American Jewish Archives Journal, Vol 44, No. 01 (1992)

Secret Jews of the Southwest 437
Burial usually took place in the local Catholic cemetery, generally
the only ground available for that purpose. But areas of the campo
santo were set aside for individual groups of relatives. In some of
these sections the headstones all face east and are blank except for the
names and dates of the deceased. In some locales, the northern vil-
lage of La Madera, for example, there is a tiny, hidden "nondenomi-
national" graveyard, and in the exclusive burial grounds of the
Penitente Brotherhood at such places as Santa Rosa and Tecolotito,
gravestones can be uncovered in the underbrush that have stars of
David and menorahs carved on them. Beto Ponce knows where a pri-
vate graveyard lies off the highway to Romeroville; in a photograph
of a tombstone there, marked with two stars of David, he has covered
the family name with masking tape. In many cemeteries, markers can
be found with both Jewish and Christian symbols, or occasionally the
Masonic symbol as well. Emilio and Trudi Coca of Santa F6 have pro-
duced an extensive photographic study of these revealing stones,
comparing them to pictures of stones with similar designs in authen-
tic Jewish cemeteries in other parts of the country. In the old Peni-
tente cemetery at Santa Rosa, for example, where the latest stone
uncovered is dated 1911, they found etched beneath the standard
crosses clear outlines of stars of David, menorahs, six-petaled flow-
ers, hands with fingers spread to form six groupings-all Judaic sym-
bols recognizable to the initiated. Michael Atlas Acuna of Pueblo,
Colorado, has found Hispanic Catholic cemeteries in that area where
stones are decorated with stars of David, eternal lights, and six-point
lilies. He also reports that in a 170-year-old rural church near
Trinidad, one can see stars of David with "Adonai" inscribed in the
centers, menorahs, and the Ten Commandments in Hebrew all
worked into the stained-glass windows.'"
Endogamous marriage has probably been the most critical of the
measures taken to maintain this culture in the hinterlands.
Researchers are mapping the patterns of intermarriage, finding fre-
quent connections through many generations of the Espinosas, Vil-
lanuevas, Castros, Atencios, Carrascos, Gdmezes, Luceros, and
L6pezes. Although Dennis DurAn was not apprised of his Jewish her-
itage while he was growing up, his mother made clear to him that he
must select his wife from a list of specific families. In certain closed