Jessica Rinaldi

Pilgrimage to Chimayo

Every year during Easter weekend thousands of visitors make a pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico. Some drive, while others come on foot from as far away as Colorado and Mexico walking along the sides of Interstate Highways to reach the small chapel where they believe the dirt inside holds the power to heal.

Marisoe and Anamaria Medina play inside their father's truck as he works to set up a stand from which he will sell food and water to pilgrims near the entrance to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 5, 2007.
  
Melicio Fresquez, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, performs a pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 6, 2007.
   
Women stop to pray at a cross during a pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 7, 2007.
     
  
A man holds a religious painting outside of El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 7, 2007.
  
Photographs and baby shoes left behind by visitors are displayed on a shelf inside a shrine at El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 8, 2007.
   
Aztec dancers from Taos, New Mexico perform in front of the entrance to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 7, 2007.
     
  
Men touch the holy dirt at El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 8, 2007
   
Father Julio Gonzalez leads the Easter Mass at El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 8, 2007.
   
Marianita Davey prays outside El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 8, 2007.
     
  
Pilgrims carry crosses along the side of the high road that leads to El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico April 8, 2007.