Blog 5: La Virgen de Guadalupe

 La Virgen de Guadalupe is an image I’ve been surrounded by my whole life and has definitely been a symbol of my Mexican American identity. Being a Mexican American raised in a predominantly Latinx community in Los Angeles, I’ve seen the image of Guadalupe painted on many of the liquor stores walls on my street. Being raised a Catholic, I remember having a cartoon image of La Virgen de Guadalupe hanging on the wall next to my bed. Although I don’t consider myself to be very religious and I don’t attend mass as much as I used to as a kid, I still see La Virgen as a symbol of faith and culture. However, La Virgen has created this ideal image of perfection that many Latinx women are expected to achieve. Subconsciously, I believe this influenced my idea of how I was supposed to behave at a very young age. Although I consider my overall experience and my knowledge of La Virgen to have been positive, I don’t think I was able to have a relationship with her as a child without feeling a sense of disappointment in myself. Again, the pressure of having to be a perfect daughter, sister, friend, and Mexican American was based on this one ideal image. However, this class has exposed me to different versions of La Virgen I can better connect to. For example, Yolanda Lopez’s Virgen Running was an image of La Virgen I can connect to. My mother was a Track and Field running champion and I’ve been a long-distance runner since middle school. Therefore, when I saw Virgen Running, I saw my mother and myself. I saw a more accurate depiction of what it means to me to be a Mexican American woman. Although I don’t see myself in the original image of La Virgen, I still recognize La Virgen as a strong symbol of my faith and culture.