COMMITMENTS : The Lady of Guadalupe Reaches Across Generations

Without realizing it, a teenage girl who wears a T-shirt with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the elderly woman who is a member of the Guadalupe Society are both part of an ancient tradition.

Both believe that the dark-skinned Madonna will protect them from harm, although they have very different reasons for their belief. The young girl might be a gang member and the elderly woman may simply be a devout Catholic. But they share an implicit faith in Guadalupe that works miracles in their eyes.

This month is filled with observances of the feast day Tuesday of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas. For many Mexican Americans who choose to continue the tradition of honoring the figure of Mary, the mother of Jesus has become an integral part of their psyche and culture. Some historians even recognize her as the prime symbol of Mexico.

The tradition continues in Latino communities despite the increasing secularization and assimilation of the Mexican American culture into the U.S. mainstream. But it is a tradition that could die out through ignorance about the real significance of the dark-skinned Madonna.

The legend of the Virgin of Guadalupe begins in 1531, about 10 years after the Spaniards had conquered Mexico. According to the official story, on a cold December day a dark-skinned lady appears to a poor Indian named Juan Diego as he passes the hill of Tepeyac. She asks him in his native tongue of Nahuatl to go to the bishop of Mexico City and request that a church be built at that spot.

Juan Diego goes to the bishop but is rebuffed. How could the Mother of Jesus reveal herself to such a humble Indian?

He returns to Tepeyac, whereupon the Virgin tells him to pick the roses from a bush that is blooming in midwinter and take them to the bishop. After he collects the roses in his tilma (cloak) and opens it for the bishop, a magnificent color image of the Madonna, surrounded by a blazing solar corona, is imprinted on it. The church is built. Eventually a basilica to the Virgin is constructed.

Tens of thousands now make annual pilgrimages to the site. Indeed, devotion to her in Mexico is far greater than to any saint in the Catholic hierarchy. But this can be traced to pre-Columbian belief systems.

It is known that the indigenous people believed the site of the apparition was a sacred hill, dedicated to the Aztec mother goddess, Tonantzin. In fact, a temple to the goddess stood at the site where the first church was built to Guadalupe.

Similarities between Tonantzin and Guadalupe can easily be observed: Tonantzin was associated with the moon, and Guadalupe stands on a crescent moon. Tonantzin was seen as a nurturing, all-loving mother, and Guadalupe is considered likewise: They were both referred to as “our holy Mother.”

This Madonna is very different from traditional European images of the Virgin--she stands alone, in her own right, without the Christ Child in her arms, just as Tonantzin was worshiped. And, equally important, she is pictured with the indigenous custom of a tassel, or maternity band, at her waist to indicate her pregnancy.

So when the apparition took place, it was easy for the Indians to accept this new, revised version of their female deity, Tonantzin, thereby facilitating their conversion to Christianity.

Through the past four centuries, she has evolved into a uniquely American icon. Guadalupe is both indigenous and Spanish and therefore mestiza --like most Mexicans and Mexican Americans. She is both earth mother and Holy Mother and therefore both sacred and secular--as are many aspects of the Latino culture.