At the age of five my grandmother decided that I, along with dozens of other
boys, was to be Juan Diego on the day of La Virgen de Guadalupe. My grandmother
prepared for months. It took all that time to gather the money for dues given to the church
allowing the privilege, sowing my Juan Diego costume and psychologically preparing me
for the exposure. At the time it all seemed like a big game where I got to dress up. I also
had a little mustache drawn on my face to better resemble the indigenous man that was
chosen by la Virgen de Guadalupe to carry out her wishes. December 12th came and the
service was in process. My little five year old head did not understand why I had to take
white flowers to the statue. My biggest fear at the time was parading through the center
aisle with all the parishioners gazing at my little body. While all the other boys did their
duty of making tribute to la Virgen, I refused. My refusal came out of fear without
understanding the significance and privilege that was attached to this act. My
grandmother for the first time got so angry that she pinched me. She didn't do it hard but
enough to let out some of her frustration at my rebelliousness. Needless to say, I cried as
if she had whipped me.

Two years later my first pilgrimage to la Basilica was performed. My
mother had made a promise to la Virgen that needed to be carried through in our trip. The
four hour voyage from Guanajuato to Mexico City was the first step towards fulfilling la
promesa. When we arrived to the massiveness of Mexico City we worked our way
through metro stations and peseros (mini-buses) to find our way to la Villita. Arriving at
the site of la Basilica my eyes could not help but linger on the people traveling on their
knees towards la Basilica and praying. We walked to the entrance of la Basilica passing
many vendors selling religious images of every kind. Once we found ourselves in the
entrance my mother stopped and kneeled. She was fulfilling her promise. It was her turn
now to travel on her knees from the entrance up to the image of la Virgen de Guadalupe.
Without understanding my mothers' actions, I mimicked her performance and listened to
her silent prayer as we approached the image of the mother of god.
Growing up in a Catholic Mexican family is growing up with the image of the
mestiza virgin all around you. As I grew up I came to understand her significance and the
fervor in which she is idolized. Her story begins (for most) in 1531 when she appeared to
Juan Diego, an indigenous man in el cerro del Tepeyac. La Virgen appeared to Juan
Diego and Juan Bernardino claiming to be the mother of god. Her request was simple.
She wanted to have a temple built for her observance. La Virgen de Guadalupe states,
"…I am the eternally consummate virgin Saint Mary, mother of the very true deity, God,
the giver of life, the creator of people, the ever present, the lord of heaven and earth. I
greatly wish and desire that they build my temple for me here, where I will manifest,
make known, and give to people all my love, compassion, aid, and protection." Juan
Diego through hardship accomplishes what the virgin asks of him. Today in Mexico City
stand three cathedrals side by side that have been built to fulfill the request of the Virgin
that Juan Diego originally relayed to fray Juan de Zumárraga. Not all three are functional
as temples of worship (or the only ones built for la Virgen) and only the most modern
contains the holy image that appeared in Juan Diego's cloak. It took the miraculous
image of La Virgen de Guadalupe on the cloak to convince the Spanish friar that Juan
Diego's story was valid.

La Virgen del Tepeyac se llamó la virgen india, porque se estampo en una manta
hecha de plantas inidgenas, fabricada por los indios; su traje esta fromado por una
tunica de lana que baja del cuello hasta los pies y un manto que cubre su cabeza como
era el traje de las doncellas aztecas; su cabello es negro y lacio, su fisonomía
amabilísima; se aparecio a un indio y todo en ella indica algo nacional y del país
conquistado.

It is estimated that during the seven years after her apparition eight million
indigenous people were baptized into the Catholic faith. No one has argued that her
apparition is solely responsible for the conversion rate but it certainly seems as if her
image aided in the process of baptizing Meso-Americans into Catholicism. The image of
la Virgen de Guadalupe is one that is regarded to be of utmost relevance to Mexicans,
both in Mexico and the United States. Her relevance is not something that has developed
through time but something that already existed even before she appeared to Juan Diego
and interpreted by the Spanish to be la Virgen de Guadalupe. The name of Guadalupe
comes with some controversy. There is the belief of some that argue that la Virgen de
Guadalupe del Tepeyac is the same as Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Extremadura. The
latter was a virgin whom had as a faithful follower Hernán Cortés. So the Spanish heard
Guadalupe and were content with the name since they could connect it to the virgin of
Cortés' hometown, Extremadura. Yet, when the virgin appeared to Juan Bernardino and
he asked her name she answered that she was the Immaculate Virgin, Holy Mother of
Guadalupe. When the Virgin addressed Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino she addressed
them in Nahuatl. Andrés G. Guerrero in A Chicano Theology argues that it is possible
that what Juan Bernardino heard was the Virgin say Coatlaxopeuh, which is pronounced
Cuatlashupe. Coatl means serpent.

The connections to the indigenous past that la Virgen de Guadalupe brings forth
are many. Her appearance in Tepeyac where the Aztec goddess Tonantzin (meaning
nuestra madre or our mother) was worshipped is one of the strongest ties to the pre-
Catholic past. This attests to the majority of the Mexican indigenous peoples' ignorance
of the Spanish name "Guadalupe" well into the 18th century. The common or preferred
name was that of nuestra madre, Tonantzin. The symbolism of the serpent was
entrenched in the Mexica religion. Tonantzin was la serpíente encantada or enchanted
serpent who took many forms or was known by different names: Yollotlicue,
Cuahuicihuatl, Yaocihuatl, Tzetximihuatl, etc. The versions of who Tonantzin was and
how important she was vary depending on whom is giving the account. In general the
writers agree that Tonantzin was a major divinity, her space of worship or temple was on
Tepeyac (where the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego) and that Meso-Americans came from
all over to celebrate her feasts. Tonantzin was also known as Cihuacóatl. Cihuacóatl was
part of the duality composed by Quetzalcóatl and the goddess. These two made up the
divine pair in which the principal of Mexica duality, Ometéotl, existed. Here the
beginning of all life and of all things originated. La Virgen mestiza strategically
appeared as an image of connection. La Virgen, "appeared as an Aztec. No Indian
doubted that she was Indian. Moreover, she appeared to an Indian, one of the
downtrodden, not to a Spaniard. We could say that, politically, she appeared on the side
of the oppressed."

The connection that La Virgen de Guadalupe has to Tonantzin is more
than coincidence. I would like to argue that today the image of la Virgen has developed
into forgotten memory not really forgotten. Joseph Roach in Cities of the Dead utilizes
the process of surrogation to explain the filling of loss with alternates. So in Roach's
terms, La Virgen de Guadalupe is filling the lost space created by the violent repression
of the worship of Tonantzin. All of the "coincidences" attributed to the relationship
between the two are not as relevant as what is remembered by those that worshipped
Tonantzin and whose descendants now worship La Virgen de Guadalupe. The traditional
pilgrimage to Tepeyac in honor of Tonantzin (attested to by Sahagun in the 16th century,
by Torquemada in the 17th century, by Fray Servando Teresa de Mier in the 18th
century) still continues today via la Virgen de Guadalupe. The performance of the
pilgrimage is giving reverence to the original as well as the stand in. Roach explains
performance as the process of trying out, as for a part in a movie, various candidates to
supplement the original. La Virgen de Guadalupe is not an alternate necessarily but a
forced evolution. Although Tonantzin is no longer known in her ancient form, the
physical memory of her worshippers remains intact. La Virgen de Guadalupe as an effigy
evokes an absence, gives body to something from the distant past. Roach explains that an
effigy, by means of surrogation, fills a vacancy created by the absence of the original. La
Virgen de Guadalupe; therefore, produces the memory of Tonantzin via surrogation.

…it is that in all modes of experience we always base our particular experiences on a
prior context in order to ensure that they are intelligible at all; that prior to any single
experience, our mind is already predisposed with a framework of outlines, of typical
shapes of experienced objects.
The framework that Mexicans work with to worship la Virgen de Guadalupe is
one that was outlined before the Spanish imposed Catholic ritual. The recollection and
bodies of the participants in pilgrimages attest to the survival of memories that people
were forced to forget. The form of organized forgetting utilized by the Spanish upon the
indigenous groups of Meso-America created with force a need to survive among people,
"…who realized that the struggle of citizens against state power is the struggle of their
memory against forced forgetting, and who made it their aim from the beginning not only
to save themselves but to survive as witnesses to later generations, to become relentless
recorders." Our ancestors found an opportunity to continue the worship of Tonantzin
via La Virgen de Guadalupe, who eventually became the legitimate mother of god in the
eyes of the Catholic church. Through commemorative and bodily practices the
performance of recollection has maintained the connection among mestizo Mexicans of
today with their indigenous fathers and mothers of yesterday. The pilgrimage, flowers,
incense, promises to the Virgin, Tepeyac, offerings, her mestiza image (and countless
other links) through the memory of the body have maintained their original significance
of identity within a different belief system.

Via the accepted belief system Mexicans today utilize the image of la Virgen de
Guadalupe as a symbol of struggle and perseverance. The political significance of the
symbol of Guadalupe and her unifying strength is present not only today but comes from
a tradition of using her to combat injustice. Hidalgo used the image in the uprising
against the Spanish, Zapata carried her through the fight for justice during the revolution,
Chavez unified farm workers with the same image to fight for worker's rights. Although
she is seen as a symbol of unity among all, women have especially utilized la Virgen as a
means to re-evaluate their identities as Mexican women. In the documentary Flowers for
Guadalupe women explain how the image of la Virgen is a part of their lives. All women
pilgrimages have been organized as a means to acknowledge the contribution of women
within a structure that maintains their status as secondary to male worshippers. The
organization of these women goes beyond exposing matters of worship but includes
societal awareness of their second class position in Mexico. Individual after individual in
the documentary explains how she sees herself in the image of la Virgen. The mestiza
resemblance is one of the most powerful connections these women have to the celestial
image. The interviews of these women are all passionate revelations of their faith to the
female idol and she is seen as, "la Virgen como nuestra protectora, nuestra guerrillera…"
The protection and justification for struggle against injustice is what pulls these women
to find empowerment through the image. The fact that she herself is female and that she
appeared to a commoner and entrusted him with a celestial duty allows the utterance of,
"si valgo." La Virgen is not only female but ready to give birth and she is seen as,
"ready to give birth to a new woman whose been forced into a certain position. La Virgen
has the power of transformation for la campesina."

Mexicana-Chicana women have also used the image of la Virgen to proclaim and
evaluate their identities as meztisa women. Sandra Cisneros writes, "My Virgen de
Guadalupe is not the mother of God. She is a face of god without a face, an indígena for a
god without ethnicity, a female deity for a god who is genderless, but I also understand
that for her to approach me, for me to finally open the door and accept her, she had to be
a woman like me." La Virgen de Guadalupe as a religious, political and cultural image
of the Mexicano-Chicano encompasses every aspect of the formation of a unique identity.
The fact that she appeared to a commoner who could identify with her because of her link
to Tonantzin is a testament to her taking up the psychological and physical devastation of
a people. The mirror reflection that Mexicans, within/without borders, see upon her
image could be that direct relationship to the past (Tonantzin) as well as a reminder of the
creation of mestizaje and the continued need to persevere against all odds. She has
become a symbol of hope and faith. Mexicans have placed upon her the responsibility to
sustain and insure survival. And unlike, Malinche, there is no conflict or challenge in
siding with her. She appeared to Juan Diego as god's messenger. Malinche is thought of
as an evil goddess and creator of a new race. Whenever you hear Malinche mentioned it
is in reference to illegitimacy or selling out your own people. The responsibility of the
conquest is laid upon her shoulders. Andrés G. Guerrero in his Chicano Theology adds
that, "Guadalupe is the Virgin Mother and la Malinche is the raped mother. For Mexicans
and Chicanos both are our mothers. One is our spiritual mother and the other is one that
has been violated."

Questions arise as to how valid her image is as a means to empower her people. It
is without doubt that her image has been used as a means of empowerment. La Virgen
has played a significant role in forming the identity of her people. And as I have tried to
argue here she has also been a source that links Mexicanos and Mexicano-Chicanos to
our ancestors. It is through our commemorative and bodily practices that we remember
the forgotten past. She is present as a visual that traces the formation of a race in
resistance to what Malinche represents. She is the hope of our people while Malinche
represents that which we would rather forget. And what we would rather forget is that
Guadalupe's evolution or transformation from Tonantzin to a Catholic deity, brought
with her societal structures that to this day have not been able to address the genocide
performed by the Catholic church, racial stratification or gender oppression. The issues at
hand are precisely what need to be addressed in relation to our historical formation while
affirming our bodies as conveyors of the memory of a people that have continued to
survive through our recollections.
 
 

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