Catholic relic coming to Las Vegas for Mexican religious festival

By Tovin Lapan (contact)

Published Friday, Dec. 9, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Updated Friday, Dec. 9, 2011 | 12:20 p.m.

The festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe is always one of the biggest cultural and religious events of the year for Latin American Catholics, but this year’s celebrations should be remembered for years to come.

The Holy Family Catholic Church, 4490 Mountain Vista St., has arranged for the Knights of Columbus to bring to a ceremony Saturday at 6 p.m. a religious icon blessed by Pope Benedict XVI — a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe encased with dirt from Tepeyac Hill, where Juan Diego was visited by the Virgin Mary.

“It is fantastic that we will have the tilma relic here,” said Ray Rivera, president of the Hispanic Committee at Holy Family. “It’s the biggest event of the year. For Hispanic Catholics, the days everyone goes to church are Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Dec. 12 for Our Lady of Guadalupe. They call her the ‘Reina de las Americas,’ the Queen of the Americas.”

This is the first time the icon has been in Nevada. The icon has been touched by the tilma, the garment Diego was wearing when he saw the Virgin Mary. The garment is considered a holy relic.

As the story goes, Diego initially failed to convince Mexican Catholic authorities of his supernatural encounter, during which he was told a church should be built in the virgin’s honor. The authorities instructed Diego to return and ask for a miraculous sign to prove his claim.

The Virgin Mary told Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. It was winter but Diego found Castilian roses there. Upon returning, on Dec. 12, 1531, Diego opened his cloak before Archbishop Fray Zumárraga and the flowers fell to the floor. On his tilma was an image of the virgin, miraculously imprinted on the fabric. That image is now known as the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Rivera said all are welcome at Holy Family’s celebration, which starts with a social event featuring Mexican dance and music at 6 p.m. Friday.

Various churches and community groups will hold events this weekend leading up to Monday’s celebration honoring the patron saint of the Americas and Philippines, when devotees will serenade her with “Las Mañanitas,” the traditional Mexican birthday song.

A typical element of such celebrations is the Dance of the Matachines, which dates to the Spanish Conquest. As the Spanish tried to convert indigenous Mexicans to Catholicism, they incorporated some of their traditions, including dance, into religious ceremonies.

The group Matachines de Ciudad Juárez will perform at several Las Vegas churches and community ceremonies Monday.

“It is a religious and cultural dance,” Ofelia Perez, matriarch of the family that started the dance troupe, said in Spanish. “It’s traditionally used to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, but we also perform at many events. The dance can be traced to tribes like the Apaches.”

Irma Wynant, who works at the Winchester Cultural Center and studies Hispanic and Latino culture, said the festival for the Virgin of Guadalupe is important to many Latin American Catholics but particularly Mexicans, who make pilgrimages to see the tilma in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

While many churches in the area will hold Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations, several community events also take place, Wynant said.

One apartment block near Silver Dollar Avenue and Valley View Boulevard has a large concentration of immigrants from the Mexican state of Guerrero, and every year they hold a festival involving a procession, music, food and dance.

“I love going to the community events,” Wynant said. “The Guerrero group, they open their doors to everyone and give food and drinks. There were so many people on the balconies I thought they would collapse. It is beautiful, and it is a way of maintaining continuity, faith and tradition.”

CORRECTION: Because of incorrect information provided to the Sun, the story incorrectly reported that a piece of the tilma would be brought to Las Vegas. Rather the object being brought to Las Vegas is a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe encased with dirt from Tepeyac Hill, which has been touched by the tilma. | (February 8, 2012)