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Update

Some might have been surprised to see the Virgin Mary dancing in Lafayette’s living room, but actually singing and dancing are Our Lady of Guadalupe’s favorite pastimes.

The icon commemorates an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Mexico in the 16th century and is widely credited with being the catalyst  which caused the majority of the indiginous population to convert to Christianity. It is an image of the Woman of the Apocalypse as described in the Book of Revelation, which may be why it is so prominent in True Blood.

Here is the backstory:

On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, [peasant Juan Diego] reported the following: As he was walking to church, he heard the sound of birds singing on Tepeyac hill and someone calling his name. He ran up the hill, and there saw a Lady, about fourteen years of age, resembling an Aztec princess in appearance, and surrounded by light. The Lady spoke to him in Nahuatl, his native tongue. She called him “Xocoyte,” her little son. He responded by calling her “Xocoyote,” his youngest child. The Lady asked Juan Diego to tell the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan namedJuan de Zumárraga, that she wanted a “teocalli,” a shrine, to be built on the spot where she stood, in her honor, where:

“I will demonstrate, I will exhibit, I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all mankind, of all those who love me , of those who cry to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their sorrow and will remedy and alleviate all their multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes.”

Recognizing the Lady as the Virgin Mary, Juan Diego went to the bishop as instructed, but the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga was doubtful and told Juan Diego he needed a sign. Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac hill and explained to the Lady that the bishop did not believe him. He implored the Lady to use another messenger, insisting he was not worthy. The Lady however insisted that it was of the utmost importance that it be Diego speaking to the bishop on her behalf. On Sunday, Juan Diego did as the Lady directed, but again the bishop asked for a sign. Later that day, the Lady promised Juan Diego she would give him a sign the following day.

According to the Nican Mopohua, he returned home that night to his uncle Juan Bernardino’s house, and discovered him seriously ill. The next morning, December 12, Juan Diego decided not to meet with the Lady, but to find a priest who could administer the last rites to his dying uncle. When he tried to skirt around Tepeyac hill, the Lady intercepted him, assured him his uncle would not die, and asked him to climb the hill and gather the flowers he found there. It was December, when normally nothing blooms in the cold. There, Diego’s miracle of the rosesoccurred: he found roses from the region of Castille in Spain, former home of bishop Zumárraga. The Lady re-arranged the roses carefully inside the folded tilma that Juan Diego wore and told him not to open it before anyone but the bishop. When Juan Diego unfolded his tilma before the Bishop roses cascaded from his tilma, and an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe was miraculously impressed on the cloth, bringing the bishop to his knees.

According to the Nican Mopohua Zumárraga acknowledged the miracle and within two weeks, ordered a shrine to be built where the Virgin Mary had appeared. The bishop then entrusted the image to Juan Diego, who chose to live, until his death at about the age of 73 — on May 30, 1548 — in a small hermitage near the spot where the Virgin Mary had appeared. There he cared for the chapel and the first pilgrims who came to pray there, propagating the account of the apparitions in Mexico.

To get an idea of the size of the birthday party going on for Our Lady of Guadalupe right now, click here and keep scrolling until your eyes glaze over. Every year her birthday starts with hot faithful young men carrying images of the icon across the countryside in imitation of Juan Deiego bringing the tilma to the bishop.

Image Courtesy of Whispers in the Loggia

In churches all over the U.S., the faithful are singing Las Mananitas, the Mexican birthday song, to her and serenading her with music and dance.

Image Courtesy of Whispers in the Loggia

The real party is at her shrine in Mexico, though. That’s where the biggest singers in the country line up to sing to her.

The timing of this celebration during advent as Christians wait for the birth of Jesus takes on additional meaning because La Guadalupana is carrying the Christ Child. She is dressed as a Nahuatl princess, and the tie around her waist indicates that she is pregnant.