‘Hanging of the Greens’ Set for Friday, Nov. 30

The Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico truly is never more beau­ti­ful than on the evening of the “Hang­ing of the Greens.” On Fri­day, Nov. 30, lights from some 14,000 faroli­tos (or lumi­nar­ias) will again cast an enchant­ing spell across cam­pus for one of UNM’s old­est traditions.

The UNM Mor­tar Board Senior Honor Soci­ety orga­nizes the event and pro­vides stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions with the nec­es­sary sand, bags and can­dles to con­struct the lumi­nar­ias, which are then set in walk­ways, door­ways rooftops and walls to cre­ate a glow­ing spectacle.

The fes­tiv­i­ties begin out­side the UNM Book­store at 5:45 p.m. with hot choco­late and bis­co­chi­tos. The car­ol­ing tour begin­s shortly there­after and con­cludes with a recep­tion on the lawn out­side at Uni­ver­sity House and the tra­di­tional pre­sen­ta­tion of the wreath.

In con­junc­tion with the Hang­ing of the Greens, the President’s Office host­s a recep­tion at Uni­ver­sity House from 6–8 p.m., where posole, spiced cider, and more hot choco­late and biscochi­tos will be served. The UNM com­mu­nity is invited and atten­dees are asked to bring an unwrapped children’s book to place under the Uni­ver­sity House tree. Books will be donated to UNM Children’s Hospital.

Hang­ing of the Greens has been a tra­di­tion since Lena C. Clauve, for­mer UNM stu­dent and UNM Dean of Women, began it in the 1930s. The tra­di­tion started with stu­dents dri­ving to the San­dia Moun­tains, where they would gather green­ery, which they would use to dec­o­rate the Stu­dent Union Building.

In the spirit of the sea­son, an invi­ta­tion is extended to one and all to come to cam­pus Sat­ur­day morn­ing when the lumi­nar­ias will be free for the taking.