notes and reflections

For the past several weeks, Morelianos have been building toward December 12, the day that celebrates the appearance in 1531, of the Virgin Mary to a simple Aztec farmer, Juan Diego. According to the legend, La Virgen Morena, the dark virgin, first showed herself to the humble peasant on December 9th, commanding him to approach the local Bishop with the request to build a church on the hill where the encounter took place.  When Juan Diego conveyed the message to the Bishop, he was met with scepticism and asked to provide proof of the vision. Three days later, on December 12th, the Virgin appeared again to Juan Diego, on the same hill, Tepeyac, located to the north of what is now Mexico City.  As proof, the Virgin told Juan Diego to pick the roses that, despite the cold weather, miraculously bloomed on the crest of the hill and take them to the Bishop.  This Juan Diego did, gathering the roses in his cloak.  When he presented them to the Bishop an image of the Virgin was revealed on the inside of his cloak. This cloak, similar to the Shroud of Turin with its image of Christ, is still on display here in Mexico 576 years later. 

Today, La Virgen de Guadalupe is adored throughout Mexico and Latin America and her day has been a national holiday since 1859.

Not far from my apartment the Calzada de Guadalupe, a stone walking street several blocks long, leads to the Church of Guadalupe.  All this past week there have been processions of worshipers bearing flowers, icons of the Virgin and candles along the Calzada at the church end of which are brightly lit carnival rides and hundreds of stalls, selling everything from food to CDs and offering games of chance such as a carnival sideshow might offer, a shooting gallery, a ball pitch and others.

Last night I witnessed two processions of worshipers accompanied by bands as they passed along the street and approached the elaborately decorated church.  The somber throngs, the music, the candles, the flowers were all quite beautiful and quite moving.  Today, I saw another group also accompanied by musicians and bearing huge floral displays and a statue of the Virgin as they danced and twirled along Morelia's main street on their way to the calzada and I was again impressed at the profound devotion so many feel toward their special virgin, La Reina de Mexico.