Letting Go of Your Woes Santa Fe Style—Zozobra and the burning of “Old Man Gloom”

Letting go of your woes seems to be a major challenge this year.

But you Peeps … you really do seem to have trouble letting go of your woes and living in the moment. Not every song has to be the Blues.”

—to be revealed in a moment

The Southwest is home to some rather colorful traditions, not the least of which is Zozobra and the annual burning of Old Man Gloom. (No, no real old men have actually been burned in Zozobra’s 96 appearances. Metaphorically, maybe, but we won’t go there.) 

The Santa Fe New Mexican calls Zozobra “the biggest, baddest, most infamous citizen of Sante Fe.” That alone should give you pause. Then they have to go and burn the poor guy all in the name of letting go of your woes.

The best I can tell is that Zozobra IS Old Man Gloom. I’ll leave the rest to the expert I’ll introduce you to in a moment. But as traditions go, this one is pretty cool.

It’s the perfect answer for 2020’s troubles.

And, Zozobra is just cool enough to have his own Wikipedia page. Born shortly after the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, this year’s burning of Old Man Gloom feels oddly more appropriate this year.

Let’s describe him this way… he’s a 50-foot tall, giant marionette who is built, then burned during the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe held in, of course, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Zozobra’s name comes from a Spanish expression meaning “the gloomy one.”

My good friend, Dan inspired this week’s post by describing the burning of Old Man Gloom and letting go of your woes this way…

All in all, a very cathartic ritual for a year sorely needing one, and one that seems very much in keeping with the Untucked Life.”

—Dan Klein, Peep

So Dan and his lovely wife, Robbyne had the privilege of being Daisy Jones-Klein’s ‘Peeps.’ Daisy was of course one of the coolest and most talented canines I’ve ever had the high honor of knowing. Daisy had in fact pawed her way to the pinnacle of dog blogging. 

That means she’s kind of a big deal!

And, as a reader of LifeUntucked, you get to experience probably one of the best and most relevant blog posts written about Zozobra! (Proud Peep Dan prefers to call it an essay). Yes, Right here. Go ahead, place that pointer right here and go paws down.

— Insert paws for reading Daisy’s, er, uh, essay here —

Wasn’t that just too cool and totally untucked? Daisy leaves us with this very special quote as she wrote in her final blog post:

And from time to time, I also offered up a few nuggets of the Wisdom of the Canine, guidelines for getting through perilous times. I know that chillaxing can be difficult for Peeps, and I hope I’ve helped bring a Dog’s-Eye View to living in the moment – head close to the ground, four feet firmly planted, open to the possibilities of each dawning day, and all the senses cranked up to eleven.”

—Daisy

Dan says, “I think most dogs are born untucked. Best we Peeps can do is emulate.”

I think he’s got that one right; wouldn’t you agree?

Be untucked.

p.s. KOAT-TV Channel 7 covered the burning of Old Man Gloom live and they’ve posted a replay here.

p.s.s. Thanks for stopping by LifeUntucked today. I truly hope this post has helped you in letting go of your woes. You’ve got this!

Copyright © 2020 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved