3 Things New Mexicans Know About Luminarias That Everyone Else Gets Wrong

The holidays in New Mexico come with a glow that’s hard to miss.

But ask what to call those lights, and New Mexicans may give you different answers depending on where they grew up.

Here’s what locals know about luminarias that visitors often get wrong.

1. Bonfire Meaning

Luminarias, to many Spanish-speaking people in northern New Mexico, are bonfires of wood stacked about three feet high, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

The paper-bag version is the newer one, State Historian Rob Martinez told the Albuquerque Journal.

Mass-produced paper bags weren’t widely available in the territory until the last quarter of the 19th century.

New Mexico Magazine dates the invention of the flat-bottomed paper bag to 1872.

Before it, locals marked the paths to their doors and the local church with small bonfires on Christmas Eve.

They were a symbolic way to light the way for the Holy Family.

They’re known as Sosa-style bonfires, after Spanish explorer Gaspar Castaño de Sosa.

His December 3, 1590 journal entry mentions small fires his party lit to guide a scout back to camp.

That wasn’t a holiday display.

If you picture rows of candlelit paper bags, you’re picturing the newer version.

On Canyon Road in Santa Fe, you’ll still find piñon bonfires alongside the lit bags, according to Tourism Santa Fe.

2. La Bajada Hill Divide

Luminarias change meaning at La Bajada Hill.

North of the hill, many people call a votive candle in a paper bag a “farolito.”

There, “luminaria” traditionally means the bonfire.

South of the hill, many call that same candle in a bag a “luminaria,” the Albuquerque Journal reports.

A University of New Mexico folklore researcher says Albuquerque has blended the two words through decades of cultural mixing.

Many people outside New Mexico call any candlelit paper bag a “luminaria.”

The Santa Fe New Mexican once ran an editorial whose headline insisted a paper bag isn’t a luminaria.

If you call a paper bag a “luminaria” in Albuquerque, you’re using the word the city’s bus tour uses.

The tour is back on.

A report on the tour’s return adds that the city will spend the coming year working on a plan that keeps the tradition and reduces its costs.

3. Electrolitos

Plastic luminarias have a nickname: “electrolitos.”

You’ll see plastic versions of luminarias hanging on rooflines throughout the holiday season, New Mexico Magazine says.

Santa Fe archaeologist Cordelia Snow’s 1991 letter to the Santa Fe New Mexican dubbed them that.

If you spot a plastic version on a porch, you can call it an electrolito.

Albuquerque’s Farolito Past

Albuquerque’s luminarias weren’t always called luminarias.

In the 1930s, New Mexico Magazine says, newspaper articles alternately called them “farolitos,” “linternitas” and “farolillos.”

The New York Times reported in 1958 that Albuquerqueans called them “farolitos.”

If “farolito” is your word, you’re using the one that 1958 report recorded.

Fray Angélico Chávez, the Franciscan friar and New Mexico historian, weighed in on the debate before his death in 1996 and essentially shrugged.

Paper Bag Origin Theories

Paper-bag luminarias began with cheaper bags that arrived on the Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico Magazine says.

Locals folded down the tops and anchored each bag with a few handfuls of sand.

A small candle inside made for a subtler display that didn’t deplete the winter woodpile.

If you’ve heard that paper bags trace straight back to China, you’ve heard one theory among several.

The Santa Fe New Mexican calls the practice’s start folk history, unrecorded, and names three possible influences.

Those are Moorish lanterns from Spain, Chinese lanterns by way of Manila and American brown paper bags from the mid-1800s.

Canyon Road Walk

Luminarias, which Santa Fe calls farolitos, line Canyon Road on Christmas Eve.

Ahead of the 2025 walk, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that more than 3,500 little lanterns would fill the street from 5 to 9 p.m.

Each lantern took a paper bag, 12 ounces of sand and a 15-hour candle.

For 2025, police and fire personnel would allow only residents and business owners onto Canyon Road from 5:30 to 6 p.m.

The street would then stay closed until 10 p.m., along with Acequia Madre, Delgado Street and Garcia Street.

Santa Fe Trails also planned free bus service during the event, from the South Capitol Rail Runner station to the Visitor Center parking area on Old Santa Fe Trail.

If you’re heading there, you’ll find streets around Canyon Road closed to cars during the walk.

The 2022 Burning Amnesty

In 2022, Santa Fe’s fire chief granted a city-wide amnesty for burning farolitos and luminarias on Christmas Eve.

The city normally prohibits open burning without a permit from the Santa Fe Fire Department.

The amnesty covered fires under 2 feet high and 3 feet in diameter.

If you were burning one, you had to stay with it until it was out.

The city posted the notice on Dec. 20, 2022.

Paper-Bag Fire Safety

The City of Albuquerque’s winter fire safety page includes a section on luminarias.

A burning luminaria belongs away from anything that ignites quickly, such as curtains, Christmas trees and brush.

The city also warns against setting candles or luminarias on combustible surfaces such as wood porches, or near dry grass or leaves.

Before you leave the room or go to bed, the flame has to be fully extinguished.