How do people celebrate La Virgen De Guadalupe in Mexico?

Answer 1

She is the patron saint of Mexico. The symbolism of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe can be traced back to Aztec times, when Coatlicue, the divinity of life and death was revered. Spanish conquistadors saw this, then mixed both Aztec and Catholic beliefs to better control the populace. This is known as religious syncretism.

Answer 2

Some historians consider that the Virgin Mary and the ancient Mexican mother goddess Tonantzin are associated. They say that the 16th century Spaniards created the legend of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a Christianised Tonantzin, through an image said to have appeared on a simple peasant's cloak. The supposed purpose was to encourage the conversion of the indigenous population of early Mexico. Others believe the virgin, Our Lady of Guadalupe was based on Coatlicue, the Aztec mother goddess.

According to the Guadalupe tradition, a poor Indian named Juan Diego saw a vision of the Virgin Mary on 9 December 1531, at the place in Tepeyac where there had been a temple of Tonantzin, "Mother of the Gods". She asked him to have a chapel built there in her honour. This date is the day after the feast of the Immaculate Conception and 1531 was barely ten years after the Spanish Conquest.

Continuing the tradition, the bishop at first rebuffed Diego but at the fourth apparition the Virgin instructed him to pick the flowers growing unseasonably on the hill at Tepeyac, fill his cactus fibre mantle with them and go to the bishop. When he opened his cape and the flowers fell out, a miraculous likeness of the Virgin was found imprinted upon it. The bishop was convinced and the chapel was built.

But only in 1648 was a book about it written by a priest named Miguel Sanchez. Whether the legend even existed very much prior to 1648 is a matter of speculation, but suddenly everyone knew about the Tepeyac image.

Chapels were dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and at Tepeyac a pilgrim highway to the sanctuary was constructed and then a large new basilica. Archbishops, nuns and canons vied with one another to do honour to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and in 1746 delegates of all the dioceses of Mexico proclaimed her their universal patron saint.

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Answer 3

She is the patron saint of Mexico. The symbolism of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe can be traced back to Aztec times, when Coatlicue, the divinity of life and death was revered. Spanish conquistadors saw this, then mixed both Aztec and Catholic beliefs to better control the populace. This is known as religious syncretism.

Usually, on December 12th several pilgrims from around the country reach the Guadalupe Basilica in Mexico City, and attend a mass given by Mexico's archbishop. After such event, some people display fireworks outside of the church.

Answer 4

The Catholics go to church and see a reenactment of Juan's journey to the virgin mary.

Answer 5

It was in Mexico that Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have appeared in 1531. She is also a patron saint of that country as well as all the Americas.