Show ana fire ap 81 louis le order of penitentes midell is nat an order but a brotherhood dates its origin far back in the thirteenth or pe rh a 3 a twelfth century every rpt apt mein be do penance once a year tile methias an infinite besides the minor penances are those that have been the most widely noticed its performed on every it in holy week and especially on g y friday these are bathing in fire hook swinging carrying carr ving tile cross using tile rge and walking or creeping on cactus th firtos firt of these the fire bath I 1 have seen among pueblos but not among mexicans who deny that it forms any part of their penances and claim that all uses of fire in penances pon ances or sacrifices are remains of aztec cus tonis which crept into some during what might be called ilia lark days of the church in mexico this or fice way be briefly d mance ascribed scribed bed A hole is d in the ground in the center of an oia space and filled with alye coals the per former approaches ith his bands full of what appears to be meal mixed as I 1 think with nitrate of potash this be throws the fire and as the flame aprin sprin up he plunges ids hand and arms itt 0 tile coals and goes through the motion of washing them he then treads on tile fire with his bare feet they do plunge ilia hands or feet into the water before and after the bath as Ilin doos do in their sacrifice called Ival king iq fire hook swinging I 1 mention to ay that the most careful inquiry has failed to verify statements made that this penance is ever among the it was very common in india a few years ago but I 1 find no authority for clawing it with the pent inces of the penitentes the cactus is well adapted 0 self inflicted torture and it is not our that it was chosen for that purpose the needles have tile pomer of straight ahead and once t the y continue their journey indefinitely making their presence known by a horrible burning cutting tearing son bation which last until the cause has been entirely dissolved or edeli ed A carefully observant physician ho I 1 practiced among the 0 r jears his seen a case of oma following a severe 9 11 1 at 0 n t the cactus which he I 1 U r W caused by cactus needles penetrating the lungs but little is for penance and t t little bereni easa or a observed fit the performance if lae penitent Is to walk barefooted on cac the road from tile house to tile cross is thickly str evvia with the 13 kind of cactus after biryer the ident with bare hands and legs carry ing a heavy cross commences to era 1 I over the path thus covered his walking b his side on re flutes aril singing songs for his ell ile occasionally pros t rt himself c lose to tile ground and lies flat upon his face and 80 continues from the house to the cross and re ammil if the penitent Is to buffer biag a 11 a tion by himself or with ilia help of fits friends lie is stripped to tile waist and bearing the crow sets out from the house lashing himself avith along stem of cactus sometimes the cross is lashed to his back so t hat Y a can ply the fi with both hands ilis friends walk by his side singing and aa ying the it a and sometimes tak a hand in the flogging 0 r I tw 1 ce he falls to the ground andrall and call a prostrate in y rayer for a few mo men esthe cast gatio ubel kept up by nf the friends arriving at t is cross he prostrated prostrates pro strates himself a short time and tha return to the house is the same as mhd journey to the cross at the house he falls prostrate often unconscious from exhaustion or the state of ec stac y which lie has wrought himself afis back is a mass of bruised bgern ail ring his whole bwy ll 11 U in s cold clam 8 w death Is said to frequent y 1 ir t though I 1 have not been able to mm any one who could say he hold wh a I 1 I 1 I 1 A |