{"id":12156,"date":"2016-06-23T06:19:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T12:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?p=12156"},"modified":"2016-06-23T06:19:39","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T12:19:39","slug":"the-holy-dirt-of-chimayo-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2016\/06\/23\/the-holy-dirt-of-chimayo-new-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Dirt of Chimayo, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Chimayo, New Mexico, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in North America. (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Today we journey to one of the most visited\u00a0holy sites in America:\u00a0\u00a0Chimayo<\/a>, a little\u00a0adobe church in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains in northern New Mexico. This religious sanctuary has an importance far in excess of\u00a0its small size.<\/p>\n

Chimayo\u2014its full name is El\u00a0Santuario de Chimayo<\/em>\u2013is sometimes called the Lourdes of North America. Like that\u00a0famous\u00a0shrine in France, it attracts those who are seeking healing of\u00a0body, mind, or spirit. I\u2019ve been to both Chimayo and Lourdes, and I must say I prefer the simplicity and peace of\u00a0Chimayo. It is indeed a place for\u00a0renewal and healing.<\/p>\n

Long before the Spaniards arrived in this region, this spot was considered a healing sanctuary\u00a0by the Pueblo Indians who lived in the area. Healing spirits were thought to inhabit the hot springs in the area.<\/p>\n

Chimayo\u2019s\u00a0fame spread to the larger world\u00a0around the year 1810, when a local friar saw a light springing from one of the hills near the Santa Cruz River. After following it to its source, he found in the earth a crucifix bearing a dark-skinned Jesus. The local villagers paid homage to the relic and then took it to a church in nearby Santa Cruz. Mysteriously, during the night the crucifix returned to its original location. After this happened two more times, the locals built a small chapel to house the crucifix in Chimayo.<\/p>\n

Through the years, the story of the crucifix became intertwined with earlier\u00a0indigenous beliefs. While the\u00a0hot springs had dried up, the earth they left behind was said to have healing properties.<\/p>\n

This blending of traditions across time and cultures\u00a0is common in many holy sites. Druid shrines\u00a0became\u00a0 churches; altars to goddesses were re-dedicated\u00a0to the Virgin Mary. I think\u00a0the Spirit is not overly concerned with externals. What\u2019s important is that pilgrims come to these places with open hearts.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people make their way to Chimayo\u00a0each year, coming from places around the world. Holy Week is a particularly popular time to make a pilgrimage, with many people making the journey on foot\u00a0from Santa Fe. The tradition was started after World War II by survivors of the Bataan Death March, who walked\u00a0to the church in gratitude for their deliverance.<\/p>\n

I first visited Chimayo fifteen years ago. When I returned there this past spring, I was struck by how much the infrastructure around the church has\u00a0grown. There are now gardens, a walkway next to the river, a visitor center, and\u00a0outdoor spaces where groups can celebrate mass.<\/p>\n

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A walkway lines the river bank at Chimayo. (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One indication of the growing international reputation\u00a0of this holy site\u00a0is that it includes a shrine dedicated to a Vietnamese manifestation of the Virgin Mary.\u00a0In 1798, a group of Catholics fleeing religious persecution hid in\u00a0the forest of La Vang in Vietnam. While praying the rosary under a banyan tree, they saw a beautiful lady with an infant in her arms. She spoke words of comfort to them, promised to be with them, and directed them to gather leaves from nearby bushes to make a drink that would heal their illnesses.\u00a0Mary appeared in the forest a number of times after this\u00a0initial apparition, and La Vang became a famous holy site.\u00a0A statue of Our Lady of La Vang\u00a0 was erected at Chimayo in 2011 and attracts many pilgrims of\u00a0Vietnamese and Filipino\u00a0descent.<\/p>\n

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Our Lady of La Vang statue at Chimayo (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bob and I arrived\u00a0at Chimayo\u00a0on a Sunday morning, and when we entered the church I was relieved to see that while the exterior grounds have changed, the church itself has not. As I remembered, its interior mixes Spanish and Indian iconography, with colorful Hispanic folk art on its altar. It\u2019s a cozy, intimate worship\u00a0space.<\/p>\n

During mass, the\u00a0priest gave a wonderful\u00a0homily, full of good humor and humanity. Every pew in the little church was filled. Many of the people seemed to be locals, but there were also people from other countries.<\/p>\n

After the service, some of us went to a\u00a0side chapel to the left of the altar. This area contains\u00a0El Pocito<\/em>, a small pit of dirt located in the place where\u00a0Don Bernardo Abeyta found the crucifix in 1810. The soil is still said to have\u00a0miraculous properties.<\/p>\n

One by one, people knelt to put a small amount of\u00a0dirt in\u00a0containers they\u2019d brought with them or purchased in the gift shop. On our way out, we walked\u00a0through a room whose walls are covered\u00a0with\u00a0discarded crutches, photographs, and other tokens left by\u00a0those who have received cures here.<\/p>\n

As at many shrines, I would guess that most of the healing that happens at Chimayo is emotional or\u00a0spiritual, with people leaving with lighter hearts than they arrived. But I have little\u00a0doubt that physical cures have happened here as well.<\/p>\n

As for me, I know that my\u00a0own spirit was soothed and blessed\u00a0at Chimayo, this small church bordered by a flowing stream, filled with tokens left by the faithful, and steeped in\u00a0centuries of prayer.<\/p>\n

For more information see Santuario de Chimayo\/Holy Chimayo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Offerings left at the base of a statue to the Virgin Mary at Chimayo. (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Known as the Lourdes of North America, Chimayo, New Mexico, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":12162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,60],"tags":[930,932,931,933],"class_list":["post-12156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desert-spirituality","category-healing","tag-chimayo","tag-healing-shrines","tag-lourdes-of-north-america","tag-new-mexico-holy-places"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Holy Dirt of Chimayo, New Mexico<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Known as the Lourdes of North America, Chimayo, New Mexico, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the U.S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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