Crowd Flocks to Celebrate Day of Virgin

As she has every year on the day set aside to honor the patron saint of Mexico, Maria Hernandez awoke hours before dawn Saturday and embarked on a pilgrimage meant to demonstrate her faith and answer her prayers.

Dressed in the traditional Indian garb of her native Mexico, Hernandez, 59, arrived before 3 a.m. on foot at her La Colonia neighborhood church, which by daybreak would overflow with more than 1,000 parishioners.

On a day when Latinos worldwide flock to churches to celebrate the feast day for the Virgin of Guadalupe, Hernandez had come seeking divine intervention for a niece battling cancer. After Saturday, she was sure her prayers would be answered.

“For me, for my family, there is no more important day,” said Hernandez, an Oxnard packing house worker who took part in the celebration at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

“The Virgin has done many miracles for me over the years,” she said. “I have a grand faith that she will continue to do so.”

Across Ventura County on Saturday, thousands of Roman Catholics participated in similar observances for El Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe--The Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

It is one of the biggest religious celebrations of the year for people of Latino descent, who believe the Virgin Mary appeared as a native woman in Mexico on Dec. 12, 1531.

Tradition holds that she appeared to the peasant Indian, Juan Diego, on a hill at Tepeyac, northwest of Mexico City. Since then, the Virgin has been widely revered by Latin Americans, who view her as the protector of the downtrodden and oppressed.

The apparition also is significant because its appearance marked the start of Roman Catholicism’s popularity in Mexico, said the Rev. Eusevio Elizondo, spiritual leader of the 8,000-member Oxnard church.

“She really united a nation,” said Elizondo, adding that the event healed a long-standing rift between indigenous Mexicans and conquering Spaniards and led to the conversion of more than 5 million people over the next five years. “It’s a celebration of our history.”

At Our Lady of Guadalupe, the celebration started early. A troupe of native Mexican dancers performed at 1 a.m. as parishioners started filling the La Colonia church.

By the time Hernandez arrived, the church was already half full and a long line of worshipers clogged the aisles, waiting to deliver flowers and candles to the altar. And when the line stopped moving, people passed the offerings to ushers who fit them in where they could.

Backed by the church choir, two mariachi bands took turns belting out songs. Most people knew the words and sang along.

“It’s a very beautiful occasion,” said farm worker Rafael Rodriguez, 19, who stood in a flower delivery line with a couple of buddies. “This is for our mother, our protector, to show our love for her.”

The celebration eventually spilled outside, where vendors sold everything from flowers and tamales to glow-in-the-dark headbands sporting springy antennas topped with alien faces. A second dance troupe, Danza Jovenes del Tepeyac, performed on the sidewalk, their purple costumes and white headdresses becoming a blur as the dancers whirled to the pounding beat of a bass drum.

“This is our way of giving thanks to the Virgin,” said troupe member Lucio Torres, 24, taking a break between numbers.

There were many thanks being offered. As part of the day’s tradition, parishioners expressing appreciation for blessings in their lives or asking favors of the Virgin dress in traditional native clothing.

Oxnard resident Ramon Marcos dressed his grandson, Jose, 4, in a straw hat and Mexican serape to give thanks for the youngster’s having overcome an illness. And Johanna Guadalupe Garcia, 17, a senior at Oxnard High School, wore a traditional dress to give thanks for the recovery earlier this year of the family’s stolen automobile.

“My mother made it for me last night,” she said of the long white dress striped with red, white and green ribbon to represent the colors of the Mexican flag. “It’s like a tradition in our family to give thanks for the good things that happen.”

For Hernandez, her native outfit served a dual purpose. She wanted to demonstrate her appreciation for what she believed were past miracles, including the disappearance of her daughter’s epileptic seizures and her sister’s polio. But she also wanted to ask the Virgin to heal a family member stricken with cancer.

She had gone to church for the last nine days to pray for another miracle. And as she left church Saturday, she believed it would happen.

“Having faith is what this day is all about,” she said.