[52] E. Boyd, interview, April 1966. Building date of about 1780 usually is given for the present church. Boyd, however, states that documents in AASF support the tree-ring dates given in Kubler. Religious Architecture, p. 121, as 1816±10.
Interior Space and Artifacts
The plans of the two penitente moradas of Abiquiú (Figure 4) reveal an identical arrangement of interior space. There are three rooms in each morada: (1) the longest is on the west end and, with its constricted sanctuary space, acts as an oratory; (2) the center room serves as a sacristy; and (3) the east room is for storage. The only major difference between the two moradas is the length of the storage room, which is nearly twice as long in the east morada. The remarkable similarities in design suggest that one served as the model for the other; local oral tradition holds that the east morada is older.[53]
Internal evidence indicates that the east morada is indeed the older one. As shown in Figure 2, the south morada is located farther from the Abiquiú plaza, suggesting it was built at a later date—perhaps nearer 1900, when public and official criticism had prompted greater privacy for Holy Week processions, which were considered spectacles by tourists. In addition, the lesser width of the south morada rooms, the square-milled beams in the oratory, and the fireplace in the east end storage room indicate that it was built after the east morada. In contrast, the two corner fireplaces of the east morada are set in the center room, while another heating arrangement—an oil drum set on a low adobe dais—appears to have been added at a later date.
The east morada was the obvious model for the builders of the later one on the south edge of Abiquiú. Local penitentes admit that there was a division in the original chapter just prior to 1900[54] but deny that the separation was made because of political differences, as suggested by one author.[55] The older members say that the first morada merely had become too large for convenient use of the building.
The three rooms in each morada are distinguished by bare, whitewashed walls of adobe plaster, hard-packed dirt floors, two exterior doors, and three windows. A locked door is located off the oratory in the north face of the south morada. Figures 10 and 11 show the sanctuaries in the south and east morada; and Figure 12, the back of the east morada oratory. Its open door leads into the center room, where the members would not remove the boards on the windows for me to take photographs. The east end room in each morada serves for storage of processional and ceremonial equipment.
Figure 10. Altar in South Morada. Size: 10.05 meters long, 3.51 wide. Location: West room in south morada. Description: Looking west into sanctuary; dirt floor with cotton rag rugs; side walls lined with benches and hung with religious prints; square-milled timber ceiling; draped arch with candelabra; altar and gradin with religious images. (Numbers refer to subsequent illustrations.)
Figure 11. Altar in East Morada. Description: Looking into sanctuary; dirt floor and convergent adobe walls; sacristy entry marked by drapes and raised floor; candelabra and sand boxes for votive candles; draped altar table supplied with religious images. (Numbers refer to subsequent illustrations.)