The Penitente Moradas of Abiquiú

by Richard E. Ahlborn

Figure 34. Crucifix (Cristo). Size: cross 170.2 centimeters high. Date: Second half of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, right wall behind altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted, over-painted in oils; black gauze shroud over head; rosary and iNRi plaque.

bottom left

Figure 35. Crucifix (Cristo). Size: cross 64.8 centimeters high. Date: Second half of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, right wall behind altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted; dressed in white skirt with rosary.

top right

Figure 36. Crucifix (Cristo). Size: cross 71.1 centimeters high. Date: Second half of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, left wall behind altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted, repainted in oil colors, yellow and red strips on black; dressed in white cotton skirt; rosary.

bottom right

Figure 37. Crucifix (Cristo). Size: cross 177.8 centimeters high. Date: Fourth quarter of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, left wall behind altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted; crown of thorns and rosary; dressed in white cotton waist cloth.

To the far left stands an important image: the scourged Jesus (Figure 38) prominent in penitente activity as "Our Father Jesus the Nazarene" (Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno). By 1918, Alice Corbin Henderson[66] reports, this same figure appeared in penitente Holy Week processions at Abiquiú. She claims it was made originally for the Mission of Santo Tomás. E. Boyd points out stylistic traits shared by this Abiquiú bulto and the retablo figures in the San José de Chama Chapel at nearby Hernández, which was the work of santero Rafael Aragon, active from 1829 to after 1855.[67] Symbolic of man's physical suffering, the image of the Jesus Nazareno is essential to penitente enactments of the Passion.

Figure 38. Man of Sorrows (Ecce Homo, Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno). Size: 1.60 meters high. Date: Second quarter of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, Rafael Aragon, active 1829-55. Location: East morada, to left of altar. Manufacture: Dressed in red fabric gown, palm clusters and rosaries, leather crown of thorns, horsehair wig, bright border painted on platform.