Nearly Five Hundred Years of the Guadalupana Tradition

Published December 9, 2022

CARMEN RIOJA / MEXICO
Nearly Five Hundred Years of the Guadalupana Tradition
diciembre 8, 2022
By Carmen Rioja

The Mexican Virgin is known around the world, and she is celebrated every December 12 throughout Mexico and Central and Latin America. Inside temples and chapels adorned with flowers and music, hundreds of altars are dedicated to her. Followers visit her in markets, bus stations, neighborhoods, and alleys, and she is even seen in taxis and passenger buses in every town and in every city. The Guadalupana tradition is the largest pilgrimage and cultural celebration in Latin America.

With almost five hundred years of tradition, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe has gone through everything. It has been the most venerated figure for its dogma of faith throughout Latin America and a good part of the United States, it has been painted and represented in hundreds of ways and in various expressions ranging from colonial art, modern art, pop, folk, punk, tattoos, and even digital art. Her image is so beloved that a worldwide controversy arose the day a person named Wu You Lin filed a trademark registration for the image of the Virgin from China, with which he intended to collect rights to use the Virgin of Guadalupe herself.

Although this day is not an official holiday, it is considered the most important religious celebration for Mexicans almost everywhere, sometimes even more than Christmas. The celebration in Mexico is so big that it is always mentioned with sardonic humor when the Guadalupe—Tres Reyes long weekend is about to begin. It starts with the serenade of Las Mañanitas to the Virgin on December 12. Then it seems that the work year is over, and there is a return to intense work until after the day of the Three Kings, on January 6.

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