Blog Archives
The Pilgrim
Someone approaching the church, perhaps to worship, perhaps to seek healing from the holy dirt that’s in a small room off the main chapel.
I saw two women and a small boy putting small amounts of the dirt into plastic bags they’d brought with them; they were using an orange scoop and speaking softly, with reverence; I felt like (and in fact, was) an intruder and didn’t stay. A brochure in a rack beside the dirt warned visitors to neither eat the dirt nor steep and drink it.
El Santuario de Chimayó
Chimayó, New Mexico
photographed 12.25.2015
Also – those bags on the wall are similar to the farolitos in Santa Fe, only these are plastic bags with electric lights inside.
Gate
A side view of this church. It looks as though that adobe wall will be due for some work come spring.
The day I was there, spring seemed like a long way off.
San José de la Gracia church
Las Trampas, New Mexico
photographed 12.25.2015
Night Church
There were a lot of reasons to get away for Christmas this year. We went to Santa Fe, because it seemed like the place we needed to be, and stayed in a hotel that’s across the street from the Cathedral. From our room, we could hear the church bells chime the quarter-hour and, on Christmas Eve, a jubilant 20 minutes of ringing after Mass ended. Somehow, maybe the bells infused into our heads: without even planning to, we walked across the street on Christmas morning and went to Mass. It seemed…right.
And on Christmas night, I took my tripod to the hotel parking garage and made a few images of the night church.
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
Santa Fe, New Mexico
photographed 12.25.2015
Mud + Straw
This is one of the oldest churches in northern New Mexico; the marker in front says it was founded in 1751 and that the building was built over a sixteen year period, beginning in 1760. The adobe walls are remudded periodically, and some of them are (again, according to the sign) as much as six feet thick.
The low wall around the churchyard is also adobe, a mixture of mud and straw. When you see it up close, it is sort of amazing that the church has lasted as long as it has.
San José de la Gracia church
Las Trampas, New Mexico
photographed 12.25.2015
In my mind
In my mind, this is how all of New Mexico looks – soft brown adobe wall, turquoise fence, white window frame.
My mind is very confused, but you probably knew that already…
along Canyon Road
Santa Fe, New Mexico
photographed 12.25.2015
One Day | One Image 