Diaz, Hector (Week 3)

     I grew up in a Cathloic household so the Virgen de Guadalupe was introduced to me early on. My earliest memory of her image is her birthday on December 12th. In my town, the Catholic community gets together to celebrate her birthday by participating in a “peregrinación” (pilgrimage). We begin in a neighborhood early at 9 am and everyone prepares their floats about the Virgen honoring her image. Then the cars with the floats, horses, and people start moving slowly while singing various songs to the Virgen de Guadalupe. Here, I recall seeing women dress up as the Virgen de Guadalupe on each float, and each float depicted a different appearance of her. I always saw this celebration as something that united the community. I would see friends and other community members that I would not typically see elsewhere. I even participated in one of the floats for one year. Similarly, going to Church in the morning for her birthday (around 5 am) was something we used to do as a family, and they would offer hot chocolate and bread. As I grew older, I learned that the Virgen de Guadalupe was a mother that we can pray to in order to help us get closer to God. Thus, her image always reminds me of purity, motherhood, and safety.

    Also, it’s interesting to hear about experiences from others. I’ve heard that people see her in their dreams, or that she appears in some shape or form in a location after a natural disaster or event. Thus, I also associate her with hope and faith. I am not the best practicing Catholic, but from my experience, Virgen de Guadalupe is a very admired person. In addition, I have seen how prominent her image is and how well-known it is because she appears in many places and many religious people carry around a bracelet or necklace with her image. 

    Interestingly, I haven’t really seen other depictions of the Virgen de Guadalupe, until lecture on Thursday. I am interested in reading more about the image on the cover of “Yolanda M. Lopez” because I have never seen this image and I’d like to learn what it represents for others.