Zozobra

Zozobra is the name of an effigy that is burned every Autumn during "Fiestas" in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Fiestas has been held since 1712 to celebrate an expedition by Don Diego de Vargas. The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924, when William Howard Shuster, Jr came up with the idea of burning an effigy of gloom to be paraded about the city. Today Zozobra stands fifty feet tall and his burning marks the climax of a weekend of tequila-swilling revelry. The best place to watch Zozobra burn is from the Cross of the Martyrs.