Home
Forward
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Cabeza de Vaca

caveza 

Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was the first white man to come to Ojinaga, arriving in 1535 in the company of two other Spaniards, and a Moor - Estevanico - the only survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Florida in 1528. Cabeza de Vaca was second in command in the ill fated expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez, charged with exploring Florida and claiming its territory for Spain.

When Narvaez lost his ships and his men, and then disappeared himself, Cabeza de Vaca took charge of the handful of survivors, whose ranks would be whittled down to almost nothing by Indian attacks, starvation, disease and accidents, until only the four men who eventually made their way to Ojinaga were left.

In Ojinaga, Cabeza de Vaca is remembered for having planted his cross, which is the symbol by which he is identified in paintings and drawings of him, at the summit of the nearby Sierrita de la Santa Cruz - which derives it name from that cross and that act.

Each year in Ojinaga, on the fiesta day of the Holy Cross (La Santa Cruz), in May, the matachines dancers perform in a ceremony that probably dates back to the time of the arrival of Cabeza de Vaca and before, when there was likely a celebration of the Old Indian Religion which was adopted into the trappings of Catholicism after the time of Cabeza de Vaca.

Faustos Art Gallery Online Store

Last updated, August 10th, 2005