Santillan Olmos, Crystal (Week 3 La Virgen de Guadalupe)

    For me, La Virgen de Guadalupe, or how I call her La Virgencita, has always been such a powerful figure for me religiously. She has been around with me since I was born as my home has always had portraits and paintings of her. We also decide to carry her around with us in forms of necklaces or bracelets or a small picture to fit in my wallet. I have never really thought about how often she has impacted my life, but as I reflect on it I can definitely say she has gave us so much hope and love in our family. Since my family deals with a lot of problems, my mom and I always pray to La Virgencita for her protection and support. To this day, she has not failed us. For example, a long time ago one of my family members went missing for a while and my mom told me she prayed very hard to La Virgencita one night, The next day we found our family member. From that moment on, I began praying to her more often, especially since she has impacted my mom deeply. Personally, I enjoy praying to her more than other religious figures. 

    Another aspect of La Virgencita in my life is how much I realize she is talked about so much less than other religious figures in family gatherings or church. Usually I always hear my family sharing lessons about God and Jesus Christ, especially in church. But I have never once heard much about La Virgencita. I think that’s very significant because of gender roles in our family cultures, especially a catholic one. Male figures like God and Jesus Christ are talked about more because it deals with missions the power they had. Compared to La Virgencita, she is only talked about during the birth of Jesus Christ or her motherly nurturing aspects. This makes me want to explore the different sides of her in different cultures like the Aztec version of her. 

This is a graduation cap I painted for my friend a while back, which depicts her parents and her rancho back in Mexico. (A better quality image on my IG page: customzbycrystal). It also includes the two religious figures she wanted including La Virgencita. I was happy to see she wanted her on her cap because it shows that a lot of women and Chicanas feel driven to her as well. I really enjoyed painting La Virgencita because I wanted to catch her in her usual iconic pose and add all the details I stare at as I pray to her at night. It was very therapeutic for me.