From the mid-1830s until 1880, the only church serving the Cañon de Carnue area was at San Antonio. Religion played a central role in community life. In the 1880s, a priest blessed a penitente morada north of the San Antonio church. The penitentes, a lay Catholic brotherhood, held observances throughout the Lenten season and lived at the morada day and night from Wednesday through Friday of Holy Week. The morada apparently burned and was torn down in the early 1940s. Today, there remains a large cross (representing Calvary) at the site of the morada. The San Antonio chapel, built of stone, was constructed over the ruins of an Indian pueblo in about 1830. The small church burned down in the 1950s and a larger San Antonio de Padua Church was built in 1960. Masked matachines dancers have been an integral part of fiestas since sometime in the 19th century. The San Antonio/Tijeras Canyon area also celebrated and prayed for rain on St. John the Baptist Day, June 24, until the 1960s. A procession, with statues from the San Antonio church, traveled from San Antonio to Tijeras, Prima Agua, Rincon Loop and back to San Antonio. San Antonio's fiesta is held in June.