For 2 centuries, miracles sought through personal notes, holy sand at New Mexico’s Chimayo

They come in pain and in prayer, seeking cures and a cup of sand from a tiny adobe church called Chimayo. For two centuries, Hispanic and Native American pilgrims have sought help from El Santuario de Chimayo (pronounced CHEE’-mah-YOH’), located in a mountain hamlet in northern New Mexico. They clutch pictures of sick loved ones, hobble weakly on crutches, and bring stories of hopeless conditions. They leave small slips of paper asking for mercy and miracles, promise to give up drinking and show more compassion, and they light candles in front of images of saints and La Virgen de Guadalupe, patron of the Americas. Before they leave, they visit a room in the shrine that houses “el pocito,” which means the little well, a small pit of holy adobe-colored dirt which some say possesses the power to cure. Just one touch, say those who believe, and cancer might go into remission, an injured knee might heal, and leukemia might be held off long enough to witness a child’s birth. Along the wall hang crutches that are no longer needed, material proof from those who say they’ve been helped. The history of el pocito goes back 200 years, when legend holds that a friar, performing penances, saw a strange light streaming from a hillside near the Santa Cruz River. The friar began to dig to find the source of the light, and soon uncovered a crucifix. The crucifix was taken to a nearby church several times, but according to the story, it kept mysteriously returning to the place where it was found. A chapel was built there in 1813, and followers have been returning to pray at el pocito ever since...more