Students and faculty celebrated the Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Thursday afternoon in Fr. Dorsey Way on the second floor of the Anderson Student Center, Thursday, Dec. 9.
While the feast day is traditionally celebrated on Dec. 12, many students of different races and backgrounds came to participate in the event. Some students performed the live reenactment of the Dec. 12, 1531 apparition, when Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to have appeared in Mexico City, a live Mariachi band came to play traditional music and Mexican cuisine was provided.
“I think the celebration is so beautiful. It is a great way to honor her and the Latino culture on campus,” senior Gianna Bonello, who is Italian, said. “It’s just a great representation of the (Catholic) faith at St. Thomas too… the Catholic church is so universal and it’s important for white Catholics to be aware of these traditions.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the many apparitions of the Virgin Mary, is said to have appeared to an Aztec man named Juan Diego in Mexico. During the apparitions Juan Diego was ordered by Mary to tell the Archbishop at the time, to erect a church in Mexico City. To this day, the feast day is celebrated throughout Latin America and is a large part of the Catholic tradition and Mexican culture.
Marta Pereira, the director for the Office of Spirituality, said that this event is important to have on a Catholic campus.
“We have done this event for 5 years, it was an inspiration to bring something to the Latino students,” Pereira said. “Faith is a large part of their culture, and when students come to college, some of the traditions can get lost. So we just wanted to bring(the feast day celebrations) to campus and keep the traditions alive.”
Members of the Diversity Activities Board and Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Achievement also helped sponsor the Campus Ministry event by bringing food, setting up Dorsey Way and advertising on social media.
HOLA President, Eric Castellanos said that the feast day celebration is becoming a St. Thomas tradition as well.
“It’s definitely become a tradition on campus, it’s been a part of my 4-year college experience,” Castellanos said. “It helps (Latinos) tell our story, religion is a large part of who we are.”
The celebration began with a procession with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and upon arriving to the second floor in ASC, band Mariachi Mi Tierra started to play and sing “Las Mañanitas,” a traditional mariachi song played during the feast day celebration.
Alma Castro, the lead singer of Mariachi Mi Tierra said that while this is a job for her, it never feels like one during the Lady of Guadalupe celebrations.
“I was born and raised in a Mexican-Catholic household, so the traditions have always been a part of my life, it was “the norm” for me. Most of us in our group are family members so it’s something we all know,” Castro said. “Especially around this time, this is one way that I can get back to my roots and La Virgen which are very dear to me.”
Andrés Tejeda can be reached at teje4962@stthomas.edu.