A few blocks south of La Merced, the Sonora market is the place Mexicans come for things their priest cannot supply: cleansing herbs, sigil candles for every saint and several non-saints, dried hummingbirds for luck, statues of Santa Muerte and San Judas Tadeo, and bundled bunches of rue and rosemary for sweeping a sick child.
The animal section at the back sells parrots, chinchillas, rabbits, and snakes — uncomfortable to many foreign visitors. But the herb and charm sections are an extraordinary view of the parallel folk religion that runs alongside Mexican Catholicism. Vendors do "limpias" — ritual cleansings — for anyone who pays. Cash only; mind your bag; mornings are calmer.