Las Provincias Internas
                             Copyright © 1996-98 All Rights Reserved

    Volume 2 Issue 4   5511 E. 3rd St.  Tucson Arizona 85711  Fall 1997

    The Newsletter of Spanish

    Colonial Living History

    Las Palabras

    Peninsulares — refers to persons born in Spain
                            and living in New Spain.

    Petate — A straw mat used for sleeping.

    Spanish Terms of the Sonoran Desert Borderlands by Bill Hoy;
    published by Institute for Border Studies, San Diego University 1988

    Las Noticias

    On the weekend of September 27-28 the Arizona State Parks celebrated the grand reopening of theYuma Quartermaster Depot. The Soldados de Cuera of San Diego Presidio, the Catalonian Volunteers and the Tubaqueños spent a hot, moist weekend educating approximately 3,000 Yumans about Spanish Colonial history. The event was a success, and a surprising number of people really cared. The usual questions like “Aren’t you hot?” were scarce and some real interest was shown. The Parks people had the foresight to pass out question cards and pencils requiring visitors to interact and ask questions of the historical interpreters. It was good to talk about the Yuma Massacre of 1781 and have the site within view. Reality seemed to light up the eyes of the visitors as they realized there was more to Yuma than just a place to stop on the way to the beaches of California. One long term resident expressed surprise at what he was told. “I never knew there was so much history here,” he said. By the time this publication goes to print, the Hispanic Heroes Parade in Washington, D.C., will have passed another successful year.

    This editor sadly did not make it this year due to funding problems. Hopefully next year will see us there. Yuma Crossing Days, the annual Arizona Historical Society event is set for next February 28, 1998. Scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the event offers a calvacade of history for the people of Yuma and the visiting snow birds. The best part of the weekend is the time spent meeting with compadres and discussing history.

    Comida

    “The Indians ... grow beans, cowpeas, watermelons,
    Turkish winter muskmelons, martynias (devil’s claw), a soft
    maize easily ground in their metates and maturing in about
    seven weeks, a black sweet corn, winter squashes, pumpkins,
    a little wheat, barnyard millet and a seedy grass, Pancium
    sonorum, useful for both grain and horse forage....Grass
    and millet seed is sown in the soft mud as soon as the river
    subsides, a method strikingly similar to that employed by
    the Egyptians in sowing their great forage crop, Berseem,
    along the Nile.” Robert Forbes, 1904, speaking of the
    Indians along the Colorado.

    Page 2

    "God chose to give me sufficient valor to resist the

    temptations of the Devil."

                          Hugo O'Conor, Commandant Inspector of New Spain

    En Las Provincias

              “This time the Seris were in no great hurry to place
    in safety the booty they had acquired, for they felt strong
    enough to defend it if the Spaniards ventured to retrieve it.
    Hence it was easy for the governor to overtake the robbers.
    He immediately attacked, but soon perceived that he had
    acted rashly, for he had assailed an enemy whose strength
    was much greater than his own. One soldier after another
    fell. Finally he himself was struck in the chest by an arrow.
    A thick, leather jacket which covered his body broke the
    force of the arrow so that the wound was not deep nor
    would it have been fatal of itself. However, the poison with
    which the arrow was besmeared caused his death the
    following day. He had only his swift horse and the faithful
    support of his soldiers to thank for the fact that he was not
    captured by the barbarians, but could die in his own home,
    prepared for death in a Christian manner.” A Description
    of the Province of Sonora by Ignaz Pfefferkorn, published
    in 1795

    Las Cosas

    It was customary in frontier days to live with multiple
    persons under the same roof. Most homes contained
    more than eight family members and friends. Living
    alone was almost unheard of, and individuals that
    did so were considered strange and socially
    unacceptable. Surviving on the frontier was difficult
    and required many people to complete the long and
    arduous tasks of farming and hunting.

    La Musica

    For those inclined toward music, we recommend the CD,
    Santiago, by The Chieftains. A strongly gaelic sound, this
    music is from the Galacian region of northwestern Spain.
    Galacian immigrants settled primarily in the southern
    parts of Mexico and Central and South America. Fairly
    traditional, this is worth hearing!

    North with Oñate

              “The column that started north in January of 1598
    contained about 400 men, 130 of whom had their families
    along. Many were Spanish, but of the ordinary soldiers,
    farmers, and small craftsmen more were mestizos. Also
    included were several civilized Tlascala Indians from
    central Mexico for doing hard manual work and lulling
    the suspicions of Indians still unfamiliar with Europeans.
    The communal herd of livestock — horses, mules,
    donkeys, cattle, sheep,goats, pigs — numbered about
    7,000 head. there were 83 ox- drawn vehicles, many of
    them carts whose two wooden wheels screeched on
    axles of pine. Altogether the procession stretched for
    about four dusty miles.”

    The Southwest, by David Lavender University of
    New Mexico Press, 1980

          The more you complain the longer God lets you live.      

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