Part 4

Embroidered textiles portray the Last Supper, and a chapter banner, made up for the brotherhood after 1925, shows the Crucifixion in oil colors. This banner bears the words "Fraternidad Piadosa D[e] N[uestro] P[adre] J[esus] D[e] Nazareno, Sección No. 12, Abiquiú, New Mexico." The title _fraternidad_ is that assumed by _penitente_ chapters that incorporated in New Mexico around 1930, although the term _cofradía_ often appears in transfers of private land to _penitente_ organizations.[76] A second banner, this one on the left, reads "Sociedad de la Sagrada Familia," which is a Catholic women's organization that often supports _penitente_ groups.

In the oratory of the south _morada_, locally made images merit special notice. Two carved images flank the entry to the south _morada_ sanctuary. The _bulto_ on the right, St. Francis of Assisi (Figure 48), has a special significance. As we noted in the east _morada_, many Spanish settlers in New Mexico honored San Francisco as the founder of the Franciscans, the order whose missionaries long had served the region. The second _bulto_ (Figure 49) reveals clues that it originally had been a representation of the Immaculate Conception (_Inmaculata Concepción_). In Abiquiú, however, this figure is called _la mujer de San Juan_ ("the woman of St. John"), a phrase that indicates the major role Mary holds for the _penitentes_. With this image they refer to the moment in the Crucifixion when Jesus committed the care of His mother to St. John. As introductions to the south _morada_ chancel, St. Francis and the Marian image are excellent specimens of pre-1850 _santero_ craftsmanship.

Two more images of Mary occur on the altar of the south _morada_ sanctuary. The first (Figure 50) takes its proper ecclesiastic position on the Gospel side, to the viewer's left of the crucifix. The second "Marian" image (Figure 51) is less orthodox. Not only does this _bulto_ stand on the Epistle side of the crucifix but, like the Marian advocation cited above as _la mujer de San Juan_, this figure's identity has been changed to suit local taste. _Penitentes_ at Abiquiú refer to the image as Santa Rosa, the traditional patroness of the area following its first settlement by Spaniards.

Between these Marian images there are two large _bultos_ that are examples of the work of the "Abiquiú _morada santero_" suggested earlier. Both are figures of Jesus. The first, a _Cristo_ (Figure 52), is the central crucifix on the altar. As in the east _morada_, the focal image is accompanied by an _angelito_, this time with tin wings.[77] To the right stands the other image of Jesus, the Nazarene, _Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno_ (Figure 53). Along with the nearby crucifix (Figure 52) and the figure of St. John the Evangelist (Figure 42) in the east _morada_, this representation of the scourged Jesus reflects the style of the "Abiquiú _morada santero_." This Nazarene _bulto_ embodies the _penitente_ concept of Jesus as a Man of suffering Who must be followed.

The special character of the _penitente_ brotherhood is demonstrated also in the last two _bultos_ on the south _morada_ altar. The prominent size and position of St. John of Nepomuk (Figure 54) on the altar indicate again the importance given by the _penitentes_ to San Juan as a keeper of secrets. The other figure is the south _morada_'s personification of death (Figure 55), _la muerte_, here even more gaunt than the image in the east _morada_. Probably made after 1900, this figure demonstrates the persistent artistic and religious heritage of _Hispano_ culture.

[53] Interviews with Abiquiú inhabitants: Delfino Garcia in summer 1963 and Agapita Lopez in fall 1966.

[54] Interviews with _penitente_ members at Abiquiú, summers of 1965 and 1967.

[55] JOSÉ ESPINOSA, _Saints in the Valley_ (Albuquerque, 1960), p. 75.

[56] DOMÍNGUEZ, _Missions_, p. 50 (ftn. 5), defines _varal_ and its customary use.

[57] Ibid., pp. 107, 131 (ftn. 4), 167.

[58] Ibid., pp. 121-123.

[59] AASF, Loose Documents, Mission, 1680-1850, and Accounts, books xxxxv and lxiv. Also in Wills and Hijuelas, State Records Center, and in Twitchell documents, Land Management Bureau, both offices in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[60] WALTER HOUGH, _Collections of Heating and Lighting_ (Smithsonian Inst. Bull. 141, Washington, D.C., 1928), pl. 28a, no. 3.

[61] STEPHEN BORHEGYI, _El Santuario de Chimayo_ (Santa Fe, 1956); also E. BOYD, _Saints and Saint Makers_ (Santa Fe, 1946), pp. 126-132.

[62] GEORGE KUBLER, in _Santos: An Exhibition of the Religious Folk Art of New Mexico with an Essay by George Kubler_ (Fort Worth, Tex.: Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, June 1964).

[63] A fuller discussion of the _penitente_ death cart and further illustrations are found in MITCHELL A. WILDER and EDGAR BREITENBACH, _Santos: The Religious Folk Art of New Mexico_ (Colorado Springs, 1943), pl. 30 and text. Relevant to this study is the death cart with immobile wheels recorded by HENDERSON, p. 32 [see ftn. 64], as having been used in processions before 1919. It is likely that this is the same cart described above in the storage room of the east _morada_ (Figure 22); it is important because its measurements and construction details are nearly identical to the death cart in the collections of the Museum of New Mexico, reputed to have come from Abiquiú.

[64] ALICE CORBIN HENDERSON, _Brothers of Light_ (Chicago, 1962), p. 32, describes a _muerte_ figure: chalk-white face, obsidian eyes, black outfit.

[65] E. BOYD, "Crucifix in Santero Art," _El Palacio_, vol. LX, no. 3 (March 1953), pp. 112-115, indicates the significance of this image form.

[66] HENDERSON, pp. 13 (red gown, blindfolded, flowing black hair), 26 (red gown, bound hands, made for mission), and 43-46 (tall, almost life size, blindfolded, carried on small platform in procession from lower [east] _morada_, horsehair rope).

[67] BOYD, in litt., Nov. 13, 1965.

[68] BOYD, loc. cit. Regarding construction, see E. BOYD, "New Mexican Bultos with Hollow Skirts: How They Were Made," _El Palacio_, vol. LVIII, no. 5 (May, 1951), pp. 145-148.

[69] WILDER and BREITENBACH, pls. 24, 25.

[70] HENDERSON, p. 26.

[71] JOSÉ ESPINOSA, op. cit., p. 75.

[72] DOMÍNGUEZ, _Missions_, p. 264 (ftn. 59). The brown robe worn by Franciscans today is a late 19th-century innovation.

[73] BOYD, _Saints_, p. 133.

[74] BOYD, in litt., Nov. 13, 1965. For a comparative illustration of St. Joseph, see WILDER and BREITENBACH, pl. 42.

[75] HENDERSON, p. 51, notes this pair of candelabra with the 13 sockets. Fifteen is the ecclesiastically correct number for _tenebrae_ services.

[76] _Acts of Incorporation_, microfilm, Corporation Bureau, State Capitol, Santa Fe; see also Land Records, _General Indirect Index_, Rio Arriba County Court House, vols. I (1852-1912) and II (1912-1930).

[77] HENDERSON, p. 51, describes the _angelito_, in the dim light of the _morada_ ceremony, as a "dove like a wasp." Another angel figure was given me through Regino Salazar by one of the _penitente_ brothers of Abiquiú. According to E. Boyd, it appears to be the work of José Rafael Aragon, who worked in the Santa Cruz area after 1825.

_Summary_

The two Abiquiú _moradas_ are clearly parallel in their architectural design (including the constricted chancels), in their artifacts--especially _bulto_ identities such as Jesus (_Cristo_, _Nazareno_, _Ecce Homo_, _Santo Niño de Atocha_), Mary (_Dolores_, _Immaculata Concepción_, _Soledad_, _Guadalupe_), Saint John of Nepomuk, Saint Peter, and death--and lastly, in the ceremonies held in the buildings, which link rather than separate the _penitente_ movement and the common social values of _Hispano_ culture.

Edmonson uses six institutional values to define _Hispano_ culture.[78] All six can be found in the _penitente_ brotherhood. "Paternalism" is found in the relation of the members-at-large to the officers and of all the _penitente_ brothers to _Nuestro Padre Jesus_, "Our Father Jesus." "Familism" is reflected in the structure of the _penitente_ organization and especially in the extension of its social benefits to the entire community. "Dramatism" is an essential ingredient of _penitente_ ceremonies such as the _tinieblas_. "Personalism" is revealed in the immediate and individual participation of all members in _penitente_ activities. "Fatalism" is the focus of Holy Week and of funerals and is personified by the _muerte_ figure in each _morada_.

Finally, Edmonson cited "traditionalism" as definitive of _Hispano_ culture, a characteristic that is clearly evident in the _penitente_ forms of shelter, ceremonies, and artifacts. These commonplace objects and activities had been established at Abiquiú before and during the period of _morada_ building and furnishing. Literary and pictorial documents presented in this study of Abiquiú and the _penitente moradas_ reveal that their physical structure, furnishings, membership, and the brotherhood itself are related intimately to, and drawn from, the traditional and persistent Hispanic culture of New Mexico.

[78] EDMONDSON, p. 62.