New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churches

Name: New Mexicans fight to save old adobe churches
Uploaded: 29 Apr 2023, 11:37:51 PM
Duration: 01:35
Channel: TIMESOFINDIA.COM

2 views | Apr 29, 2023, 11:37:51 PM | AP

400 years ago missionaries started building churches out of mud in tiny mountain communities in New Mexico. And because they were thousands of miles from religious and lay seats of power villagers instituted lay church caretakers called “mayordomos,” and filled chapels with elaborate altarpieces made of local wood and varnished with pine sap. Today, these uniquely New Mexican adobe churches are being threatened by depopulation, dwindling congregations and fading traditions. "So we're in the process of reconstructing a building here that was built originally in 1780, and it's coming back to life this year," said Jack Barrow, a program director at Cornerstones, a nonprofit that works with communities to restore historic adobe, stone and log buildings. "And so we're getting ready tomorrow to have volunteers make adobe bricks."