View “A Penitente Holy Week”

Photography by Kitty Leaken
Written by Deborah Busemeyer

Ortega became a Penitente when he was 17, the same year that he met his pottery teacher, simply because it was what his family did. “I liked the prayers,” he said. “There’s something mystical about it that’s not found in Roman Catholicism.”

The Penitentes of Ortega’s chapter spend the day reciting and singing four major prayers that each last an hour to an hour and a half, kneeling and standing throughout it all.

The members rest an hour or so a day until the final Good Friday service, in which 14 candles are lit and extinguished one at a time, after a prayer.

Ortega perceived a blend of Jewish and Native American spirituality in his Penitente practice.

As the ceremonies close, the members sit in total darkness in what Ortega described as “sacred cacophony.” At midnight, one candle is lit to represent Jesus rising from death.

And then they would feast, with help from Ortega’s clay pottery.

Kitty Leaken, a veteran photojournalist, specializes in documenting the arts and cultures of Indigenous Peoples around the world. In 2023, she won 1st Place, Photo Essay, from the National Federation of Press Women for her work on Craftsmanship's story, "Pablita Velarde: The Pueblo Artisans of the Southwest."
Deborah Busemeyer has worked for newspapers in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, always gravitating toward challenging subjects and stories that give a voice to the vulnerable.

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