Magic dirt not so magic?
Here we are in Santa Fe. MammaCita suggested to us that we go to El Santuario do Chimayo and get some of the miracle dirt there. Here is the story as taken from the website Archdiocese of Santa Fe
El Santuario (The Shrine) was built between l8l4 and l8l6. The “miraculous” crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas was found around l8l0. There is no written testimony concerning the apparition of Our Lord in the Chimayo area. What we have is tradition passed from one generation to another by the people of El Potrero. Here is one account of a “true” story as told by the storyteller.
One tradition recalls that during Holy Week on the night of Good Friday, Don Bernardo Abeyta, who was a member in good standing of the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jes6s el Nazareno (Penitentes) was performing the customary penances of the Society around the hills of El Potrero. Suddenly he saw a light springing from one of the slopes of the hills near the Santa Cruz River. Don Bernardo went to the spot and noticed that the shining light was coming from the ground. He started to dig with his bare hands, and there he found a Crucifix. He left it there and called the neighbors to come and venerate the precious finding. A group of men was sent to notify the priest, Fr. Sebastian Alvarez at Santa Cruz.
Upon hearing the extraordinary news, the priest and people set out for Chimayo. When they arrived at the place where the Crucifix was, Fr. Sebastian picked it up and carried it in a joyful procession back to the church. Once in the church, the Crucifix was placed in the niche of the main altar. The next morning, the Crucifix was gone, only to be found in its original location. A second procession was organized and the Crucifix was returned to Santa Cruz, but once again it disappeared, The same thing happened a third time. By then, everyone understood that El Sefior de Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayo, and so a small chapel was built.
The crucifix that was found on the hillside resides now in the altar at Chimayo. It is weird that people attribute healing abilities to the dirt where the crucifix was found as opposed to the crucifix itself. They do not allow pictures to be taken in the sanctuary which is a shame as there is some great artwork there and it would make a great photo project. I took some pictures of the outside of the chapel and I snuck in a picture of Honey collecting her magic dirt.
It was a beautiful day (a little windy) and a lovely drive. Well we took our magic dirt and headed back into town and made a stop at the grocery store for some foodstuffs. With our starbursts and other foods in hand we came back to the condo. While resting and chewing on a starburst candy, the magic dirt made its presence known…Honey’s crown got stuck to her candy and came out of her mouth. It was an incredible miracle! We were spellbound by the power of the magic dirt. Actually the miracle part was that Honey found a dentist two blocks away who was able to get her in at 10:30 this morning.
I am not so sure about the magic dirt at this point…oh well. If you come down here to Santa Fe I do suggest you take a trip up to Chimayo to see the old church (just stay away from any chewy candies if you have crowns after getting some of your own magic dirt)
While writing this Miss Scarlett decided that she wanted to help me blog so I took a picture…
