our lady the virgin of guadalupe
Today is Our Lady the Virgin of Guadalupe’s feast day, and I’ve done another translation from Galeano’s book of essays ‘Children of the days’.
12 December
Tonantzín is called Guadalupe
Many years after giving birth to Jesus, the Virgin Mary travelled to Mexico.
Tonantzín is Guadalupe
She arrived on this day in 1531 and introduced herself as the Virgin of Guadalupe. By fortunate coincidence this visit happened exactly where Tonantzín – the Aztec Goddess of Mother Earth – had had her temple.
Zapatista Guadalupe
From that moment on, the Virgin of Guadalupe became the incarnation of the Mexican nation: Tonantzín lives on in the Virgin, and Mexico and Jesus have the same mother.
In Mexico, as in other parts of the Americas, the forbidden gods seeped like air into the Catholic divinities, living on in their bodies.
Tlaloc brings rain as Saint John the Baptist and Xochipilli / Saint Isidore the Farmer makes flowers bloom.
God our Father is Father Sun.
Tezcatlipoca, Jesus crucified, signalling the four directions from which the winds of the indigenous universe blows.
lupe … reyes
Today in Mexico also marks the beginning of the festive end of year season popularly known as ‘Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon‘.
Running from 12 December (feast day for the Virgin of Guadalupe) through
Feast Day
the 9-evening round of parties celebrating the ‘novena’ to Christmas Eve (la nochebuena) to Christmas day (25 December), 28 December Holy Innocents’ day (popularly a day of practical jokes) to New Year’s Eve and day and finally 6 January the day the three wise men (or ‘reyes’ / kings) arrived to visit baby Jesus.
And so let the party begin …
10 years
back in the days of delia / lupe / reyes
It’s also the time of year when I remember fondly Mexico and sadly our departure from there, while also gladly to move here (London). Earlier this week (10/December to be exact) we marked 10 years living in London.
We’ve only been back to Mexico twice in those ten years, Lupe-Reyes 2006/7 and summer 2014. Projecting forward into the next ten years, I plan to improve on that number. I don’t know how exactly yet, but some how … Any ideas?
Hasta pronto!
Want to know more?
Un resumen del libro — Los hijos de los días — y una lista de más libros de Galeano
(translation: a review of the book — Children of the Days — and a list of more Galeano books)
Galeano’s original text
12 diciembre
Tonantzín se llama Guadalupe
Muchos años después de engendrar a Jesús, la Virgen María viajó a México.
Llegó en el año 1531. Se presentó llamándose Virgen de Guadalupe, y por afortunada casualidad la vista ocurrió en el exacto sitio donde tenía su templo Tonantzín, la diosa madre de los azectas.
La virgen de Guadalupe pasó su ser, desde entonces, la encarnación de la nación mexicana: Tonantzín vive en la Virgen, y México y Jesús tienen la misma madre.
En México, como en toda América, los dioses prohibidos se han metido en las divinidades católicas, por los caminos de aire, y en sus cuerpos reisden.
Tlaloc llueve en san Juan Bautista, y en san Isidro Labrador florece Xochipilli.
Tata Dios es el Padre Sol.
Tezcatlipoca, Jesús crucificado, señala desde la cruz los cuatro rumbos donde soplan los vientos del universo indígena.
act, believe, change 
Wow…that was interesting!
yes, it was for me too, i didn’t know about all those cross-connections either …