"El Maraton" - Dia del Virgen de Guadalupe

Dec. 12 is Virgin of Guadalupe Day. On this day, thousands of people visit the Basilica del Virgin de Guadalupe, north of Mexico City. It is the 2nd most popular Catholic visit site in the world, behind only the Vatican. For Millions of Mexicans who can't visit the Basilica, they will go to church with their families.


The very first chapel built at the site of the original image of the Virgin:


There is a very nice garden area by this small chapel on the hill:



They started building her "basilica" in 1531 but it wasn't finished until 1709. It became a pilgrimage site in the early 1800s.



While the basilica is very large, it quickly became too small to hold all of the pilgrims, so they built a new one in the 1970s. Now it's very very large with an even larger courtyard to hold everyone else. We want to go on the day of the festival, but I'm kind of afraid of the crowds.


The Virgin of Guadalupe is not a person, per se, but rather an image of the Virgin Mary. This is the story:
When the Catholics came to Mexico, they tried to convert the natives, with limited success. One of the natives, Juan Diego, was working for a priest when in December 1531 saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. He shared the story with his Priest employer, who suggested he return to the site and demand a sign. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his peasant cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to the priest, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth. This image appeared on Dec. 12.
Mexicans say that this is how they knew that Mary (who spoke Nahuatl and was dark-skinned) wanted Mexicans to be Catholic.
Historians say that this account couldn't possibly be accurate, but most Mexicans don't care. Juan Diego was canonized (became a saint) in the 1990s.
The image became the symbol of Mexico during the fight for independence in 1810-1820 bc the leaders of the independence movement (who sparked the war) were Priests who used the dark-skinned Mary to rally the natives behind their cause.