Our Lady of Sorrows honors Virgen de Guadalupe with Matachines, festivities

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McALLEN — Our Lady of Sorrows in McAllen hosted La Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe festivities Thursday evening which included a bilingual mass, a Matachines performance and tamales and pan dulce.

La Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe is a religious day celebrated annually on Dec. 12. It is one of the most significant religious observances in Mexico and among Mexican communities.

Juan Diego Academy students, led by their teacher Michael Aldaz, had the honor of being Matachines and performed a traditional religious dance, dressed in decorative outfits with large and colorful headwear.

“The core of the tradition is just to venerate our Virgen de Guadalupe and really the impact that she had in (Mexico) when she played a part with Juan Diego to convert around 10 million people,” Aldaz said. “It’s a tradition that the school has had since the beginning.”

Juan Diego Academy is a private school in Mission and whose students participated.

“There’s a deeper meaning behind it and we’re so proud to be from a school that is named after the humble servant Juan Diego,” he said. “It’s a blessing … I think it’s beautiful to see so many people come out and venerate La Virgen de Guadalupe. Especially in this area, being right next to the border and there’s a lot of close ties to home.”

Juan Diego is known as the 16th century indigenous figure who converted to Roman Catholicism after being visited by the Virgin Mary on several occasions, most notably in December 1531.

As the story goes, that’s when Juan Diego collected Castilian roses from the Hill of Tepeyac — located today in the mountainous Gustavo A. Madero borough in Mexico City — at the behest of the Virgin who instructed him to take them to the bishop.

Shock followed when upon presenting the roses to the bishop an image of the Virgin Mary was imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak, an event that shaped religious culture in Mexico and helped convert untold numbers of people.