The Significance of Lady of Guadalupe in Mexican History and Culture

Running head: GENDER AND RELIGIONS
Gender and Religions
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1GENDER AND RELIGIONS
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of Lady of Guadalupe in the history and
culture of Mexico. She has been seen as one of the most influencing historical characters along
with a deeply religious significance attached to her identity. She is a very interesting character
along with La Malinche, she is a symbol of the most powerful female icons as well. In this paper,
the significance of Lady of Guadalupe will have to be addressed to find out her importance as a
female character.
It must be assumed that she has a strong character and extremely important for the
historical context of the country. She has some religious connotations and national significance
as well.1 Apart from that the most crucial fact for her character is her as a symbol for
empowerment of Mexican-American women. It was a time that the society was entirely
patriarchal and females did not have any importance in the society. They were completely
dominated. In this scenario, her representation is of some significance. She is also called the
Virgin of Guadalupe and thus connecting her existence with that of Virgin Mary. This evaluation
is needed to emphasize her place in the history.
As per the traditional facts, it has been assumed that Virgin Mary once appeared to Juan
Diego who was an Aztec but he was later converted to Christianity. It was in the month of
December in 1531. Virgin Mary made a request to Juan that he should built a shrine for her at the
very place where she had appeared. It was a place in the Mexico City when the areas were much
smaller and the shrine was built there. This was followed by some supernatural practices that can
also be regarded as apparitions. In the later centuries, the image of Lady of Guadalupe had been
1 Castañeda-Liles, María Del Socorro. Our lady of everyday life: La Virgen de Guadalupe and the Catholic
imagination of Mexican women in America. Oxford University Press, 2018.

2GENDER AND RELIGIONS
moved to New Basilica from the old one. After this removal of the image, Abbot Schulenburg
made a thorough examination of the image by experts of art.2 This image was drawn by Juan
Diego and it was worshipped by all people in Mexico. This means that there have been many
instances of religious connotations of Lady of Guadalupe. Juan Diego had been beatified on 6th
May of the year 1990. Two miracles took place that worked very smoothly for the process of
further canonization. This legacy of Lady of Guadalupe had continued for more than 500 years.
The society of Mexico was very much influenced by this appearance of Lady of Guadalupe as an
image of Virgin Mary. It seems that this image was the reason as to why religious attributes
cannot be taken out of Lady of Guadalupe.
The appearance of Virgin Mary on the hill of Tepeyac was the beginning of the legacy of
Lady of Guadalupe. Her image has politically influenced the people as well. This image has also
been very much evident in United States in 20th and 21st century as well. Thus the influence of
Lady of Guadalupe in the context of Mexican-American society has been immense. Gender
biasness had been very much evident in the contemporary Mexican-American culture. Therefore,
this image of Lady of Guadalupe gave confidence to women of the society to speak up and get
their rights. There have been numerous instances where her image has been regarded as one of
the most influential one in all America. The controversies went viral all around the world when a
taxi driver exclaimed his view that Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint all over America.
Therefore, people have revered her all through the world. The image of Lady of Guadalupe has
stood as a symbol of struggle for women in the society of Mexico since women wanted to gain
2 Matovina, Timothy. "The origins of the Guadalupe tradition in Mexico." The Catholic Historical Review 100, no. 2
(2014): 243-270.

3GENDER AND RELIGIONS
their rights. Lady of Guadalupe is the central symbol of Mexican and American unity all over the
world. Apart from her religious influence, her political influence should be acknowledged
properly as well. There was a massive struggle between the federalists and centralists on
dominating the country. Thus the factor had been going on and only constant amidst this was her
image.3 All Mexicans believed in her image and this was the only thing that could unite Mexico.
The Mexican settlers in the southwest regions brought the devotion to Guadalupe with them so
unity could be restored in this region. Therefore, it was quite possible that her image could only
be taken as a motivating factor for every Mexican. Religious connotations had been quite
significant in this issue since she became an object of worship. The name of Guadalupe is
evident in some sections since Guadalupe- Hidalgo treaty had ended the war between America
and Mexico in the year 1848.4 The society of Mexico was mainly a patriarchal one and women
wanted to gain freedom from domination of men from the inspiration given by the image of Lafy
Guadalupe.
The subversion of gender roles is indeed very much crucial for understanding the role of
women. Few terms could be associated to girls or women in the contemporary Mexico. These are
weak, sensitive, innocent, defenseless and little. Therefore, it is quite evident that the image of
Guadalupe has been of gigantic importance. She has gone beyond her role of religious
connotations and this has placed her at a position where the girls and women could feel
motivated by her. The thematic implications have been overlooked in this section as well. Her
emergence as the savior is very crucial for them. They have been highly motivated and
3 Matovina, Timothy. "The origins of the Guadalupe tradition in Mexico." The Catholic Historical Review 100, no.
2 (2014): 243-270.
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