Throughout the Christian world, From Lourdes to various holy sites around New Mexico, today is a special day. It is Good Friday, a day for Pilgrimage. It is the day that marks the culmination of the observance of Holy Week commemorating the day of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ some 2,000 year ago.
The young daughter of one of my clients told me yesterday, that she would start her 3-hour walk and 16th pilgrimage at 8:00 AM this morning. As I write, she is almost half way to El Santuario de Chimayo. In her sixteen years of pilgrimage, she missed one year because, new in her job, she could not get time off. She made up by doing the journey the following day. She told me that in her family, Good Friday is of even greater significance than Easter. The celebratory meal comes on returning home after the visit to the tiny chapel at the back of the Snatuario.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, as I write, pilgrims are on their way or are already returning from a sunrise visit to Tome Hill near Los Lunas, about 25 miles south of Albuquerque. The pilgrims, some on their knees on the rocky slope, will be up and down the Hill all day today. To the north of Albuquerque, Carmelina and thousands of pilgrims from near and far, young and old, are converging on Chimayo, about 15 miles north of Santa Fe.
New Mexico is a destination for pilgrims. People, not only Christians, come to the state from all parts of the world on all kinds of pilgrimages. Bike riders and runners come to practice in the Sandia Mountains. Artists come to be inspired by and pay homage to places that were the inspiration of Georgia O'Keeffe and others artists. Good Friday draws Christians and other worshippers.
Sacred spaces all around Albuquerque and the rest of the state don't have to be pointed out, natives, residents and tourists alike, will tell you. People say that they feel tand are drawn to them. Albuquerque residents say that living in the city with its views of the Sandia Mountains is spiritual, if not sacred. The Rio Grande river snaking its way through the desert is spiritual and so is the Petroglyph Monument. Less than an day's drive will take you to many other sacred and spiritual sites that include Acoma, Chaco Canyon and other Native American pueblos
Eloise Gift
Gift Realty NM , Albuquerque New Mexico
http://www.eloisegift.com/
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