the government: 87561. As soon as the zip code was established and the United States Post Office had a name, we were in the map of the United States: Rodarte, New Mexico, on State Road 73. As a result, my grandfather was the first postmaster since he had a high school diploma at the time.
The last name Rodarte is a Spanish name that originated in Spain in the early century. My ancestors can be traced eight generations back according to the genealogy of 2015 to the name of Jose Manuel Rodarte, who was married to Maria Nicolasa Romero. Jose Manuel Rodarte was born in El Bosque de La Jolla Velarde, New Mexico. He died on March 28, 1819, in Mora, New Mexico. Maria Nicolasa Romero was born in El Bosque de La Jolla Velerde, New Mexico. Juan Pedro Rodarte was the son of Jose Manuel Rodarte and Maria Nicolasa Rodarte. Juan de Jesus Rodarte was the son of Juan Pedro and Maria Biviana Rodarte; he died on June 23, 1878, in San Juan de Nepomuceno de El Llano, New Mexico. Juan de Jesus Rodarte married Maria del Carmen Vigil and are the parents of Julio de Jesus Rodarte, who married Margarita Lopez after his previous wife, Maria Adelaida Sanchez, died on January 7, 1901, in Santa Barbara, New Mexico. Jose Francisco Rodarte, son of Julio de Jesus Rodarte and Maria Adelaida Sanchez, was born on April 2, 1891, in Santa Barbara, New Mexico. He died on March 19, 1971. He was married to Guadalupita Lopez, daughter of Jose Tomas Lopez and Rafaela Lucero. Guadalupita was born November 12, 1894, in La Jolla Velarde, New Mexico. Julio Rodarte, son
