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New Mexicans continue generations of family tradition with pilgrimages up Tomé Hill

Phillip Armijo prays at the top of Tomé Hill during Good Friday pilgrimage.

People reach the top of Tomé Hill at sunrise during a Good Friday pilgrimage to the site in Valencia County.

Braxton Sekakuku prays at the top of Tomé Hill.

Jeremy Cabral, 16, carries a cross to the top of Tomé Hill during Good Friday pilgrimage. Cabral and his father, Sal Cabral, both carried crosses up the hill.

Renee Montoya places a photograph of her father, Seferino Saiz, on the shrine at the top of Tomé Hill with her son Estevan Sanchez, 10, left.

Rosaries blessed by the priest at the Tomé church are handed out to people at the top of Tomé Hill on Good Friday. The brothers handing out the rosaries, Ruben Chavez and Steve Chavez, have been doing so for 30 years.

Mariah Morris hugs her mother, Andrea Gonzales, at the top of Tomé Hill. Morris made the trek barefoot.

Monica Ortega, 39, sits at the top of Tomé Hill during Good Friday pilgrimage in Tomé. Ortega had a stroke in 2016 and now has a pacemaker.

Cathy Cook Cathy Cook Cathy Cook Staff Writer

Published March 29, 2024 - 11:00 p.m. Modified May 4, 2025 - 2:00 a.m.

TOMÉ — A hazy moon lit the arduous path up Tomé Hill on Friday morning. A rooster crowed and a plane buzzed overhead. At 6 a.m., a few walkers making Good Friday pilgrimages could already be seen climbing the rocky path up the hillside, their bobbing flashlights visible from below.

At the crest, a trio of crosses rise, two red like the rocks underfoot and a central white cross bearing Jesus’ name. A wooden board is nailed to the front of one of the crosses. As the sun rises and pink tendrils creep into the sky, the stations of the cross — a series of prayers that follow Jesus’ path from condemnation to being buried — are legible on the wooden board.

As the light came, more walkers trickled to the top. A woman prayed with her daughter as they neared the top of the hill, a rosary in her hand. An old man removed his hat to pray.

Some were on the hill with prayers for healing and gratitude. Monica Ortega had a stroke in 2016 and has a pacemaker, but the 39-year-old has been coming to Tomé Hill for the last few y ears. The journey relaxes her, she said.

“At first, I couldn’t do it, because I was just surviving. ... It takes time for me to go up, but I get it done. It helps me realize that I’ve gone through so much and I’ve already gone this far,” Ortega said.

After two knee replacements last year, Wendy Rubidoux journeyed with her best friend of 40 years, Melissa Martinez, to give thanks for her knees being healed.

“When we got up here, it just felt like this overwhelming peace,” said Martinez.

The pair also wanted to remember loved ones who have died recently and offer prayers for family and friends who are going through cancer treatments. They made the climb for the first time this year, and they plan next year to make a pilgrimage to Santuario de Chimayó in northern New Mexico.

“Next year, I’ll be prepared with my new knees, and I’ll do the walk to Santuario with Melissa,” Rubidoux said.

Some of the healing was less visible.

Mariah Morris and her cousin Beau Beauchamp grew emotional at the shrine in front of the crosses. They climbed the hill barefoot with a handful of roses that they offered to fellow walkers. Morris said they left later than planned because she had some apprehension about starting the walk.

“It shows maybe there’s some stuff inside that I didn’t want to address — a lot of anxiety, depression, things of that nature, just the weight of the world is kind of heavy,” Morris said. “It’s nice to just release and let the pain focus on something else and let the mind just do what it needs to do. And I feel like that release happened today.”

One of the walkers they passed along the way offered Morris a blessing.

“It just feels really good to have community and to be reconnected. Even if you can’t see the people that you come with, there’s people around you that will still help you get there,” Morris said.

As the morning wore on, a trio of hot air balloons rose in the distance. The path grew crowded, and the mood became more festive. A man in a straw hat played a keyboard and sang hymns. A woman offered walkers communion: bread and grape juice that she said had been blessed.

Phillip Armijo came to offer a prayer of gratitude that his daughter does not have cancer. Armijo is one of many who have been coming up Tomé Hill since childhood, continuing a tradition his parents and grandparents practiced before him.

Renee Montoya also carried on a generations-long tradition. She walked with her sons and a photo of her dad, Seferino Saiz, all the way from Belen, some 10 miles away. They placed the photo at the shrine before praying.

“Two years ago, he passed away from a heart transplant, and so we walk from the church, from Belen every year just in his memory and to keep the tradition so that our little ones will carry it,” Montoya said.

Brothers Ruben and Steve Chavez, and Steve’s daughter, Marisa, 19, gave out rosaries blessed by the priest at the Tomé church. The brothers have been passing out rosaries on Good Friday for 30 years.

Ruben and Steve Chavez’s grandpa, Castulo Zamora, helped in the community effort to place the three crosses on the hill. Ruben Chavez remembers hearing stories as a boy about how the cement to secure the crosses was hauled up the hill by horse and buggy.

“My family’s from Tomé and we’ve been here for many, many, many, many years. I’m going to say, over 300 years. So, it’s a big part of what we do here. ... We’re trying to pass this to our kids to continue when we’re gone,” he said.