Celebrating With Song, Dance And Prayer

While Dec. 25 is the most anticipated date on most calendars, Latinos across the American continents — including the Evansville Diocese — start their celebration a bit earlier.

The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe occurs on Dec. 12 every year, and Latino Catholics begin celebrating with prayer, dancing and food as early as Dec. 3.

The celebrations officially kicked off in the diocese on Dec. 8 at St. Mary Church, Huntingburg, followed by Sept. 9 events at St. Joseph Church in Dale, Our Lady of Hope Church in Washington, St. Joseph Church in Jasper, Nativity Church in Evansville and Sept. 12 at Holy Spirit Church, Evansville.

Guadalupe celebrations traditionally feature the happy birthday song, Las Mananitas, and children often dress in the attire of the Aztecs, the Mexican natives who learned of the Virgin Mary from Spanish settlers in 1531.

The origin of the Feast of Guadalupe dates back to 1531, when Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have appeared to an Aztec, Juan Diego, on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City. To prove she was who she claimed to be, she assured Juan Diego that his sick uncle would be healed and told him that a patch of roses would grow on a rocky, barren hill.

When these predictions came true, the local bishop ordered a shrine to be constructed, which is now the Basilica of Mexico City, the second-most visited Catholic site (after the Vatican). It has become known as “The Miracle of the Pink Roses.”

Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.