All the red fruits and vegetables in my refrigerator were disappearing. I was intrigued until one night I went to the kitchen for a glass of water and found out that the thief was a vegetarian vampire. I thank the Virgin of San Juan because my dog barked and growled and bit him. The vampire got so scared, he never came back, lest he decided to change his diet and to suck my blood.

Margarita Luna had a high fever and it caused her some horrible hallucinations with monsters that stared at her. She woke up crying. Her mother prayed to the Virgin of San Juan so that she would subdue the girl’s fever. The Virgin heard the prayers, and now Margarita has sweet dreams. They thank the Holy Virgin.

Since the rains continued for a long time, we couldn’t work, because the materials deteriorated. We prayed to the Virgin of San Juan because we were scared we would be fired because we weren’t working. But the engineer understood us and didn’t fire us. He even celebrated the Day of the Holy Cross with us. We present this humble retablo, as we promised.

Michoacan, 1970
Lucio and Evelio Grajales

We presented before Our Virgin of San Juan to ask her so that the coyote wouldn’t eat our turkeys. The Virgin heard our prayers and worked the miracle. So when the coyote came next time, the turkeys attacked it all together. They pecked it, and the coyote ran away scared and never came back.

My son Luisito’s school took the children for a walk in the hill. Since it was very windy and my boy is a very short and weak, he was taken by the wind in the air. Thanks to the Virgin of San Juan, the mother Carmelita was able to catch him after he flew for about 10 meters. The boy wasn’t hurt.

Raulito Garcia was so dumb that one day his teacher Sonia Corrales lost her patience and hit him with a ruler. When she saw him unconscious after the blow she prayed the Holy Virgin. The teacher thanks the Virgin because the boy fainted because he had worms and not because she hit him.

My husband loved his dogs so much he let them sleep in our bedroom. But then the dogs had their five puppies and it became totally unbearable. I prayed to the Virgin of San Juan for a solution. I thank the Virgin because my husband finally agreed to build a kennel for them. So now I don’t suffer from dog hairs and fleas.

The shoes in our family were scratched and torn. We didn’t know the reason until one night when I woke up to go to the bathroom and looked under the bed searching my slippers and saw there the culprits. There were aluxes with giant claws. They tried to put my favorite shoes on. I thank the Virgin of San Juan because the duendes ran away in fear when we smoked them out with tobacco. Because it’s a known fact that the aluxes can’t stand the cigar smoke.

My husband brought home a mermaid. I was very jealous because he wouldn’t pay me any attention. One day he went to work. The mermaid was sleeping in her pond. So I caught her with a net and threw this damned creature in the sea. I thank the Virgin of San Juan because now my husband pays me more attention.

Raquel Rios and Veronica Gonzalez took stray dogs from the street and not only fed them but also washed and brushed them and got rid of fleas. Raquel and Veronica thank the Virgin of San Juan for the opportunity to take a lot of dogs and make them so beautiful that their friends and some other people would like to foster these dogs and even gave small donations to help in their cause.

My husband decided to cross and interbreed very different animals. I prayed the Virgin of San Juan to stop this madness. I thank the Virgin because he gave all the animals to the zoo and now does experiments only with flowers and vegetables. I hope he wouldn’t create a giant carnivorous plant.

I thank the Virgin of San Juan because I married a very sweet and beautiful woman who is also an excellent cook who satisfies all my culinary caprices.

Raul Rodriguez was a professional musician and played saxophone. But his neighbors always complained. They didn’t let him rehearse in peace, they even threw some things in his window. They didn’t like the music. The landlord even wanted to throw Raul out. Raul thanks the Virgin because his fellows musicians rented out a room in their house to him. Now he can rehearse without being thrown trash.