Like so many folk customs the Tom (New Mexico) Passion Play was passed along orally from generation to generation for nearly two hundred years. The same drama that Fray Francisco Domingues mentioned in 1776 was still being performed in 1947 when it was filmed by a local resident. It was at this time that Fred Landavazo, Edwin Berry and Juan Estevan Zamora realized that the drama, already threatened by a modern, disinterested world, should be preserved in a more permanent form. Through their efforts a script was produced before the final performance of the play in 1955. For the first time, this important religious and historical folk document is available in its original from with translations and annotation by Fr. Thomas Steele. Thomas J. Steele, S.J., a Jesuit priest, is a teacher and authority on the religious folk art of New Mexico.
Like so many folk customs the Tom (New Mexico) Passion Play was passed along orally from generation to generation for nearly two hundred years. The same drama that Fray Francisco Domingues mentioned in 1776 was still being performed in 1947 when it was filmed by a local resident. It was at this time that Fred Landavazo, Edwin Berry and Juan Estevan Zamora realized that the drama, already threatened by a modern, disinterested world, should be preserved in a more permanent form. Through their efforts a script was produced before the final performance of the play in 1955. For the first time, this important religious and historical folk document is available in its original from with translations and annotation by Fr. Thomas Steele. Thomas J. Steele, S.J., a Jesuit priest, is a teacher and authority on the religious folk art of New Mexico.
