Horno Blessing and First Firing Fiesta

By Hilda Joy

​October 8, 2010   —   Early in October—on the most beautiful Autumn day in Northern New Mexico up to that point—friend Maggie and I went to El Rancho de las Golondrinas, the living history museum south of Santa Fe, for a class in baking bread in an horno.  Among the many things we learned that day was the method of judging the horno’s heat using a piece of wool that gets toasted at 350 degrees F.
 
On the way back to Abiquiu, I bought tools for tending my horno.  The horno blessing and first-firing fiesta were scheduled for the next day, a Friday morning, which started in sharp contrast to the previous beautiful day.  The early-morning darkness was punctuated by the sound of pounding rain, obviating the need for the alarm clock to ring.  “Oh no, now we’ll have to party indoors!”  I was relieved that the rain, usually so welcome, stopped just before I left for 7 a.m. Mass at Santo Tomas; the sky, however, remained leaden.  I happily walked out of Mass into a blue-canopied world.  “Party outdoors after all.  Great!”
 
I made a quick stop at Bode’s general store to pick up three dozen previously ordered tamales (pork with red) and other items.  Four car-loads of friends were waiting when I arrived home, and everyone pitched in to carry in groceries and get set up outdoors, which was drying rapidly.
 
Into the kitchen oven went a rum-raisin bread pudding made earlier that morning from two loaves of bread from our las Golondrinas baking the previous day.  The three remaining loaves were set out on a breadboard with a knife and butter so that everyone could help themselves.
 
The fire was laid by Dexter and Jacob Trujillo, who built the horno with granddaughter Haley.  I decorated one corner of the horno with a tableaux of goodies generously given me by our las Golondrinas teacher—a colorful weaving, gourds, red chiles, a string of dry sliced zucchini, a head of garlic, Indian corn, a small wreath of cota stems, and a head of sorghum.
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The final touches were the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe given me years ago by friends Sandra and Bonifacio, who made the heavy door of the horno, and a retablo of San Pascal made for me as a house-warming gift by my neighbor Alfonso, who was in attendance with his wife Ninfa, and the lovely, lacy iron cross given me as a house-warming gift by daughter Lisa and son-in-law Doug, Haley’s parents.
 
Father Marshall from Santo Tomas arrived saying he had looked for a specific horno blessing, but, finding none, created his own.  It was perfect.  Dexter lit the horno fire, which quickly incensed and blessed us with the sweet fragrance of cedar.  Champagne  corks popped.  The warm bread pudding, steamed tamales, coffee, and a fruit salad were brought outdoors, and our horno blessing and first-firing was underway