No one has caring, compassion, tenderness and love like a mother does, and in return mothers receive love and devotion from their children. With this in mind, it's easy to understand why those of the Catholic faith have deep respect for the most important of mothers - the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
For Latin-American Catholics, this sense of honor and devotion to the Virgin Mary runs even deeper as they prepare to celebrate her during the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monday, Dec. 12.
"If you go to any Mexican's home, you would find an altar for the Lady of Guadalupe," said Abraham Solar, lay minister for St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. "They are very devoted to her because they know that even though God is the one who answers prayers, the Virgin Mary is an intercessor. She is the mother of Jesus, and a son listens to his mother."
Solar explained that the festival's origins date back to Mexico in the 1500s when Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant, reportedly saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in the desert near Mexico City. According to the legend, she told Diego to build a church on that spot so that people could go and pray to her son. She also made a promise to intercede for all the children of God. As proof of the vision, Diego was told to pick roses from a nearby bush and bring them back to the bishop. When Diego met the bishop, he discovered that the roses had turned into a portrait of the Virgin Mary.
The Virgin Mary in Diego's vision became referred to as the Virgin or Lady of Guadalupe from the Spaniards mistranslation of the Aztec word Coatlaxopeuh (pronounced quatlachupe), which Mary used to describe herself to Diego.
Since then, the Virgin Mary's appearance to Diego has been celebrated in Mexico every year on Dec. 12, which is the day tradition says is when the event occurred in 1531. Immigrants from Latin American countries have brought the tradition to the United States.
Solar said that Latin-American Catholics are very enthusiastic about the festival because of their belief that devotion to the Virgin Mary/Lady of Guadalupe means an immediate response to prayers, especially prayers about family issues.
Solar said that the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe begins very early in the morning at church on Dec. 12 with the singing of "Las Ma?nitas," the Mexican birthday song adapted to be sung to the Lady of Guadalupe. Sometimes the Guadalupanos (those devoted to the Lady of Guadalupe) join in processions through town in her honor.
"There are some Guadalupanos in Sonoma County who do a procession from Santa Rosa to Windsor," said Solar. "We don't do that in Petaluma out of concern for noise and neighbors sleeping."
In Petaluma, the celebration begins at 3 a.m. Monday at St. Vincent's Church with choral music, followed by a performance by the Ehecatl Aztec Dancers.
"After that, we will sing "Las Ma?nitas," and different hymns and anthems special to Our Lady of Guadalupe," said Solar. "Then we will have a prayer time and say the rosary with mariachi music in between each set of &‘Hail Mary's.' This is followed by regular mass at 6 a.m."
After mass concludes at 7 a.m., there will be a social hour with coffee, cocoa and pan dulce (sweet Mexican bread) before many head off to work. An evening mass will be held at 7:30 p.m., featuring the Hispanic youth group performing a play about the vision of the Lady of Guadalupe.
Solar said that the church is always filled to capacity - about 1,000 people - for the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Most of the Guadalupanos bring flowers to place at Guadalupe's altar.
"It's incredible to see the devotion on the faces of all the people," said Solar. "We start the celebration at 3 a.m., but people are waiting in their cars at 2 and 2:30 a.m. because they want to be the first ones inside and hopefully be in the first row of pews.
"A very typical guy, very brave and tough, will still be very devoted to the Lady of Guadalupe," he added. "If they are in danger, they pray to her that she'll take good care of them and keep on eye on their families. It's because they believe that in her role as the mother of God, she understands and is tender and caring and will intercede for them. That's why there is so much devotion to her."
(Contact Yovanna Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@gmail.com)
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