As a Chicana myself, the traditions and beliefs that my parents held trickled down to my siblings and I. Even though my siblings and I were born here, mour Mexican roots will always be engraved within us. Along with blood ties to our Mexican origins, we also carry the beliefs and religion that was primarily practiced where both of my parents are from in Mexico. We listened to the ideas of catholicism (although now I am discovering what religion means to me). When my family faced tribulations with the separation of my parents in 2011, my mother really enforced the religion upon my siblings and I. We used to have sparse reminders of catholicism in the home which were seen through crosses on the walls or necklaces which served as reminders, but then it became one our identity. I remember we would go to church twice a week and primarily go to the Virgen de Guadalupe altar that was on the right side of the church. We additionally got more reminders of our faith in the home that were seen through bigger paintings or statues and candles of the Virgen de Guadalupe and other saints such as San Juditas. Even now, 10 years later, we continue to have this Virgen de Guadalupe painting which we posted on a wall where we exclusively have bouquets of flowers and fairy lights to honor her. We do not continue to go everyday, and like I said, I am trying to discover my own faith now, but we continue to have this mini “altar” for her. Another way that I remember la Virgen de Guadalupe is through one of the novelas that we would watch on Univision 34. Since we didn’t have cable, this was one of the main things that my siblings and I would watch growing up. Each episode had a different lesson that people could learn from where la Virgen played a major role in the characters figuring things out or working out for them.
This is our mini altar:
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