The Procession of the Virgin of Guadalupe

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Okay, I admit it. I spent yesterday playing hooky from my blog, casually strolling the aisles of one online store after another. I mean, even bloggers have to get their Christmas decorations up and their shopping done. And let’s face it, shopping is soooo much easier when one can stay in one’s pajamas!!

But then it happened.

My friend and admirer of Mexican Culture, Lynne Urbel, emailed me saying, “December 12 is the day of the Procession of the Virgin of Guadalupe… The most important holiday in Mexico… if you’re posting something…”

Argh… Not only had I not planned on posting something, I didn’t know what she was talking about. I’d never heard of the Procession of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

But, rather than admit to any level of ignorance, I hit the web. One click later, I discovered she was right. The Procession of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a very big deal.

So, to all my friends, Happy PVG Day!

(December 12 is the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and marks the anniversary of the day, in 1531, when Catholic legend says that a brown-skinned Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a local peasant, on a site in what is now Mexico City.

Diego went to the local bishop, and asked that a church be built to honor the Virgin he had seen.  The bishop told Diego to bring him some sign that he had truly seen the vision. The Virgin of Guadalupe told Diego to gather roses growing on a barren hill nearby, and to deliver the roses to the bishop, carrying them in his cloak.

Diego gathered the roses and took them to the bishop. When the flowers were removed from his cloak, the bishop and other witnesses discovered an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Diego’s cloak.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego as a saint.)