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By Phillippe Diederich, Voxxi

On the days leading up to December 12, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans will decorate their homes, light candles and begin the pilgrimage to the Basilica de Guadalupe on the outskirts of Mexico City to celebrate and honor the queen of Mexico; Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

The celebration of La Guadalupana, as she is sometimes called, is one of the most important holidays in Mexico. It is as much a religious holiday as it is a patriotic holiday because La Virgen de Guadalupe is uniquely Mexican and is one of the country’s most important icons. From the moment of her appearance in 1531 to the present, Juan Diego, she has been a unifying force and a symbol of what it means to be Mexican.

The story of La Virgen de Guadalupe

Legend has it the image of the Vigrin Mary appeared to Juan Diego in the hills of Tepeyac while he was on his way to Mexico City. The Virgin told Juan Diego that she wanted a church built in her honor at the top of the hill. Juan Diego told this to the Spanish archbishop, Juan se Zumárraga, who said he needed proof and asked Juan Diego to return to Tepeyac and ask for a miracle from the Virgin.

Juan Diego went back to Tepeyac and told this to the Virgin who helped him harvest flowers from the top of the hill. The flowers were roses of Castille, which did not grow in Mexico, especially during that time of year. Juan Diego carried the flowers back to Mexico City. When he opened his cloak to reveal the flowers at the archbishop’s feet, the image of the Virgin appeared in his cloak. The cloak is now on display at the Basilica.

Taking history into context, and legends aside, the story of La Virgen de Guadalupe and what it did for Mexico cannot be denied. The brown skinned Virgin represented meztisaje, the blending of the Spanish and Indian; what is Mexican. Also, it was common for the Spanish conquistadors to build churches over Aztec temples. At the top of Tepeyac Hill there was a temple where peasants worshipped the Aztec goddess, Tonantzin. Interestingly, the story of Juan Diego and the Virgin was recorded in both Spanish and Nahuatl, the language of the Nahua people.

The Virgin Mary solved problems for the Spanish and the Mexicans

La Virgen de Guadalupe solved big problems for both the Spanish and Mexicans. The Spanish wanted the Indians to become Catholics, but the Indians had their own Gods. La Guadalupana, at least in spirit, offered a path for the Indians and meztisos to become Catholics, because they now had their own deity, acceptable to both the Spanish clergy and the Mexican people. All of this was synthesized even further when father Miguel Hidalgo, holding a banner with the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe, called for the Mexican people to revolt and begin the fight for Independence from Spain.

Ever since then, the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe, has been a part of Mexican identity, lore and inspiration. During the Mexican Revolution, the peasants fighting with Zapata, as well as other revolutionaries, carried her image in banners. She can be found all over Mexico.

Today La Reina de Mexico is presented in so many ways and at so many important functions and celebrations she is synonymous with Mexican identity. Her image can be found in key chains, stickers, t-shirts, caps and even on the inside of Stetson hats and tattoos. La Guadalupana does not just identify people as Catholic, but as Mexican. So on December 12, a sacred and important holiday takes place. Tens of thousands of Mexicans will crowd the area around the Basilica de Guadalupe in Tepeyac, many on their knees, with candles and with pictures of her likeness as they engage in a ritual that is both religious, patriotic and uniquely Mexican.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Phillippe Diederich is a bilingual writer and photographer born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Mexico City and Miami. His photography has appeared in The New York Times, Timemagazine, U.S. News and World Report and other national publications. His non-fiction has been published in the Traveler’s Tales Anthology, Cuba; Cigar Aficionado; The Miami New Times and The Dallas Morning News. He blogs about Latino issues for VOXXI. Diederich is based in Southwest Florida.

[Photo by Esparta]

By Delfin Carbonell Basset, Voxxi

Daniel Boone is an American legend. Don Juan de Oñate is an unknown native-born Explorador. Why the difference?

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) says in his Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History, 1841:

…Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones; the modelers, patterns, and in a wide sense creators, of whatsoever the general mass of men contrived to do or to attain; all things that we see standing accomplished in the world are properly the outer material result, the practical realization and embodiment, of Thoughts that dwelt in the Great Men…

Don Juan de Oñate a native American

Don Juan de Oñate was a native American, born In Zacatecas, New Spain, Nueva España, now Mexico, in 1550—fifty eight years after the discovery. In 1595 Felipe II entrusted him with a mission: to explore and colonize the northern frontier of New Spain. Oñate forded the Río Grande in 1598, where the present-day El Paso is located, on April 30, 1598. He claimed all the territory for Spain as New Mexico—Nuevo México. A Mass and festivities followed as acts of gratefulness, which could very well be considered the second Thanksgiving celebrated on American soil. September 8, 1565 was the first such celebration offered by don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of St. Agustine, Florida, another of the forgotten heroes.

Oñate explored northern New Mexico and founded the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, becoming its first governor. He set up plans for the founding of the town of Santa Fe. His explorations and travels were sprinkled with dangers, wars, cruelties, discoveries, killings, enslavement and plundering. He was recalled to Mexico City and tried and convicted of cruelty to Indians and Spaniards. His appeal was successful and he was exonerated of all charges. He later went to Spain where he died in 1626 at the age of 76.

Daniel Boone became a legend in his own lifetime and continues to be a legend. Juan de Oñate was no saint on earth, certainly, but a man of action and a leader of men. He was called “the last of the Conquistadors”, but was not considered a legend in his own lifetime or even a hero today. However, the history of the American Southwest cannot be understood without him.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Delfin Carbonell Basset is a contemporary lexicographer and creator of the Unialphabet system.

[Photo by Advanced Source Productions]

By Dan Arellano

We all know how Father Hidalgo cried out for a new government on September 16, 1810, starting a revolution in Mexico; but we know nothing about the death he suffered at the hands of his executioners.

There were several eye witness accounts of Father Hidalgo’s heroic and tragic death but it is best described by the leader of the execution squad, Captain Pedro de Armendariz. Captain Armendariz explains that he reluctantly accepted the assignment and recruited the execution squad from amongst his men, who had no desire to kill a priest.

On the day of his execution, his soldiers, in complete silence, marched Father Hidalgo towards his place of execution, the silence broken only by the prayers of Father Hidalgo. His soldiers, already shaking like a leaf for what they were about to do; their nerves frayed even further listening to his prayers. Arriving at the stool placed for his execution, he hands his prayer book to a priest and in silence and on of his own accord sat in the assigned place.

His arms were bound by two musket slings and a bandage was placed over his eyes against the post. Ready to meet his maker he raised his crucifix with both hands and faced his executioners, which were in formation two steps away, three deep and four abreast.

According to Armendariz, when he ordered the first row to fire, several of the men, being nervous and trembling, managed to only wound him in the arm and abdomen. His head, jerking due to the pain, caused his blindfold to fall from his head revealing his beautiful brown eyes which he affixed upon his executioners; and the soldiers could see that he was weeping.

Hurriedly he orders the second squad to fire and all of the bullets miss his heart, some striking him in the abdomen and some going astray. Father Hidalgo showed little reaction and his unwavering gaze remained upon his executioners. His tears flowing from his brown eyes caused such a reaction that even some of the soldiers began to weep.

Armendariz orders the third squad to fire; his soldiers trembling caused the bullets to miss their mark, only managing to cut his back and abdomen to pieces; obviously no one wanted to kill a priest.

At this point he orders his men to march forward and orders them to place their muzzles over his heart, firing point blank, and that is the way he was finally killed. It took sixteen musket bullets to kill Father Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla.

Dan Arellano is a writer who lives in Austin, Texas and previously wrote about Cinco de Mayo and the Latino contributions to the American Revolution.

[Photo By J. Stephen Conn]

By José Antonio López

The seeds of the Tejano Monument in Austin will soon grow to fruition.  What seemed an impossible dream is now a reality.  With a little patience, a big heart, and a great amount of resolve, the Tejano Monument, Inc. Committee has delivered on its promise.  The State of Texas, whose foundation is unmistakable Tejano, will honor its Spanish Mexican past.

The Tejano Monument’s construction is timely. 

We live at a time when the legitimacy of the Spanish Mexican pedigree of Texas and the Southwest is being attacked.  Ironically, while Hispanic numbers are growing, several Southwest states including Texas have approved oppressive laws that threaten the very liberties that our country established throughout the world as the freedom standard.  Among other actions, they assault bi-lingual education and ethnic studies in the bi-cultural Southwest.  Everyday life has become more difficult for working class citizens who look Spanish Mexican and Native American.  They are considered of being in the country illegally.  As such, the monument couldn’t have come at a better moment.

Once the tourists and the bus loads of school children begin to arrive, the Tejano Monument will be the object of different interpretations.  Every visitor will have her or his own perspective.  The beauty is that each viewpoint will be correct, similar to studying a prized work of art in a museum.  As for me, the Monument is many things.

First, it symbolizes the visible tree trunk of the Tejano root system stemming from deep in the heart of Texas.

It is a key that opens a special portal (gate) allowing us to peek at life in early Tejas.  I find myself cheering as a pioneer accepts a porción and watch as the ceremonial dust flies off to the four winds.  I hear the sound of church bells calling parishioners to mass.  I’m a guest at a wedding, a quinceañera, and a baptism.  I shout approval as children break a piñata in the patio.

I can smell the bouquet of the herb garden – cilantro, oregano, romero, and yerba buena.  I smell the inviting aromas of meal preparations.  I see children playing and learning at home.  I listen intently during afternoon tertulias.  I view the corral where vaqueros are taming horses.  There are family rodeos and preparations for the next roundup of Texas longhorns.  I marvel at the genius of the first Compañía Volante.  I witness the first shouts of Texas liberty and the first shots of Texas independence.

The Tejano Monument is the telling of a secret that was 170 years in the making.  It’s the first giant step to rediscover the early history of Texas.  It is a strong visual expression of our Tejano ancestors keeping their memory alive.  It’s a set of biographies in bronze that will serve as an inspiration to children of all ages and backgrounds for many years to come.

Most of all, visitors to Austin will now know the reason why so many patriotic citizens in the Southwest speak Spanish as their language of choice.  Please consider making yourself a part of the Tejano Monument.  Visit www.Tejanos.com and make a donation.