The Many Images of Guadalupe

Guadalupe - Female Deity - Queen of the Americas- Icon of the Mexican Colonial Period

I realize that many people don't know who she is, or if they do, they don't believe in her power.  Yet, there is something amazing about her.  Tomorrow is her feast day and people all over the world will celebrate, including those in Los Angeles:

Virgin of Guadalupe

latimes.com

Making a production out of the Virgin of Guadalupe

For the last nine years in the second week of December, a two-day musical at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels has paid tribute to the queen and patron saint of Mexico.

By Esmeralda Bermudez, Los Angeles Times
December 11, 2010

Two years ago, Andrea Soto's breathless voice was the faintest in the choir.

She wore a wig to hide her scalp — bare from months of chemotherapy — and forced herself to smile and keep up with the lyrics.

After all, this was a time to say thank you...more

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

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Virgin of Guadalupe from Wikipedia

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In Spanish:  

Vigilarán con 112 cámaras festejos a la Virgen de Guadalupe

La Jornada - Mexico City

A few comments on virgins and religion

This post is not about sexual mores or behavior. It is about virgins.  The religious kind.

After posting something on immigration policy in the Obama administration, I decided to include a vintage image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  For those who don't know, she is supposed to be the Virgin Mary (mother of Christ) who appeared to an indigenous man in Mexico in 1531.

Many believe her apparition really occurred.  Some think it is folklore.  I generally stay out of those disputes.  You can't prove anything either way.  What is clear, tangible, and important is that she is considered the most important religious figure to millions of people in the Americas.  Not just to people who are Catholic.

New Age people might say she is an incredibly popular and powerful female diety, along the line of Isis and Quan Yin.

Guadalupe is everywhere these days.  On calenders, t-shirts, posters, table cloths, medals, and painted clocks.  She has gone beyond being the Mexican Mother of Christ to a commodity.  Yet I don't think it has diminished her power and the respect people have in her.

As for myself, I am not actively practicing any religion.  My parents and grandparents are (and were) deeply religious Catholics.  My maternal grandfather died walking home from the 3 pm mass on Good Friday.  (he was in his 60s and had a heart attack)

When I was a child, my parents, who sent me to Catholic school, were very open minded about what I was exposed to.  I would go to church with my Baptist friends, and my Pentecostal friends.  I'm sure I would have gone to a synagogue if I would have had any Jewish friends.

While the nuns at school told us that anyone not Catholic was not going to heaven (this was during the 60s, I hope they no longer do this), I was never convinced they were right.

It was a confusing position for me to be in.  Once, while in college I asked my Dad's best friend (who is a Basilian priest) why wasn't it enough to just be a good person.  He said that believing in God was also necessary.  At least he didn't specify a religion.

With all that in mind.  I can still say that I think the Virgin of Guadalupe is awesome - for women, for Catholics, for Americans, for Mexicans -- for people - whether they go to church or not.

Virgin of Guadalupe 5

From the Museum at the Basilica of Guadalupe

Mexico City

Virgin of Guadalupe 4

Outside the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico City, March 2008.  

Photo by M.T. Hernandez

Virgin of Guadalupe 3

Mexico City, 2008.  Photo by M.T. Hernandez

Virgin of Guadalupe 2

In a taxi, Merida, Yucatan, 2005.  photo by M.T. Hernandez

Virgin of Guadalupe

Her story is magical. She appeared on a mountaintop near Mexico City in 1531. She has become the patroness of the Americas. Catholics say she is the mother of Christ. Others say she is a powerful female deity. She is the soul of the Mexican people, whether they are in Mexico, the U.S., or Europe.

December 12 is her feast day. For the rest of the week, dreamacttexas will be posting images of Guadalupe.


DREAMers often pray that she keep them safe.



link to image