Close your eyes and listen to Teponazcuicatl.. this is the Procession of the Drums, thought to have been played by the Aztecs as Juan Diego's cloak was being taken to it's home in Tepayec back in 1531 (courtesy of the San Antonio Vocal Ensemble,
http://moroneys.home.netcom.com/musi.html). It was a miracle!
I chose the Virgin Guadalupe and Juan Diego for 2 reasons; the first being I was raised Catholic and know how important the Virgin Mary is to this religion. The second reason is a bit different. I was looking up websites for artwork, for Component C, and read so much I didn't know about the Virgin Guadalupe, that I want to share it with you.
Back in December, 1531, a man who was 17 years older than the known life expectancy of 40 years old, Juan Diego, was walking when he heard beautiful music and saw a light. Before his eyes, appeared a woman with dark skin and dark hair. She said she was the Mother of Jesus, Mary. The Virgin wanted Juan to take a message to Bishop Zummaraga, a Franciscan monk. Build a church on a hill in Tepayac. Juan was somehow granted an audience with the Bishop. He told him of his experience. The Bishop shunned this idea, so Juan went on his way. On December 12, 1531, while on his way to find a priest for his sick uncle, he saw the Virgin appear again. He told her that he needed a sign. It being winter, the land was bare. Across the hill, there were roses! Juan gathered them up and took them to the Bishop. The Bishop was shocked when he saw the roses- but imagine his surprise when after pouring the roses from his cloak, an image of the Virgin Mary was left! The church was built, coincidently upon the same hill that housed the Temple of Tonatzin, the Aztec goddess of the Earth, ordered destroyed earlier by none other than Bishop Zummaraga himself!
The cloak is still mounted in Mexico today. Scientists have studied it and restudied it. It shows no signs of decay, no traces of minerals or dirt and it is highly unlikely that the artists of the time could have painted such an exquisite work. The most fascinating study to me is the study Nasa did. With a powerful telescope, they found in the Virgin's right eye, a figure of a man with a beard, possibly Juan Diego himself.
Two questions remained in my mind, and with further research, I found the answers. First, why do Mexicans sometimes call her the Dark Virgin (La Virgen Morena)? And where did the Guadalupe come in? She is called the Dark Virgin because Juan Diego described her as having dark hair and dark skin. Perhaps she appeared to him that way because she would be similar to him- with dark hair and dark skin. Or perhaps he saw her as her true self- being Jewish herself, she would not have fair skin and blonde hair as depicted in the paintings of the Renaissance.
As for being the lady of Guadalupe, I would like to share with you a direct excerpt from
www.stevecancun.com-
"Why should the Virgin Mary appearing to an Indian in recently conquered Mexico and speaking to him in Nahuatl call herself "of Guadalupe", a Spanish name? Did she want to be called de Guadalupe because of the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura, Spain? Because of Lupita who lived in Nuevo Laredo? In all apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary she identified herself as the Virgin Mary and phrases like Mother of God or another of her titles, and was later usually known by the name of the place or region where she appeared (Lourdes, Fatima). So why should Mary, when appearing to an Indian in recently invaded Mexico and speaking in the local language, want to be named with the Spanish name of Guadalupe? Was she talking about the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that was given by Pope Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Seville, was lost for 600 years and was found in 1326 by a cowherd guided by an apparition of Our Lady? The statue was named Guadalupe for the village located near the place of discovery. The origin of the name Guadalupe has always been a matter of controversy. It is nevertheless believed that the name came about because of the translation from Nahuatl to Spanish of the words used by the Virgin during the apparition to the ailing uncle of Juan Diego. It is believed that Our Lady used the Aztec Nahuatl word of coatlaxopeuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe" and sounds remarkably like the Spanish word Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent, tla being the noun ending which can be interpreted as "the", while xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So Our Lady must have called herself the one "who crushes the serpent1." Serpent-god Quetzalcoatl. Certainly, in this case She crushed the serpent, and few years later millions of the natives were converted to Christianity. And the human sacrifices ended.
1In is interesting to note that in Genesis 3:15 (in the Old Testament) it is indicated a woman would step on the serpent's head. "
Why study the Virgin of Guadalupe of Juan Diego at all? The Mexicans are a complex people who's lives even today are influenced by their religious beliefs. Even before catholicism became the dominant religion, the Aztecs worshipped many gods and were already a deeply spiritual people. They believed that the gods were present and that miracles would- and did- happen. When they began to convert to catholicism, they held the same beliefs to be true with this new religion. The Virgin Guadalupe is the most loved saint in Mexico. She claimed Mexico for her own, and is truly La Reina de Mexico.
