While Christmas is celebrated in the hispanic world, with the traditional posadas and recent cultural imports such as Christmas trees and Santa Claus, it has never been the overwhelmingly important holiday that it enjoys in northern Europe and norteamérica.  Easter, and particularly Semana Santa, the week preceding Easter, occupies that position.  [For a description of Semana Santa celebrations in Seville, Spain, see James Michener's  "Iberia".]

The "Cult of the Virgin" is one of the aspects of the hispanic culture whose importance goes far beyond religion.  Octavio Paz in his classic "Labyrinth of Solitude" discusses how it affects everyday life and attitudes.   "Virgins" in the sense we're discussing are representations of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.  For many Mexicans, particularly the poor and indigenous, as well as for devout Catholics throughout hispanic America, December 12, the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, is one of the very most important days of the year.

Mexico's indigenous population was devastated physically, morally and culturally, by the conquest.  Despite their nominal Christian conversion, many Indians maintained some attachment to their ancient gods, particularly the "earth mother" type goddesses.  It is claimed that the Indian laborers drafted to build churches would often conceal a statuette of a traditional god or goddess under the altar, and in fact be worshipping in their ancient religion while ostensibly meekly attending mass.  Part of the genius of the Roman Catholic church has been its ability to absorb pagan traditions into a Christian tradition--the Christmas tree is one of many examples.

In any case, a poor Indian named Juan Diego [who was made an official saint of the Church more than 400 years later] reported that on December 12, an apparition he had witnessed on the hill called Tepeyac revealed herself to him as the Virgin Mary, and gave him a bouquet of roses (which were out of season in the area) to present to the Bishop of Mexico.  When his cloak, in which he had placed the roses, was opened, so the story goes, it contained the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.   This image is still carefully preserved in Mexico City in a beautiful new sanctuary.

The Virgin of Guadalupe has been central not just to Mexico's spiritual life, but in politics as well.  Hidalgo's army/mob of Indians and Mestizos [with a leavening of either idealistic or ambitious criollos] carried her image as their flag in the independence struggle, and her name has been invoked by all sides in Mexico's many internal upheavals.  Among many appellations, she is known as La Virgen Morena [The Brown Virgin], and is believed to have chosen to appear in Mexico as a Mexican Indian.  She is also called La Reina de México [The Queen of Mexico]; and in 1979, Pope John Paul II named her "Patroness of the Americas".   On December 12, a throng of mostly poor Mexicans converges on her sanctuary, some on their knees in fulfilment of vows made in exchange for her intervention in crises in their lives.  Mexicans may disagree to the point of violence on almost everything else, but nearly 100% venerate La Virgencita.

For more information about La Virgen de Guadalupe, visit her website (in Spanish) here.   Links to information about The Virgin of Guadalupe in English can be found here.

A final little fact about Guadalupe.  It is one of the few unisex names in Mexico; many boys and girls are named Guadalupe (shortened to Lupe).  Knowing that someone is named Lupe will tell you that person is almost certainly of Mexican origin and probably not from the upper classes.  But it won't reveal the gender of its bearer.

While Guadalupe served as the uniting symbol of Mexico's poor, the rich (criollos, born in Mexico of "pure" Spanish blood; and peninsulares, born in Spain) had their own icon, La Virgen de los Remedios.  According to legend, she was carried to the New World by one of Cortes's men, and survived the noche triste [a wonderful account of the conquest of Mexico is in Hugh Thomas's book "Conquest"].  While still an important religious symbol in Mexico, La Virgen de los Remedios isn't in the same league with Guadalupe.  By the way, both Virgins have counterparts of the same name in Spain.

La Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos, whose sanctuary is in the state of Guanajuato, has been particularly adopted by people in el norte [el norte has become synonymous with the United States, but traditionally the term referred to the northern part of Mexico].  A pilgrimage to her shrine is a family event for many northern Mexicans, and Mexican-Americans.

La Virgen de la Macarena is one of the preeminent Virgins of Spain; and her statue is prominent in the Semana Santa processions in Seville.  A couple of years ago, the song La Macarena was a big hit all over the world.  The idea of a girl named Macarena may have seemed a bit strange to those who thought about it--even if you have a wide acquaintance with hispanics in the U.S. you've probably never run across it.  This connects to the historically by far most prevalent means of naming girls in the hispanic world--after one or another of the various representations of the Virgin Mary.  Girls were given names like María de la Concepción; María del Pilar; M. de la Cruz; M. del Carmen; M. del Rocío; and, predominantly in Spain, María de la Macarena.  With literally most of the girls named María something-or-other, the possibilities for confusion are obvious.  It thus became customary to use only the second part of the name: Concepción (or Conchita); Pilar; Cruz; Carmen; Rocío, etc.--and Macarena.  Over time, many people began to ignore the María part of these names entirely, and formally give their daughters just the last part.   Thus a girl named Macarena.  Macarena became well-known in the U.S. in the 1990's as the title of a song popular for its catchy beat and smutty (although not understood by even many Spanish-speakers in the U.S.) lyrics.  The song (with lyrics and translation) is in Cantemos.

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ew count started October 23,2004