Volcan Paricutin
Paricutin volcano in Angahuan, Michoacán was born on March 4th 1943. How do we know this? Dionisio Pulido, was plowing his field when he noticed steam coming up from the footprints of the oxen, pulling his plow. Soon, the earth shook and cracks began to form in his field. Dionisio panicked and tried to fill the steaming holes, while his wife called all the villagers to help. As you might have guessed, the volcano was born in spite of their efforts. Luckily, no one was killed. However, the village was eventually covered by lava, sparing only the front and back walls of the cathedral.
Lava is about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. When the lava flow hit the church, it pushed in one side wall of the building, and flowed out the other. The roof burst into flames and burned. Everything was destroyed, except for the wooden crucifix cross on the back wall of the church remained unscathed. The cross and the entire village population was moved to a new town, where pilgrims come for miles around to see the miracle cross. Although, when they enter the church, they have to perform a strange sort of dance, where people hold hands and take six steps forward, then five back. Slowly progressing to the altar.
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