La Virgen de Guadalupe Welcomes Our Arrival
The entrance of our house was clearly visible on Google Maps street view, making Callejon de las Cuevitas 26 easy to spot, especially since the entrance is bordered by painted shrines of Jesus on one side and the Virgin Guadalupe on the other side of the steel sliding gates, and the address numbers areclearly posted on the gate:
The steel gates of Cuevitas 26. Note shrine to Jesus to the left. Cuevitas is a one-way street which, because of road construction, is blocked off, making it difficult to turn around. Trucks that have business on the street—garbage, deliveries, etc—either back in or back out.
For almost five hundred years the Virgin of Guadalupe, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, has embodied the spirit and identity of the Mexican people (as well as people in Latin American in general and the southwestern U.S.).
Our Lady on the side of an ice cream truck. From “Ice cream truck” by Brenda, age 15 – Boyle Heights
Amazing tattoo of Our Lady, courtesy of mamaslatinas
The ubiquitous image of the Virgin Mary is symbolically powerful to all who seek her protection and comfort. And no matter where you go in Mexico, her image is everywhere—the small image painted on a door, the statue nestled into an alcove built into the outside wall of a house, massive murals spray painted on the sides of buildings, and tattoos of all shapes, sizes, and locations.
And so, December 12th holds a special significance for millions of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. On that date in 1531 the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared to a Mexican peasant by the Spanish name of Juan Diego. She appeared to him as dark skinned and asked him in Nahuatl, his native language, to build a church on a hill in his village.
Juan Diego went to Mexico City to tell the Archbishop what had happened, and he sent him away, telling him to bring him a miracle. When he returned to the Archbishop, he carried a handful of Castilian roses the Virgin had provided him— fully bloomed flowers from Spain, not native to Mexico, in the dead of winter. (see the L.A. Times article: “How the Virgin of Guadalupe Embodied Mexican Identity and Inspired Millions, Including Pope Francis”).
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