A hail storm ruined the roof of the corral. I thank the Virgin of Zapopan because my husband, although reluctantly, but let the animals sleep in the house until he could repair the roof and until it won’t be so cold outside.

Mariana Rios

I had the vice of playing Uruguayan canasta. Suddenly, at nights, some devils began to appear. They played cards, and I understood it’s a warning from the heavens that if I wouldn’t stop playing cards I would be damned. I was very frightened, and I prayed Saint Barbara to chase the demons away. I promise to play only on Thursdays. Thanks to my prayers and this promise the devils didn’t come back.

The music teacher Consuelo Rodriguez is thankful to the Virgin of Zapopan because Gloria Prieto, a girl who was terribly out of tune, changed the school. The choir sounds like the angel music without her.

I climbed a chair to get some canned food, but I lost my balance and was about to fell right on the newborn puppies of my dog. But by an astonishing miracle made by the Virgin of San Juan I felt some hands moved me in the air, and I fell near the basket with the puppies. I thank the Holy Virgin because I’m so fat, I would’ve definitely smashed those poor animals.

Dora Rodriguez had a high fever and hallucinated with hands coming out of the ceiling, of the walls, of the floor. The hands were trying to grab her. She was very frightened and was screaming. Dora thanks the Virgin of San Juan because three days later her fever went down and she stopped seeing these horrible hallucinations.

I thank Saint Anthony for I found such man as my fiancé Remigio to get married. He is an excellent man, and his dog have befriended my dog. I already can see a future romance between them. This gives me a lot of happiness on this day of my wedding, because we both love our dogs very much and couldn’t live without them.

July 23, 1955, the river broke its banks, and Maria de la Luz Garcia and her son couldn’t get back home. She thanks the Virgin of San Juan for they didn’t parish and didn’t drown during the thunderstorm because doña Gertrud’s let them spend a night at her kitchen. She sat them closer to the fire so they would dry and have some soup and coffee.

My son Jorge’s teacher was giving her lessons in a very boring manner. So my boy, instead of paying attention, used to imagine the teacher grabbed and taken by lianas and she was screaming. I thank the Virgin of Zapopan because the teacher was replaced and now my son pays attention so he won’t repeat the grade.

My mother and my aunt taught my son Carlitos to embroider. He created exquisite embroideries and was very enthusiastic about it. I was distressed and asked the Virgin of the Rosary to make so that my boy wouldn’t enjoy embroidery so much because if his father, who is a really macho, had found out that his son loved doing the women’s work he would’ve been furious. Thanks to the Virgin his cousin Luis taught my son to ride a bicycle. Carlitos enjoyed it so much, he forgot about embroideries.

A demon used to get to my room through the window at night. He put my clothes on and spent all night looking at himself in the mirror. I was afraid and also upset because he left all my clothes smelled of sulfur. Then I had an idea to move the mirror to the henhouse. Thanks to the Virgin of Zapopan the demon never came back. I think he visits my neighbor though, because she smells of sulfur and she’s got a really beautiful full length mirror.

Rosa Maria Lopez became a sleepwalker. She woke up in the pigsty two times and she was ashamed of it. She prayed the Virgin of Zapopan for healing of this illness. The merciful Virgin heard her prayers, and now Rosa is alright. She thanks the Virgin because at least she was never seen with the pigs.

The night of the Day of the Dead, a pair of skeletons asked me to give them a ride under the moonlight. Since I was half-drunk and needed money, I agreed. I thank the Virgin of the Rosary for they didn’t take me to their graves at the dawn.

I thank the Virgin of Zapopan because I married a kind and beautiful woman who is also a good cook and she satisfies all my culinary caprices.