Context: Historic and Contemporary
Tonantzin and Border Ballads
In 1531, an indigenous Mexican man known as Juan Diego encountered the Virgin Mary on the Hill of Tepeyac. Diego was a commoner, and Christianized, but the apparition addressed him speaking Nahuatl rather than the colonizer’s Spanish. The Virgin commissioned Juan Diego to petition for a church building dedicated to her name at the site, requiring him to approach the archbishop of Mexico with his request. When the Catholic Church resisted his claims, Juan Diego returned to where he had seen the Virgin, emerging from the barren desert site with fresh roses in his robes and the visage of the Virgin imprinted onto its fabric. These he presented to the archbishop, and soon after a basilica built in honor of Mary was built (Wolf 1958, 34).
Ten years prior to Juan Diego’s experience, the shrine of Tonantzin, the native goddess of earth and fertility, stood where the Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine now stands. After the shrine to the Virgin was erected, native Mexicans began making pilgrimages to the site, despite there being an abundance of churches
Image from Ciencia y Cultura: https://www.revistac2.com/de-tonantzin-a-la-virgen-de-guadalupe/
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and erected by the Spanish, throughout Mexico. Even forty years after Juan Diego’s sighting, Spanish clergymen noted the pilgrims still referred to the Virgin among themselves as Tonantzin, indicating that the ancient holy site had been reclaimed by the indigenous people of Mexico in the name of their mother goddess, who was now interposed with the conquerors' preference for the worship of the Virgin Mary (Wolf 1958, 35).
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During the period between the mid-1800’s to the early 1900’s, Mexican border ballads like El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez were composed in response to anti-Mexican sentiment exemplified by the often violent interactions between the Texas Rangers and Mexican ranchers who had settled the land long before the border moved. Although these were secular in nature, they followed a similar context to the liberatory elements of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Paredes 1958, loc 272). Modeled after a “man of action” who challenged the authority of United States border officials, border ballads and their theme of resistance provided a secular complement to the religious elements of the Virgin.
Modern Ritual: Fiestas and Song
(Photo: S. Derrickson Moore / Sun-News file photo)
In Tortugas, New Mexico, an annual fiesta known as the Corporación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe honors the Virgin of Guadalupe in a contemporary context. Festival organizers avoid commodification of the event first by stewardship in what they call the doings of their work, meaning simply that every aspect, including mundane activities such as cleaning, should be “infused with presence” (Skylar 2005, 9). Included in the performances are indio and azteca groups who perform drum dances (Skylar 2005, 10). Their inclusion suggests the importance of embracing pre-Columbian influences, and the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe which allows them to connect with the maternal aspects of Mexican spirituality replaced by Western patriarchal religion. The Virgin Mary has thus become an integral part of Mexican culture, no longer a religious figure alone. This integration is exemplified by the Alabanza Guadalupana, or “birthday song to the Virgin,” sung during the Corporación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. After vocal performers provide background on the Virgin Mary’s biblical and folkloric history, the song interweaves modern Mexican-American culture with reverence of the Virgin: “If you can’t make tortillas/how will you feel the Virgin’s presence/ in the kitchen?” (Skylar 2005, 14). The Virgin of Guadalupe then can generally be understood as a cultural aspect of Mexican identity as integrated as traditional Mexican food preparation.
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Ritual like the Corporación de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is based on shared beliefs and values accepted among Mexican and Latino communities. Songs like the Alabanza Guadalupana reinforce these cultural components through annual repetition. The Virgin of Guadalupe is symbolic of ancient Mexican spiritual beliefs about the maternal, and the procession celebrating her position makes “acting out” these values and beliefs possible in a public forum through structured performance and participation (Sims and Stephens 2011, 99).