Mexico Celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe

Everywhere throughout the Riviera Nayarit and all of  Mexico celebrates this Mexico holiday on December 12th with festivals of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Town squares will be decorated, with festivals, church’s will have celebrations, and new paintings on sides of buildings of Guadalupe, along with the bombs going off at all hours of the night and early morning. This is how Mexico celebrates, and Mexico loves Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The Story of Guadalupe
The story of Guadalupe takes place in 1531 when a local peasant named Juan Diego saw on the slopes of the hill of Tepeyac a vision of a teenage girl surrounded by light. This girl spoke to him in the Nahuatl language and asked that a church be built at this location. Juan Diego thought she was the Virgin Mary. He needed to prove this to the Archbishop at the time by getting a sign from this teenage girl. He was instructed to pick some flowers, Castilian Roses, which was a difficult task as they were hard to find since it was late in the blooming season. The so called “Virgin Mary” arranged the flowers in a cloak in such a way that when it fell to the ground in front of the Archbishop there was an imprint left on the cloak of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The icon is now displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A church was constructed and  replaced the Old Basilica that was finished in 1709, as it became a danger due to the sinking of the foundations. Today, a modern structure called and the New Basilica was built next to it where the original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe rests today in the New Basilica.
Built between 1974 and 1976, the new Basilica has a circular floor plan. The image of the Virgin Guadalupe can be seen from any point within the building. The circular structure is 100 meters (330 feet) in diameter, and can accommodate up to 50,000 people!

The Riviera Nayarit next door neighbor, Puerto Vallarta,  has their Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations start on the 1st of December and finali on the 12th. The streets of Puerto Vallarta during the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe ignites with festivities, processions and religious passion. On December 12, 1851,  Puerto Vallarta was discovered, so this day holds a lot of excitement and celebration for the local people of Puerto Vallarta. With the new PV malacon built, all festivities are fun! Take a taxi as there will not be a place to park anywhere close to the malacon. The streets during the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe ignites with festivities, processions and religious passion. Many groups and organizations arrange to meet and participate in the pilgrimage to Puerto Vallarta’s Cathedral “the Church of Our Lady Of Guadalupe”. Today between 18-20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica.
The original  Basilica is located in Mexico City, in the northern neighborhood of Villa De Guadalupe Hidalgo (or simply “la Villa).  in Mexico City.

Miracles, cures and interventions were attributed to the Lady of Guadalupe. Pope John Paul II has visited her sanctuary four times in 1979, 1990, 1999 and 2002. In 1999 he declared Dec. 12 a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent. This year many types of meditations are happening as this December date is 12/12/12,  and everyone celebrates.

Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe day on the Riviera Nayarit, relocate to Mexico for life!