'We want to help': Valley-based Yerberías aid Latino community through ominous Martes 13
Whenever the month’s 13th day fell on a Tuesday during Gabriela Lozano’s childhood, gloom would sweep through her hometown in Durango, Mexico.
The small ranch town’s residents would grow weary every Martes 13 (Trece), or Tuesday the 13th, as an unholy chorus of lechuzas, or white-faced barn owls, could be heard whistling and hooting on those nights, 40-year-old Lozano remembers.
"Over there on Martes 13, (the lechuzas) would sing very ugly," she said.
Martes 13 has long been dreaded by many in Hispanic cultures for being unlucky just as Friday the 13th is throughout the rest of the Western world. "Martes 13, no te cases ni te embarques," warns the popular saying, which means, "Tuesday the 13th, do not marry or embark," cautioning folks to avoid doing important things on this specific day.
Businesses like Lozano’s Yerberia Cuerno de la Abundancia on West Glendale Avenue near 51st Avenue in Glendale, are sought by individuals trying to dispel whatever troubles they attribute to bad luck or other supernatural forces.
Yerberías, also known as botánicas, specialize in selling religious items or natural remedies common in Latin America and are usually run by a curandera or curandero, or healer.
As a bruja, or a Latina witchcraft practitioner, Lozano worked in yerberías for several years before taking ownership of the shop in 2021. She said people often find support from a bruja like herself rather than from clergy members.
Lozano and other yerbería proprietors in the Valley spoke with The Arizona Republic about how their businesses serve their customers on Martes 13 and on any other day of the year.
'Not a bad number': Attitudes toward Martes 13 have shifted
The negative sentiments attached to Martes 13 likely stem from the day’s Spanish namesake being the Roman god of war, Mars, Lozano explained.
Views people hold about Martes 13 have undergone a reversal for the better as of late, Lozano said.
Customers seek consultation at a greater rate during Martes 13, seeing it as a date of opportunity versus one of danger, Lozano said. They look to do trabajos, or spellworks, on Martes 13 because they think the date will draw them good luck, she said.
San Miguel Arcangel Botánica has been operating for 11 years in Mesa off East Southern Avenue and South Mesa Drive near the U.S. 60.
Owner Karla Rivera, 45, practices Santería, a Cuban religion whose rites incorporate West African and Roman Catholic icons. Originally from Honduras, Rivera has been a Santería practitioner since she was 18.She said she sees a small uptick in sales when Martes 13 approaches.
"Trece (13) is not a bad number," Rivera said, likening the date to a rebirth. "It’s like when a cycle ends, another begins."
As such, rituals to bring about prosperity work best on Martes 13, Rivera assured.
Though yerberías are frequented by individuals seeking to attract good fortune, they can also be resources for the ill to find treatments or cures.
Curanderos and other traditional healers are trusted within the Latino community because they use traditional, Indigenous beliefs on health to serve the community in a familiar way, according to a June 2022 article in the healthcare journal Health Equity.
Standing near Interstate 10 and Loop 202 on East Roosevelt Street in Phoenix is a house converted into Yerberia Amor Y Paz where Vicky Hughes holds court. The 57-year-old is a Santería priestess and a Guadalajara, Mexico, native who moved to Phoenix by way of Northern California.
Her aid to customers comes in the form of limpias, or ritualistic spiritual cleanses on people, homes and businesses. She also does tarot readings and, she added, the occasional exorcism.
"The best thing of everything is when people come back and say how different they feel ... they've actually been healed and they're not hurting anymore," Hughes said. "We're not here to hurt no one. We want to help people."
The yerbería shops owned by Lozano, Hughes and Rivera are part of a vibrant industry in the Valley, with at least about 40 other yerbería businesses in the region.
Choosing between light or shadows
At Yerberia El Cuerno de Abundancia, Lozano regularly carries out limpias and offers spiritual candles and amulets, among other goods.
Following a limpia on a client, Lozano will evaluate them to understand whether the bad luck they believe they are experiencing is actually an internal struggle. In this regard, her work is like spiritual therapy, she said.
Martes 13 still holds much power for Lozano, far beyond its reputation as a supposed bearer of bad luck. Martes 13, she said, marks the unsealing of a powerful energy portal.
Noting "(the portal) has two doors," Lozano said, "Some of us (brujas) use (the portal) for good; some of us use it for bad."
As a bruja, she mentioned she can work her sorcery in the light or in the shadows.
But Lozano instead chooses to take off every Martes 13 and Friday the 13th to pray and "not get into what I shouldn’t," she said.
Reach breaking news reporter Jose R. Gonzalez at jose.gonzalez@gannett.com or on Twitter @jrgzztx.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Valley-based yerberías help community brace for Tuesday the 13th
