The moaning and groaning of Old Man Gloom sounded miles away from Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe. Hundreds of people were on the streets. More were standing outside their homes waiting for the 50-foot effigy to burn.
Dancers below Zozobra were nothing compared to his size. Fifteen minutes before the old man burned, UNM senior Lydell Mitchell arrived with a group of his friends.
"We got there at the height of everything," Mitchell said. "People had been drinking, and cops were on the edge."
For some people, the event is a reason to party. For others, it's family time. For Mitchell, it was neither. He had only heard tales of Zozobra before Thursday.
Not one person could tell him what the event signifies or why so many people attend.
"When we finally got there, I was really impressed," he said.
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Zozobra follows a procedure, said Ray Valdez event coordinator.
"When the lights go out, that's when it starts," he said.
The gloom queen, gloomies, gloom princess, fire performances and fire dancers are all part of a theatrical production building up to the actual burning, Valdez said.
The giant puppet is burned each year to start off the Fiestas de Santa Fe and is used to rid people of their troubles over the past year.
Mitchell didn't know that. After having been to the burning, he said that makes sense.
But for all the buildup, Mitchell said the burning seemed fairly short.
What seemed like three minutes to Mitchell was about 30 minutes according to Valdez.
"It burned for quite a while," Valdez said. "Most of the crowd was gone by then."
Although Zozobra's connotation is not religious, Mitchell said there was a group of people carrying signs that said, "Repent for your sins."
"I didn't know people had such a hard time with it, like it was some pagan ritual," he said.
Mitchell and his friends were toward the back of the crowd. Ten to 15 feet in front of them, people were standing shoulder to shoulder.
More than 25,000 people attended this year, Valdez said.
Leaving the park was the tricky part, Mitchell said, adding none of them were familiar with Santa Fe.
"Everyone got split up," he said. "The crowd was so big, we didn't see anyone for an hour after that."
On the way out, Mitchell said just like any small town, he ran into about six people he knew.
"That was one of the coolest parts," he said. "Running into people I hadn't seen for a while. I had a great experience in and out of Zozobra that night."
Next year he plans to go again.
"It was an unexpected surprise to see so many people are into this burning that I wanted to learn more about it," he said.
