Penitente Moradas: A Vestige of the Nuevomexicano Cultural Landscape (2015)

Abstract: For over 400 years, generations of Nuevomexicanos (a.k.a. Hispanos) have left a nearly indelible imprint on the cultural landscape. In communities throughout the upper Rio Grande region, Hispanos built earthen irrigation ditches, community churches, and moradas (chapels) for Los Hermanos Penitentes, pious laymen who provide religious and social support to their communities. By the late 1800s, nearly every Hispano-founded community the upper Rio Grande region had its own morada. The Penitente morada is a product of community cooperation and no vernacular building on the landscape has held greater meaning to the local culture. Today, Hispanos have largely abandoned these adobe structures, and the buildings are succumbing to forces of erosion. Those that remain, however, embody rich cultural messages. This article documents the changing distribution of Penitente moradas south-central Colorado and discusses how differing culture groups have signified this important artifact on the cultural landscape.Key words: Penitente Moradas; upper Rio Grande region; Nuevomexicanos; Hispanos; cultural landscapeIntroductionIn 1598, Juan de Onate led 200 soldiers, six Franciscan priests, and a host of Spanish settlers north from the silver mining city of Zacatecas to settle lands along the upper Rio Grande present-day New Mexico. Overcoming severe drought (Mathers et al. 2013), political turmoil (Barrett 2012), and a devastating Pueblo Revolt 1680, the Nuevomexicanos (or Hispanos)' eventually established a cultural hearth centered around Santa Fe. As the Spanish-speaking population steadily increased over the course of 300 years, the descendants of the original Spanish settlers expanded their zone of influence all four cardinal directions. In a process referred to as splinter diffusion, Nuevomexicanos from one village systematically settled adjacent river valleys where they transplanted their cultural traditions (Nostrand 1992). In 1900, the Hispano culture region reached its geographic zenith, stretching north into southern Colorado, west into Arizona and east onto the high plains of Oklahoma and Texas (Figure 1).Generations of Nuevomexicanos not only established a culture region unique to North America, but they imprinted upon the land a cultural landscape that reflects their Spanish heritage. The built environment created by the Hispanos was in effect a transplantation, a new version of the order that had prevailed colonial Mexico and Spain (Jackson 1994, 19). As the Spanish established new settlements, the first two things constructed were an acequia (earthen irrigation ditch) and a Catholic church. Once complete, they introduced other cultural elements to the built environment, most notably the meeting house of Los Hermanos Penitentes (the Penitent Brothers). While both churches and moradas (chapels) host important religious activities within the community, moradas are distinct because: 1) membership the organization is reserved for male community members, 2) most of the religious activities occur during the Lenten season, and 3) the religious practices held within the building tend to be secretive and more contemplative nature. The community morada, with its small, unassuming design, masks its relative importance within Hispano communities. The Penitentes had widespread influence over the community and, their heyday, no less than 2/3 of the local male population were members of the village morada (McConnell Simmons 1992)2. It has been well-documented that what the Hispanos created, including the Penitente morada, became the most enduring legacy of Spanish influence the United States (Carlson 1990; Gonzales 1967; Nostrand 1992; Spicer 1962).Soon after the U.S. government established political control of the American Southwest, the geographic extent of the Nuevomexicano culture region began to shrink. By the 1980s, the Hispano cultural stronghold (area where Hispanos constitute at least 90% of the local population) was compressed to a small area around the village of Chimayo, New Mexico (Nostrand 1992). …