Local Hispanic Catholics celebrate vibrantly in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe

To celebrate not only one of Christianity’s most revered figures but also Latin America’s rich culture, hundreds of Columbians joined Saturday in festivities honoring the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or the Virgin Mary.

In Hispanic Catholic culture, the Dec. 12 holiday commemorates the month some five centuries ago when the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared four times to Juan Diego, who in 2002 was canonized by Pope John Paul II. In 1945, Pope Pius XII declared Our Lady of Guadalupe to be the patroness of the Americas.

According to Catholic accounts, at the behest of Mary, Juan Diego appealed to the local bishop in Mexico City to build a church in her honor in the place where she had appeared. It wasn’t until the bishop was given a sign in the form of a miraculous image of Mary on Juan Diego’s cloak that his initial skepticism failed and he believed in the apparition.

A play retelling the story of Juan Diego and the Virgin was Aldahir Guzman’s favorite part of the day-long celebration at Columbia’s Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church in northwest Columbia. The 11-year-old and his two sisters, 14-year-old Thalia and 4-year-old Karol, attend the event every year with their family.

“We want them to learn of the (Mexican) culture and to grow up with it,” said their mother, Denise Guzman, whose husband is from Mexico. “Especially to the Hispanic culture, it’s very important, this celebration, because she’s the mother of Jesus.”

It was a vibrant day of singing, dancing, eating and storytelling at the church’s annual festival.

Traditional dances from across Hispanic culture, including the Aztecs and Colombians, were shared, along with tamales, desserts, songs and skits from groups in the church.

The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of a number of occasions Catholics honor the mother of Jesus throughout the year, the Rev. Peter Sousa said.

“We don’t worship Mary, but we have devotion to her because she leads us to a deeper level of God,” Sousa said.

For Denise Guzman, the Virgin Mary “shows us a lot of things.”

“She’s given us an example of how we should do things for God,” Guzman said. “God asks us for so little, and sometimes it’s so hard for us to say ‘yes.’ It’s just beautiful to learn of her.”

As the Christmas holiday nears, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe fits right into the season “of family and festival,” Sousa said.

“And it all reminds us of God’s love for us in and through the love of Mary,” Sousa said.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 5:38 PM.