Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: WETA's PBS series Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein.

Funded by the Zohar and Lisa Ben-Dov Family through the Luminescence Foundation.

Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts... and Viewers Like You.

A NEW MEXICO ICON, A SPIRITUAL HOME - THE ANNUAL ENJARRA OR RE- MUDDING OF THE SAN FRANCISCO DE ASÍS CHURCH IN RANCHOS DE TAOS RESTORES THE CHURCH AND UNITES THE COMMUNITY.

A STRIKING WORK OF ART, THIS OVER 200 YEAR-OLD ADOBE CHURCH IS MAINTAINED BY CENTURIES OF HANDS THAT WORKED ON IT WITH LOVE AND DEVOTION.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

[TRAFFIC SOUNDS] [CRICKETS, BIRDS] [SINGING IN SPANISH] [CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: This church is so full of symbolism.

It's, uh, a way of living.

[WORKERS TALKING] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: This church is representative of a canticle of St Francis.

[WORKERS TALKING] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: Praise be Mother Earth who sustains us with fruit and flowers and grass.

Praise be earth.

Adobes is made with the earth.

Praise be the water.

Water is used to mix the adobes of the earth.

Praise be the grasses, wheat or straw, and you mix that with your adobes.

And praise be Brother Sun, who dries the adobes.

Praise be the hands that puts the adobes together to build the church.

St Francis said "build my church", and we know what he meant.

He meant build the church.

Build up your faith in Christ.

Build up your faith in God.

But, literally, we're also building up the church, or maintaining the church.

>>Michael Robert Garcia: So these walls are made of mud.

Mud can decay over time with the weather, the rain, just all the different conditions that can take place that cause cracks, that cause the mud to fall apart from the edges of the building.

And so every year, uh, the church has to be re-mudded.

>>Ron Salazar: The part that I am working on today is making sure that the parapet, the top of our church is, uh, sealed.

Because that's the beginning of the rain coming down.

Placing the mud on the church, there's a technique.

You got to use your hands and your trowel and, uh, then you got to use a float to seal it.

And you got to place that mud.

Sometimes you got to put pressure in there to get that mud in the cracks.

You got to just work it, you know.

It's, it's a wall of dirt, straw, and water.

And the technique is knowing how to get the proper mixture on all three.

And the application is very easy after that.

>>Rick Valerio: I'm plastering right now to help preserve our uh, our heritage, our church.

I was born and, you know, baptized here.

Uh, communion and all.

And it's just an honor to uh, to keep it up to date.

And I'll be here till it's done, you know.

I love this church.

I love these people.

I love it.

>>Michael Robert Garcia: People who are here are of many backgrounds, ages.

They come from all walks of life but they understand that something sacred is taking place here.

And they want to be a part of that.

They want to not only be a part of that, but every time they lay the mud on the surface of the wall, they are putting a part of themselves there.

And so they're contributing to the history, to even maybe their own spirituality.

[BLESSINGS] >>Michael Robert Garcia: This is something that unites the community.

It's a share in something greater than themselves.

>>Cathy Vigil: It is the most "awesomest" Church in the world.

[MUSIC] >>David A. Maes: This church has lasted for so many hundred years because it has captured the hearts of the people that live in this valley.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: We are a family.

That is what the, the enjarre is all about.

We're all working for a common thing.

To maintain the church.

[MUSIC] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: My great grandparents, my great- great grandparents, they all put their sweat, heart, tears into it.

>>Rebecca Trujillo: It has to look beautiful.

We work together.

We leave our handprints on this church.

I grew up mudding.

Um, as a child, the first thing I remember doing is carrying buckets of water.

Then I graduated to carrying buckets of mud.

And then graduated to carrying wheelbarrows of mud.

And then when I was a little older, they allowed us to mud.

>>Cathy Vigil: We're one of the organizations that fed the workers and so I was involved in the kitchen.

We prepared food and we served.

Then, uh, the rest of the days I will do my duties outside or inside the church.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: The inside of the church we do what we call deep cleaning.

That means that we dust the vigas.

We dust the walls.

We dust off all of the statuary.

We dust off all the religious work or anything else that needs cleaning.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: Up, up, up.

As much as you can.

Okay.

Now, make sure that it snaps in place.

Si.

Okay, okay there.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: I love the antiquities.

I love the artwork.

I love the way the uh, santeros, the artists of old, made their santos.

And how we have kept them.

There was a time here in New Mexico when we didn't have much of anything.

So we had to be very independent and very self-sufficient.

We had to do things on our own to survive.

>>Gaudalupe Tafoya: Alright.

Just take it back a little bit.

Just push it back.

Just right a little bit, and push it back...] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: And the santos, the uh, statuary, the antiquities, were very special to us because they did connect us to the rest of the world.

They did connect us to Mexico and they did connect us to Europe.

So, yes we were in isolation.

Uh, we didn't have much but they were a source of strength.

Faith and strength.

One of the pieces that I really love is the crucifix of Christ on the cross.

That cross is very special because it's uh, has the flowers on it.

And flowers really represent life.

The living Christ.

The Molleno altar screen is typically Franciscan because of the Franciscan friars uh, teaching the native New Mexicans how to do this art.

We are a people that are made up of many cultures and many languages and the themes are very European, but the style is very New Mexican.

And actually the retablo itself is representative of a canticle of St Francis which is called, the one that says "Praise be Brother Sun and praise be Sister Moon."

And it goes on to praise all the things in nature.

>>David A. Maes: To the people that live here in this valley, this place is home.

And the heart of the valley is the Ranchos Church.

Uh, the church and our faith that came with the Franciscan fathers and friars uh, with the early Spaniards, is what's kept the uh, well it gave it gave hope to the Spaniards who had to live here uh, in a very hostile environment.

I think in their hearts the Spaniards always knew that they wanted to build the church to their God that had given them strength and fortitude and helped them live this very difficult life that they lived out here.

In the very early days there weren't even wagons, so they everything was done by horseback.

It was a two- day ride to Santa Fe.

If you get attacked by Comanches or any other Plains Indians, you're not going to get any help from Santa Fe.

They only had like 70 soldiers in their garrison anyway.

From all historical accounts there were probably seven settlements along the Rio Grande that flows right through the center of the valley.

One of these settlements was, probably the biggest hacienda, was owned by a fellow named Villalpando.

And the report by Bishop Tamaron talks about the Comanches encircling it.

And the raid lasted for 3 days.

They finally broke down the defenses and they killed up to 60 people uh, which was about a third of the entire population of the Ranchos Valley.

They killed all the males.

They took many, most of the females and children captives and uh, pretty much wiped out the settlement in Ranchos, the Ranchos Valley at that time.

It was I think, because of raids like this that in 1771, the then governor of New Mexico told the Spaniards, "you've got to do something about these raids."

And so he didn't send a lot of soldiers to help out.

What he did was he told the Spaniards "you guys got to build yourselves a plaza fort" to protect against the uh, the raids.

And another report in 1776 by a fellow named Frey Francisco Dominguez, another, he was a Franciscan priest.

He talks about the fort being built here in Ranchos.

It was under construction at that time.

And the next report we have was in uh, 1782 by another Franciscan named Juan de Morfí, and he talks and describes about the plaza fort being built.

It was built by then.

And many of the buildings around the Ranchos church are still remnants of the old fort.

[MUSIC] >>David A. Maes: For uh, for many years, there was much contention about when exactly the church started to be built.

The best we can figure is by historical documents.

We know that there was a petition made to the authorities in Mexico in 1812 because we have that written petition.

And we know that they granted permission to build the church in 1813, because we have their reply.

And by 1815, we have reports from church officials about the church being built.

So by 1815, it was built.

And it's hard to believe that the church could have been built, certainly not in a year, because they only got permission in 1813.

And we know it was built by 1815.

I don't think it was built in one year or two years.

Maybe several years.

Maybe over 10 years.

I don't know, to make all these adobe bricks and haul down all the vigas from the mountains.

But that's the best we have.

That's the best we can do.

And so we know that uh, it's over 200 years old.

There was one major renovation in 1967 by a priest that came from Ecuador.

And he stuccoed the church.

And they found that the church could not breathe.

So in 1979, all the stucco was removed and uh, another major renovation of the church was done.

And so we have been mudding the church, well we've been mudding it for 200 years, but we'll never uh, put another stucco coat on it as far as I know.

And uh, and that's the way the church appears now.

[MUSIC] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: We have many artists from all over the world that come to this church.

The back of the church is very famous because of the shadows that fall across it during the day.

People like it because it is mud and because it contrasts with the sky and the places around it and because the sun comes and kisses it.

It's iconic.

>>Michael Robert Garcia: It's just a very striking work of art all laid by the hands of hardworking people throughout the centuries.

So, I think that gives a deeper appreciation for the gift that this church is to this community.

[MUSIC AND WORK SOUNDS] >>Michael Robert Garcia: The church buildings no matter where you go in the world are nothing if you don't have people to occupy them.

And what's special is that we believe that at every sacred mass, Heaven and earth intersect.

And so we have that communion with those who have gone before us.

So every single person, whoever came to this church in their lifetime since it was built, and is now with God in heaven, is with us today.

And so that is a love that transcends time and space.

And that's who the people of San Francisco de Asis are.

[WORK SOUNDS] >>Guadalupe Tafoya: This church is my spiritual home.

Uh, this is all part of me.

This is all part of my ancestry.

Uh, this is what I appreciate.

This is what I love.

This is what I grew up with.

Uh, this is my life.

>>Cathy Vigil: We grew up.

We watched our parents; our grandparents do the enjarre.

It's an annual thing.

We grew up in just putting our hands on the wall.

And I'm going to get choked up.

It's touching.

And so uh, we just bring with us that faith, that power, that the church gives us.

I don't know, it's spiritual.

And once you touch that wall, whether it's inside or outside, in the kitchen, you feel that.

>>Claren Martinez: Just like our ancestors that went before us, we know that we kind of have that connection with one another by touching the wall.

The love we put into the wall, what we share.

It's almost like that place where we can connect still.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: It's a physical thing.

It's there.

It's not some... it's not an idea that's off in the future or in the past or anything like that.

It's here and it's now.

It's this big thing in my life.

It's this big thing in our community.

And it's this big thing that makes us all come together.

>>Rebecca Trujillo: The church when we mud it, it's kind of like dressing her up.

It's like putting a new garment on her.

And after it's done, we'll come on Sunday, we'll come and say "wow look at her."

You know, it's so beautiful.

>>Claren Martinez: When you can bring that beauty to other people, means so much not only to yourself but to everyone else.

So it's so that others can see that there are still things taking place in this world that should bring awe to each and every one of us and inspire us to become very involved in every way that they can.

>>Cathy Vigil: Keeping our culture, our traditions, and our values, and honor our ancestors.

This is why we do the enjarre.

And uh, that brings a lot of joy.

>>Guadalupe Tafoya: It is my legacy.

It was given to me and it is my responsibility to leave that legacy to those who follow me.

The award winning arts and culture series ¡COLORES!

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Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: WETA's PBS series Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein.

Funded by the Zohar and Lisa Ben-Dov Family through the Luminescence Foundation.

Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts... and Viewers Like You.