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Each year,
tens of thousands of visitors come to the this historic
Santuario, or chapel, in the village of Chimayo a few
miles east of Espanola. The historic chapel is known as the
“Lourdes of America,” since it is believed by many
people to have healing powers. For generations, the
surrounding grasslands and low rolling hills were used
as portrero, or pasture.
The
Dust That Heals - "The Lourdes of
America"
A brief history of Chimayó
Shortly
after the Pueblo Revolt,1680-1692, several groups of
Spanish colonists settled in the northwestern section of
the fertile Chimayó Valley. The colonists were hard
working, independent farmers and artisans whose
occupations included weaving, day labor and stock
raising. They came to the area in hopes of receiving the
title hidalgo (nobleman) if they stayed. Frequently they
were granted land, building lots, subsidies and farming
implements for their new life of hardship on the
frontier.
The Plaza
of San Burenaventura, now called the Plaza del Cerro was
built around 1740. It is the last surviving Spanish
fortified plaza in the southwest. It consists of a
square of contiguous adobe buildings with only two
entrances. A torreon, or defensive watch tower, stands
on the south side, while a small chapel sits on the
western side. The acequia madre, or main irrigation
ditch, the heartbeat of every northern New Mexico rural
area, runs through the plaza.
Somewhere
around 1810, a Chimayó friar was performing penances
when he saw a light bursting from a hillside. Digging,
he found a crucifix, quickly dubbed the miraculous
crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas. A local priest
brought the crucifix to Santa Cruz, but three times it
disappeared and was later found back in its hole. By the
third time, everyone understood that El Senor de
Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayó, and so a small
chapel was built on the site. Then the miraculous
healings began. These grew so numerous that the chapel
had to be replaced by the larger, current Chimayó
Shrine -- an adobe mission -- in 1816.
Believed
to be built on sacred earth with miraculous healing
powers, the legendary shrine El Santuario de Chimayó,
is probably the most visited church in New Mexico. The
crucifix which began the original shrine still resides
on the chapel alter, but for some reason its curative
powers have been overshadowed by El Posito, the
"sacred sand pit" from which it sprang. Each
year during Holy Week thousands of people make a
pilgrimage to Chimayó to visit the Santuario and take
away a bit of the sacred dirt. Pilgrims walk a few yards
or a hundred miles. Many claim to have been cured there
of diseases, infirmities and unhappiness. The walls of
the sacristy are hung with discarded crutches and
before-and-after photographs as evidence of the healing.
Weaving
has always been important at Chimayó and in around 1900
commercial looms and yarns began to be used by the local
weavers. The Chimayó area is known today for
high-quality woven goods.
The Shrine of Our Lord of Esquipulas
El Santuario De Nuestro Senor De
Esquipulas [in/near Chimayo, NM], at the southeast end of
town. Legend maintains that a farmer, instructed by a
vision to dig beneath his plow for earth endowed with
healing powers, uncovered a cross and piece of cloth
belonging to two priests martyred on the spot. The
farmer placed the cross within a crude adobe chapel he
built in 1816. Many pilgrims come to partake of the
supposedly curative earth found in a pit inside the
chapel, which is lined with cast-off crutches and
braces. Daily 9-5. Free.
Located at the South-East end of Chimayo.
For information call: (505) 351-4889
A
strange view of El Santuario
Not everyone view
Chimayo the same way, in fact some view are out of this
world!
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