Song of the Mockingbird: My Journey with Josefina

Discusses how it would have been growing up in New Mexico in Josefina’s time. Topics include:

• How New Mexico is a part of the United States today, but in Josefina’s time, it belonged to Mexico
  • Almost everyone in New Mexico was either Spanish or Native American
• Most people would live on ranchos or in small farming villages
  • They would raise crops and animals in the high desert, and even children would have to work hard
  • Children grew up with very close ties to their extended families and the few neighbors or villagers who lived nearby
  • The Catholic faith was an important part of everyone’s lives, and children usually had a special bond with their godparents, just like Josefina did with Tía Magdalena
• When people were sick or injured, they would call on a curandera like Tía Magdalena for treatment
• It was expected for children to be respectful of grown-ups at all times
  • They would keep their head and eyes down to show respect and their hands clasped in front of them
• For fun, girls would enjoy playing games with strings, clapping, or homemade dolls, and boys would play a ball game called shinny
  • Everyone loved to share stories, songs, and riddles
• The Spanish settlers in New Mexico were allies and trading partners with the Pueblo Indian neighbors, but they were enemies of tribes such as the Navajo, Apache, and Comanche
  • Both sides would raid each other fiercely and take women and children as captives, or cautivas
  • The Spanish used cautivas as servants, and Indians would use them to do camp work or herd sheep
  • While some cautivas would escape and make their way back home, most captives did not escape and would eventually adjust to their new lives, just as Tia Dolores’ servant, Teresita, did
• Santa Fe was the only town for hundreds of miles, but it was not a big city like it is today
  • The Camino Real was the wagon trail that connected Santa Fe with towns and cities far to the south, so trading caravans would bring necessities and luxuries from all around the world to Santa Fe to trade
  • The Camino Real was very dangerous, and a trip from Mexico City would take months
  • In 1821, a new wagon trail, called the Santa Fe Trail, opened between Santa Fe and Missouri, and it began to draw American traders to New Mexico for the first time