One of New Mexico's most beloved traditions, the 96th Burning of Zozobra is set to take place on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, and will now be held virtually through a live stream on KOAT.com at 8 p.m. MDT. That Friday, Zozobra will burn in real time at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe - America's oldest capital city - and although attendees are not permitted to join in-person this year, festival lovers across the nation can join in the fun by tuning into the live stream and submitting their "glooms" to the online portal.
The Burning of Zozobra is a unique cultural event created by Will Shuster, a member of the artist group known as Cinco Pintores, who made their way to New Mexico in the 1920s. Shuster's creation – the Zozobra – first appeared in his backyard in 1924 as a six-foot puppet, and over the years has evolved into a 50-foot tall marionette that attracts thousands of festival goers annually. Made of wood, wire and cotton cloth, and stuffed with hundreds of bags of shredded paper featuring peoples' "glooms," Zozobra is a dark and eerie character that is part ghost and part monster. The mythology behind this event is that Zozobra is the enemy of all that is good and is reborn annually because of the nefarious and woeful deeds done throughout the year. In order to lure Zozobra out of hiding, the city's leaders invite him to a party (the festival) that he believes is being held in his honor, which is why Zozobra is seen dressed in his finest attire. The crowd’s fervent desire to see the monster defeated is realized as the Fire Spirit sets Zozobra alight in a towering blaze of fire and smoke. Under a sky lit by celebratory fireworks, the flames consume Zozobra, and he collapses at last into a smoking pile of embers, burning away the "glooms" of the New Mexican community and participants from afar.
