Day 12 - OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

.

 .

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE,

The 12th Day of The Advent Series, is here:

http://maninthemaze.blogspot.com/2011/12/our-lady-of-guadalupe.html

.

 

.

OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

.

.

Our Lady of Guadalupe 

 (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the La Guadalupana , La Morenita , Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe; Nahuatl: Tonantzin Guadalupe) is a celebrated Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary. Under this title, she is officially proclaimed by the Catholic Church as the Patroness of Americas, Empress of Latin America and Protectress of the Unborn Children.

.

According to Catholic tradition, on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego, a recently converted Aztec indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady asked him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, who asked for proof in exchange.

.

Juan Diego went back later and saw the lady again. He told her that the bishop wanted proof, and she instructed Juan Diego to go to the mountain top, where he found Castillian roses, which were native to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga's hometown and could not possibly bloom during wintertime. Juan Diego cut the roses, placed them in his apron-like tilma and returned to the bishop; an imprint of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on the tilma from the residue of the soil and roses.

Today, the icon is displayed in the nearby Basilica of Guadalupe, now one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world. The Virgin of Guadalupe is Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image, with the titles "Queen of Mexico", "Empress of the Americas", and "Patroness of the Americas". Both Miguel Hidalgo (in the Mexican War of Independence) and Emiliano Zapata (during the Mexican Revolution) carried flags bearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Guadalupe Victoria, the first Mexican president, changed his name in honor of the icon.
.
From Wikipedia
. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

                                          

.

.

AZTEC PRAYER

TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS
.

Teleoinan was the Mother Goddess of

the Aztec people and patroness of midwives

and childbirth. It was near the site of

Teleoinan's old temple at Tepeyacac in Mexico

that the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to

Juan Diego, the dark-skinned native.

This version of the hymn to Teleoinan has been

adapted from Daniel Brinton's

Rig Veda Americanus, 1890.

.

Hail to our Mother, who caused

the yellow flowers to blossom,

who scattered the seeds of the

maguey as she came forth from Paradise.

.

Hail to our Mother, who poured

forth flowers in abundance,

who scattered the seeds of the

maguey as she came forth from Paradise.

.

.

Hail to our Mother, who caused

the yellow flowers to blossom,

she who scattered the seeds of the

maguey as she came forth from Paradise.

.

Hail to our Mother, who poured

forth white flowers in abundance,

who scattered the seeds of the

maguey as she came forth from Paradise.

.

.

Hail to the goddess

who shines in the thorn bush

like a bright butterfly.

Lo! She is our Mother,

the goddess of the earth.

She supplies food in the desert

to the wild beasts,

and causes them to live.

.

Thus, thus, you see her

to be an ever-fresh model

of liberality toward all flesh.

And as you see

the goddess of the earth

do to the wild beasts,

so also she does toward

the green herbs and the fishes.

.

From Healing Prayers by

Joanne Asala

.

.

.

.

.

 .

MILAGROS (MIRACLES)

.

.

.

.

 
.

.
 The small metal objects that in Mexico are

collloquially called milagros (miracles) or
 milagritos (little miracles) belong to a devotional genre
 known as ex-votos. There is a wide range of representational
 forms of milagros, including legs, arms, heads, hearts, angels,
 animals (dogs, chickens, pigs, and horses, among others)
 and entire humans, both male and female, either standing face
 forward or kneeling with hands outstretched in prayer.
 Objects virtually identical to these can be found in
 Andalusia, Spain, and throughout the Mediterranean world, 
where they almost certainly originated and from which
 they diffused to Mexico and other parts of Latin America
 at the time of the Spanish conquest.
.

Throughout Mexico, milagros belong to the world of 
popular or folk religion rather than to that of religious othodoxy.
 As devotional objects, they therefore pertain predominantly, 
if not exclusively, to the world of the working classes. 
Members of the intellectual and social elite, however,
 appreciate these small objects for their aesthetic value
 and sometimes collect and display them.
.

.
 Milagros are sold in churchyards and at chapels,
 sanctuaries, basilicas, and cathedrals throughout Mexico.
 Typically, a believer who suffers a serious or persistent health
 problem makes a promesa, or vow, to a saint that, if cured,
 he or she will present the saint with a token of gratitude in the
 form of a milagro. The milagro selected for presentation reflects
 the afflicted body part - eyes, hands, feet, or head, for example.
 In the case of sick farm animals or small children,
 believers choose milagros that represent those victims 
of misfortune. Almost always, presentation of the milagro
 follows upon a cure, in repayment for the miraculous recovery.
.

.

Frequently the promise keeper attaches
 the milagro to the clothing of an image of a saint.
 Even more often,
it is fastened to a cloth hung on the wall
 next to the saint's image.
 These small metal objects facilitate a
 social relationship between supernatural beings
 and believers. Displayed as they are in public,
 they announce to the world the successful realization
 of a divinely aided recovery.
 They have been an integral part of folk
 medical systems in the Mediterranean
 world for centuries.
*
Edited from an essay by Stanley Brandes in

FAITH AND TRANSFORMATION -
Votive Offerings and Amulets

Published by the International Museum of Folk Art

Santa Fe, New Mexico
.

.

.

.