Maria R. thanks the Virgin of Guadalupe for being a stripper.

My job and my everyday life are little bit boring. But I thank the Virgin of Zapopan for teaching me how to day-dream. So while I’m working I submerge in the sea of stars and the angels take me to wonderful and unforeseen places. In that way my work became more bearable. And my colleagues are puzzled why I’m always smiling and in a good humor.

My husband bought a little house in a place far away from the civilization. The place was very beautiful, with a lot of wild animals. But the bad things started when it turned out that the monkeys wanted to become our friends. They became a real plague. They stole the clothes when I did my laundry, they pulled our hair, took our food, they were everywhere, and soon enough my children became to behave like the monkeys. I thank the Virgin of the Solitude because my husband got another job and we had to move to Jalapa. Here I even have a washing machine and no monkeys.

When the school where my wife used to teach for many years was closed she was very upset. She started to give lessons to our pets. It made me worried, so I prayed Saint Francis. He worked the miracle, and my wife received a teacher job offer from another school. She stopped torturing the poor animals which were very annoyed.

I thank the Virgin because I can do what I like the most—make wooden toys. I love to see how happy are the children when they play with my toys.

All my friends in the town had already got married, and I felt myself as an old maid. So I accepted the Rodrigo Perez’s proposal who was my suitor all my life. But on the day of the wedding, I realized that I was going to marry an incredibly boring and conservative man who can’t even dance and whom I didn’t even love. I ran from the church and went to my friend Flora. I came to her right in my wedding dress. Now I’m happy because I got a good job. I thank Saint Anthony for clearing my mind and I didn’t commit a grave error.

The young man Francisco Garcia thanks Saint Francis because he got a job in the sewer cleaning at the capital. The thing are going well, although he often finds dead animals and sometimes even human corpses.

I came to work as a cook in one house. But the lady who worked there was jealous because my masters loved my food better. She secretly put pepper and salt in my dishes. I ask Saint Paschal for help. And soon enough, the injustice was discovered by my masters. They fired her, so now I’m very happy to cook for the family.

Cholula, Puebla
Eufrosina Diaz

I thank the Virgin because I married a wealthy man and could quit my tiresome job. Now I can dedicate all my time to my cats and my garden and wait for the birth of my first baby without worrying.

My husband Tomas smoked marijuana, didn’t work and didn’t pay me any attention. So I prayed to Saint Barbara and she gave me enough courage to give him an ultimatum. It worked—now he’s working.

May 15, 1968

I dedicate this retablo to the Virgin of Carmel because ever since I was little I wanted to be a man, in spite of being born a girl. Thanks to the Virgin I decided to leave my husband and my kids and to move to the capital where I started to work as a lift attendant in a luxurious skyscraper.

On the night of November 2, I was at the cemetery cleaning some tombs. I got pretty scared when I saw with my own eyes that the dead man, whose tomb I was going to clean, opened up his tomb and got ready to leave. I ask the Virgin of Juquila to protect me and she helped me to escape from there. The next day, I decided I’d better quit that job at the cemetery.

Tomas Cruz, Oaxaca

Virgin of Guadalupe, thank you for giving me plenty of work as a whore. You also protect me from dangers on the streets. Like when that robber tried to steal my earnings.

Rubi, 1989
Oaxaca, Mexico