La Virgen de Guadalupe Madre de los Indios

La Virgen de Guadalupe • Madre de los Indios • Símbolo de la Revolución Canción Mexicana

Her appearance to Juan Diego • 1521: Mexico City, the capital city of the Aztec empire fell the Spanish. • Less than 20 years later, 9 million of the inhabitants of the land are converted to Christianity. -- What happened to bring so many to convert to the new religion? • In 1531, Juan Diego, a new convert to Christianity, claimed that a "Lady from Heaven" had appeared to him at Tepeyac*, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City. She identified herself as Mary, Mother of the True God and She instructed him to see the local bishop in Her name, and ask him to build a temple on the site.

Juan Diego with the “tilma” The bishop asked for a sign and Juan Diego brought him a tilma (mantle) which had an image of imprinted upon it. The tilma was made of a poor quality cactus-cloth, which would normally have deteriorated in about 20 years … those who have seen it claim that it shows no sign of decay 475 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin. Painting of Juan Diego opening the tilma. Jose de Ibarra, 1743.

El Imagen Original “I am the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth. I wish that a temple be erected here quickly, so I may therein exhibit and give all my love, compassion, help, and protection, because I am your merciful mother, to you, and to all the inhabitants on this land all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows. “ (from de la Vega’s translation) Photograph of the actual image on the tilma.

Los Primeros Cuentos de Guadalupe • All written narrations about the apparitions of the Lady of Guadalupe are inspired by the Nican Mopohua, or Huei Tlamahuitzoltica, written in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, by the Indian scholar Antonio Valeriano around the middle of the sixteenth century. • Unfortunately the original of his work has not been found. A copy was first published in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649. Its cover is shown here.

De donde viene el nombre “Guadalupe”? • The origin of the name Guadalupe has always been a matter of controversy. It is nevertheless believed that the name came about because of the translation from Nahuatl to Spanish of the words used by the Virgin during the apparition to Juan Bernardino, the ailing uncle of Juan Diego. • It is believed that Our Lady used the Aztec Nahuatl word of coatlaxopeuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe" and sounds remarkably like the Spanish word Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent, tla being the noun ending which can be interpreted as "the", while xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So Our Lady must have called herself the one "who crushes the serpent. " * It may be significant that the hill of Tepeyac where Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego is the same place where Aztecs had worshipped a mother goddess, Tonantzin.

another version, from “Wilson’s Almanac” • • On December 9, 1531, a 57 -year-old Mexican Indian farmer by the name of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec who had converted to Christianity, was minding his own business as he walked to early morning Mass, passing by the hill known as Tepeyac, between his village and Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City). Juan Diego was born in 1474 in the calpulli or ward of Tlayacac in Cuauhtitlan, which was established in 1168 by Nahua tribesmen and conquered by the Aztec lord Axayacatl in 1467, and was located 20 kilometres (14 miles) north of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). Tlatelolco, Juan Diego's village, was once an Aztec centre and the place where the final battle of the Spanish conquest had taken place just a decade earlier. Tepeyac had for centuries been of significance to the people of what is now called Mexico – the Aztecs and their descendants – because it was the site of a shrine to the goddess Tonantzin, associated with the snake goddess Coatlique (perhaps cognate with the Judaeo. Christian Eve), was worshipped in the Winter Solstice celebrations at around this time of year. Tonantzin wore a white robe covered in feathers and seashells, which adorned her as the goddess promenaded among the worshippers and was ceremonially killed in a scene reminiscent of the apparent death of the sun of winter. The goddess was also known by the name of Ilamatecuhtli (‘a noble old woman’) and Cozcamiauh (‘a necklace of maize flowers’). It has been suggested that the name 'Guadalupe' is actually a corruption of a Nahuatl name, 'Coatlaxopeuh', which has been translated as 'Who Crushes the Serpent'. In this interpretation, the serpent is Quetzalcoatl, one of the chief Aztec gods, whom 'the Virgin Mary' crushed by inspiring the conversion of the natives to Catholicism. As Juan Diego walked to Mass (some sources say he was walking to the shrine of the goddess), he heard celestial music and the sound of beating wings. Presently, a maiden appeared to him, dressed in the attire of an Aztec princess, a lovely apparition who, speaking to him in his native Nahuatl language, introduced herself to the startled peasant as Maria, the Mother of God. Maria instructed the dazzled Juan to tell the Bishop of Mexico City, Juan de Zumárraga, to build her a chapel on the site. Juan did as he was bade, and quite naturally his message impressed the Bishop not at all. His Grace just as naturally demanded evidence of Juan’s fantastic story, and sent the Aztec on his way. On the next day, the farmer returned to the sight of the visitation of the Virgin, who reappeared and told Juan to climb the hill and gather an armful of Castilian roses (although December is not the season of their blooming) and to take them in his tilma, or cape, to the doubting de Zumarraga.

• • When Juan opened his cloak before the Bishop and out tumbled the ‘miraculous’ roses, His Grace fell astonished to his knees. Not only did the out-of-season flowers amaze the Bishop, but there on Juan’s cloak was an image of the Blessed Virgin just as the farmer had said she had appeared to him, with cinnamon-coloured skin, dressed in traditional Mexican clothes, and surrounded by an oval frame of stars. A church was built in 1533, on the location of the shrine of Tonantzin, and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been used by advocates of indigenous rights throughout Mexico's history, most recently by the Zapatista movement. In many places worldwide, from time immemorial, it has not been uncommon for one religion to supplant, by force or moral authority, a former religion in a certain place. Very often, as in postpagan Europe, sacred sites and the shrines built on them in prehistoric times have been converted from ‘heathen’ places of worship to Christian churches. …Just what it is about these places – a visual beauty, an attractive fragrance or ambience, healing waters, perhaps even a sacred energy – that leads a succession of differently believing people over aeons to consider a place holy, is one of the most captivating mysteries of our planet. Our Lady of Guadalupe is affectionately known as La Morenita, ‘the little dark one’, and she is revered by millions of Catholics in Mexico to this day. There annual celebrations to commemorate the Blessed Virgin and Juan Diego’s vision. These days, Juan’s tilma with the image on it hangs in the basilica built on the spot, as ordered by the convinced Bishop de Zumárraga. The image of the Virgen de Guadalupe remains clearly imprinted on the miraculous cloak without visible signs of deterioration. Or, so it is said. Sceptics, however, including some Catholics, have doubted the very existence of Juan Diego. The earliest written reference to him dates from 1648, in a publication by a Mexico City priest about Our Lady of Guadalupe. A 1649 publication in Nahuatl followed, referring to earlier Nahuatl sources that have not been found. Regardless of this, he is now Saint Juan Diego as he was canonised in the Catholic Church on July 31, 2002. When the Vatican came to canonize Juan Diego, their investigation reportedly revealed that the lowly farmer had been an Aztec prince, the son of a king of Texcoco, who helped Cortés defeat the Aztecs. It’s been suggested Juan Diego was known as Tlacateccatl (he who commands the warriors), an honorific given to generals commanding a division of 8, 000 soldiers. If he were a royal this fact might account for the fact that the Spanish Catholics in Mexico baptised large numbers of Indians after this 1531 apparition. It is said that Juan Diego died on May 30, 1548 of natural causes.

Hidalgo y la Independencia • First flag of Mexico: Virgin of Guadalupe 1810: Located north of San Miguel Allende in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, the Santuario de Atotonilco (aka: the Church of Jesus the Nazarene) is famed for its role in Mexican history. It was here, in 1810, that Miguel Hidalgo, leader of the insurgent Independence forces, took from the altar an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe as the banner of his movement. Hidalgo’s followers rallied behind the simple church banner with the Virgin of Guadalupe image. The image reminded Father Hidalgo’s followers of the important role their ancestors had played in their country’s history. [Angel with wings of green, white and red was part of the image]

La Virgen de Guadalupe Hoy Pope John Paul II celebrating Solemn Mass at the Basilica in 1999.

Créditos • • • El Santuario de Atotonilco, Guanajuato. (n. d. ). Exploring Colonial Mexico. Retrieved September, 2006, from http: //www. colonial-mexico. com/ West%20 Mexico/atotonilco. html Mexican Flags of Independence. (n. d. ). Early Texas History. Retrieved September, 2006, from http: //www. earlytexashistory. com/Tx 1836/Flags/ Mexican%20 Flags%20 of%20 Independence. html Our Lady of Guadalupe. (n. d. ). Karen's Whimsy. Retrieved September, 2006, from http: //karenswhimsy. com/our-lady-of-guadalupe. htm Our Lady Of Guadalupe: Patroness of the Americas. (n. d. ). Sancta. org. Retrieved September, 2006, from http: //www. sancta. org/ Wilson, P. (n. d. ). Wilson's Almanac on Virgin of Guadalupe or Aztec goddess? In Wilson's Almanac. Retrieved September, 2006, from http: //www. wilsonsalmanac. com/guadalup. html