Part 3

The storage room in the east _morada_ also contains commercially made lamps, such as the plated reservoir with stamped Neo-rococo motifs (Figure 19). Nearby is a processional cross with two metal faces and a small, cast corpus (Figure 20). While kerosene lanterns are evidence of east-west rail commerce after 1880, the cross probably indicates a southern contact, possibly through Parral or Chihuahua, Mexico. Locally made, however, are the woven rag rugs (_jergas_) hung over a pole (_varal_)[56] that drops from the ceiling. Also in the east _morada_ storage are two percussion rifles (Figure 21). Craddock Goins, Department of Armed Forces History, the Smithsonian Institution, identifies both as common Indian trade objects from midcentury Europe. These rifles probably were imports for sale to the Utes at the Abiquiú trading post between 1853 and 1874. At the rear of the room (Figure 22) rests a saw-horse table holding an assortment of stocks for these "trade guns," of wooden rattles (_matracas_), and of heavy crosses (_maderos_). On the ground stands a large bell, which, in a photograph (Museum of New Mexico, Photo No. 8550) taken by William Lippincott about 1945, appears on the tower of the _morada_. The silhouette dates the bell as being cast after 1760. Behind the bell rests the _morada_ death cart. Also in the room are a plank ladder and the oil drum stove raised on an _adobe_ dais (Figure 23) to the east of the exterior door.

SACRISTY IN BOTH MORADAS.--While a panelled wooden box in the south _morada_ stands inside the exterior door of the east room, another type of chest, said to hold cooking utensils, rests in the northwest corner of the center room of the east _morada_. Both storage chests are located in rooms with corner fireplaces. An informant said that these boxes held heating and cooking utensils and ceremonial equipment, including the _penitentes'_ rule book. As noted above, the two fireplaces in the middle room of the east _morada_ suggest that it was built earlier than the south _morada_, which has a single fireplace in the less active and more convenient rear storage room. Further evidence of this point is that the storage chest in the east _morada_ is better constructed than that in the south _morada_; the former displays a slanted top and punch-decorated tin reinforcements on its corners. In the center room there are several benches with lathe-turned legs (Figure 24).

The central room of the south _morada_ also displays a number of benches of an earlier style (Figure 25). Over the rear door appears an unusual cross (Figure 26). The cross consists of two wood planks, 1.6 centimeters thick, notched together and covered with paper. The surface bears carefully drawn, or perhaps stenciled, floral and religious designs in indigo blue: eleven Latin crosses appear among flowering vases, oversize buds, and 4-, 5-, and 8-pointed stars. These motifs probably are the result of copying from weaving or quilt pattern books of the late 19th century. A local _penitente_ leader stated that the cross was made before 1925 by Onésimo Martínez of Abiquiú, when the latter was in his thirties. (The strong religious symbolism of the New Mexican designs reminds one of the stylized motifs on Atlantic Coastal folk drawings and textiles of Germanic origin.)

(_Figure 26 is frontispiece._)

Snare drums appear in the central room of both _moradas_ (Figures 27, 28). The drum in the east _morada_ is mounted on top of a truncated wicker basket. It is interesting to note that rifles and drums commonly are recorded in mission choir lofts in 1776 by Domínguez.[57] In addition to marking significant moments in church ritual, they are used in Indian and _Hispano_ village _fiestas_.

Before describing religious objects in the west end rooms of Abiquiú _moradas_, a list of similar items in Santo Tomás Mission at an earlier date (1776) is of interest:

a medium-sized bell ... altar table ... gradin ... altar cloth ... a banner ... candleholders ... processional cross ... a painted wooden cross ... ordinary single-leaved door ... image in the round of Our Lady of the [Immaculate] Conception ... a wig ... silver crown ... string of fine seed pearls ... ordinary bouquet ... painting on copper of Our Lady of Sorrows (_Dolores_) in a black frame ... _Via Crucis_ in small paper prints on their little boards ... a print of the Guadalupe.[58]

Comparable versions of each of these objects occur in Abiquiú's _moradas_. In fact, virtually all objects found in the _penitente moradas_ of Abiquiú are recorded as typical artifacts by church inventories and house wills of 18th- and 19th-century Spanish New Mexico.[59]

ORATORY IN THE EAST MORADA.--In the rear of the oratory of the older east _morada_ (Figure 12), one sees a stove and lantern on the right. Both are imported, extracultural items. The pierced, tin candle-lantern (Figure 29) is a common artifact found throughout Europe and America.[60]

Along the walls of the oratory hang imported religious prints framed in local punch-decorated tinwork. Tin handicraft became more widespread after 1850 when metal U.S. Army containers became available to the _Hispanos_. Designs seen on three tin frames (Figure 30) include twisted columns, crests, scallops, corner blocks, wings, and a variety of simple repoussé patterns. Paper prints in the tin frame suggest midcentury trade contacts between northern Mexico and the Atlantic Coast. Even the Mexican War (1846-1848) did not discourage American publishers such as Currier from appealing to Mexican religious and national loyalties with lithographs of Our Lady of Guadalupe (much in the same manner as the British, after the Revolution and War of 1812, profited by selling Americans objects that bore images of Yankee ships, eagles, and likenesses of Franklin and Washington). A fourth piece of local tinwork (Figure 31) in the east _morada_ oratory is a niche for a small figure of the Holy Child of Atocha, _Santo Niño de Atocha_. This advocation of Jesus, like that of His mother in the Guadalupe image, further indicates Mexican influence.[61] The image of the _Atocha_ is a product of local craftsmanship.

These representations of religious personages are called _santos_, and their makers, _santeros_. Flat panel paintings are known locally as _retablos_, while sculptured forms are _bultos_. George Kubler, distinguished art historian at Yale, suggests that _bultos_, because of their greater dimensional realism, are more popular than planar _retablos_ with the _Hispanos_.[62] Supporting this theory is the fact that _bultos_ in the Abiquiú _moradas_ outnumber prints and _retablos_ two to one.

Perhaps the most distinctive three-dimensional image in any _morada_ is not a _santo_ by definition, but a unique figure that represents death (_la muerte_). Also known as _La Doña Sebastiana_, her image clearly marks a building as a _penitente_ sanctuary. Personifying death with a sculptured image and dragging her cart to a cemetery called _calvario_, the _penitentes_ of New Mexico reflect the sense of fate common to Spanish-speaking cultures, the recognition that death is life's one personal certainty.[63] The figure of death in the east _morada_ hangs in the corner at the rear of the oratory. Placed outside for examination, this _muerte_ (Figure 32) presents a flat, oval face with blank eyes. The black gown and bow and arrow are typical of _muerte_ figures.[64] Turning toward the altar (Figure 11), one sees that death is outnumbered by images of hope and compassion: Jesus, His mother, and the saints who intercede for man.

On the lower step of the altar appear a host of small, commercial products, mostly crucifixes, in plaster, plastic, and cheap metal alloys as well as numerous glass cups for candles. Above the upper ledge (_gradin_) appear five locally made images of Jesus crucified, _El Cristo_.[65] At the side of this central _Cristo_ (Figure 33) hangs a small angel, _angelito_, which traditionally held a chalice to catch blood from the spear wound. Other _Cristos_, at the Taylor Museum in Colorado Springs and at the Museum of New Mexico (McCormick Collection A.7.49-24) in Santa Fe, repeat the weightless corpus and stylized wounds used by the anonymous _santero_ who, after 1850, made these _bultos_.

Additional _Cristo_ figures appear on the convergent walls of the east _morada_ sanctuary. There are two pairs, large and small, perhaps dating as late as 1900, one pair to the right (Figures 34, 35), the other, on the Gospel side (plates 36, 37).

To the far left stands an important image: the scourged Jesus (Figure 38) prominent in _penitente_ activity as "Our Father Jesus the Nazarene" (_Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno_). By 1918, Alice Corbin Henderson[66] reports, this same figure appeared in _penitente_ Holy Week processions at Abiquiú. She claims it was made originally for the Mission of Santo Tomás. E. Boyd points out stylistic traits shared by this Abiquiú _bulto_ and the _retablo_ figures in the San José de Chama Chapel at nearby Hernández, which was the work of _santero_ Rafael Aragon, active from 1829 to after 1855.[67] Symbolic of man's physical suffering, the image of the _Jesus Nazareno_ is essential to _penitente_ enactments of the Passion.

On the left side of the east _morada_ altar, two carved images represent the grieving mother of Jesus as "Our Lady of Sorrows" (_Nuestra Señora de los Dolores_), one image (Figure 39) in pink equipped with her attribute, a dagger; the other (Figure 40), like many processional figures, has been constructed by draping a pyramidal frame of four sticks with gesso-dipped cloth, which, when dry, is painted to represent a skirt. The apron-like design that appears on the skirt, now hidden under a black dress, indicates that the original identity probably was "Our Lady of Solitude" (_Nuestra Señora de la Soledad_).[68]

Also on the left side of the east _morada_ altar, there are two male saints (_santos_) who fill vital roles in the _penitente_ Easter drama. One, St. Peter (San Pedro) with the cock (Figure 41), is a _bulto_ whose frame construction duplicates that of Our Lady (Figure 40). The cock apparently was made by another hand, and, despite its replaced tail, is a fine expression of local art. This group represents Peter's triple denial of Jesus before the cock announced dawn of the day of the Crucifixion. The _bulto_ of San Pedro has special meaning for _penitentes_ who, through their penance, bear witness to "Jesus the Nazarene."

With the other _bulto_, _penitentes_ have also recalled the crucifixion by representing St. John the Evangelist (San Juan) at the foot of the cross, where Jesus charged the disciple with the care of His mother. The image of John (Figure 42) bears distinctive stylistic features: blunt fingers; protruding forehead, cheek bones, and chin; and a full-lipped, open mouth.

Since these stylistic traits also occur in a _Cristo_ figure in the Taylor Museum collection[69] and in two other _bultos_--a _Cristo_ and _Jesus Nazareno_ in the south _morada_ at Abiquiú--it seems reasonable to designate the anonymous image-maker as the "Abiquiú _morada santero_."

A _bulto_ that Alice Henderson identifies as St. Joseph is probably this figure of St. John (Figure 42) now resting in the east _morada_. She has reported that this image and that of St. Peter were in the mission of Santo Tomás before 1919.[70] The shift in residence for these _santos_ was substantiated by José Espinosa, who stated that several images "were removed to one of the local _moradas_ ... when the old church was torn down."[71]

On the right side of the east _morada_ altar, images of two male saints reflect the intense affection felt by _penitentes_ for the Franciscan saints Anthony of Padua and John of Nepomuk. The most popular New Mexican saint, San Antonio (Figure 43), customarily carries the young Jesus, _El Santo Niño_. This image has been painted dark blue to represent the traditional Franciscan habit of New Mexico before the 1890s.[72]

The 14th-century saint, John of Nepomuk, Bohemia (Figure 44), is known from a legend that states he was killed by King Wenceslaus for refusing to reveal secrets of the Queen, for whom he was confessor. The story notes that, after torture, John was drowned in the Moldau River, but that his body floated all night and, in the morning, was taken to the Church of the Holy Cross of the Penitents in Prague. After the martyred chaplain was canonized in 1729, his cult spread to Rome, then Spain, and, by 1800, into New Mexico.

Among the _Hispanos_, local Franciscans promoted this cult of St. John as a prognosticator and as a respecter of secrecy.[73] Due in part to this promotion, _San Juan Nepomuceno_ became a favorite of New Mexican _penitentes_. E. Boyd suggests that the image of St. John (Figure 44) may have first represented St. Francis or St. Joseph. She also notes a stylistically similar _bulto_ of St. Joseph in Colorado Springs, manufactured not long after 1825.[74]

ORATORY IN SOUTH MORADA.--Turning to the south _morada_ chapel, we find numerous parallels to the earlier east _morada_ in _santo_ identities and in religious artifacts. (Figure 10 presents a previously unphotographed view of this active _penitente_ chapel with its fully equipped altar.) The walls of the west chamber of the south _morada_ are lined with benches over which hang religious prints in frames of commercial plaster and local tin work (Figure 45).

The tin frame for a lithograph of St. Peter reveals repoussé designs found on east _morada_ frames (Figure 30, center). Other examples of local tinwork are seen in Figure 46. On the right is a cross of punched tinwork with pomegranate ends and corner fillers that reflect Moorish characteristics in Spanish arts known as _mudéjar_. The frame dates from after 1850, as indicated by glass panes painted with floral patterns suggesting Victorian wallpaper. To the left is a niche made of six glass panels painted with wavy lines and an early 19th-century woodcut of the Holy Child of Atocha. Here again, twisted half-columns repeat a motif seen on a tin frame in the east _morada_ chapel. In front of the draped entry to the south _morada_ sanctuary stand two candelabra, one of which is shown in the doorway to the oratory (Figure 47) with tin reflectors and hand-carved sockets.[75] There are also vigil light boxes, kerosene lanterns with varnished tin shades, commercial religious images and ornaments that are similar to items in the east _morada_ sanctuary.