La Virgen de Guadalupe has always been a religious figure to me. I grew up knowing that she was an important figure in Mexican culture because she not only represents the Mexican culture, she represents Mexican identity. However, to me Our Lady of Guadalupe not only brings out Mexican culture she brings out this sense of hope. Each year, on December 12th, we come together as a community and celebrate in her honor. We normally take her flowers to church and play las mañaitas. It is a traditional thing that we do in her honor. Moreso, I came to know about her when I first started going to catechismo back when I was in second grade. That's when I first learned about the bible as a whole and the importance of her as an Icon. Even though I would go to church, I didn’t really learn much about her because the discussions we would have about her were short. She was only mentioned as “important,” from what I recall. Therefore, I grew up knowing that she was an important figure to our culture. I did learn more about her when I took a Chicano class my first year at UCLA. It was then when I learned more about her as an important icon in Mexican culture. It was also then when the Virgin Mary came into discussion. I always thought that they were the same person, but I found out recently that they are not the same person. And even though these figures are not the same person, there's still a lot of people out there that think otherwise. They believe that these two figures are the same and that is due in part to being misunderstood and are taking in the wrong ideas about them. However, I do look forward to learning more about them because the Virgen de Guadalupe represents Mexican identity.
Hi Marina! I love how you expressed that La Virgen De Guadalupe "brings out this sense of hope". I too expressed this in my blog post; even though I don't personally come from Mexican descent, I've been surrounded by amazing Mexican friends throughout my time in high school. Learning how La Virgen De Guadalupe is more than just a figure to express one's Mexican identity, but as a representation of hope really caught my attention. I first discovered this when my teammates grabbed and held onto their La Virgen De Guadalupe necklace piece for that sense of hope and good luck. I hope to learn more about La Virgen De Guadalupe, and I would love to learn more how she played a substantial role in your life. Great blog post!
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