Monday, December 14, 2009

Mexicans take the Virgins Seriously


December 12th marked the Fiesta de la Virgin de Guadalupe. You might recognize her if you have ever spent any time in Latin American. She is the patron saint of the indigenous, the poor, the farmer. As the story goes, she appeared to a poor laborer twice, the second time performing a miracle (because appearing out of thin air is not cool enough) by marking the poor hill person's blanket with her image. She had beseached the bishop to build a church in her honor where she had appeared. In Mexico City you can evidently go to see the original blanket with her image.
Her image is everywhere: bags, statues, t-shirts, temporary tattoos. In every town, city, corner of a market you can find her. She is never far from sight.
Her festival follows the Virgin of Jualita, who was celebrated last weekend (cont ant fireworks, marching bands and mini parades for about 48 hours straight). In a few days (the 16-18) we will celebrate the Virgin of the Soledad.
A celebration in Mexico involves at least a few basics: Parades, Bands, Food, People, and likely a Mass of some sort.
On Friday Ralph and I started with Mass. We arrived shortly after mass started, about 11:00 p.m. Although there were no pews set up in church, we stood and listen and watched. The church, at 11 at night, was packed! Young and old, dressed to the nines or in jeans, people weaved in and out of the church to listen to the priest tell us that the problems of Oaxaca can be solved. Just pray. Pray to the Virgin. We scooted out of the church when they started communion. With that many people, it would be 2 in the morning by the time losing prayers were said!
The Virgin of Guadalupe church in Oaxaca sits at the north end of what is formally called Parque Juarez, or El Llano, locally. The park was completely taken over with vendors. From food to cell phones, religious statues to padded bras, stand after stand had something to offer the devout. We headed back there on Saturday and spent a few hours walking around. A mariachi singer dedicated a song to us, "My Way"! We sang along with him and I told Ralph we needed to learn the lyrics in Spanish.

As part of the festival, your child could get their picture taken on a real donkey in front of an altar with the Virgin statue will lit and prominent. The kids get dressed up, little boys as the poor Indian who sacrificed his blanket in the Virgin's name, and the girls in traditional dress. Ralph and I sat and enjoyed a bit of people watching from the sidelines for a bit, other families doing the same joined us on our little corner away from the packed frenzy of the park.

Oh! I almost forgot the rides. Tons of kids rides, Exhibition style, scattered around the park. A huge jumpy castle, the bungee trampoline ride, and everything was free. I almost wished I was 5 again, but likely my mother would never have let me on one of those rides! "Not safe.", she would have said.

I am anxious to see what the Fiesta of the Virgin of Soledad has in store for us...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

who knew there were so many Virgins in Mexico?