The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-10
THE PASSION PLAY
THE PENITENTEs AND THEIR
 SELF-INFLICTED ToRTURES. ,
Scenes of the Crucifixion Still Re- produced on Good Friday by In- dians in . Remote Village
 in New 1Esxico.

Cor. New York Sun.
 Among the Americans who flock once in ten years to sec the Passion play at Obcrammcrgau. there arc few, who know yeariv by the Pcni.entes Of New Mexico This pcrformancc was first adequately described by Adolphe Bandelier in t re- port issued hy the Smithsonian Institute about ten years ago. "'
 The full title of the .Pcnitentes l. Los Hcrmanos Pcnitentcs. meaning The Pen- itent Brothers. The order was establish cd tn New Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest under Coronado. about E3 The purpose of the priests who at- companied tho Span;ards was to form q society for religious zeal among thc li3- ttvcs. They taught the natives that siu might be cxpIsted sy fagcilatioa and other personal suffering. . As time passed the Indian and har- Breed zcalots sought 10 prove tfiett ch- thusiasm by fiercer slf-imposed ordeIts of suffering. The idea of enactinE the travail of the Master on Calvary was evolved Hence the Passion play of the Penitentcs on each Good Friday.
 Mir, pandclicr learned from the Spanish archives that as early as 1891 d crucitixi>a in which twenty-seyen men were actually place on Good Friday after several weeks of pious modification of the flesh with knives and cactrs thorns The
 Penitentes numbered some 5000 at the
 time or the rtcan-MexlCan war m ls4s. The Catholic Church has long la-
 bored to abolish their practices. So have the civil authorities.
 Fifty years ago there were branches of
 the territory and crucifixions took pla ;e in each of the branches. The organiZa- stfon has since gradually died away. ~
 Nowadays the sole remnant of the orr
 der is in the valley of San Mateo. seven ty-five miles northeast from Santa Fe.
 There is no railroad nearer than sixty
 miles. Some 300 Mexicans still cling to the doctrine that ones misdeeds are to be squared by physical pain during forty days of each year. finally closing with a
 Most of the Penitentes live at Taos. very old adobe pueblo. They are sheep and cattle, herdecs. Not one in dozen of them caa read and write in Spanish,
 and they have as little knowledge of Eng fish as if they lived in the heart of Mex leo. .r
 The Penitentes keep their memb srship secret nowadays. They meet in their das) at night and they conduct their fia- gellations and crucifxions as secretly as
 possible. Charles F. Lummis of Los An
 geles. Cal. was nearly shot to death by
 an assassin for photographing a Peni-
 tents crucifixion a few years ago
 -The Penitentes have several night meet
 ings during the year, but it is only in Lent
 that they are active. They have a head, tiit hdtor, WHDSe Htdtf0dttS dft strictly followed on pain of death Adol- phe Bandelier has written that up to a
 half century ago there were instances of
 disobedient and treacherous brother Peni-
 tentes having been buried alive.
 In Lent the Penitentes have night meet
 ings several times a week at the mo- rada. One day they will whip one an-
 other. on another day they go to Fl Cal
 vario the Calvary) little hil' away from the town. where they coat their bodies with ashes and all the time call in lamentations for a witness to their sense of sinfulness. For several days at time they go without food. and they spend whole nights in fearful prayer. When Holy Week comes the intensity of the fanaticism increases. They have been seen to thrust cactus spines into one another's naked backs until the flesh swelled owing to the torture caused by thousands of ncttles under the skin. They have been known to crawl or all fours like lizards over hll and vale for
 miles at time to prove their humility Self-las hing with short whips similar to cats-o ~Dine-tails is common. and young
 men have died from exhaustion and loss of blood during too Jealous hagellations- On Good Friday the Hermano Mayor names the ones who have been chosen to be the Jesus Christ. the Peter, the Pon- tius Pilate. Mary. the Martha and so on, for the play. Notwithstanding the torture involved in the impersonation.. many Penitentes are annually most desirous of being the Christ. The play is given on Fl Calvario.
 While the pipero blows a sharp air OF a nuto the man who is acting the part of
 the Savior comes forth. lis only garment is a quantity of cotton shceting or muslin that hangs flowing from his shoulders and waist. About his forehead is bound a wreath of cactus thorns. The thorns have beef pressed deep into the flesh from which tiny streams of blood trickle down his bronzed face and over his black beard. Tn a moment cross of huge timbers that would break the back of many men is laid upon his shoulders. He grappies it 1 tight. and bending low under the crushing weight. starts on.
 On the way q path of broken stones las been made. and the most debo Pen itcntes walk over these with bare feet and never finch. The counterfeit Christ is spit upon by the spectators. Little boys and girls run ahead of the chief actor that they may spit in his face and to throw stones upon his bending form When Fl Calvario is reached the great clumsy cross is laid upon the ground. The actor of Christ is seized and thrown upon it. The assemblage joins in 4 chorus of song. while several Penitentcs lash the mans hands. arms and legs to the tim-