The head of the chapter is the _hermano mayor_. He is assisted in administrative duties by the warden (_celador_) and the collector (_mandatario_), and in ceremonial duties by an assistant (_coadjutor_), reader (_secretario_), blood-letter (_sangredor_) and flutist (_pitero_). An official called the nurse (_enfermero_) attends the flagellants, and a master of novices (_maestro de novios_) supervises the training of new members.[2] In an early and apparently biased account of the _penitentes_, Reverend Alexandar Darley,[3] a Presbyterian missionary in southern Colorado, provides additional terms for three officers: _picador_ (the blood-letter), _regador_ or _rezador_ (a tenth officer, who led prayers) and _mayordomo de la muerte_ (literally "steward of death"). As host for meetings between _penitente_ chapters, the _mayordomo_ may be a late 19th-century innovation that bears the political overtones of a local leader.[4] Having less influence than individual officers are the _penitente_ members-at-large, numbering between thirty and fifty in each chapter. Through the _Hispano_ family system of extended bilateral kinship, however, much of the village population is represented in each local _penitente_ group. Edmonson's study in the Rimrock district demonstrates the deep sense of social responsibility felt by _penitentes_ for members and their extended family circles. "Special assistants were appointed from time to time to visit the sick or perform other community services which the brotherhood may undertake."[5] At other times of need, especially in sickness and death, the general _penitente_ membership renders invaluable service to the afflicted family. In addition, _penitente_ welfare efforts include spiritual as well as physical comfort such as wakes, prayers and rosaries, and the singing of funereal chants (_alabados_). At Española in November of 1965, I witnessed _penitentes_ contributing such help to respected nonmembers: grave digging, financial aid, and a rosary service with _alabados_. These spiritual services, however, are peripheral to the principal religious activity of _penitentes_--the Lenten observance of the Passion and death of Jesus. During Holy Week, prayer meetings, rosaries, and _via crucis_ processions with religious images are held at the _morada_ and at a site representing Calvary (_calvario_), usually the local cemetery. On Good Friday, vigils are kept and the _morada_ is darkened for a service known as _las tinieblas_. The ceremony of "the darkenings" consists of silent prayer broken by violent noise making. Metal sheets and chains, wooden blocks and rattles are manipulated to suggest natural disturbances at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross. This emphatic portrayal of His last hours is recalled also by acts of contrition and flagellation in _penitente_ initiation rites, punishments, and Holy Week processions.