Know as a Secret Society, this religious group generally resides in remote rural areas away from the railroads, modern influences and prying eyes. Located primarily in Northern New Mexico and southern counties of Colorado, the Penitentes’ origins may have came from the European Flagellants or from the Franciscans that occupied the area long ago.

Their religion focuses around the belief that sin can only be removed from the body through suffering and forgiveness can only be obtained from self-torture. Christian Easter and Holy week are extremely sacred and ceremonially observed with as they reenact the sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus Christ at Mount Calvary.

At the Morada, or meeting house, of Abiquiu, Penitentes assemble inside the long, reddish adobe structure thought to be built around 1890-1910. Just outside the building are three wooden crosses, resembling the three crosses that were on top of Mount Calvary at the time of Christ’s death. Also at Abiquiu is a well worn path where young men, members from the Hermanos Penitentes, climb up a dirt path between rock and sandstone, barefooted and bare chested. One man carries a large wooden cross and a few more men carry whips, reenacting the biblical sequence of events that lead up the crucifixion.