Tucson’s El Tiradito shrine

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 18:52

He visits Tucson’s El Tiradito shrine every week to survey the cracks and crevices in the mud bricks. Roberts often spots the glimmer of pennies and nickels left by people hoping their requests will be fulfilled.

“I used to come here just to pray,” says Roberts, who has been coming to El Tiradito for about 20 years. “But since I got broke and went on the streets, I come looking for change.”

Roberts sleeps in the park outside of Carrillo Intermediate Magnet School about a block away and wakes up every morning before the children arrive for school. He grabs his black mesh backpack, fills his plastic disposable water bottle and starts walking through downtown Tucson.

Sometimes, he stops by the shrine.

Local legend says that if a person lights a candle at the shrine and the flame remains burning the next day, a wish will come true. People also pray, hold vigils and write their desires on old receipts and slips of paper before tucking them into cracks in the porous abode.

“Nah, I don’t believe in any of that,” Roberts says.

But the folklore of El Tiradito, which roughly translates to “the castaway,” is truth to many people living in Barrio Viejo.

The shrine is sandwiched between the tiny La Pilita Museum and El Minuto Cafe at the back of a gravel lot. It can easily be overlooked by passersby if the aging adobe and desiccated roses don’t catch their eyes.

Bricks made from a mix of mud and straw meld together and form three walls, creating a semicircle. The concrete mantle in the center is scrawled with graffiti-like messages saying, “En memoria de Juan” and, “I will never forget.” Three rusting, dark candelabras sit in a triangle formation at the front of the shrine.

Only a few of the charred candles placed at the shrine have flickering flames on one morning in September. An overexposed Polaroid of a young, blond woman sits in a broken frame while fake silk flowers adorn the ground.

Spider webs encase some of the dirt-covered, yellowed notes stuck in the wall. Sentiments include thank-you notes to the universe, pleas from women asking for husbands and people wishing healing for sick family members.

The stories of the shrine’s origins differ depending on who is telling them. What they have in common is two men, a woman and a murder. El Tiradito is the only recognized historic site dedicated to a sinner.

In one tale, a sheep herder fell in love with his mother-in-law. When her husband found out, he killed the boy with an axe. People began lighting candles at the site of his death.

Another story explains that two men dueled over a girl, and both were killed. She wept at their gravesite and created the shrine. In some versions, a gambler falls in love with a man’s wife. Her husband shot him upon this discovery and the gambler stumbles and dies at the site of the shrine.

The shrine’s inscription leaves the legend for the visitor to decide, simply stating that the story involves, “a tragic love affair in the early 1870s.” The shrine has been moved around the neighborhood several times and maintains its ambiguous history.

“I think that’s absolutely part of the charm of the place,” says Carol Cribbet-Bell, executive director of La Pilita Museum, which has one room dedicated to art and local history exhibits and is located directly next to El Tiradito. “It’s shrouded in mystery and folklore. That’s the way it is.”

Michelle Morden, a Tucson Unified School District teacher, includes the shrine in her daily rituals. Morden says she has visited the shrine nearly every day for 30 years.

Morden parks parallel to the shrine and hops out of her car on a Sunday afternoon. She walks over and stares for a few minutes.

“If you make a wish it goes straight up to heaven,” she says.

Morden discovered the shrine when she came to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona. And it’s played a large part in her life ever since.

“I keep wishing,” Morden says. “And it’s about whatever’s happening at the moment.”

She often writes notes, prays and lights candles. But she doesn’t check to see if they stay lit.

“I’m optimistic,” Morden says. “I kind of walk away and hope for the best.”

There are several shrines in the area, but El Tiradito is her favorite, Morden says. She even held her wedding ceremony at the site 16 years ago.

“I just feel a sense of place,” she says.

Some curious tourists find the shrine, but neighbors and “old timers” are the most frequent visitors, Cribbet-Bell says. The site has played a crucial role in the preservation of their neighborhood.
Urban renewal plans swept through Tucson in the late 1960s, says Ken Scoville, a local historian. New was better, and structures dating back to the 1800s were threatened in the name of improvement.

El Tiradito was set to be demolished to make way for a new expressway — until residents found a loophole. If the shrine was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, federal funds could not be used for the project, Scoville says.

The shrine made the list and a moratorium was placed on the project.

“This was a real political statement that ‘no, you’re not going to tear down any more historical areas,’” Scoville says.

El Tiradito continues to hold historical, religious and cultural value for members of the community.

For Steve Roberts’ weekly visit to find spare change, that value is financial.

Roberts grew up in Barrio Viejo and has known about El Tiradito since childhood.

“A man was fooling around with another man’s wife,” says Roberts as he sits on a bench a few feet from the shrine. “And he was shot. My grandma told me not to come here because it was evil. It’s dedicated to him.”

As a child he ignored his grandmother’s advice and went to the shrine with his brother. They would tell tourists to put coins on top of the shrine for their wishes to come true. Then they waited for them to leave.

“We’d grab the change and, whoosh, go over to the Elysian Market,” Roberts says with a grin. The market, which is one street south of the shrine, used to sell food and other small goods and is now vacant.

Roberts stops by the shrine this September afternoon carrying a small bag of tobacco. He needs 32 more cents to buy rolling paper.

He’s a penny closer after scouting out the crevices and takes a moment to rest and fill up his plastic water bottle from the nearby fountain.

“It’s quiet and peaceful here,” he says.

The City of Tucson funded a nearly $60,000 restoration of the shrine and La Pilita Museum last year, Cribbet-Bell says. Workers were careful to keep the aging adobe in front but stabilized the crumbling back of the shrine.

“Anything that speaks to the spirit of the community is important to preserve,” Cribbet-Bell says. “(El Tiradito) gives people hope and a place in the community. Every community needs that.”

El Tiradito shrine is located at 420 S. Main Ave. Entrance is not regulated and 2-hour parking is available on the streets surrounding the shrine. For questions, contact La Pilita Museum at (520) 882-7454.

Here's a link to more photos by Farren Halcovich.  

Written by Brenna Goth You are reading Tucson’s El Tiradito shrine articles