Hovhannisyan, Gagik

Hi class!

Before this assignment, I did not know much about the Virgin of Guadalupe.  I am a Christian myself(but not Catholic) and of course I knew about Saint Mary.  I have always heard of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but still did not know if it was about the same person because before I did not dive into Chicano/Latino culture.  

I, myself, am religious and do believe in God.  I was born and raised in a Christian family and country.  The  country I was born in is the first country to adopt Christianity as their religion in the year 301.  One of the oldest Christian churches is located in Armenia(Mother See Holy of Etchmiadzin) and is the governing body of the Armenian Apostolic Church. 

I was always interested in researching the Virgin of Guadalupe and always wanted to research about it to finally find out if it was referring to Saint Mary.  I thought that it might just be somebody symbolizing Christianity in Mexico.  After seeing the prompt of this week I was really happy because it kinda gave me a reason to do a little research about it.  

Today I found out that on December 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the Virgin of Guadalupe. And the history behind it is that, in 1531, Saint Mary appeared to an Indian man in Mexico City. She spoke to him and asked the Indian man to go to the bishop and ask that a shrine be built on the site of her appearance. As proof of who was making the request, roses miraculously bloomed on the hillside even though it was already December. Saint Mary arranged the roses in the Indian man’s cape, called a tilma, and he took it to the bishop. When the cloak was opened, an image of Mary miraculously appeared on its surface. The tilma with the image of Mary is still on display at the Basilica of Guadalupe.