Festivals & Holidays, Albuquerque

Favorite thing: Christmas in New Mexico is a blend of so many different cultures. Old town in Albuquerque, and Santa Fe have lumiaria tours.

Luminarias are also known as Ferolitos in norther New Mexico. Luminarias are paper lunch sized bags with sand at the base and a candle placed inside. They are places about the tops of buildings, on curbs, and laid out to make beautiful designs. Though folks may lay them out early, they are meant to be lit on Xmas eve. Since I am not much of a photographer, this picture is the best I could do :)

We also have more traditional holiday lights, but the luminarias are my favorite - beautiful, childlike, yet instilling peace.

Fondest memory: It was my first encounter with an American Christmas shop. Since we visited in August, we were quite surprised to find this kind of shop - but later we learned that quite a few towns have these shops all year round. There is one in Santa Fe, too.