Our Lady of Guadalupe
Alicia Gonzalez, professor of folklore at the University of Texas at Austin, discusses the image of the Virgin de Guadalupe and her role in uniting and symbolizing the Mexican community, from her appearance in 1531 to the farm worker’s movement. Our lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego in the 16^th century, as a mestiza. Her appearance symbolized the religious syncretism that would come to mark Mexican Catholicism and facilitated the conversion of the Aztecs.
Gonzalez discusses the similarities between Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Aztec goddess Tonantzin or Coatlicue, whose temple was located in Tepeyec where the Virgin appeared. Gonzalez also discusses allegations that the Spanish missionaries may have invented her to help facilitate conversion. The discussion explores Our Lady of Guadalupe’s importance as a symbol of Mexican identity and unity and how she came to take on such significance during the War for Independence from Spain. She argues that the Virgin’s appearance to the lowly Juan Diego foretold her later significance as a symbol of resistance and struggle.
Father Burnett discussed the place of Our Lady of Guadalupe in key events in Mexican and Chicano history. He notes that Father Miguel Hidalgo's troops flew placards of La Virgen de Guadalupe when they went into battle in Guanajuato, that some battalions in the Revolution unfurled the virgin before they went into battle, and that she seems to be involved whenever campesinos or workers fight for dignity and respect.
KEYWORDS
AztecsBasilica de Guadalupe
Catholicism
Coatlicue
Colonialism
Conquest
Cultural Appropriation
Ethnic Identity
Farm Workers
Gender
Juan Diego
Marianismo
Mariolatry
Mestizo
Nahuatl
National Identity
Nationalism
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Patriarchy
Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
Religion
Religious Identity
Rosa Linda Fregoso
Spaniards
Syncretism
Tonantzin
United Farm Workers
Virgen de los Remedios
Virgin