Evening star., 1921-06-02
SECT HAS WEIRD
RELIGIOUS RITE
Penitentes' Good Friday
Ceremony Described by p
an Eyewitness.

l hAoOQOCfkRE, IN NJ, June la >
description Of the Good Friday rites
of the Penitente sect at Abiquiu,
N. M. is given by Mrs. Aida F. Sims
of Albuquerque. who was an eye
witness Of one of these observances. :
1t was at this village that a party
from Albuquerque saw two men tied
| to crosses thio year for twenty-five
minutes, as the climax of the rites.
Mrs. Sims story started with the ar
rival at the village.
was easily picked out nesting on the
hillside" she said. I'VE found q
woman lighting eighteen candles on.
la large triangle of wood placed in
front of the altar. We could see that
the images of the saints and the fig
ure of Christ were draped in black.
| The women and the girls knelt in
| front of the altar on strip of can
vas stretched upon the dirt floor, and /
began to sing. The men and boys
who had been lingering outside came
trooping in and knelt; then three old :
men and one woman walked round
and round the triangle. passing in
front of the altar with a genuf1exion
while responsive chanting was going
! We stepped outside; a faint, plain
I tive piping attracted my friend and
she observed: That is the Penitente :
l DilO OI lou Will sHdN :
wherever they are
| SPfteroo Heads Procession.
The next morning We heard the
notes Of the pito again. Below me on
| a trail issuing from a canyon. wound
la little procession. headed by the
pitero.' or flute-player. who walked
backward.
But the center figure caught and
held the gaze-a figure stripped to the
waist, with blood-drenched trousers
a figure that at each step struck 1t +
self with a great whip that came
SLAP. slap came the crack of the
lash But the Penitente made no
sound. His head was covered with a:
great black sack. Beside him a boy:
salt water. into which the whip was
dipped from time to time. In front
of him walked a woman. carrying
hymnal and singing a wailing chant.
the graveyard, where. walking over
stones and briars. the believers pros
trated themselves and kissed the
| cross.
The fagelIant then made a circuit
Of the cemetery. and the procession
| returned to the morada over the
stony path-a distance of half a mile
each way. The slow and tortuous.
| journey consumed one hour and twen-,
ty minutes"
1 FenIIGnIe SaErbS8 STOS8.
| In another procession seen the same
day by Mrs. Sims, one of the Peni-
| tentes shouldered a cross up the steep
path to 'Calvario," accompanied by
l.dagellents. Once the cross-bearer
stumbled and fell. and his compan-.,
upon him SO that he was pinned to
the path beneath it.
When the crest of the hill was:
reached, the worshipers began max
ing the return trip down the hill on
Later in the day, Mrs. Sims at
| tended the services of las tinebles"
| in the chapel. These services rep
chaos that followed Immediately after
the death of Jesus on the cross.
Description Of the Scene.
| The witness thus describes the +:
4 ''The babies were taken out, the
door and windows covered with
blankets, the candles of the wooden
triangle gradually extinguished. Just
1 before the last light went out a
weird sound came through the wall,
as though it were issuing from the
bowels Of the earth. The brother in
the supposed lost SOUL
Then the last candlelight flicker
ed out, plunging us into thick black
ness. Instantly the most deafening
at close quarters Chains ratified
and clanked thunderously. Pitos
l mingled with wooden rattles. The.
sound of whips lashing flesh was
heard.
| II changed my seat in the dark
ness. A heavy chain fell on my
foot.
The inferno ceased. and the candles
| were relighted. There the Brother of
| Light. which is another name for:
Penitente, stood calm and unrufiied.-
There was not a chain in sight"