A colorful ornament depicting the San Marcos River now hangs from the Christmas tree in the State Capitol’s House Chamber. State Representative Erin Zwiener, House District 45, invited the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos to design this year’s ornament, created by Centro ArtSpace coordinator Debangana Banerjee.
“Debangana created a beautiful tribute to HD 45 by incorporating the sacred San Marcos River, the endangered aquatic Texas Wild Rice that grows exclusively in the river, and monarch butterflies,” said Zwiener on her Facebook page.
“Our area serves as a major corridor for the butterflies’ migration and they symbolize the flow of life alongside the river while also representing the belief in Hispanic culture that monarch butterflies make connections between the departed soul and the living,” Zwiener said.
Every year, members of the Texas House of Representatives are invited to select a constituent to create a Christmas ornament to showcase unique elements of their House Districts, according to the Texas Legislature website. 2025 is the 16th year of this project.
“We’re so happy to see the rich history and culture of the district represented on the House tree at the Capitol, a wonderful tradition that highlights communities from all over Texas!” said Zwiener.
Yansi Arevalo, event coordinator at Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, said Banerjee worked to incorporate as much of San Marcos as she could into the project.
“It’s hard to do that in one ornament, but I think she did a really good job with the river and the monarch butterflies,” Arevalo said. “Just because of what they have represented for a lot of people in this area.
“The migration of the monarch butterflies represents the path of migrants from Mexico or other Latin countries who come to the United States, so she tried to incorporate that, because in San Marcos especially, there has been a large Latino Hispanic community for generations.”
Like the monarch butterflies, the San Marcos River travels through many different communities. Spring Lake, at the headwaters of the river where the Sacred Springs Powwow takes place, has been a place of special reverence for centuries.
“The San Marcos River has very strong roots in indigenous culture and traditions. We’ve had bands of people migrate in and out of San Marcos. So I think the ornament is paying respect to that. The river has been in this land for thousands of years, and hopefully for thousands of years after, if we take care of the land and the river here in town.”
Zwiener said she the ornament captures the defining characteristics of her district.
“Huge shoutout to Debangana for all your work on this project and providing us such a beautiful ornament that perfectly represents HD 45. We appreciate you!” said Zwiener.
To check out ornaments from previous years, visit house.texas.gov/resources/ holiday-ornaments
