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Chimayó

25 images Created 29 Jan 2016

A collection of images from two decades of photography at the Santuário de Chimayó in New Mexico, to where tens of thousands of pilgrims march each Easter week.
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  • Frabces Chavez sweeps the Santuario de Chimayó, in Chimayó, N.M. the morning of Holy Thursday. The annual Good Friday pilgrimage to the church, built in 1815, attracts ten thousand pilgrims.
    ChimayoFrances.jpg
  • Chris Armijo started carrying his cross from the Santa Fe Opera complex at 4 a.m. Armijo said he carried the cross on the 25-mile journey for Jesus.
    ChimayoPilgrim.jpg
  • Father Casimiro Roca blesses the grandson of a pilgrim among the Good Friday crowd. The 71-year-old priest stands guard near the front of the church through most of the week-long pilgrimage to bless visitors and answer questions. He doesn't accept the legends of Chimayó as literally true. Instead Father Roca maintains great respect for the power of faith. "I don't believe in dirt. I believe in people."
    ChimayoRoca.jpg
  • On Good Friday over 10,000 people may walk, run or drive up to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico.  The wait to get into the church is long.  Pilgrims often must stand in line for up to two hours just to get to the doors of the church, and another two to get through all of the small, hot, candle-lit rooms.
    ChimayoLineBW.jpg
  • Gary Duran, a lifelong Chimayó resident, had the image of the Santuario tattooed on his back to show pride in his home. The church, built in 1813 by a member of the Penitente brotherhood, is an icon of local culture.
    ChimayoTatttoo.jpg
  • Robert Sanchez rings the circulation back into his hands after walking a long, cold 12 miles from Pojoaque while on a 24-hour fast.  The Santuario de Chimayó stands behind him.
    ChimayoHands.jpg
  • A Holy week crowd makes its way to the front of the 175-year-old church to look at the legendary crucifix alleged to have appeared in a hole of healing mud. The stream of the faithful then works its way into two side rooms containing the “posito” of mud and Santo Niño, a child saint popular in the area.
    ChimayoInterior.jpg
  • Larry and Patsy Leyba pray silently at the altar of the Santuario. Although the legendary mud and Santo Niño attract most of the visitors, many come simply to pray in the beautiful old chapel. Throughout the year the church glows with votive candles like those behind them.
    ChimayoLeybas.jpg
  • Candy Cata, a resident of San Juan Pueblo, reaches into the saint-surrounded posito for a sample of the legendary mud of Chimayó. People of all classes and races will come to take a little bit of the earth for traditional reasons or as a souvenir of their visit. Cata had brought a group of senior citizens from her pueblo for an annual Holy Week visit.
    ChimayoPosito.jpg
  • Danny Tinoco answers a question for his son Angelo while they pray together at the altar of the Santo Niño in the sacristia. Behind the statue of the baby saint is an impressive testimonial—over 30 crutches and canes, as well as written accounts of the power of the place, the mud and the Santo Niño.<br />
<br />
Legend maintains that a small child appeared to prisoners in Atocha, Spain during the Moorish occupation and fed several hundred with a few loaves of bread, and a jug of water. The saint is reputed to leave his niche at night to help the faithful, thus wearing out his shoes. Those wishing help from the baby saint often leave new baby shoes as a show of devotion, and at the Santuario de Chimayó, one can find a large pile of shoes below the statue on a good day.
    ChimayoNino.jpg
  • Over 200 crutches left by people who attribute their regained health to the Santuario are piled in the attic of the church. Caretaker George Chavez said there is no room for them anywhere else.
    ChimayoAttic.jpg
  • "Too much work," grunts the 80-year-old Chavez as he scrapes wax from the candle holders around the church. George Chavez died two months after the 1989 Easter holiday on one of his daily trips to clean the church built by his family. Father Roca, upset at the loss of his closest friend, doubted his ability to find a person willing to work in the chapel seven days a week for very little money.
    ChimayoGeorge.jpg
  • Three-month-old Savannah Martinez rests in the arms of grandfather Dennis Chavez Fridays, as pilgrims to the Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico file through the doors of the 185-year-old adobe church. The annual Holy Week pilgrimage can draw up to 10,000 penitents on Good Friday alone.
    Chimayo7.jpg
  • Pilgrim Charles A. Chavez pauses below a roadside cross to pray on his way to the Santuário de Chimayó church, Friday, April 18, 2003. An estimated 10,000 pilgrims walked to the 190-year-old church at Chimayó in honor of Good Friday, a Christian holiday to remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Locals say the earth found in a small room in the back of the church holds miraculous healing powers. Pilgrims have come to the church at Easter for more than 100 years, often traveling the nearly 30 miles from Santa Fe on foot.
    Good_Friday_03.jpg
  • Hundreds of pilgrims hike a desert highway in New Mexico to the Santuário de Chimayó church, Friday, April 18, 2003. Locals say the earth found in a small room in the back of the church holds miraculous healing powers. An estimated 10,000 pilgrims walked to the 190-year-old church at Chimayó in honor of Good Friday, a Christian holiday to remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Pilgrims have come to the church at Easter for more than 100 years, often traveling the nearly 30 miles from Santa Fe on foot. Legend states that while praying on a hillside in Chimayó in 1812, the crucifix on the altar miraculously appeared in a hole in the ground before Bernardo Abeyta, the builder of the church. The hole in the side room of the church, where pilgrims and the faithful gather the dirt is alleged to be the hole where the crucifix was discovered.
    Good_Friday_06.jpg
  • Stella Garcia, 67, of Edgewood, N.M., carries a Virgen de Guadalupe statue wrapped in an American flag enroute to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.<br />
<br />
28 Garcia Loop<br />
Edgewood, NM 87015 (check zip)
    Chimayo-05_04.jpg
  • Pilgrims pray before the altar of the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_13.jpg
  • Stella Garcia, 67, of Edgewood, N.M., carries a Virgen de Guadalupe statue wrapped in an American flag enroute to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.<br />
<br />
28 Garcia Loop<br />
Edgewood, NM 87015 (check zip)
    Chimayo-05_03.jpg
  • A cross-carrying pilgrim stops to buy a Virgen de Guadalupe rosary enroute to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_08.jpg
  • Fred Garcia, 68, of Albuquerque, N.M., stops for water at the van of a family member enroute to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there. Garcia has been carrying the same cross for 25 years.<br />
<br />
111 Pequeña Rd.<br />
Albuquerque, NM 87107
    Chimayo-05_01.jpg
  • Fred Garcia, 68, of Albuquerque, N.M., carries a cross to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there. Garcia has been carrying the same cross for 25 years.<br />
<br />
111 Pequeña Rd.<br />
Albuquerque, NM 87107
    Chimayo-05_18.jpg
  • Larry Corona and nephew Patrick Garcia, 12, carry crosses to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_15.jpg
  • Pilgrims light votive candles inside the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_05.jpg
  • Felicia Quintana crouches behind a grotto before her appearance as an angel in a passion play at the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_09.jpg
  • Larry Corona, of Belen, N.M., carries a cross to the Santuário de Chimayó in northern New Mexico on Good Friday. Thousands of pilgrims make a pilgrimage to the 190-year-old shrine every Easter as an expression of faith, a connection to old Hispanic roots and in hopes of the miracles reputed to occur there.
    Chimayo-05_14.jpg