Don Pedro Jaramillo

Don Pedro Jaramillo, is a curandero, or faith healer from the Mexico-Texas region. He is known as the healer of Los Olmos and "el mero jefe" (English: the real chief) of the curanderos.^[1][2][3]

Origin

Jaramillo was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to Turascan Indian parents,^[3] and died at an unknown age in Starr County, Texas in 1907. Jaramillo originally arrived at the Los Olmos ranch in Texas. It was in Texas where he announced himself as a curandero and began treating the Mexican families in the region. At the height of his career, families from as far away as New York would travel to see Jaramillo and seeking help. ^[1][2]

Jaramillo's story as a curandero begins when he was suffering from a nose ailment and as a cure, stuck his nose in mud at the edge of a pool. Three day of this self prescribed treatment cured the ailment, however it left Jaramillo with an identifying scar on his nose. It was on the third night of this treatment that Jaramillo believes he heard a voice telling him God had given him the power to heal. Testing such power he prescribed a tepid bath to his master, in which he was able to heal his ailment.^[1][3]

The first accounts of his cures and powers were collected and printed in 1934 in Spanish, they were later in 1951 translated to English.

A shrine where he is buried is located in Falfurrias, Texas.

Themes

In many of Jaramillo's treatments it is noted the number nine plays a prominent role, prescribing treatments often for nine consecutive night, or in quantities of nine. The tales of such treatments at time contains stories of those who did not follow the instructions and never recovered, or those who changed the prescription and still failed to recover, leaving only those who followed it exactly as complete recovery examples. Jaramillo's cures were often miraculous in nature, even to the point of curing paralysis. ^[1][2]

Water has also been identified as a central theme in Jaramillo's cures, often requiring the ailing person to drink the water for a certain length of time, or bath in water a certain number of days.^[2]

Other abilities

A fraction of tales also portray Pedro Jaramillo as clairvoyant. Jaramillo would know inherently if someone was lying about an illness or ailment, in another story he knew of a conversation that took place without him present. In Mexican culture Jaramillo is displayed prominently in adorning homes in the form of paintings and statues.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Dorson, Richard M. (August 1972). Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore in the United States. University of Chicago Press. pp. 418, 419. ISBN 0-22615862-4. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} West, John (May 2007). Mexican-American Folklore. August House. ISBN 0-87483059-1. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Silverthorne, Elizabeth (October 1997). Women Pioneers in Texas Medicine. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-890967898. 

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Name	Jaramillo, Pedro
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Date of birth
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Date of death	1907
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