Argueza, Leigh Anne (Week 3: La Virgen de Guadelupe)

When I was younger, I was exposed to La Virgen de Guadelupe through votive candles and altars that were erected for her in multiple religious institutions, friend’s homes, and medallions that were paired with school uniforms. The image of her is very prevalent in and around town, so my familiarity with Her originates back to when my family first moved to Monterey. It was all through happenstance. As someone who grew up in a Catholic home, Sunday mass was filled more with images of a crucified Jesus than Her. It was not until after my mother suddenly decided to practice her faith from the comfort of her home that I began to see less iconography in our household- I believed it became more about the act versus the image and that realization has stuck with me until now. As a direct result from my mother’s decision to move away from Sunday masses, I became more aware of different religions and their interrelated iconography that had similar characteristics and traits to La Virgen de Guadelupe. My experience with Her in my daily life became more frequent when my previous employer hired me. He was an avid church attendee and he chose to decorate his family business with a few images from our faith, which included a three-foot statue of La Vigen de Guadelupe that was atop the employee side entrance. Every November 2, or All Souls day, like clockwork, we would be invited to decorate Her altar with incense, votive candles, and photographs of any loved ones we wanted to commemorate and keep their photographs up the entire month. November was not the only time we decided to decorate Her altar. In fact, almost all customers of the Chicanx community who frequented the business would bring roses for their gardens as an offering. While my experience with her when I was younger was minimal, I still believe Her to be a part of the last few years I had. Her essence was comforting and it always felt like she was protecting from under her gaze whenever I walked through the door. Below I have included a book that my employer lent me pretty recently about Her because I mentioned we were learning about Her in this course. I’m wondering if anyone else has perused it here.