The Crypto Jews of New Mexico

By Nancy J. Farrier

Crypto Jews? What are crypto Jews? I remember being puzzled when my Aunt Mary Jean asked me if I’d ever heard of the Crypto Jews of New Mexico. She has a friend who did some research and while we didn’t have time to go into any detail, she told me I should read up on them because the story is so very interesting. I agree with her and this blog post is what I found in my research.

Spanish Inquisition, Wikimedia Image
by welcomeimages.org

The story begins in Spain and Portugal in the late 15^thcentury. The King of Spain declared that all Jews needed to convert to Christianity. Many of the Jews left Spain. Some of them went to Portugal. Five years later Portugal also decided the Jews must convert to Christianity. 

The punishment for those who didn’t leave or convert was severe. The government started the Inquisition to look for Jews who were hiding among the Christians. Many of the Jews became Crypto Jews or hidden Jews to keep themselves safe. However, staying in Spain or Portugal still meant a huge risk to their lives and the lives of their families. 

After Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, many of the Crypto Jews decided to become colonists where they could practice their faith in secret. A large group of them made their way to New Mexico, although traces can be found throughout the Southwest. 

The Inquisition followed them to the Americas and Mexico. This is why so many moved to the far northern point of Mexico at the time, northern New Mexico. They wanted to escape the persecution and to live a peaceful life.

Jewish Star, photo by Alex Proimos
Wikimedia Commons

The Crypto Jews were well hidden in the Catholic church. They attended services and to most appeared to be practicing Catholics. However, if you were observant you would note they did not eat pork. They lit candles on Friday night. They attended services on Saturday. They did not pray to the saints. They practiced infant circumcision. These were small clues that mostly went unnoticed but meant the Jews were keeping their faith alive underneath the pretense.

Menorah
Wikimedia Commons

In the 1980’s, New Mexico hired a new State historian, Stanley Hordes. Hordes had written a doctoral dissertation about the Crypto Jews and New Mexico. After he took office, he saw an influx of people visiting him with questions about their ancestry. They talked about grandfathers who wore hats to church on Saturday. They wondered about their unusual skin coloring, which didn’t match that of the Hispanic community. They asked about the unusual artifacts left to them, including driedels. The practice of slitting an animals throat and preparing it in a kosher method. Finding gravestones with the six-pointed Jewish star. 

There were those who opposed Hordes findings and disavowed the idea of Crypto Jews. But, there are many who support these people. In fact, there is a Society for Crypto Jews, started in 1991. Here is a link to their website. They are there to gather information on this hidden segment of society. They have a conference where they share information and meet together. The 2019 Conference is the end of this month in Denver.

I think it would be fascinating to attend this conference and learn more about

Dreidel: Photo by
Roland Scheicher
Wikimedia Commons

the history of these people who avoided execution by fitting in with their surroundings. At the same time, they kept their faith alive, handing down practices through generations.

Have you ever heard of the Crypto Jews of New Mexico? What would you do if you were forced to leave home, leaving behind all your belongings, or die for your faith? What a difficult question. I don’t know if I would truly see the enormity of the decision until faced with that choice. 

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

Hurricanes!

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

          June 1 is the start of hurricane season in the United States. Mention hurricanes in American history, and most thoughts turn to the Galveston hurricane of 1900. And while as of this writing, it remains the deadliest documented weather disaster in American history it is one of many major hurricanes to impact the region. 

          In fact, it might be argued that hurricanes affected not only the lives of those whose land they hit, but also they affected history. Entire cities, or in some case island, were lost and persons who might have gone on to greatness perished.

Here are just a very few of the major hurricanes that have been recorded:

• July 1502: Christopher Columbus warns of an impending storm but is refused safe mooring in Santa Domingo by Nicholas de Ovando, Governor of Hispanola. Twenty-one of the thirty ships hit by the storm were sunk, resulting in the loss of 500 sailors.

• August 1667: A storm surged through North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland destroying 80% of tobacco and corn crops as well as leveling 15,000 homes.

• October 1780: A hurricane passed through the Caribbean and then turned north to plow through the colonies, finally passing through Newfoundland four days later, leaving as many as 24,000 fatalities in its wake. Because record-keeping only goes back to the 1850s, statistics on this storm are based on eyewitness reports.

• September 1818: Jean Lafitte's pirate encampment at Galveston is battered by a storm that covered the island in four feet of seawater and destroyed all but six buildings erected by the pirate captain and his men

• August 1886 and September 1886: Two storms roughly one month apart battered the Texas coast and effectively ended Indianola, Texas's reign as the leading port city and handing that title to Galveston. The September storm also wiped the city of Sabine Pass, Texas--a close neighbor to my hometown of Port Neches, Texas--off the map. It should be mentioned that Indianola was almost destroyed in 1875 when a hurricane leveled the town. The city rebuilt only to face this disaster almost exactly nine years later.

• September 1900: Galveston, Texas is hit by what was later termed the Storm of the Century, a hurricane that leveled Galveston and then traveled all the way up through Canada emerging back into the Atlantic Ocean. Nurse Clara Barton's efforts have been documented as well as the recovery efforts of many who brought the once-great city back to life after somewhere between 6000 and 12,000 of its citizens were killed. In the process of this recovery, every existing structure in the city was raised by one floor and a great Seawall was built to protect the citizens from further disasters of this magnitude. In addition, an entirely new form of government called the "Galveston plan" emerged.

          As a native Texan born in the Gulf Coast region, I cannot remember a time when June 1 wasn't noted with all the respect due a harbinger of bad tidings. Only once during my childhood do I recall evacuating from the path of a hurricane--Hurricane Carla--and as a small child, I thought it great fun to listen to the wind and rain and sleep on my great aunt's sofa while the adults gathered around the radio.             

          Several times during the past decade, I have spent a night or several in a hotel or in a borrowed room at a relative's home while I watched Giraldo or Anderson Cooper stroll down the streets of my city with microphone and cameraman in tow. Once I returned to find a neighbor's immense pine tree poised on my roof with branches jutting through the ceilings in my kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom. But thanks to insurance companies, competent weathermen, and building contractors, the ultimate impact was minimal.

          However, can you imagine not knowing a hurricane was heading your way? What must it have been like for citizens of prior centuries to watch clouds gather and wind howl and not know whether this was a summer storm or a hurricane? How does a farmer or business man from a prior century overcome massive losses to crops, homes, and families? And how long the summer months must have seemed until finally November rolled around!

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Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of forty-five novels with almost two million copies of her books in print in the US and abroad. A Romantic Times Top Pick recipient of her novels, Kathleen is a proud military wife and an expatriate Texan cheering on her beloved Texas Aggies from north of the Red River. To find out more about Kathleen or connect with her through social media, check out her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.