Families at the Pueblo build tall bonfires (sixty or more) between the North and South Pueblo buildings.
At the end of Vespers at dusk, the bells of the San Geronimo Chapel peal and the fires are lit. The
special pitchy wood used in the bonfires, called ocote, creates an orange flame and dark black smoke.
A procession emerges with Pueblo men shooting live ammunition in the air at the front, acolytes and the
priest follow then six men carry the dais holding the statute of the Virgin under a billowing canopy
followed by men chanting in Tewa and beating Pueblo drums.
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