“Mañanitas in Honor of our Lady de Guadalupe,” the traditional Mexican Catholic religious observance commemorating the apparition of the Virgin Mary to the Mexican Indian Juan Diego in 1531, will be observed at California State University, Fresno on Wednesday, Dec. 12.
Sponsored by Es-Tu-Dios, a Catholic Fresno State student organization, the event begins at 5:30 a.m. in front of the Henry Madden Library with songs in honor of the “Virgin” followed at 6 a.m. by the traditional procession which will end at the St. Paul Newman Center across form the campus (1572 E. Barstow Ave.).
A Mariachi will greet the marchers performing the traditional “Mañanitas” at the church where Mexican food and sweet bread will be provided free to all participants. A Mass follows at 7:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Details: Raul Moreno, 278-5750 or Ofelia Gamez, 278-7711.
Background
According to Mexican tradition, La Virgen appeared to Juan Diego on a hill northwest of Mexico City identifying herself as the Mother of God about ten years after the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztecs.
She instructed him to have the bishop build a temple on the site and left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on his “tilma,” a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 469 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.
Throughout the years, Catholic faithful have made pilgrimages to churches built on or near the site. In 1976, the new Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located four miles from central Mexico City, was dedicated. Yearly, an estimated 10 million visit her Basilica on Dec. 12, on what has became known in the Catholic world as The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the U.S., Mexicans and Mexican-Americans also observe the feast with early morning re-enactments of the pilgrimages and worship services.
