by Dana Maestas, Ronda Lobato
The Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center & Museum boasts a new addition to its grounds, an adobe Horno. Built by Adobist Ole Bye, the traditional baking horno is a nod to the partnerships that thrive in the community of San Luis. Soul Players of the Valley San Luis (SPV San Luis) in collaboration with CSU Extension Juntos Program, Costilla County Conservancy District (CCCD), and the Town of San Luis worked together to facilitate this project.
A community horno build day was held on Friday, August 16th in which many community volunteers assisted with moving bricks, contributing with the placement of the bricks, and plastering the horno. Adobist Ole Bye gave a shout out to Christian Santistevan, and mother and son, Anabelle and Miguel Sanchez. Miguel diligently continued help with the build for several days after. The medium size horno was put together for baking bread, pizza, cooking meat and possibly chicos. Ole shared the process of horno building with the volunteers, stating that, “The adobes came from several buildings that the community dismantled, so there is a bunch of history in the base of the horno. The dome of the horno is being supported by bricks that are 150 years old.” “The story is that the Spanish brought the design to this hemisphere from northern Africa. There are ovens like this still being used in places like Morrocco. The Spanish came up from Mexico in the late 1500’s and there is archeological evidence that hornos were used at the confluence of the Chama and the Rio Grande. It’s likely these hornos were built by women who were slaves or servants of the Spanish colonists. The work of adobe hornos is historically in the realm of women as well.”
“Assisting in creating a piece of history for our community has been both a privilege and a profound learning experience. Adobe hornos are integral to our culture, and understanding the traditional methods used by our ancestors to provide for their families is something I will always treasure. I am grateful to Ole for sharing his knowledge and expertise with us, helping to craft an heirloom that our community will enjoy for generations,” exclaimed Christian Santistevan, SPV San Luis Recreation Coordinator.
SPV San Luis acknowledges with gratitudeCarol Gurule and Cody Groff of CSU Extension and the Juntos Program, Costilla County Commissioners, Teddy Leinbach of the Town of San Luis, Christian Santistevan SPV San Luis/CCCD Recreation Coordinator, and Ole Bye,Adobist for this amazing contribution to the San Luis community. Thank you to Juan Ramon Maestas for sharing the background and knowledge of adobe making and providing the dirt used to make the bricks. Ole Bye expressed, “People know about hornos here and many people have one. It’s been both intimidating and rewarding with everyone who comes by who shares their stories about how their grandmothers had one. I hope this gets used by the community and is a feature that brings people together since that is the magic of hornos. They have a magnetism that is the nucleus of the domestic environment where people can come together to share food and socialize.” SPV San Luis plans to celebrate the Horno build with baking bread at an upcoming San Luis event in the near future.
Soul Players San Luis (SPV San Luis) is an advisory group to the CCCD in planning and advisement on recreation projects, youth programing, and other community projects for recreation.Soul Players San Luis representatives are Ronda Lobato, Dana Maestas, Christian Santistevan, Jared Gurule, Benita Martinez, Harley Valdez, Estafanita De la Torre, Kimba Rael, and Tanya Portillo. The Horno Project was funded by CSU Extension and the Costilla County Lodging Tax Board.
