The Virgen de Guadalupe has been making her way into our life of late. Living in Austin, Texas, for several years, we saw her on grocery store candles and in roadside shrines. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church sits resolutely in a challenging neighborhood on the east side and she peers out of tiny retablos at Tesoro’s Trading Company on South Congress. 
We continue to see her here in Florida. There is a large painting of her on the side of Lucy’s Super Market in Avon Park. I found a prayer card with her image tucked into a sign atop a gas pump. When Jamie had a dream that a groovy shaman had tattooed Our Lady’s image onto his wrist we agreed it was time we paid more attention to this mysterious lady. Unexpectedly we found a small poster of her at Om Gaia here in Bradenton while at the Saturday Farmer’s Market. The sale included some strands of beads for the Hernando DeSoto Grande Parade that evening but they quickly became our first addition to the little shrine in our kitchen. Curious about her origins, I began to troll the internet for her story and found a wonderful assortment of images and information.
La Virgen de Guadalupe is known as ‘Mother of the Americas’, an image under which the many conquered nation states of Mexico were united to form our modern idea of Mexico. Having been a country of many languages and invasions, it was the appearance of the Virgin in 1531 that lead to a galvanization of Catholicism with indigenous pride and practice of the local people. Judy King, in her article “La Virgen de Guadalupe: Mother of All Mexico” writes this:
The appearance of Guadalupe on Tepeyac, the site of the destroyed Aztec temple of Tonantzin, the Mother Earth Goddess restored the dignity and the spirit of the people. Her arrival is said to mark the birth of a new land and a new people, neither European nor prehispanic, but both, the first product of the New World. Even her physical appearance announced the newness of this world, for her face looked neither like the Spanish nor the Indian. Her lovely features are the pleasant mixture of both - she is a Mestizo, the first Mexican.
King goes on to say:
It has never occurred to Guadalupanas that others could see the image as flat, and tacky, a two dimensional piece of religious art. They cannot believe that others are missing out on the unconditional love that makes the Virgin multi-dimensional, alive, and a very real part of the family. She IS, after all, their MOTHER, she is always there, waiting to be consulted, waiting to be consoling, waiting to listen, waiting to speak, to enfold them in her arms, to pull them on to her lap.
Octavio Paz, the Mexican writer and Nobel Prize winner said, "When Mexicans no longer believe in anything, they will still hold fast to their belief in two things: the National Lottery and the Virgin of Guadalupe. In this I think they will do well. For both have been known to work, even for those of us who believe in nothing."
Inspiring such devotion, it is really no surprise that the image of Our Lady is so joyously embraced and shared, whether on the back of matchbooks, in celebrated cathedrals or on the banners of the United Farm Workers. We create to tell our stories, to ask for understanding and to show our love and appreciation.
Last Saturday, at a Bradentucky Bombers roller derby match here in town, I noticed a large tattoo of La Virgen on the slim, fishnet-stockinged thigh of a Gainseville Roller Rebel. By the end of the bout the fishnets were torn but Our Lady took her victory lap with pride and grace. That seems to be what she does best.
 |
| Nuestra Senora (acrylic on canvas by Wren Davis Pearson) |
No comments:
Post a Comment