On September 8-10, 2017, the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will honor a promise made over 300 years ago. General Don Diego de Vargas’s skillful negotiations with the Indians in 1692 resulted in an agreement that would allow the colonists to return home to Santa Fe after 12 years in exile. De Vargas gave credit to La Conquistadora, the oldest statue of the Virgin Mary in the United States, for her role in the intercession and promised she would be remembered each year. But the promise wasn’t fulfilled until 1712 when the first City Council of Santa Fe issued the Proclamation of Santa Fe Fiesta. Signed by nine individuals, the Proclamation established the event that honors the colonists’ return to Santa Fe―a tradition that has been kept for 305 years.

Fiesta officially begins at 6:00 a.m. on September 8 at Rosario Chapel, the site where―in 1693―De Vargas and the exiled colonists camped outside the city walls, waiting to enter the city. A mass is held and the mayor of Santa Fe reads from the original 1712 Proclamation, which calls for religious ceremonies, celebration, and thanksgiving to La Conquistadora.

Throughout the weekend, the historic plaza showcases Santa Fe’s rich cultural heritage―an open-air fine arts and craft market, traditional foods, and dances that include Pueblo Indian dances, Mexican folk dances, mariachi dances, and matachine dances.

On the morning of September 10, a solemn procession―carrying an image of La Conquistadora―makes its way from the historic Palace of the Governors to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi where a mass is held.

The fiesta comes to a close on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. at the cathedral with a mass of thanksgiving followed by a candlelight procession. Participants wind their way from the cathedral through downtown streets to the top of the hill where luminarias light the way to the Cross of the Martyrs.