Praying for the Santo Nino:
Walk raises money to house Zuni’s sacred statue

Barlow Gasper, Kaylene White, Camille Lasiloo and Roberta Lateyice make their way down Highway 602 early Saturday morning. Lateyice organized the walk to raise money for the Santo Nino de Zuni Church. [ photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Gaye Brown
de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — The house in Zuni where the Santo Niño hears the prayers of the Zuni people needs a new roof.
Roberta Lateyice of Zuni decided Saturday to thank the 18-inch tall statue of the baby Jesus for answering her prayers, by walking the 35 miles from the south end of Gallup to the pueblo, and hope that people passing on N.M. Highway 602 would donate some money for the support and preservation of Zuni’s most famous saint.

Inside her donation jar were $100 dollar bills, $20 dollar bills and $50 dollar bills, along with some checks people had given.

After 16 miles of walking, Lateyice said she was tired, but she had to keep walking fast, because if she slowed down, she would start to get fatigued. She knows, because this is her sixth time walking the length of the road to raise donations for Santo Niño. She said she still enjoys doing it even though she admitted she has some back problems.

“I love the Santo Niño,” she said. She asked the statue many times for help with her three sons and he always delivered, she said and added that she promised Santo Niño when her youngest son, Nicholas, was 18-years old, he would walk also. Her family was with her on the walk, assisting with drinks and rides

“He’s helped me a lot,” she said. “I’m going to help him.”
Accompanying Lateyice, Yvonne Unale from Gallup held a large poster, informing people who drove by what the fund raiser was, and showing the prayer cards that were available for those who gave a donation. She looked tired also, but she said she was doing great and walking for the Santo Niño invigorated her.

Lateyice said people were stopping and giving money because they had read about the fund raiser in the Independent. Not one person stopped and asked what they were doing or why, because everybody read about it in the paper, she said.

Gallup resident, Martin Link stopped his old car along the highway, and asked about the Santo Niño’s 200-year-old vestments. He handed Lateyice a $20 bill and they talked for a moment about the statue before Lateyice gave him a prayer card and offered Link her blessing.

The Santo Niño resides in an 11-room house in the middle of town. Missy Yatsattie is responsible for the caring for the Santo Niño, which was passed to her through the matrilineal line. Before Yatsattie, two sisters cared for Santo Niño, Yatsattie said in an earlier interview with the Independent. After the older one died, Yatsattie moved in and began learning from the younger sister about caring for the relic. Two years after the younger sister died, Yatsattie moved back and since then she said she will never move back out again.

The Santo Niño is sacred to both Catholics and Zunis. For the Catholics, he is seen as a powerful figure representing Jesus in his innocent stage — as a baby. For the Zuni, the Santo Niño is actually a female — the daughter of the Sun. Both attribute various miracles to the Santo Niño over the past 300 years.

Yatsattie said she was told that the statue was made in Spain in the late 1500s.

According to literature on the Santo Niño, it is believed that the Spanish Franciscans brought the statue to Hawikuh, 15 miles south of present-day Zuni, in 1628 from Spain as a gift for the La Purisma Conception Church, which was one of the original churches in the area. The Santo Niño was moved in 1670 to the Nuestra Senora de La Candelara Church, where the statue was rescued before it was burned down during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

One family has been responsible for the care of Santo Niño that was rescued before the missions were destroyed. The statue has been kept at the same home since 1690 when the Zuni people returned to Halona after escaping to Thunder Mountain following the revolt.

Now Yatsattie needs help to make repairs on the home of the Santo Niño, where she also lives to care for the statue. But it has become more difficult for Yatsattie to maintain a safe home for the sacred relic, since she cannot keep a full-time job because she spends most of her time caring for the altar. Still, her goal is to open a small museum with information on the history and the significance of the Santo Niño as well as artifacts that Yatsattie possesses, some from centuries ago.

However, right now Yatsattie said she is concentrating on getting the much-needed repairs to keep the Santo Niño safe for centuries to come.
Lateyice said she was glad to help. After the walk, she said she would turn over the money to Yatsattie.

“My prayers have been answered,” Lateyice said and added that to help the Santo Niño she was “just going to do it, not say you’re going to do it.”

Yatsattie said in an interview Monday that she didn’t know the amount donated as the money was “under cornmeal, in a sacred place on a fast for four days.” She would have the amount sometime Wednesday, she said.

Information: Missy Yatsattie, (505) 782-5731 or Roberta Lateyice, (505) 495-8068.

— Reporter Karen Francis contributed to this story.