Pilgrimage to Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

From the small town that I live in, Churintzio, Michoacan in Western Central Mexico, from the middle of November through the beginning of January there are at a minimum one or two (sometimes up to five) 12 hour or so roundtrip chartered bus trips that are arranged every week that take pilgrims (local residents plus Nortenos who had returned home from the U.S. for the Christmas season) to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The primary purpose of the pilgrimage is for the pilgrims to individually fulfill a “manda,” the promise that they had made to go to the basilica to thank the Virgin for the blessings that they had petitioned/asked for and had received from her during the year. As for me, an American expatriate, I was going on that bus trip to witness the basilica for the first time and to see other attractions in the nation’s capital as we would be there for about nine hours; having never gone on one of these pilgrimages before and not having done any research about the basilica, everything that I was about to observe and experience at the most sacred of Mexico’s shrines would be a revelation to me.

Leaving at 11:32PM instead of the “scheduled” 10PM (as being late to depart seems to be the religiously-observed, er, I mean secular norm on any of those chartered bus trips leaving from and returning to my town), our full bus arrived in Mexico City at 5:30AM and parked in a huge parking lot dedicated exclusively for busses making pilgrimages from all over Mexico. By the time that we arrived, there must have been over 125 busses there already. When it started to become light outside, we walked about fifteen minutes to the site where the basilica is, passing along the way numerous street vendors selling all kinds of religious items with the image of the Virgin on them.

Located on the site, Tepeyac Hill, north of what is now downtown Mexico City in the city's Villa de Guadalupe neighborhood, where in 1531 an indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, is said to have seen the vision of a manifestation of the Virgin Mary, the dark-skinned Virgen de Guadalupe, the basilica is one of seven churches and chapels on or around an immense plaza that is collectively known as the “Villa”/city; perhaps not so coincidentally, in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, it had been the site of the Temple of Tonantzin, the Aztec goddess of fertility. In addition to the New Basilica, the Villa also includes the Antigua/Old Basilica, the Capilla/chapel del Cerrito, the Capilla del Pocito, the Parroquia/temple de Indios, the Parroquia de Capuchinas, and the Bautistorio/Babtistry. Paying homage to the iconic Virgin who transcending religion is also a symbol of Mexican cultural identity and nationhood are, depending upon the source, from 12-20 million visitors per year. Thus, making the basilica the world’s second most visited Catholic shrine after St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.

The most frequented day, occurs on December 12, The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is a national holiday and is, in addition to Christmas and Easter, one of the three most sacred days on the Mexican Catholic calendar. The weeks just preceeding the holiday are also extremely high volume days, such as the day in early December of my bus trip there. Moreover, particularly on the 12th of December, pilgrims from all over Latin America and elsewhere in the world congregate there.

The New Basilica was completed in 1976 to replace the Antigua Basilica which in various incarnations was started in 1531/32 and finally finished in 1709- the centuries-old church had become not only dangerous due to the sinking of its foundations as it was built on a site of what was a lake, but also could no longer physically accommodate the throngs of visitors. Built in the “flamboyant” style of architecture, the New Basilica is a grandiose, modernistic circular building, 100 meters in diameter, whose exterior (at least to me) looks like a soccer stadium that has a green circus tent atop of it- an edifice that at least from the outside that the American evangelist, Billy Graham or even a latter day Elmer Gantry would have been proud to preach from.

However, the millions of pilgrims/visitors who come every year, many of them completing their journey for hundreds of yards or even miles on their knees, do not primarily (or at all!) come to appreciate (or not) the architecture but rather appear from near and far for the demonstrable "proof" of the“vision” and the services inside. Its massive circular open- plan design allows the worshippers to see the image of the Virgin which appears on Juan Diego’s tilma/cloak that is encased in bullet proof glass and hangs above and behind the basilica’s main altar from any point within that level of the building. To facilitate the relatively close viewing of this most sacred garment there are moving walkways going in two directions that carry visitors back and forth by the tilma.

With 10,000 permanent seats and said to be able hold up to 50,000 worshippers, the basilica is open daily from 6AM-9PM. Its main floor has nine chapels while on the floor below are the basilica’s crypts with approximately 15,000 niches and ten chapels. The central place of worship for Mexico’s patron saint who is also known as the Patroness of the America’s, at least thirty masses per day are conducted in the New Basilica alone. Additionally , from 6AM-6PM confessions are heard daily and yearly it is the sight of thousands of weddings, baptisms, first communions, and confirmations.

Within the complex, the two other most frequented buildings are the Old Basilica and the Chapel of the Hill. Closed for many years for structural renovations, this more traditional looking four-towered, yellow domed basilica is home to the Museo de la Basilica de Guadalupe; this museum features ex-votos (depictions of miracles dedicated to the Virgin and other saints) and also contains a fine collection of 15th-18th century religious paintings and sculptures. Up about 100 stairs from the rear of the Old Basilica, the Chapel of the Hill draws huge crowds as it is on the exact location where the vision of the Virgin was said to occur; down below it on the side of the hill is the lovely and well-maintained Parque de la Ofrenda with its gardens and waterfalls around a sculpted scene of the vison.

After spending a substantial amount of time at the Villa, for the rest of my visit to Mexico City, along with, Pablo, a fluent English-speaking Norteno acting as my unofficial guide that I had met on the chartered bus, we saw a decent portion of Mexico’s largest city. Our most impressive stop being at his alma mater, the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico with its sprawling campus, its utilitarian architecture, and its many outstanding world renowned mural displays. However, for me what was the highlight of my day was at the basilica with its complex of buildings and its constant outpouring of seemingly never ending fervent religious activity.

As we got back to the bus a few minutes before we were advised to be back by, I experienced a "miracle" that I thought was far beyond the this worldly realm of possibility in Mexico. For whatever reasons, divine intervention or not, all of the other passengers were already on the bus prior to the announced departure time. Before or since, that has never even remotely happened again on any of the chartered bus trips that I have been a participant (really an observer!) in. Even as a "non-believer," somehow, someway, I feel obligated in a non-manda-sort-of-way to thank the Virgin for that. Gracias por el milagro de puctualidad!