Annual Our Lady of Guadalupe procession celebrates patron saint, Mexican Indigenous cultures

About 2,000 walked, danced, sang and prayed through the streets of North Park on Sunday morning to pay homage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas, as well as Mexican Indigenous cultures.

The procession is an annual tradition dating back more than 50 years. It was held in advance of the day of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Catholic celebration of what is believed to be the appearance of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and the mother of God, to Juan Diego, an Indigenous Chichimeca man, on a hill near Mexico City in 1531.

Sunday’s procession culminated in a Catholic Mass at St. Augustine High School.

This year, 50 groups participated in the procession, including parishes, ecclesiastical organizations and cultural groups that performed dances from across Mexico, including the states of Colima, Oaxaca and Michoacán. The number of groups participating and the number of attendees both exceeded last year’s numbers, according to the Diocese of San Diego, which co-organized the event.

Many participants said Our Lady of Guadalupe represents strength and hope for the suffering, as she had appeared to an Indigenous man at a time when Indigenous peoples were suffering from the Spanish colonization.

“We are very proud to celebrate her coming to Mexico,” said Blanca Gonsalez, a member of the Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Chula Vista who performs the Danza Guadalupana, a dance to honor the patron saint. “Now, Our Lady of Guadalupe is for everyone in the world.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe represents solidarity and peace, especially during difficult times, said Auxiliary Bishop Felipe Pulido — something that is especially relevant today in a divided country, he said.

“Today, in our own time, we need that message for all of us,” said Pulido, who presided over Sunday’s Mass.

In the procession, pickup trucks carried elaborate floats draped in the colors of the Mexican flag. The floats depicted the image of the Virgin Mary that manifested on Diego’s cloak, with girls dressed as her standing against a halo backdrop surrounded by cacti and flowers.

People also carried giant rosaries while reciting the prayers aloud. Musicians strummed acoustic guitars while singing folk songs; a youth marching band blared trumpets and beat drums. Dancers wearing tall feathered headdresses made a symphony of sounds, shaking rattles, twirling skirts that jingled with small bells, and stomping their feet with ankle bracelets of rattling chachayote tree nuts.

Danza Mexicayotl was one of the several dance groups in the procession. The San Diego group was founded in 1980 and preserves the cultural and spiritual tradition of the Indigenous Chichimeca people of Central Mexico, said Beatrice Zamora Aguilar, a lead dancer of the group. They dance to give thanks to the Earth and recognize the Earth as their mother, because everything comes from the Earth and returns to it, she said.

Some in the procession said that honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe is especially important now as immigrant communities are facing fear and anxiety amid a nationwide crackdown on immigrants.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a source of devotion for many in immigrant communities and offers protection and assurance, noted the Rev. Hung Nguyen, associate pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Barrio Logan and coordinator of a program that has volunteers accompany people attending immigration court hearings.

Nguyen noted that one of the Virgin Mary’s famous quotes to Diego was, “¿No estoy yo aquí, que soy tu madre?” which means, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?”

“In their moment of distress, we can communicate to them that God is with them and they’re not alone,” Nguyen said. “She’s saying today, ‘I’m looking out for you.’ ”