The Mayhem called Guadalupe – Reyes Marathon

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Guadalupe Reyes

***WARNING*** This is a breakdown of events that some people take very seriously, like the 8 pound 6 oz baby Jesus story. If you are a highly strung Christian, read at your own risk. Seriously, this is potentially offensive as it starts off light and fun and then gets real non-Christian-y pretty quickly. Gracias.

The Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon is yet another fabulous example of Mexico’s religious, yet very festive culture. At some point in the 1990’s, enough like-minded Mexicans decided to rename the vacation period from December 12 (Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe) to January 6 (Day of the Three Wise Men or “Tres Reyes Magos”) as just one big long ass holiday with a mission. Both the beginning and the end of the marathon are deeply entrenched in Catholic / Christian annual milestones, but the attitude and antics that go on in between the two religious holidays are very much not so.

This fine group of fiesta goers are enjoying ‘Posadas Navideñas’. These 9 nightly parties occur right smack dab in the middle of Guadalupe – Reyes and are not easy to continue attending, unless you are Mexican who was born and raised for exactly this type of fiesta stamina. These amigos are enjoying their papel picado and piñata beating!

This period includes all 9 nights of Posadas Navideñas leading up to Christmas Eve, then Christmas, then New Years and finally 3 Kings Day which, linked together, create a “marathon” of festivities. During this period, the challenge is not only to attend every event, but to drink at least one type of alcoholic beverage every day. 🍹 This Marathon isn’t technically ‘legit’ Mexican Folklore; it is merely a pop-culture activity that is easier for some than others 🫠 💃 #fiestastamina

But Ron Burgundy explains it better…


Today Mexico celebrates the longest holiday in the world….Guadalupe – Reyes.
That’s 3 weeks of steadfast drinking and unyielding tomfoolery. Buckle up, amigos.  See ya in 3 weeks.”

As someone who loves a never ending party, I committed to this tradition years ago! However, today is January 3, 2024 and I am 51 years years old and I don’t think I am going to make it another 3 days to to the finish line which is El Dia de Reyes! John Travolta, as shown below, displays exactly how I felt on Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe versus I how I look and feel at this moment in time…

The Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon can put a person through many changes 😝💃 🍺 🥂 📅 👵🏻

Luckily I still look better than John in the Santa jumpsuit, but you get the drift. If you would like a full breakdown of the significance and traditions of El Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, please refer to our previous blog post here… VIRGIN

This post is mostly to cover Three Kings Day so that we can tie the three week period together with a big ass bow…and then I can finally rest 😜!

Courtesy of Shutterstock – 3 Kings aka 3 Reyes aka 3 Magi

OK, ‘Los Tres Magos’, or ‘The 3 Wise Men’ or ‘Los Reyes’ are obviously part of the whole Christmas birth story of Jesus. What my Presbyterian minister mom never tied together for me as a young sermon-listening child is that according to the bible, these 3 dudes were not magically already at the manger like they are seen in our nativity scenes. In fact, biblical events apparently happened in this order:

  1. Jesus was born (although not technically on December 25, in fact it is more likely he was born in March or April, but Christians wanted to supersede pre-existing Pagan traditions and anyway, I digress).
  2. Three men (who were either actual kings or just liked riding around on their camels together) see a big bright star that night while in Nazareth, Israel.
  3. These yahoos perceive that the star was talking to them 😳 about how the REAL King of Kings 👑 was born in a town far away (Bethlehem, in current West Bank) and to go there on said camels to bring him gifts.
  4. It actually takes them approximately 7 days to get to Mary, Joseph and Jesus according to Nicole DePue (Jerusalem University College, Master’s degree in biblical history and geography). Now if you are like me, I always saw these guys in the manger scene and assumed they fast tracked it that night, but I guess MJJ just hung around and waited 7-ish days for them to arrive 🤷‍♀️ 🤪 I hope frankincense and myrrh were worth the wait ⏰ !
  5. The day the 3 Amigos arrive is called 3 Kings Day here in Mexico, but is more known in most Christian denominations as ‘Epiphany’.
  6. 2024-ish years go by and in Mexico, this day becomes the BIG SCOREBOARD DAY for Christmas presents for the kids. This is a gift-giving day more sacred than Santa’s arrival Christmas morning. Homes do not take down holiday decorations until after this day and stores do not have post – Christmas clearance sales until January 7. The End.

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You may have done some math in your head and realized that if it took the Three Kings approximately 7 days between star-gazing and gift delivery service that our Master’s Degree friend Nicole researched, then why are we celebrating Epiphany/3 Kings Day on the 12th day after Christmas?

12 Days of Christmas and Advent are totally different, but there are so many damn Christmas related holidays that it’s too confusing to understand the difference.

I am not prepared for the research on that, BUT this 12 day period of time is the famous 12 Days of Christmas! Once again, Minister Mom gave me the impression that the 12 Days of Christmas were part of the lead up BEFORE Christmas that I came to assume were the reason for Posadas Navideñas! #toomanyholidaystoolittletime #blessedbethyliver

So to be clear,

  1. Posadas represent the 9 days and nights that Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem (she was slow in her 3rd trimester after all)
  2. Epiphany is the same as 3 Kings Day and it is 12 days after Christmas
  3. In reality, it only took the Kings 1 week to get to Jesus, but Christians chose the ’12 Days of Christmas’ instead – Not to be confused with Advent 🤷‍♀️
  4. Dia de Reyes/Epiphany is the beginning of the pre-fast period before ‘Lent’ which winds us into yet another holiday…CARNAVAL / Mardi Gras!
  5. You thought I was going to say Easter or some shit 🤪
Rosca de Reyes cake on left and Kings Cake – both baby Jesus filled and eaten at the same time and for the same reason. Both photos courtesy of Shutterstock

Celebrating the Day itself: Every January 6th, Mexicans celebrate Epiphany/Dia de Reyes with a Kings cake – similar to our Mardi Gras Kings cake with a tiny plastic baby inside, however this cake is called La Rosca de Reyes. Same idea, different toppings, same baby Jesus…and whoever cuts a piece of this Rosca de Reyes and gets the baby in their slice, are the ones who have to provide the tamales for everyone on yet another holiday called…Candlemas Day, February 2, a day that celebrates the Virgin Mary….and tamales 🫔

Do you see how the festivities go on and on down here?! Full circle party back to the Virgin, yo. That may or may not be another blog post, but suffice to say, as much attention as these 3 Wise Crackers get, the Virgin Mother gets even more. Now if only the 3 wise men had been women…

It’s funny cuz it’s true. Courtesy of FaceBook page Forgotten Ireland with a mere 530K likes • 641K followers 😮 🇮🇪

All things Virgin and 3 Kings are appreciated throughout this season and up to February 2nd! So stock up today on our Virgen de Guadalupe (- Reyes 😉) papel picado 2packs! They are green, white and red and can be used throughout the marathon and then brought back out for Mexican Independence Day in September! #omganotherholiday

Virgin of Guadalupe Papel Picado Mexicano
2Pack of Tri-Colored Handmade Paper Papel Picado La Virgen de Guadalupe Available here!

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IN CONCLUSION: my liver is killing me, my under eye skin is more crepey than ever and I still have 3 more nights to go. I hope everyone gets the chance to celebrate this season like a Mexican once in their lives and my advice is to do it before you are 51! Gracias and thanks and Happy New Year!

Virgin of Guadalupe – An Icon and México’s No.1 Mother

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The Basilica of the Virgen de Guadalupe

I see this Virgin of Guadalupe broad everywhere. She is insanely iconic to Mexican culture…but why? The Virgin Mary as the Mother of God or at least the female expression of God is a Christian concept. But Catholics in Latin America take it to another level. So how did this virgin become such a big part of Mexican religious and national identity?

Iconic” often describes something or someone that is considered symbolic of something else, like spirituality, virtue, or evil and corruption. The iconic Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom. Michelangelo’s iconic statue of David was supposed to represent anatomical perfection. In Christianity, the Virgin Mary is an iconic image of purity and closeness to God.

Vocabulary.com
So much Virgin of Guadalupe merchandise…so little time! | Photo: El Estudio

Not only has Mother Mary gone mainstream as an image, but her day of celebration (Dec 12) is the most important holiday of the year in México! I mean, really… it kicks off a 3-week long wretched excess party during the holidays which finally ends on Three Kings Day on January 6. This party streak is also known as: The Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon (blog post on that to follow).

Soooooo many Nuestra Señora shrines in México City | Photo: TexMex Fun Stuff

Let’s start with the plethora of names for her: Patron Saint of México (Patroness de México), Our Lady of Guadalupe (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), La Reina de México (The Queen of México), La Virgen de Guadalupe (The Virgin of Guadalupe), Empress of the Americas, México’s #1 Mother and of course…Virgin Mary.

Also, there are many versions of her story and how she became the ultimate Goddess and Madre of México…One chick, one day, one miracle in Central México almost 500 years ago…here we go, yo.

The Origin Story

So the story goes… | Photo: wearelatinlive.com

Long history short: According to tradition, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to an indigenous peasant (way more native/Aztec than Spanish) named Juan Diego in central México on Dec. 9, 1531. Juan Diego was minding his own business when the Virgin came from out of nowhere and asked that a shrine be built in her name on the spot where she appeared. This happened to be on Tepeyac Hill, which is now in a northern suburb of México City (The Beast).

Tepeyac Hill, which now houses Our Lady’s basilica, is a burb of the Beast | Map/Photo: Avalontravelbooks.com

After this apparition, Juan Diego traipsed his way down to the Big Cheese Catholic bishop, also named Juan, to tell him about Our Lady’s request. Juan De Zumárraga was the first bishop and archbishop of México and he just straight up didn’t believe the other Juan. #notcredible

In fact, Juan De Zumárraga (or J De Z as we will call him) demanded a sign before he would approve construction of the shrine/church/basilica situation. So poor dejected Juan Diego just went back home. Three days later (December 12), Juan Diego’s uncle lay dying and so he was sent back to the church to get a priest to read his uncle his last rites.

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Well, lo and behold, if Nuestra Señora didn’t show her ass up again! She reappeared to Juan Diego and ordered him to collect roses in his cloak and take them to J De Z since he was heading there anyway. So Juan Diego took the roses to the bishop and when he opened his cloak, the roses fell to the floor and magically the image of the Virgin was imprinted on the inside!

That seemed to be all the proof that J De Z needed, so construction of the basilica in the Virgin’s name began on the spot where she appeared. Not sure of what became of Juan Diego’s uncle though.

Virgin sightings all over México City, Our Lady’s hometown! | Photo: TexMex Fun Stuff

FUN FACT: Juan Diego’s actual cloak with the image is still on display in the Basilica de Guadalupe. For the record, originally only the figure of Mary was on the cloak. Later the gold rays, the baby angel beneath her and the glowing warm orangey-red light surrounding her was added-probably by Bishop J De Z. It has never been restored yet it looks just as it did in 1531 after 488 years!

Unusual? Yes. A miracle? Maybe. A little far fetched? Hard to say. BUUUUUUUT…This is what PROBABLY happened…

A statue of Juan Diego and J De Z on Tepeyac Hill. Notice the basilica above. | Credit…Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York Times

According to author Rosemary Reuther, an American feminist scholar and Catholic theologian, who wrote “Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History” (book available on Amazon)…this situation in México is likely a copy cat. It is well known that Spanish priests were sent to the ‘New Spain’ to endear/force upon Catholicism (and its biggest heroine…the virgin/Mary/Mother of God) to the indigenous natives of México.

The central part of México had predominantly been ruled by Aztecs when the Spanish successfully invaded. The Aztecs believed in a myriad of gods, not one god from a mother who never actually had sex with anyone. And Juan Diego was likely Aztec. Here is why Reuther thinks this story is more or less a nod to a previous event that, according to tradition, happened in the region of Extremadura, Spain centuries earlier…

The Original Virgin Story

Reuther explains that a small wooden statue of the Virgin was carved by The Episcopal, Luke right after Jesus (Son of the Virgin Mary) died. St. Luke had sculpted this statue of the Virgin and was laid to rest with it in Antioch, Turkey. Someone at some point dug into St. Luke’s grave and took the Virgin sculpture with them to the Pope in Rome. #graverobber. The next Pope inherited her and then eventually gave her to Leander the Great who was hanging out in Seville, Spain circa 7th century.

Circa 8th century, the city of Seville was captured by the Arabs/Moors of Islam and so a whole slew of priests took a bunch of Catholic relics, including Luke’s statue, and buried them in the hills of Extremadura, near the river of Guadalupe. They hid it so well that no one could find it for centuries. Oops.

Extremadura, Spain and the specific location of the town of Guadalupe on the Guadalupe River. | Photo: Google Maps

Then one day, a shepherd named Gil (yeah, seriously) was herding his cows on a delightfully crisp mid-14th century morning when he realized that one of his cows was missing.

Gil immediately left the flock to look for it and discovered the dead body of his good buddy next to the banks of the Guadalupe River. Gil was devastated and all, but decided to take advantage of the cow’s skin. When he pulled out his knife to score a little hide, THE VIRGIN APPEARED TO HIM AND SAID,

“Don’t be afraid. I am the Mother of God, Savior of the human lineage. Take your cow and take it to the herd with the others and then go to your land. You’ll tell the clerics what you’ve seen. Tell them from me that I’m sending you there, too. Let them come to this place where you are now. Let them dig where the dead cow was, under these stones: you will find an image of me. When they take her out, tell them not to move it or take it from this place where it is now, but make a box in which they put it. Time will come that in this place become a very remarkable church.”

Extremaduramisteriosa.com
Red White and Green Papel Picado for Navidad
Our Virgin of Guadalupe deserves altars and altars always include papel picado! | Photo: TexMex Fun Stuff

Needless to say, Gil did just that and not a damn one of those clerics believed him. #soundfamiliar? Anyway, he was super bummed and his day was about to get worse…Gil arrived home to find that his firstborn son had died. CHINGA! His entire family and village were at his house mourning this loss when Gil, who couldn’t take much more of this shit, dropped to his knees and begged Our Lady with much devotion:

“Ma’am, you brought my cow back to life. Let’s do this again with my son and we’ll show all these motherfuckers how powerful and miraculous you are.” OK, I took some serious liberties with that one, but the original quote is way too long.

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Before the stunned gaze of all those present, Gil’s son rose, as if awakening from a dream, and everyone marveled at the great miracle. Then Gil told them about the whole cow situation and how the Virgin appeared by the river and how she wants a church in her honor to be constructed in that exact place.

And, oh by the way, she also mentioned that they should dig for the sculpture that St. Luke carved and that the clerics of Seville buried so many years before. The whole village ran to the Guadalupe river and started digging.

Sure enough, they found her statue plus the other relics and documentation that were in a marble casing (almost like a mini casket). Off they went to show and tell the bishops in the nearby mid-size town of Cacéres! This time Gil was TOTALLY CREDIBLE.

A Tale of Two Virgins. Their Lady of Extremadura, Spain on the left and Our Lady of Tepeyac, Mexico on the right | Photo: culturacolectiva.com

The mass construction of the basilica in The Virgin’s name, (which ended up including a monastery, a school, chapel, etc.) ended up creating a village of workers around it. They decided to name their new town Guadalupe since the Guadalupe River ran through it and everyone had pretty much agreed that they should call the shrine “The Virgin of Guadalupe”. Not extremely original, but certainly sensible.

Fast Forward

Hernan Cortes, bitches!
Combo graphic courtesy of Allison twerking the meme generator, imgflip.com and also Biography.com

If you remember from your history books, Hernán Cortés invaded México in the early 1500’s when his troops overthrew the Aztecs in their capital city. Welp, Cortés and his some of his men spent a great deal of time in the Extremadura region of Spain and had become enormous devotees of the Virgin of Guadalupe prior to the invasion of México.

Reuther contends that some of Cortés’s army spent time in the Tepeyac hood while preparing to take the Aztec capital (now Mexico City) in 1521. It is probable that while they were there, the story of the original Virgin of Guadalupe was bastardized into a Mexican version, whereas the apparition showed herself to an indigenous man so as to get the Aztecs on board with the “miracle of Christianity.” #itworked

The Pilgrimage

Another similarity between the two Virgins is the pilgrimage by their devotees to their respective sacred places. People bike and walk hundreds of miles to her basilica in México City and to “satellite” basilicas all over México to pay respects and ask for miracles on December 12 every year. The Virgin of Extremadura welcomes visitors all year long who come from far and wide to show their devotion. #Cortés

The Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Paying homage to the Queen of México…The pilgrimage ends at the Basilica on the exact spot of her first sighting | Photo: ABC News

Popular Culture

WeAreLiveLatin.com is a blog about all things fabulously Mexican and they phrased this phenomenon better than I ever could…

“The icon of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was used by father Miguel Hidalgo as he launched the fight for independence. The image of the Virgin has since been an important image in México’s struggle for freedom and as a patriotic symbol. Revolutionaries like Zapata always carried a flag with her image as they went into battle, and later, when they marched triumphantly into México City.

She is present in all aspects of Mexican life, and her image has become synonymous with México. In places like truck stops, bus stations and automobile garages, there are small shrines to the Virgin where people can pray. In many churches and shrines, instead of a crucifix there is an image of the Virgin. Her image is deeply etched into the consciousness of the Mexican people; so much so that it has even become a form of kitsch. She can be found on t-shirts, calendars, towels, tattoos, cups, and even bank checks.” So there.

We Are Live Latin

Icon-ness

You know you’re an icon when another icon imitates you for her pregnancy and baby pix!

Icon Imitating an Icon
Bey seems to think she’s “Up there” with the Virgin of Guadalupe! | Photos: Beyonce.com

And now for some blasphemy

OK, you may or may not have noticed that I am not super Jesus-y/religious-y/Believer-y. My thoughts on all of the above are this: this story is as ridiculous as the actual Christmas story. Of course it is. However, this woman is so important to the land and culture that I live in now that I don’t dare question the validity of it all around my Mexican friends. That would be sacrilege to the level of un-friending, and not just on FaceBook.

“BUUUUUUUUUT!,” as my dear Mexicana bestie, Julissa says…every sacred situation deserves a good meme. So here we go in Español…

“Mary! Holy Shit! You are pissing on a child!” | Photo: Google Images Memes

Did I manage to explain why the Virgin of Guadalupe is a bad ass broad? Good. The End.

Are you looking for more inspiration from México? Check out the TexMex Fun Stuff Blog for more sights, sounds and badass-ness uncovered while exploring México searching for handmade fun stuff for you!

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