La Virgen De Guadalupe has a great influence and devotion in my family and friends. Growing up I have always been surrounded with her iconic image; whether it was in church, murals, or street art she is always seen where you ever you turn in Los Angeles. A specific memory I had was when I was about 9 years old, my family and I had gone to our city's church on her birthday to go walk to a mural. There my mom had bought me a straw figure of her to hold up as we were walking. That was the very first moment I found joy in participating in going to celebrate my faith. Although, my parents never enforced Catholicism onto my siblings and I, I have always held La Virgen De Guadalupe ever since that day. Going on to recants years, I can see this same devotion my parents have on my friends. They love to buy her flowers and place them on murals or statues of her that they have in their homes. My friends also have necklaces with her images on it and always wear it because of the love they have for her. They also pray to her for their protection one example, is that my Mom and some of my friends always do a little prayer entering the freeway for protection from her. No matter what I will never been able to escape La Virgen De Guadalupe but to me it is a blessing to always witness the love my close ones have for her.
Although, I have always been surrounded by her image it stills has always been hard for me to accept religion into my life because of topics I believe in like gay marriage rights, LGBTQ+ rights and abortion rights. This class, more specifically the work of our professor Alma Lopez has allowed me to open those doors again. She allows me to do so by reimagining a feminist Virgen de Guadalupe. In my opinion, religion and icons should be reimagined to fit to how our society is advancing because if we do not open to this change, we will always be stuck in the past.
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