“Someone’s Trying to Blow Up the Eliza Ann!”

April 17, 1960: In a 19th century Holy Week custom revived in New Mexico in 1930, a group of animals led by a Holstein cow is blessed at the Old Plaza. The Rev. Victor Marin, pastor of the Old Plaza Church, presides over the blessing in Spanish and English: “Almighty Father, we bless these animals for all they have done for us, in supplying food, in carrying our burdens, providing us with clothing and companionship and rendering a service to the human race since the world began."