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    The Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero
    The Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero
    The Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero
    Ebook213 pages3 hours

    The Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero

    By Alberto Salinas, Jr.

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    The Border Healer My Life as a Curandero is one of the most significant contributions of its kind. Alberto Salinas, Jr. a curandero tells his story in the native voice. He tells us about his life and how he became a healer. He explains the spiritual world of El Nino Fidencio, the spiritual realm in which he practices and he shares with us many of his experiences as a working exorcist. He recounts his life growing up as a migrant farm worker in south Texas, marrying, raising children and working as a deputy sheriff before he recognized his calling to spiritual service as a curandero.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateOct 28, 2011
    ISBN9781467060516
    The Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero
    Author

    Alberto Salinas, Jr.

    Alberto Salinas, Jr. is a Mexican American, native-healer called a curandero living and working on the U.S.-Mexico border. He has served his community for more than 40 years as a highly respected native healer. Today, Alberto is considered one of the most important curanderos on the border and in the United States.

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      Book preview

      The Border Healer - Alberto Salinas, Jr.

      © 2011 by Alberto Salinas, Jr. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      First published by AuthorHouse 10/20/2011

      ISBN: 978-1-4670-6056-1 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4670-6052-3 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4670-6051-6 (ebk)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918635

      Printed in the United States of America

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      This book is printed on acid-free paper.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      DEDICATION

      BENEDICTION

      AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

      FOR THE READER

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      A SPECIAL RECOGNITION

      FOREWORD

      PART ONE

      INTRODUCTION

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      THE CURANDERO, THE MAN

      Our Tejano Heritage

      PART TWO

      CURANDERISMO

      DOWN ON THE BORDER

      REVELATIONS OF THE

      GIFT OF HEALING

      FOLK TALES

      PART THREE

      FOLLOWING IN THE

      FOOTSTEPS OF

      EL NIÑO FIDENCIO

      LAS ESCRITURAS

      SCRIPTURES OF EL NIÑO

      PRAYERS TO EL NIÑO

      FIDENCIO

      EL NIÑO FIDENCIO’S

      LETTER TO GOD

      EL NIÑO FIDENCIO’S

      SACRED SONGS

      PEOPLE WHO

      KNEW FIDENCIO

      PART FOUR

      SPIRITISM/ESPIRITISMO

      DEMON POSSESSION AND

      EXORCISM ACTUAL CASES

      EPILOGUE

      ADDITIONAL READING

      DEDICATION

      missing image file

      El Niño Fidencio

      1928

      José Fidencio Sintora Constantino (11/17/1898-10/19/1938)

      Mexico’s most popular folk saint and folk healer

      Thanks to God, our spiritual heavenly Father, to Jesus, the Son of God, for dying on the Cross for the salvation of the soul, and to the Holy Spirit for our anointing.

      BENEDICTION

      Blessed be he who can see the light in the darkness and understands in the midst of confusion. Blessed be he who loves his brother, his neighbor, his friends as well as his enemies. For he walks in the way of the Lord and the love of the Lord’s Spirit is poured unto his soul, and his spirit shines in the peace in which he lives. Blessed be he who suffers a pain and humbles himself unto the Lord God, for he shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever, Amen.

      AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

      FOR THE READER

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Untitled-2.jpg

      Alberto Salinas, 2004, Espinazo, Nuevo León

      Lydia Posas Salinas with madre Panita

      Thank you Lydia Posas Salinas for a lifetime of companionship, love and support. Thank you Lydia for being there for me in all the good times and in all bad. Through all the hardships, thank you for being my dear wife and true friend. Thank you +Ciprianita Zapata de Robles of Espinazo Nuevo León, Mexico, for being our spiritual mother on this earth for so many years. Thank you with love to my daughter, Valorie Ann Rodríguez, my son Michael Angelo, son-in-law, Arturo Sr., my grandsons Arturo, Jr., and Nathaniel Isaiah and my granddaughter, Lydcel Renee, thank you for being there through thick and thin.

      Thanks to photographer

      A special thanks to

      Thank you, my friends

      Thank you

      A special thanks to my doctors:

      Thank you

      Thank you

      Thank you

      Untitled-3.jpg

      Alberto Salinas, Jr., and Anthropologist Antonio N. Zavaleta, July, 2004, Sierra de Tamaulipas, Mexico (Photo by: +Jose M. Duarte).

      Special thanks to my compadre

      Untitled-4.jpg

      Alberto and Bill Minutaglio atop Cerro de la Campana,

      Espinazo, Nuevo León, Mexico,

      (1987 Photo by Randy Elites, The Dallas Morning News)

      I am very grateful to

      A SPECIAL RECOGNITION

      Washington, D.C.

      29 March 1983

      It was not too long ago that I read about your

      If properly advertised, nervina herb tea might well become the IN drink in Washington! Manzanilla might be just what is needed for budget cramps as well!

      Wishing you a continued success and happiness, I am

      Sincerely;

      Kika de la Garza Served in the Congress from 1965-1997

      FOREWORD

      During the second half of the 20

      In recent years, the development and incorporation of concepts of cultural competency has emerged as a way to address health disparities in culture-based populations. However, cultural competency still lacks legitimacy in the minds of most health-care providers. In order to adequately train the next generation of health-care professionals, we must give special attention to the incorporation of culture in medical education as well as in clinical practice.

      This is why this book,

      Untitled-5.jpg

      Niño Fidencio’s Capilla de Filosofía, Salinas Shrine Edinburg,

      Texas (Oil, by Valorie A. Rodríguez, 2004)

      PART ONE

      THE CURANDERO

      Part One is a brief autobiographical sketch of the Curandero as a man, his life growing up and his early adulthood in the years prior to his dedicating his life to the service of his community.

      INTRODUCTION

      I first met Alberto Salinas, Jr. in the fall of 2010. He invited me to attend "

      We opened and maintained a friendship by email for several months prior to that time. This visit resulted in an article I wrote for the Spanish-language newspaper in Amarillo, Texas,

      Alberto is one of the most impressive, positive, dynamic and caring persons I have ever met in my lifetime. I will never forget walking with Alberto around his compound in Edinburg which is designed to emulate the shrine of El Niño Fidencio at Espinazo, Nuevo León. We walked three times around the

      Alberto definitely possesses a

      Alberto asked me to write this introduction to his new book. I readily accepted his generous and flattering offer and consider this introduction to

      Alberto demonstrates the cultural fluidity of the borderlands with the constant ebb and flow of people and language, stories and legends, all masterfully portrayed in the folk tale section of this book.

      Untitled-6.jpg

      The

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Rooted deeply in faith and history, the phenomenon of

      is simply put, a movement, a tradition that seems to transcend international borders and even socioeconomic boundaries. And one of the stalwarts, guiding lights, of the

      For many people, their knowledge of the world of the

      For years, Salinas has been sought out by well-known historians, news reporters, anthropologists and the faithful followers of Niño Fidencio as he has, simply, become recognized as one of the best experts on the wide field of

      His own research has taken him throughout Texas and deep into Mexico. He has accumulated hundreds of stories, legends, almost-forgotten medical treatments, archival material; all of it documenting a rich tradition of folk medicine and religion that has long-served its faithful adherents, down by the border.

      Salinas co-authored his first book, "

      His latest book,

      THE CURANDERO, THE MAN

      HIS JOURNEY

      Alberto Salinas, Jr., the eldest of what was to be ten including two stillborn siblings was born near the U.S.-Mexico border in Willacy County, Raymondville, Texas on March 6, 1951. The local town (midwife as was the case for those who could not afford professional attention) helped deliver and bring this baby into the world and place called Earth. Alberto was to be reared in "

      Alberto had a half-sister he was never to be close to in life and a half-brother from his father’s first wife. Alberto’s dad had been divorced by his first wife. Divorce was highly uncommon among Latinos in that era. Alberto never met his half-brother. The boy died as a child.

      Alberto’s paternal grandmother wanted to raise Alberto as her own, but Alberto’s mother wouldn’t hear of it. Grandmother also wanted the second child. Alberto’s mother was not able to give him up either. When the third child was born, she was having problems with the second one, ill most of the time and such, so she gave the third boy to grandma to raise. It was very hard for his mother. They lived on the same lot but in different houses.

      In 1953, Alberto had a brush with death at the age of two. Alberto’s mother remembers and tells this story, They were camped and stayed at a vegetable packing shed in a town in the state of Ohio where they had migrated to find seasonal work. A number of other migrant families were also there as sometimes migrant workers migrated in groups. During lunch time all the workers would gather around to have their plate of food. It seems that Alberto was very energetic and in playing and in fun, would grab a broom showing off to all he too could use the broom to sweep the trash off to the side door onto the trash pile down below. Alberto was sometimes hyper and had gotten in the bad habit of tossing up people’s lunch plates as he passed by them. Alberto had already earned his first nickname,

      One day, while on his regular outlandish behavior, Alberto got too close to the edge while sweeping the trash over the side of the packing shed floor and fell several feet down below. Alberto landed on the sharp edge of an empty can of food cutting a severe gouge on his right wrist. Alberto’s mother wrapped a towel and applied pressure on his wrist and hand. A local police car rushed them to the nearest hospital 35 miles away, siren, cherry light and all. Alberto lost a lot of blood but not his life. It seemed like this boy was accident prone."

      Three years later, at the age of five, Alberto was playing outside with two other boys. Alberto was very thirsty and came upon a clear gallon jug with what he thought contained water in it. It was clear and looked like

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