La Virgen de Guadalupe

On my way to class today I saw a large group of people all wearing the same t-shirt. The shirts had the word peregrinación printed on the back, which means "pilgrimage", along with an icon of the Virgin Mary. Having heard that today was the day of the Virgen de Guadalupe, I decided to follow this group for a bit and see where they were headed...

Stalls started to appear alongside the road selling rosaries, crucifixes, statues of saints and brightly-coloured plaques of the Virgin Mary. I also started to see small children dressed up like indigenous peasants. The crowd thickened, and we were suddenly at the entrance to the Basilica.


I had no concept of the importance of the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico. Huge deal. People come from surrounding villages to attend one of the hourly masses at the Basilica. The atmosphere was the now-familiar combination of reverence and irreverence - mixed in with the booths of religious paraphernalia were pirated CD stands, carnival games and hot dog vendors.

One strip of booths featured a series of Mexican vignettes where parents could have photos taken of their young, costumed children. Many scenes included live animals - I saw kittens, chicks, rabbits and a rooster. The kids sat on a fake horse, on a hay bale, or in a reclining chair if they were too small to hold themselves up. Some of the costumed babies I saw must have been born this week - they were so, so tiny. This experience reminded me of the customary "Santa's lap" photo for Canadian kids - an equal number of children were quite uncomfortable and started screaming just when the camera started snapping.


The steps of the Basilicia slowly filled up with people. At the top of the stairs, two priests used pine branches to sprinkle holy water over the crowd, and blessed small (costumed) children as they came up the stairs.


Who is the Virgen de Guadalupe? For a long time I thought she was some other virgin who was significant in Catholicism. I have since realized that there is only one virgin who is significant in Catholicism: the Virgin Mary. The Virgin of Guadalupe is an icon of the Virgin Mary as she appeared to the indigenous Mexican Juan Diego in 1531. According to the story, the Virgin appeared to Diego and told him to build an abbey on the hill where he was standing. To prove his story, the Virgin told Diego to gather roses and present them to the Spanish bishop. When Diego presented the flowers, the petals fell away to reveal the icon of the Virgen de Guadalupe on his tunic.

Diego was canonized in 2002, as the first Native-American saint.

After reading this story my experience began to make sense. Parents dress their sons as Juan Diego and their daughters as native Mayans to honour the story of the Virgin's appearance. The boys wear tunics with the Virgin's image printed on the front, and the girls often wear woven shawls and bright make-up.








(There were a lot of really cute kids and I had a hard time choosing which photos to post.)

The Virgen de Guadalupe is the symbol of Mexico. She is also known as the "Brown-skinned Madonna", and is seen as the mother of the mestizo people. While she may not have religious significance to non-Catholics, she has cultural significance as a defining symbol of Mexican identity.

Two quotations I found on Wikipedia give a good perspective on the Virgin's significance:

Carlos Fuentes : "...one may no longer consider himself a Christian, but you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."

Octavio Paz: "the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery"

Piligrimages have been happening for the past few days in the form of mini-parades. Some include drummers and trumpeters, while others quietly sing hymns and prayers. These groups come from businesses, schools, and other organizations - I even saw a cycling club:



... needless to say, I never made it to class.