The Greeley tribune., 1908-05-14

/ ing 10 the women, VINO "ii 's""."'N
! tnT a period of several hours on their
,rees ON the hard ground, Ihey had
nm altar fixed up III one emu o' '"e
ndobe hut. very crude sort OF an III.
| C,jr"with very brilliantly colored wall
napor behind and MANY crucihxes anu
| unmen dressed in black, the iatter
nst images YOU understand, which
/ wore mounted on platforms ana were
| to he carried in the grand procession
/ ,,hich was To come on at three that
afternoon. The women all use shawIs
/ Nben,yer they leave the houses. ana
In church cover all but the eyes ana
nose with this shawl, whereas the
cirls leave the hair down their backs
I and have royal purple ribbon ABOUT
lone inch wide around their heads
coming across the forehead. The hair
| is parted In every case and even the
small girls wear the shawls. me
Urls of n marriageable age, that is
] between fourteen aud eighteen Win
AN average of less than ffteen wear
yellow and green dresses very much.
and if YOU can remember how some OF
HE girls from the farms look on cir
Gus DAYS. tnen you have the dress or
the "Senorita" In way, we We're
watched very closely in the church
and told that we could not see the
inside il we had a camera. we said
that we didn't although under our
lunches. in the bottom OF our torn
lunch sack we had iN5 box camera
secrcted. To have this in sight would
have meant trouble for MS at every
point and very few even dare to car
ry one AT all here. toward the last OF
The Lenten season.
The last man | took on the motor
WAS a Penitente guard and when we
came back to the town. ! found that
"A band of Penitentes We're approach
ing and so asked what the noise was.
He hesitated about telling and then
said that il was band of his follow
ers | asked the most elaborate set
Of questions YOU could image as soon
as | found out that he would tell any
thing. and assisted by the other man.
We found out much. although we
worked hard for it
Long before they came into sight we
could hear the notes on the flies and
flutes, and then as they neared us
although still out OF sight over near
by mountain. we could hear the Pc
cular Penitente chant. and finally
they loomed up into sight and walked
very slowly toward the Morado. One
man only was stripped and scourging
himself but that was enough. He was
supported by two companeros. or
guards, and was so weak from loss of
blood and the ten mile trip over the
rough rocky. mountain trail. that he
could no longer scourge himself and
would merely raise the bloody scourge
every few steps as If to lash himself
The scourge is held by both hands
and the blow is dealt over the head
10 the bare back which has already
been badly cut and lascerated by the
Atonement The sight of that man
will stay with me forever. When the
guards would let go of him he would
fall to the earth and had to be nearly
dragged all the way. Although so
weak that he could not stand alone.
he would still vainly try to scourge
himself. as the man who stands the
most and never whimpers. Is the one
held In highest esteem. His feet were
cut with the stones and cacti In the
path. and his head so covered that 1t
would be impossible for him to see.
or for anyone else to recognize him
through his mask. His drawers were
covered with blood clots and his back
was simply one immense sore. bleed
| ing freely in all parts. the blood clot-
| ting nearly as soon as 1t reached the
surface since the day was cold, hard
wind blowing. and the altitude at that
place probably not under eight thous-
and feet. That is higher than Estes
park and you know that 1t Is cold In
the park at this time of the year.
Many OF this sect die each year az
a result of this exposure. some from
the wounds that they receive at the
time and some from complications
| which set in afterW ards through i'm
| proper care. A doctor always dresses
the wounds a day or so after. II they
do not begin to heal properly. The
way that the whites tell whether a
man Is Penitente or not in these
isolated parts is to slap him on the
back In jollying sort OF way just af-
ter Easter time and II he is a Peni.
tente you can easily tell 1t. as his
| whole back is sore and raw. He pre-
tends not to notice 1t but he can not
keep from yelling or jumping when
hit
4 .'One thing that ! shold have men
toned some time back was that al,
Penitentes doing penace for their sins
for the previous year have to walk
what Is called the "penace" step
| That Is slow walking gait with the
body bent far over as though one were
setting out cabbages or other plants
4 They are not allowed to straighten
up and so torture is increased, az any
one knows who has to bend down to
their work and cannot relax certain
muscles for long time.
1.-The procession that they said they
were going to have at three had not
come of at half after FIVE. and so we
/ departed for Vegas and when a mile
and half on. could see the large
crowd just leaving the Morado They
simply delayed the procession until
we had left We saw much more
II iGh [ ,n.u I..Q