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December 12, 2014 · 9:00 am

Christmas in México–La Virgen de Guadalupe

The Virgen de Guadalupe (Virgin of Guadalupe), a.k.a. Nuestra Reina de México, La Empresa de las Americas and The Protectress of Unborn Children, is the most revered religious and political image in México and her feast day on December 12 kicks off the Christmas season in grand style.

So who is the Virgin of Guadalupe? According to Catholic sources, on December 9, 1531, a peasant by the name of Juan Diego, saw a vision on the Hill of Tepeyac, outside of Mexico City. The site was formerly a shrine in honor of the goddess Tonantzin, “Our Sacred Mother” but had been burnt to the ground by the Catholic missionaries. The reported vision was in the form of a young dark-skinned girl and spoke Nahuatl, an indigenous language. She instructed Juan Diego to build a shrine in her honor at this site. Juan Diego went and told the Archbishop this story. Juan Diego insisted that this vision was the La Virgen María (the Virgin Mary), but the Archbishop wanted proof, so Juan Diego returned to the site and asked for a miracle. The vision told Juan Diego to gather flowers, and the apparition arranged them on his poncho. When Juan Diego opened his poncho in front of the Archbishop on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and the fabric showed an imprint of the image known today as the Virgen de Guadalupe. (LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE)

Juan Diego was given sainthood, and the Catholics were given México.The poncho (tilma) is on display in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe behind bulletproof, climate-controlled glass, for any who wish to see but not touch. So basically, La Virgen de Guadalupe is Mary, the mother of Jesus, but not.

Even more than the religious influence, the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe has been a unifying political force in México. The first president of México, José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix changed his name to Guadalupe Victoria (Victory of Guadalupe) in her honor. Father Miguel Hidalgo, in the Mexican War of Independence (1810), and Emiliano Zapata, in the Mexican Revolution (1910), led their armies with Guadalupan flags emblazoned with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. El Grito de Dolores, (See Mexican Independence Day) ends with the passionate cry of “Death to the Spaniards and long live the Virgin of Guadalupe. José María Morelos adopted the Virgin as the seal of his Congress of Chilpancingo. All because her blessing guarantees success like no other to a true Mexican.

This holds true for namesakes as well. There is no end to the men and women (Lupes, Lupillos, Lupitas, Lupillas) that carry the sacred name of La Virgen as their personal Saint and enjoy the festivities on December 12 as their Saint Day.

So how is La Virgen’s de Guadalupe’s feast day celebrated? Beginning on December 3, there is a 9-day novena (See La Novena) which ends on December 12th. If you need special intervention for a personal cause, you can make the pilgrimage to México City to lay your plea at her feet during this time. If you are not able to make the trip, shrines pop up all over México, so you still get a chance no matter where you are, although the surest and most direct route for prayer answering remains at the shrine in the Basilica. Don’t worry about oversleeping, fireworks in her honor begin before the sun shines. On the morning of December 12, home and church shrines are serenaded with Las Mañanitas as you would any other Mexican on his or her Saint day and birthday.(NOVENA A LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE)(Mananitas a La Virgen De Guadalupe: La Reina)

In Moroleón, the street Tepeyac is closed and a sort of tianguis (See Failing at your own business-Tianguis) street fair is set up. Street vendors sell their things, kiddie rides are available, and at the end of it all, up a long, long flight of stairs, you can attend mass at the templo (church) in Uriangato.

The Virgin of Guadalupe Religious Statue

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Filed under Mexican Holidays, Religion

Tagged as Catholic, Guadalupe, Juan Diego, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Mexican Christmas traditions, Mexican Holidays, Mexican holy days, Mexico, Mexico City, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Tepeyac, The Virgin of Guadalupe

May 28, 2013 · 7:24 pm

Parenting Challenge–Teaching Reasoning

Children should be brought up, too, to perceive that a miracle is not less a miracle because it occurs so constantly and regularly that we call it a law; that sap rises in a tree, that a boy is born with his uncle’s eyes, that an answer that we can perceive comes to our serious prayers; these things are not the less miracles because they happen frequently or invariably, and because we have ceased to wonder about them–Charlotte Mason

Once upon a time, our family lived in a culture where it was not necessary to employ reason in our daily actions because there were laws that dictated our actions. For example, a person would not kill his or her neighbor because there were a set of consequences that would result, not necessarily in a moral conscious twinge for taking a life, but laws that would punish and protect. Then we moved to México and here discovered that laws do not guarantee reasonable behavior. (See On Life and Liberty)

Therefore children should be taught as they become mature enough to understand such teaching that the chief responsibility which rests upon then: as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas presented to them. To help them in this choice we should afford them principles of conduct and a wide range of fitting knowledge.–Charlotte Mason

So how can I, as a mother, provide these principles of conduct and a wide variety of fitting knowledge when the culture we live within is not my own? Should I insist on the behavior of my own culture from my child? Should I negate the culture surrounding us? Should I compromise rules of conduct because the cultural norms of both cultures are not mutually exclusive? The answer is: it depends.

One example I mentioned before is that of the culturally permissible practice of lying in México. (See Parenting Challenge–Telling Truths). Lying is on my list of cardinal sins, but is so commonplace here that nothing spoken (or written) can be believed at full face value. So we compromise. Within our family, the rule is that we do not lie to one another, however outside the family circle, it is up to each member’s own reasoning ability whether to lie or not.

Then there is the touchy subject of religion. México is predominantly Catholic. The laws are made by Catholics for Catholics. Anyone else outside that carefully maintained circle must fend for him or herself. This includes nearly universal instruction de la fe (of the faith or more specifically Mexican Catholic faith) that the majority of private schools include as part of their regular curriculum. Public schools have after-hour Catechism now because technically there is a separation of church and state by law, if not by practice. All of my son’s classmates at the public school he attends, also attend Catechism in preparation for their first communions. My son does not. (See Homeschool Variation). If his remaining unbaptized in the Catholic faith makes him like the animals (as his grandmother repeatedly told him) then so be it. He and I are animals.

Conventional religious instruction should not be confused with faith which can include any number of religions. We talk in our family openly about faith and what it can and can not do and how it is different from religion. So how do we navigate these tricky waters? By taking them one issue at a time. (See Parenting Challenge–When someone dies). Each unexpected disaster, each surprising wonder is an opportunity for us to discuss as a family what it means to have faith and what faith looks like, for us and for those around us. (See Carnival, Lent, Pilgrimages).

Each discussion teaches us anew that … .there is no single point upon which two persons may reason,––food, dress, games, education, politics, religion,––but the two may take opposite sides, and each will bring forward infallible proofs which must convince the other were it not that he too is already convinced by stronger proofs to strengthen his own argument.–Charlotte Mason. (See Politicking)

So my task as a mother and educator for my son is to develop his reasoning abilities through a broad spectrum of lessons and experiences. (See Parenting Challenge–Creating an Atmosphere for Education) Beyond the English grammar worksheet in the morning and the Mexican history lesson in the afternoon, there are other lessons to learn. Sometimes these lessons are through his own studies (See Parenting Challenge–Education as a Discipline) and sometimes they are incidental. (See Parenting Challenge–Conformity and Education, Parenting Challenge–Cultural Apathy). And I continue to work at this because I firmly believe that the function of education is not to give technical skill but to develop a person; the more of a person, the better the work of whatever kind; and who doesn’t want his or her child to become a whole person?

It is my hope, that even though the laws in this country prove without a doubt that no wrong thing has ever been done or said, no crime committed but has been justified to the perpetrator by arguments coming to him involuntarily and produced with cumulative force by his own reason that my son can develop his own reasoning to find his own way as he travels through life. Since once we are convinced of the fallibility of our own reason we are able to detect the fallacies in the reasoning of our opponents and are not liable to be carried away by every wind of doctrine or custom.

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Filed under Carnival posts, Parenting Challenges and Cultural Norms

Tagged as Catechism, Catholic, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Charlotte Mason, Education, Mexico