The Land of Enchantment

State Flag

The license plates in New Mexico proclaim "The Land of Enchantment."  Enchantment can be delightful and attractive or to cast a spell over.  I think both definitions apply to my experience there.  The nature and the beauty of the landscape was delightful and attractive but I also felt it was a spiritual place.  When we toured the museum of pueblo Indian art, much of the spirituality of the art was explained for us.  We toured one room with paintings and sculptures of only one gruesome topic - the crucifixion.  Each  of the 17 tribes of pueblo Indians had a different painting and/or sculpture of the crucifixion.  I found it really strange that every piece of art in that room had the same difference from other depictions I have ever seen before - bloody knees.  In every painting and every sculpture done by the pueblo Indians, Jesus had the skin torn off his knees.  Why would every tribe show the same difference?  I understand that the pueblo Indians were exposed to Christianity by the Spanish in the 1700's.  They incorporated the Christian beliefs into their own spiritual practices. Maybe the Spanish people in the 1700's showed the tribes art that included bloody knees on the crucifixion?  I don't know much about religious art but I couldn't get over the difference.  The crucifixion is gruesome even without the knee damage and after seeing that many pieces of art of the same subject, I had to get out of that room.