As the season progresses closer and closer to the wonderful day of Christmas we sometimes forget to celebrate one of the most important person's also involved in this special day! So I would like to give you some information on how to celebrate this wonderful feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Patroness of the Americas! The feast day is December 12th! While living in Mexico City I had the honor of visiting the Basilica to see first hand the original image of Our Lady. Words cannot express the overwhelming that I received in the presence of this image. Many times when visiting I smelled the fragrance of fresh roses when passing under the image. There were many flowers but none near the image.
In Mexico to celebrate this feast day the whole city celebrates with parties, fireworks and pilgrimages. The celebrations begin at 12:01am on the 12th of Dec. and do not end until the feast of the Three Kings.
So I have decided to share some of that information with you on how you to can celebrate this feast day at home with your children. No you don't have to worry about fireworks but you could do other things to make this feast day special.
Why the name of Guadalupe? Well the Aztec Nahuatl word coatlaxopkuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe: and sounds like th Spanish word for Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent tla being the noun for the word "the" and xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So the lady must have called herself " the one who crushes the serpent".
Here is the link that gives the full explanation of the name Guadalupe
The image of the Our Lady has many different wonderful facets to it; the first that I find fascinating is that of her eyes. Scientist's have done studies on her eyes stating that her eyes have the reflection image of Juan Diego in them. Many things have proved that there is an image within the image. How fascinating is that revelation!
Here is a link to some more information about these studies.
The image of Our Lady is also been explained that she is the Protectress of the Unborn. It is said that when Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego she with child. The reasoning behind this is the traditional brown sash that she has tied around her waist. The Aztec woman would were a brown sash around their waists when with child. Also, at the bottom of the image their is a small baby. If you look at the bottom potion where their is child holding up her gown this is a baby in the folds of the gown. That is how she became the Protectress of the Unborn.
Here is the link about more information pertaining to this information.
The Lady appeared to just a normal Aztec who happened to hear her call. He did not understand why he heard her call or even why he conveyed her messages. He just truly believed in the message and knew in his heart he was doing the correct thing even when most of the people were telling him to forget what he saw.
Here is some more information about Juan Diego who is not considered a saint. This link also contains the beautiful image the Saint Juan Diego presented to the bishop so that he would believe him and build a church where the Lady had suggested.
tilma"> I personally never get tired of seeing this image. I find it the most image I have ever laid my eyes upon!
This link is timeline reference for all that occurred pertaining to the image.
This link is to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe as it looks today.
This link will help you to create wonderful paper flowers that your children to make in honor of Our Lady!
This site will help you to create Farilitos and Luminarias to honor Our Lady!
You can also create a wonderful display with the Poinsettia plants which also holds the same holiday as Our Lady! There are many wonderful facts at this site about the Poinsettia which originated in Mexico and was brought to the states.
There are also many different books that have been written about Our Lady for children.
"Our Lady of Guadalupe Coloring Book"
"Fresh Flowers in Winter - The Story of St. Juan Diego"
I hope that I have shed some small light on the subject of Our Lady of Guadalupe so that you to can appreciate this wonderful lady that saved a country and still working hard to save the unborn. Enjoy celebrating this wonderful Feast day on December 12th.
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