Un dia con los penitentes

As you all know, Ashley and I are doing a project on the penitentes for class. Some of the topics we are interested in are Spanish/English language use, language maintenance, and identity. So we went up to Abiquiu on Good Friday to spend the day with them, and man, what an experience! I think anyone who has heard about the penitentes probably has some pretty negative thoughts about them. I did growing up in Albuquerque, but only because we only heard the stories about them flogging themselves and acting out the crucifixion. Well, they don't do that anymore, at least not in public. In any case, they represent so much more than those negative depictions. They are devout Catholics maintaining traditions and language that have been in northern New Mexico for hundreds of years, and it was so neat to observe them and talk with them. A few of them whom we talked to are very educated on the subjects of identity and culture. After having a discussion about these issues with them, I asked one of them what he identified as, and he said, "I'm a Spanish American Mexican." We thought that was pretty humorous! Anyway, we spent about 10 hours there and it was hard, mentally and physically. I can only imagine what it's like for them after staying up for 72 hours straight - talk about discipline! We'll talk more in detail about what we experienced during the project presentations, but I just thought I'd share that it was a really neat experience. The best part is that I am more educated on them and I don't have a negative perception of them anymore. Isn't that what education is all about?? Even though I may not fully understand their devotion, I can definitely admire their desire to keep tradition and language alive.