Many Mexicans have known and put their whole trust in Our Lady of Guadalupe for the past five hundred years. She has influenced the lives of many Mexicans in their homeland, Mexico, and also affected the lives of Mexicans abroad. Our Lady of Guadalupe has become an icon for many, she has received many honorary name such La Morenita (Spanish for the dark one), Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas (Who gave her the name) and La Virgen de Guadalupe (Direct Spanish translation of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although these are only a few names she has been given it has shown that she has been interchangeable person in history that has helped many adapt to a certain life situation. Hdjlsfhjkdashjsdak
Cuauhtlatoatzin, now known as Juan Diego, was
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the one who first had an apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe . Juan Diego was an indigenous man who lived on the outskirts of Tepeyac Hill at a small village, Tolteplac. Juan witnessed presence of our Lady of Guadalupe on four different occasions. When Cuauhtlatoatzin was first baptized alongside his wife, he went with a more Christian name, Juan Diego. Juan Diego had always been a devoted Roman Catholic, even prior to when the Guadalupe first appeared to him . Our Lady of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan Diego on December 9, 1531. Juan Diego was on his way to mass when he passed by Tepeyac Hill, which is where he had a soft voice calling out his name. Juan Diego followed the voice which led to him discovering Guadalupe, an indigenous Virgin Mary. During the occasion of the first Marian apparition Juan Diego, Guadalupe talked to Juan Diego in his native language, Nahutal. She described herself as “Mother of the true God, who is the Author of Life the Creator of all things and the Lord of heaven and earth; who is everywhere, the Creator of all things and the Lord of heaven and earth; who is everywhere” . Our Lady of Guadalupe ordered Juan Diego to go to the Bishop and place a temple on Tepeyac hill, Juan Diego followed her request and did as he was told. When Juan Diego first arrived to Bishop Fray de Zumárraga, he was not able to speak directly to him and only to his representatives. This ultimately left Juan Diego in distress, arriving back to Tepeyac Hill the next morning back to the presence of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Juan Diego broke the news to Guadalupe and her more optimistic than ever told Juan Diego to go back to Bishop Fray de Zumárraga. Juan Diego was telling Guadalupe that he believed he was not built for the special job she had chosen. Guadalupe replied with saying that all she had chosen him for a reason and that the temple would be able to be built. With the motivation, Juan Diego went on his way to try once again to meet with Bishop Fray de Zumárraga. This time Zumárraga was more interested than before and told Juan Diego that he needed evidence that he had actually met Our Lady of Guadalupe . Juan Diego went on his way back to Tlatolpec before arriving he made a stop to Tepeyac to tell Our Lady of Guadalupe the good news. Our Lady of Guadalupe, told Juan Diego to return the next morning so she could give him the sign. The next morning, he felt found his Uncle extremely ill, with this Juan Diego ignored Our Lady of Guadalupe’s orders and went on his way to the city to look for a priest who would read his uncle his last rites . When Juan Diego started walking to city, Our Lady of Guadalupe started saying his name when he was passing by Tepeyac hill. Juan Diego told Our Lady of Guadalupe how bad he felt but that he could not complete this mission that she wanted him to complete because of his uncle falling ill . Guadalupe said to continue onto the original journey and that she would help heal his uncle. Juan agreed and went onto his way to the city. Before Juan Diego left, Guadalupe gave some roses and put them on his tilma and told him to drop the tilma when he arrived at the feet of Zumárraga. When Juan Diego arrived he did exactly as he was told, as Juan Diego dropped his tilma, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was printed onto it. In awe , Bishop Fray de Zumárraga agreed to build a temple on Tepeyac hill. The date, December 12, that Bishop Fray de Zumárraga decided to build the church dedicated Our Lady of Guadalupe, later became known as the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe). In Mexico, where the Marian Apparition is most popular, there are large feast solely dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although many Mexicans have grown to love the idea of Our Lady of Guadalupe, there is very few evidence actual backing up the true events. First of all, there is no actual documentation that Juan Diego ever existed and primary source documents of the actual events . The events that most likely occurred on December of 1531, where not recorded until at least 1638, this leaves a minimum of one hundred years of a story that could have changed over time . Although this makes it seem as if the events are not real, the impact that Our Lady of Guadalupe left on the Mexicans is extremely real. Although one could easily assume that these are made up because during the Council of Lima of 1552, it was ordered that all sacred Aztec figures must be replaced with Christian holy figures. With this being said it was after 152 but before the first recorded, although there may be a chance that these events were not fully real. One is not able to overlook the impact that the Our Lady of Guadalupe had on Mexican Identity, helping rebuild their lost identity. Prior to the actual events of December 1531, Hernan Cortes used a different Virgin Mary to help with the conquest of Mexico.
Cortes held a very strikingly similar image of a Mary that had an olive skin tone and very similar to the image that was on Juan Diego’s tilma . Many historians and theologians have connected this all back to Hernan Cortes’ hometown of Estremadura . There had been a similar church that was dedicated to a Madonna, but many have assumed that since by the seventeenth century, the ideology of Our Lady of Guadalupe had reached Spain and the stature had become indigenized . Just like Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla would do four hundred years later, holding a banner bearing the image of Our Lady of …show more content…
Guadalupe. Since the conquest of the Aztec empire and Mexico becoming an independent state, there has always been various different social classes. The social classes often left problems within society because there were various disputes. With this being said, Mexican historian, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano said that Our Lady of Guadalupe had a power of united everyone, no matter of the race, class or caste. He discussed these valid points after witnessing the celebration dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1870 . This is extremely important to understand because it demonstrates that Our Lady of Guadalupe was a factor that untied all of Mexicans under one umbrella. That umbrella covered the love and unity many felt with the help of Our Lady of Guadalupe. With the increasing amounts of creoles in Mexico after the Spanish Conquest, many of the creoles felt as if they were having an identity crisis. This is where large amounts of indigenous populations felt in any way close to Our Lady of Guadalupe . Through the years many have seen Our Lady of Guadalupe as pacifist figure, a saint that means no harm. This is extremely true, although many used the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Mexican War of Independence. The first president of Mexico, Manuel Felix Fernandez, changed his name to Guadalupe Victoria in order to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. As early as 1648, essayist Miguel Sanchez was referring to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a Mexican national symbol. During the later seventeenth century and mid-eighteenth century many tumorous events happened in Mexico such as, floods and epidemics. Events like this is where people started putting their trust on such a symbolic figure . La Malinche was young indigenous women who was given to Hernan Cortes as slave; to help translate and such.
Although many usually put a negative image on La Malinche many forget to pay attention to the fact that La Malinche and Our lady of Guadalupe both have an almost an equally important role in Mexico’s identity. Our Lady of Guadalupe worked alongside the infamous Malinche to form Mexico’s identity because they both had similar qualities. Many have seen La Malinche as traitor to Mexican culture when in reality she is the reason the Mexican race exist because in truth Mexicans are indigenous blood and white Spanish blood. One could wonder why la Malinche is not praised as much our lady of Guadalupe, the answer is simple; our lady of Guadalupe was not responsible for the fall of the Aztec empire. Although this may be debatable since Hernan Cortes did use a similar image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Spanish Conquest of Spain. Which is also why they work hand in hand, because la Malinche and our lady of Guadalupe both had a similar effect on Mexican identity but in a way that they were polar opposite
. During the Mexican Revolution there was a large wave of immigration to the United States. Many Mexicans migrated during and after that time. Mass amounts of Mexicans migrated to the Southwestern states in the U.S. such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California . Our Lady of Guadalupe was not just a symbol for the recently immigrated Mexicans, it was also a symbol for the second generation Chicanos/Mexican-Americans. For example, César Chávez was a civil rights activist during the bracero movement . Chávez participated and organized many of strikes, fasted and various others peaceful demonstrations for change. Many people knew Chavez as a family man and as a follower of the Catholic Religion. Chávez would often times talk alongside the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe because his supporters did utilize her a way of protest and equality. Muralist became popular after the Mexican Revolution, with the large migration of Mexicans to the United States, many muralist came to the United States and would paint the walls with art. Many time they would utilize the image Our Lady of Guadalupe in their murals because it gave the newly Mexican immigrants a sense of home . Alongside La Llorona and La Malinche, Our Lady of Guadalupe have become "powerful icons of Chicana resistance to cultural hegemony and patriarchal domination. " With this being said, La Llorona, La Malinche and Our Lady of Guadalupe have helped the Chicano Feminist movement. Aiding the counter culture with some sense of stability but at the same time revolt towards all things wrong in society, In the United States, there are many people who are devoted Our Lady of Guadalupe. During times of struggle economic, political or social they usually put their emotions onto Our Lady of Guadalupe. Others times people like to print controversial art to grab others attention. In Arizona in 2010, there was an Immigration Bill 1070, which made it illegal for anyone to be in public without immigration documents. Arizona made it possible for racial profiling to occur due to the fact that if a police officer one was an illegal they could be arrested. Our Lady of Guadalupe played a role in this because many people who opposed this immigration bill started printing out flyers that said “illegal immigrant”, and it had an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is extremely controversial because as stated before, Arizona has a large population of Mexican-American Immigrants. With this, it shows how Our Lady of Guadalupe has helped many not settle for any type of racism and to fight against prejudice. Our Lady of Guadalupe has become a centralized that has been able to adapt through centuries of change. Guadalupe has become a sense of stability for many Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and Chicanos through their devotion to her.
While Cortes would go away, leaving his country under the power of his vice rulers, many started to think of ways of killing Cortes to overthrow his power. Between the times he would leave to follow his wish to explore the rest of the world, he was opposed by many and even targeted by many. The race to becoming the Governor had started among the all of those who either claimed to be better than Cortes, or simply wanted to increase their power. Cortes’ empire had now officially seen a downfall,
Hernan Cortes was born at Medellin in Spain in the year 1485 and eventually became one of the great Governors of Mexico City. It all started in 1518 when the Governor of Cuba (Diego Velazquez) placed him in charge of an expedition to explore Mexico for colonization. In February, 1519, Cortes was about to set sail when Velazquez changed his mind at tried to replace him; however Cortes in an act of mutiny pushed forward anyway. In March of 1519, Cortes claimed the land for the Spanish Crown (Charles V). Because of this great victory and the gold that Cortes sent back to Spain, he was named Governor and Captain General of Mexico in 1523.
Even today, she’s still considered “La Reina de Tejano” and her legacy still lives on. Works Cited 1) http://www.biography.com/people/selena-189149 2) http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20105524,00.html 3) http://www.selenaforever.com/
Indian women had played roles in the beginning of American history. The two famous women were La Malinche and Pocahontas. Both of them were not educated, that’s why their stories were written by others. Bernal Diaz, Spanish conquistador and Cortez’s companion, wrote about Malinche. Whereas, John Smith, English soldier wrote about Pocahontas. Malinche played the role of translator, advisor and lover of Cortez, while, Pocahontas played the role of peacemaker. There are also some contradictions in Smith writings about Pocahontas saving his life. Malinche and Pocahontas made the link between colonist and native population, they married to Europeans; but Malinche was from South America (Mexico) and she had contacted with the Spanish, whereas, Pocahontas lived in North America (Virginia) and related to English. Both of them very intelligent women, Malinche had the skill of speaking multicultural languages and Pocahontas was the peace creator between Indians and English.
Why was Cortes with 508 soldiers able to conquer the Aztec Empire with millions of people?
The history of the Western hemisphere is full of war and conquest. One of the most significant and defining of those conquests is the downfall of the Mexica/Aztec Empire. While there are many other events to choose from, this one stands out since it was one over one of the largest empires in Central America. It is also important to look at because of the immense cultural impact it had. The story of this takeover reads like a movie script, a small band of Spaniards single handedly takes down the most powerful empire in Central America. It was an epic battle, which unfortunately led to the destruction of a magnificent culture. As in any major historical event there are many underlying themes and storylines that come together to make the event happen. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec is no different. Three major themes are seen in this struggle. One of them is the incredible advantage that the Spaniards technology gave them over the Aztecs. A second major theme is the greed that fueled the conquests in the New World. The last major theme was the effect of the political divisions and rivalries within Montezuma’s Central American Kingdom. As this historical event progressed each one of these themes began to intertwine until they became an almost unstoppable force.
...n, Gonzalez states his identity; "I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ." This combination of culture is the basis of his poem, which can be found at http://www.pbs.org/chicano/joaquin.html, and is representative of the heritage of Mexican Americans. The concept of Aztlan is explained in Chicano!, and the mural ‘Corazon de Aztlan,’ found in Chicano Park (http://chicanopark.org/murals/north/n8.html ), reinforces the importance of this image in the lives of Chicanos. The myth of Aztlan symbolizes centuries of culture and struggles of Mexican Americans who went through incredibly difficult times throughout history, but never lost hope and always stayed strong, determined to one day be treated equally as citizens of the United States of America.
In 1539 Hernando de Soto and five hundred adventurers began on a journey of exploration that would take 4 years and would travel through 10 states in the southeast United States. His goal was to discover a source of wealth, preferably gold, and around his mines establish a settlement. During his travels through La Florida he encountered numerous groups of native peoples, making friends of some and enemies of others. His expedition was not the first in La Florida; however, it was the most extensive. In its aftermath, thousands of Indians would die by disease that the Spaniards brought from the Old World. De Soto would initially be remembered as a great explorer but, would be later viewed as a destroyer of native culture. However, in truth de Soto was neither a hero or a villain but rather an adventurer.
According to Donovan Longo’s article “Who Is The Virgen De Guadalupe? A Brief History Of The Saint So Important In Mexican Culture” published in 2014, the Virgin Mary is known by many different titles but they all refer to the same Virgin that the Catholics recognize as the Blessed Mother. The Virgin de Guadalupe is mostly known by her first stunning visitation that she first decided to make Catholics know of her existence. The story of her appearance was said to have occurred on December 9, 1513 in the presence of Juan Diego, who was an Indian that happened to be passing on the area where she appeared. At the moment of her existence Juan Diego was told by the Virgin Mary that she wanted a church to be built at a Hill of Tepeyac that was near Mexico City. The Virgin Mary wanted a church to be built in her honor so she used Juan Diego as messenger, so he could go and tell the Archbishop what she was requesting, but since the Archbishop did not believe Juan Diego about the encounter that he had with the Virgin Mary, he asked for a proof. The Archbishop wanted a proof from the Virgin Mary, so he could prove her identity. The Virgin Mary sent Juan Diego to pick up some flowers and once he did so, she placed them in Juan Diego’s cloak and off he went to give the proof to the Archbishop. When the cloak was opened flowers fell out and there was an image of the Virgin Mary imprinted on the cloak, and the day that the image of the Virgin Mary was shown to the Archbishop was December
The myth talks of a woman living in the time of the Aztecs who is caught between her culture and that of Cortez cultures in the time of Hernando Cortes. The woman served as a mediator between Cortes and her people. She was his lover and stood aside as Cortes conquered her people making her seem as a traitor (Fitts).The woman and Cortes had a child; then Cortez abandoned the both of them, and the woman stayed alone the rest of her life. La Malinche means “bad woman” the woman got this name by turning on her people for Cortes by selling them out for revenge from how badly they treated, and ultimately destroys the civilization
New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1997. Haskett, Robert. The. “Activist or Adulteress”? The Life and Struggle of Dona Josefa Maria of Tepoztlan”. In Indian Women of Early Mexico, edited by Susan Schroeder, Stephanie Wood, and Robert Haskett, 145-163.
The traditions my parents instilled in me at a young age are important to me. They are part of my Latin culture and identity. One of the most important traditions that I value the most is our devotion to “La Virgen de Guadalupe” (The Virgin of Guadalupe), and although I don't go to church or share a specific a religion, I believe in La Virgen as a protector and a guardian figure and maintain her presence in my daily life. The story of La Virgen de Guadalupe goes back to 1531, during the time of the Spanish conquest, an indigenous man named Juan Diego encountered the apparition of La Virgen who told Juan Diego that a church should be built in her honor at the top of Tepeyac hill, where she appeared, which is now in the suburbs of Mexico City.
Aztec women embarked on several defining moments of labor, gender, class, symbolism, and political power in the Aztec Mexico history and culture. The roles of the Aztec women were unjustly marginalized. Their contributions to the work activities, economy, government and the influence of growth and development were grossly deceptive in the Ethnohistoric documents. Moreover, the variations of Aztec women cooking and weaving revolutionized gender. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
The people of Mexico choose to acknowledge her instead of the Virgin Mary because she is of their own culture, thus making her a more appealing godly figure to praise. She came to the people of Mexico during a time that they needed a religion, and she was able to make them feel comfortable about everything she had to offer to them. She did this by giving them comfort through connecting with them through their own culture.
Mexican American history began in the16th century under Spanish colonialism. The Spanish had a goal of conquest and colonization. Evidently, that goal was successfully accomplished because when the Spanish first arrived in 1492 Mexico’s population was fourteen million, but by the end of the 16th century it had drastically declined to one million. Numbers decreased because of the cruel treatment, forced labor, and disease brought by the Spanish. The Spanish eventually controlled most of the territory in the Southwest and over three hundred towns had been established for the purpose of control and conversion. The Spanish imposed conditions on the natives of Mexico that would belittle them. They aimed to convert them in order to make them re...