New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-06-26
AN AMERICAN PASSION PLAY.
THE STRANGE ORDER OF PENITENTs OF
NEWMEXICO.
From The Los Angeles Land OF Sunshine

dead yet. But it is on its last legs. You find
Fe. the capital and Albuquerque, the central city;
in the Taos country. and in Tajiaue and the sandal
Ration and Trinidad and many other places. But
not in one Of them does the old audacty persist
sIons-bu only the shadow of the old sort. The
self whipping and the carrying OF crosses the tor
lures with and all the other horrors survive
only in the most remote hamlets. and even there
with considerably secrecy. For New-Mexico has
become a very different country from what it was
ten years ago.
The Penitentes active only during Lent. The
Of the year they have no reunions. unless to
bury brother-at midnight in the soudes. where
no man shall know his grave-or to sentence an
bound: and a traitor 70 its secrets is buried alive.
But these meetings are rare: the brethren are ex-
traordnarily tenacious of life, and few betray the
order.
With the beginning Of the Forty Days however,
centre. Each region has its Hermano Mayor Chief
Brother. who is supreme; and Brotherhood
but apart from public haunt. Besides the active
members who torture themselves (hermanos peni-
tentes) there are what may be counted honorary
membership hermanos de luz Brothers OF Light.
Awed by the slow. steady warfare OF the Church.
the Penitentes who whip themselves or walow in
cactus or get cruclned do with their heads
bagged in a hangmans black cap. This keeps them
unidentified but also unseeng; and the Brothers OF
Light act guides to the bindfod self-torturers.
y great many Americans now have witnessed
more or less OF the Penitente ceremonials. Myself
| have seen many: and on Holy Thursday and
Good Friday, 1855. l not only saw everything but
photographed the procession and the crucinxion-
this unprecedented privilege being obtained partly
by diplomacy, partly by the influence OF Colts
A. and largely by the sidnchness OF Spanish
friend than whom want no truer man beside me
when my back is 10 the wall
on the first Friday night In Lent the Pententes
assemble. AS that il pastoral country. and their
part Of 1t largely wilderness. some Of them come
tedious distances. Fifty miles - no strange thing
for Brother to trudge in from the shepherd that
ne may square up MS year by Having his back. To-
morrow he will trudge back to his mock; And next
Friday he will come again. And in Holy Week he
leaves all other things ana Is penente p1Te ana
simple; sleeping on the bare moor OF the Morada
and verifying his devotion by whatever torture APP
proves itself to his mind as most heroic.
These services of laie years are carried on at
night. until the last two days The be.ated travel
Ter among the New-MeXcan ranges is like to hear.
then. the most hldeous SOUND that ever despolei
the night-the unearthiy screech OF the p!to, reed
FIFE with unparalleled carrying power-and by eau
the sornbre pines The Brothers Of Light carrying
and fndns ;b amops the ad Icy
otces the Peniten Brothers. stripped 10 the waist.
slowly and mechanically heswatting their raw
pantaoons stin with the trickllng blood their naked
feet staining the frozen trai-and ahead OF all the
pitero. fortur.ng his NE.
But on Holy Thursday and Good Friday every
thing is open and by broad day. and within the con-
fines Of civilization Visitors can look onrthough
/ would not wholly advise the camera fend' 10 be
visible unless he Is prepared TO pay age more than
been rather tangible prejudice among the Peni-
tentes against being PHOTOGRAPHED. ...,..
from the morala to the nearest campo santo bury
ng-ground) and back In these professions the lead
women who 1--we in the village singing hymns un,
der he leadership Of the CHIEF Brother Last Of all
is the slow. suh-steppins single hle OF the PEN
tent"s proper; their heads hlack-6agged. their
backs and feet bare some swing ne heavy scourge
the other. /, strikes about the small OF the back;
and from a patch large and n beefsteak the
blood dribb,e. to their ankles. Some stagger under
crosses which only a very powerful man can lift at
i 5 be- h'1 3Sd tha, ' the creates: Weighs fully
7o pounds Yet / have seen a .;rainns
morada to campo santo and back "a third OF mile
each way twice IN day. Small wonder that sew
Instead Of whips crosses. bear huge burdens OF
huckhorn cactus. cinchei upon their naked backs
plore their flesh Reasonably 10 measure this ex-
altation. you may fancy yourself marching slowly,
methodically solemnIy. with 1919" "asps Singing
on Good Friday there are the same morning pro-
added which is the annual renewing Of the
seal" OF the order. on this day the Hermano
Gus s.ashes upon his bare back from right left.
ami then cross-hatches them with three more from
left to right The Implement IS a sharp Hint Ike
the prehistoric Indian scalp.ng knife.
Soon after deep hole is dug in front of the
Presently the Penitentes and their helpers emerge
from the building leading chosen by lot for
II s head is bsck capped Down his SIDE broad
stream OF blood leaks from the chastity cut which
Nazareth. The victim is stretched upon the pros
trate cross and dashed 10 t-for this is as far as
wound about his arms and legs and the wood and
Is then hauled taut with all the power OF muscu.
tn cruched a shee, is wound around the purp:ing
form, to prevent Identification: and the cross IS
lifted TO a perpendicular and planted In the hole.
The crucihxion | photographed at San Mateo
lasted thirty-one minutes by the watch. In the
first five minutes the victims arms had turned dead
black from the construction OF the rope. He did not
groan nor move but presently nis mui,led mead
dropped upon his breast and presumed he was
The hush Of death was In the air The Chief
Rrother and the assstants-al wearing crowns OF
thorns from under which beads OF blood stood out
were motioness "a carven images The women
.nffg ana gfH de IA n nor WnrH
ranged the GREATNESS townspeople. | could hear
the blood pounding In my ears All nature seemed
ne water from its locked wheel; and a fat. erect
prairie dog Shaeed peT Pene ay e oot of
'M las il was over and the cross was lowered
The fainting wretch unbound and dragged
into the morada. to be brought 70 life again. Even
since mailing has gone out OF fashion. II is by no
means rare for the cruclfed one 10 die; and OF
course under the old regime the mortality was
The procession reforms. with the singing women.
It's cross bearers and cactus bearers and efwhip
pers and attendants and its grisy marches be-
tween morada and graveyard are kept up TIL sun
set In the evening the tniehas or dark" services
are held In a closed and unghted room No one
is admitted but the active m, mbers 10 the huddled
watchers outside comes nothing but groans and
cesslon returns to the morada. and the doors are
closed So far as the public Is concerned the ser
vices are over. The Pententes arc busted with
prayer until midnight; then the door creaks. and
dark forms SLOUGH away through the night toward
balanced its account with God until another year
These seem strange tidings of corner OF the
United States; a Passion Fact beside which Ober-
ammergau IL n chid's doll play; barbarty 1T to
rank with the fortunes Of East india fak!rs-and
all carried on by voters of the foremost nation in
civilization.
But the anachronism is fast dying out The
thunders OF the Church. the pressure OF
nublic opinion are at work; and the Penitentes
grow fewer every year little more, and the
order which was once invncibe in the Territory
will have disappeared from off the face Of the
earth Even now II draws and into
The Businesses and the shadows for sympathy with
II is confined to the few ignorant. outlying hamles.
NATIONAL SCANDAL.