Miracle sand in Chimayo

Every year, thousands of people travel to the small N.M. town in hopes of witnessing something extraordinary

by LAURA SMITH

If people were to go on a road trip and decided not to go to El Santuario de Chimayo, they would be missing out on a unique experience.

The Santuario, and the sand within it, is believed to have healing powers. That draws pilgrims and the curious to this nondescript chapel in the high desert.

This tiny chapel, tucked away in Chimayo, is easy to miss. A road goes through the hills and neighborhoods, then opens up to reveal more open desert. The road drops off the traveler at the small, brown adobe chapel.

Photo by Laura Smith

El Santuario de Chimayo

The walk from the parking lot to El Santuario de Chimayo is fairly easy, but many would miss the small yard to the right, which is decorated with large stone crucifixes, and a new crucifix from the recent Good Friday pilgrimage.

After walking up the paved hill, it’s clear that many come here to pray. There’s a candle vigil at the top of the hill that’s decorated with rosaries. After turning around, the chapel is standing there, waiting for its tourists, believers and skeptics.

There’s a paved walk that takes the visitors by a creek, and as they walk around, they can see the small chapel. Most of the visitors know the secret the chapel holds, and it’s the magic healing powers of the sand.

The Story of the Church and It’s Sand

According to one version of the legend, a man named Don Bernardo Abeyta saw a strange light coming from one of the hills near the Santa Cruz River at Chimayo. He went to where he saw the light, and began digging and found a crucifix. The legend also states that he left the crucifix there, and went to the village to tell his neighbors and brought them back to see his discovery.

A priest, Fr. Sebastian Alvarez, was called on and he organized a ceremony to carry the crucifix back to a church in Santa Cruz where it was put on the altar. However, the next morning it was gone. It had been found in the hillside in Chimayo where it was discovered. This happened two more times before it was decided to leave the crucifix in Chimayo, and the chapel was built over it.

The chapel says that Abeyta built the chapel between 1813 and 1816.

However, a different version of the legend says that a Chimayo friar saw the light on the hillside and found the crucifix. The crucifix was dubbed Our Lord of Esquipulas. The legend says that after the chapel was built on the site of the crucifix discovery, “miraculous healings began.”

Frankie Stoner of Taos, says that she believes in the chapel and the healing powers.

“I’m 42 now, and I’ve always been a skeptic. There’s something that happens here. I was here Friday, and I had a problem with my hip for over 20 years now, and I was here Friday and I could hardly walk. It took me an hour for me to get from my car to here, to back again,” she says.

“I was in a lot of pain. I had to make a choice between cortisone and surgery, and they kept saying, ‘Well, Cortisone probably isn’t going to work.’ And I just had a feeling and I stopped in here. I just planned it. I had the cortisone shot, and I’m feeling pretty good. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was this.”

The crucifix is at the altar in the chapel, but many come to see the sands that are said to have magic healing powers. It’s believed that the crucifix was once in the hole where the sand is.

Stoner says she’s been to the chapel probably a dozen times, and she always tries to get some of the sand.

The sand is located in between The Prayer Room and the sanctuary in the chapel. It’s hard to get in because so many people want a sample of this magic sand. Many legends say that it can cured those who are blind, and are suffering from terrible ailments.

Joe Sisneros, of Fresno, California, says that he and his wife got samples of the sand, and that they have plans for what they will do with it.

“We’re going to give one to my daughter, we’re going to keep one, and we’re probably going to give one to my son,” he says.

On the way out of the chapel, people can leave crutches, pictures or other memorabilia in the Prayer Room. These can be from people who say they were healed by the sand. Stoner says she left a picture of her son the first time she came.

Photo by Laura Smith

Crutches and walkers left in the Prayer Room

“The first time I was here, he was having some problems and we were far away from each other and I didn’t expect to do that. But when I got here, and what I found in there hit me real hard and I started to cry,” she says.

Sisneros says he didn’t leave anything in the Prayer Room, but he does believe in the legend.

“I believe if God wants you to receive the blessing and the cure, I believe it and he’ll provide it for you. If you’re not ready for it yet, he won’t. It won’t be anything, and like they always say, ‘It’s up to Him. It’s in His hands,’” he says.

Stoner thinks the history of the chapel and the sand are the most fascinating thing.

“I think it’s all of it because the original history of this being sacred grounds for the natives, that intrigues me. My mom is Native American, that and the devotion, you can feel the devotion of people when they’re here, and there’s something here, especially in Chimayo. When you drive on it, when you arrive here, to me, I do feel something. And I’m willing to accept that it could be something in my mind, but I think also that we’re given our thoughts and inspiration from a higher source. It could be that, and this dirt,” she says.

Written May 1, 2008

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