Among the Hispanos, local Franciscans promoted this cult of St. John as a prognosticator and as a respecter of secrecy.[73] Due in part to this promotion, San Juan Nepomuceno became a favorite of New Mexican penitentes. E. Boyd suggests that the image of St. John (Figure 44) may have first represented St. Francis or St. Joseph. She also notes a stylistically similar bulto of St. Joseph in Colorado Springs, manufactured not long after 1825.[74]

Oratory in South Morada.—Turning to the south morada chapel, we find numerous parallels to the earlier east morada in santo identities and in religious artifacts. (Figure 10 presents a previously unphotographed view of this active penitente chapel with its fully equipped altar.) The walls of the west chamber of the south morada are lined with benches over which hang religious prints in frames of commercial plaster and local tin work (Figure 45).

The tin frame for a lithograph of St. Peter reveals repoussé designs found on east morada frames (Figure 30, center). Other examples of local tinwork are seen in Figure 46. On the right is a cross of punched tinwork with pomegranate ends and corner fillers that reflect Moorish characteristics in Spanish arts known as mudéjar. The frame dates from after 1850, as indicated by glass panes painted with floral patterns suggesting Victorian wallpaper. To the left is a niche made of six glass panels painted with wavy lines and an early 19th-century woodcut of the Holy Child of Atocha. Here again, twisted half-columns repeat a motif seen on a tin frame in the east morada chapel. In front of the draped entry to the south morada sanctuary stand two candelabra, one of which is shown in the doorway to the oratory (Figure 47) with tin reflectors and hand-carved sockets.[75] There are also vigil light boxes, kerosene lanterns with varnished tin shades, commercial religious images and ornaments that are similar to items in the east morada sanctuary.

Embroidered textiles portray the Last Supper, and a chapter banner, made up for the brotherhood after 1925, shows the Crucifixion in oil colors. This banner bears the words "Fraternidad Piadosa D[e] N[uestro] P[adre] J[esus] D[e] Nazareno, Sección No. 12, Abiquiú, New Mexico." The title fraternidad is that assumed by penitente chapters that incorporated in New Mexico around 1930, although the term cofradía often appears in transfers of private land to penitente organizations.[76] A second banner, this one on the left, reads "Sociedad de la Sagrada Familia," which is a Catholic women's organization that often supports penitente groups.

In the oratory of the south morada, locally made images merit special notice. Two carved images flank the entry to the south morada sanctuary. The bulto on the right, St. Francis of Assisi (Figure 48), has a special significance. As we noted in the east morada, many Spanish settlers in New Mexico honored San Francisco as the founder of the Franciscans, the order whose missionaries long had served the region. The second bulto (Figure 49) reveals clues that it originally had been a representation of the Immaculate Conception (Inmaculata Concepción). In Abiquiú, however, this figure is called la mujer de San Juan ("the woman of St. John"), a phrase that indicates the major role Mary holds for the penitentes. With this image they refer to the moment in the Crucifixion when Jesus committed the care of His mother to St. John. As introductions to the south morada chancel, St. Francis and the Marian image are excellent specimens of pre-1850 santero craftsmanship.

Two more images of Mary occur on the altar of the south morada sanctuary. The first (Figure 50) takes its proper ecclesiastic position on the Gospel side, to the viewer's left of the crucifix. The second "Marian" image (Figure 51) is less orthodox. Not only does this bulto stand on the Epistle side of the crucifix but, like the Marian advocation cited above as la mujer de San Juan, this figure's identity has been changed to suit local taste. Penitentes at Abiquiú refer to the image as Santa Rosa, the traditional patroness of the area following its first settlement by Spaniards.

Between these Marian images there are two large bultos that are examples of the work of the "Abiquiú morada santero" suggested earlier. Both are figures of Jesus. The first, a Cristo (Figure 52), is the central crucifix on the altar. As in the east morada, the focal image is accompanied by an angelito, this time with tin wings.[77] To the right stands the other image of Jesus, the Nazarene, Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (Figure 53). Along with the nearby crucifix (Figure 52) and the figure of St. John the Evangelist (Figure 42) in the east morada, this representation of the scourged Jesus reflects the style of the "Abiquiú morada santero." This Nazarene bulto embodies the penitente concept of Jesus as a Man of suffering Who must be followed.

The special character of the penitente brotherhood is demonstrated also in the last two bultos on the south morada altar. The prominent size and position of St. John of Nepomuk (Figure 54) on the altar indicate again the importance given by the penitentes to San Juan as a keeper of secrets. The other figure is the south morada's personification of death (Figure 55), la muerte, here even more gaunt than the image in the east morada. Probably made after 1900, this figure demonstrates the persistent artistic and religious heritage of Hispano culture.

Summary

The two Abiquiú moradas are clearly parallel in their architectural design (including the constricted chancels), in their artifacts—especially bulto identities such as Jesus (Cristo, Nazareno, Ecce Homo, Santo Niño de Atocha), Mary (Dolores, Immaculata Concepción, Soledad, Guadalupe), Saint John of Nepomuk, Saint Peter, and death—and lastly, in the ceremonies held in the buildings, which link rather than separate the penitente movement and the common social values of Hispano culture.

Edmonson uses six institutional values to define Hispano culture.[78] All six can be found in the penitente brotherhood. "Paternalism" is found in the relation of the members-at-large to the officers and of all the penitente brothers to Nuestro Padre Jesus, "Our Father Jesus." "Familism" is reflected in the structure of the penitente organization and especially in the extension of its social benefits to the entire community. "Dramatism" is an essential ingredient of penitente ceremonies such as the tinieblas. "Personalism" is revealed in the immediate and individual participation of all members in penitente activities. "Fatalism" is the focus of Holy Week and of funerals and is personified by the muerte figure in each morada.

Finally, Edmonson cited "traditionalism" as definitive of Hispano culture, a characteristic that is clearly evident in the penitente forms of shelter, ceremonies, and artifacts. These commonplace objects and activities had been established at Abiquiú before and during the period of morada building and furnishing. Literary and pictorial documents presented in this study of Abiquiú and the penitente moradas reveal that their physical structure, furnishings, membership, and the brotherhood itself are related intimately to, and drawn from, the traditional and persistent Hispanic culture of New Mexico.