Hanging strings of chile on
the side of homes grew out of necessity. It is an indigenous technique used for drying chile in
order to keep it preserved through the wintertime.
Along with keeping alive many
of our native agricultural practices, traditional Pueblo and Hispanic communities in Northern New Mexico still hand-tie and hang their chile
on their houses to dry.
Being such
a beautiful sight, the non-agricultural sectors celebrate the tradition of drying red chile in the sun.
In New Mexico
it is common to see chile ristras, (decorative strings of chile) hanging
from porches and roofs
