T
he Santuario de Chimayó is located in a hidden little verdant
valley next to a small but at times quite rushing stream near
the Sangre de Christo mountains on the high road to Taos
about 25 miles north of Santa Fe. The adobe church was built here
around 1816—on the exact site where Bernardo Abeyta uncovered
a wooden painted cross depicting the Christ of Esquipulas—and is
known famously for the holy dirt that is shoveled scoop by scoop out
of a far back room of the church, steps away from the hand-painted
altar piece and Santeros and even closer to the rows and rows of
metal crutches that have been left behind by those healed from the
dirt’s restorative powers. The dirt is cold and soft, soothing to the
touch, silky to the point of almost being powdery. I have not worked
the land nor toiled in fields or tilled and farmed any soil, but I’ve
touched my fair share of dirt in this world and if anything were to
be holy, this is it.
“Visitors carry away the holy dirt in Ziplock bags, grocery bags,
paper cups, water bottles, little plastic containers sold in the gift
shops, and whatever else they might have at hand,” writes Frank
Graziano, in his book titled Historic Churches of New Mexico Today,
recently published by Oxford University Press.
The dirt is holy. The earth is holy. This santuario was made literally
right from of the ground that it still stands upon, over 200 years ago.
Sacred dirt. Sacred sites. Sacred earth.
In his book, Graziano speaks with one local who explains it by
saying, “It’s our earth, for one, and every town has their blood, sweat,
and tears on their soil...”
And today these churches, found in villages and towns with
names like Truchas, Las Trampas, Cordova, Placitas, Talpa, Tome,CATHEDRALS
of the
EARTH
Author Frank Graziano recently
launched New Mexico Profundo in an
effort to save the state’s historic
adobe churches.
BY JOSHUA ROSE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANK GRAZIANOSantuario de Chimayó.