Reina del Cielo

By Andrea Alvarez

La Basilica de Guadalupe is visited by millions of devout Roman Catholics each year, many of which embark on a sacred pilgrimage to visit the church each December 12th; the Day of the Virgen de Guadalupe. While most Catholic saints have a special day of celebration throughout the Gregorian calendar year, the Virgen de Guadalupe is one of the most celebrated, especially among Mexican Guadalupanos. “The Mother of the Pueblo’’ and the “Queen of the Heavens,” are just some of the many titles given to her by the Latine Catholic community. These titles allude to both the religious and cultural importance that the Virgen de Guadalupe holds, oftentimes even overshadowing other prominent Catholic/Christian figures like the Virgin Mary. In order to understand the Virgen de Guadalupe’s cultural significance, it is important to examine her origin and the syncretism between indigenous religious beliefs and Spanish Catholicism that allowed her to emerge as “La Madre de todos Los Mexicanos” during the Spanish colonial period. In an effort to exert religious control and indoctrinate indigenous groups during the Spanish colonial period, Spanish missionaries strategically built their churches over established indigenous temples. Building Catholic churches to praise Catholic religious figures in sites that indigenous people of Mexico considered sacred, allowed the Spanish to figuratively and literally bury indigenous religions and forcibly establish Catholicism as the dominant religion in colonial Mexico. One of these former indigenous sacred sites is the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. The Cerro de Tepeyac is recognized as the place where the Virgen de Guadalupe made her appearances in front of an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego; these stories were first documented in the Nahuatl book “Nican Mopohua” by Antonio Valeriano. However, before the

Cerro de Tepeyac was recognized as the sacred site of the Virgen de Guadalupe’s apparitions, it was a temple dedicated to the Aztec mother goddess Coatlicue, also known as Tonantzin.

Just as the Virgen de Guadalupe is recognized as the mother of Jesus Christ, Coatlicue-Tonantzin was the mother of the Aztec Sun and war god, Huitzilopochtli. Moreover, just like Coatlicue, the Virgen de Guadalupe is indigenous and not European like all other Catholic saints of the time. Her race furthers her adoration amongst the Mexican Catholic community as she is regarded as the mother figure of the country. In addition, the colorsof the Virgin’s green cape and red dress were also symbolic for the Aztecs; red is the color of life while green signifies eternity and fertility. Thus, religious syncretism contributed to the Spanish priests’ goal of converting indigenous people in Mexico to Catholicism, and her continued popularity today can be traced back to this history.

Present day, the Virgen de Guadalupe has continued to serve as a guiding light for Catholics in Mexico and Latin America throughout centuries. She served as the symbol of the Mexican Independence Movement of 1810 and her image was also present during the Farmer Workers Movement in the 1960s along with the rest of the Movement. In the words of Dolores

Huerta, the Virgen de Guadalupe continues to be a symbol of “faith, hope, and leadership” in the Latine Catholic community as well as a cultural icon in Mexico. While many report Catholicism will continue to decline in the coming decades, the Virgen de Guadalupe’s popularity and cultural significance is likely to continue, despite her ties to Catholicism. While many may not consider themselves Catholic, their faith in the Virgen de Guadalupe will be present as they regard themselves “Guadalupanos.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249873/nearly-2-two-million-pilgrims-visited-the-shrine-of-our-lady-of-guadalupe-in-mexicocity

2 Claudia Zarate, “La Virgen de Guadalupe, la “madre de Todos los Mexicanos,” NewsWest9, https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/ la-virgen-de-guadalupe-la-madre-de-todos-los-mexicanos/513-c63eb40a-038b-46ad-a142-90891094b987

3 David Carrasco, Religions of Mesoamerica (Waveland Press, 2014), Pages 11-26.

4 “Nican Mopohua,” The New York Public Library, https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/belief/item/5559

5 “ Tonantzin… the deity behind “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” The Yucatan Times, https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2021/12/tonantzin-the-deity-behind-our-lady-of-guadalupe/

6 Małgorzata Oleszkiewicz. “Fluidez y transformación: religión, arte y género en las fronteras de norte y sudamérica”. Revista Brasileira de la Literatura Comparada, vol. 5, no. 5, 2017, pp. 113-124.

7 “Color Meanings and Symbolizm in Mexican Culture,” Color Meanings, https://www.color-meanings.com/color-meanings-symbolism-mexican-culture/

Resistance and Solidarity: Reimaging Jaguar Symbolism in Latin America

By Angel Marquez

Throughout history, the literature world has been heavily influenced by the western world and from this has appropriated multiple stoic feline characteristics from the animal kingdom. This has been done as a way to superimpose the view that like a feline, humans ferociously navigate a world of predators in search for dominance. Aside from its naturalized desire to fulfill capitalist archetypes, feline characteristics have manifested themselves as symbols. The jaguar in particular has been used to represent comfort and resilience for many indigenous cultures throughout Latin America.

Amazonic Trapeze:

In the case of the studies of flora and fauna in the Amazonic Trapeze, the jaguar has been named the main actor in advancing developmental efforts in its worldview, ritual, social and economical sectors in society. For indigenous communities like the Ticunas, Cocamas, Yucunas, Macunas, and Ocainas, native to surrounding areas of the Amazonic Trapeze: Santa Sofía, El Progreso, Zaragoza, and the cities of Leticia, the jaguar plays an important ecological role in natural ecosystems. In the ecological sense, Jaguars are seen as species of quality control that regulate the habitat that they live in via their control (and balance) of the food chain.

Apart from their key role in sustaining social and natural ecosystems, jaguars were considered symbols of war, using their strength and power and imposing those characteristics onto their war heroes. Most importantly, “[k]ings were often given names incorporating the world balam, which they viewed as their companions in the spiritual world and protector of the royal household”. Rulers as well as war warriors wore jaguar garments to invigorate their strength and courage during war. However since fur was highly valued, this privilege was privatized to rulers of the empires.

Colombia:

In the mythologies of the Kogi, an indigenous tribe located at the north mountain range in the city of Santa Marta, Colombia, the jaguar occupies a larger role in the origins of human existence. In many of the recorded manifestations of the jaguar, its main societal occupations lie in their role as a chaman, to which they were able to create rituals, war, and maintained a valued rulership in the mountains. Additionally, as chamanes, jaguars serve as guardians, healers, medics, and (spiritual) guides.

Due to the role that jaguars had as healers and spiritual guides, many of the reputations that were harbored in colonial times were negative, as they were condemned to be acts of witchery and diabolic. This narrative caused many jaguar-related practices and representations to be coded and occult to preserve them through materialization in ceramics, rocks, musical instruments, and rituals.

2 BELTRÁN, Catalina. En búsqueda del jaguar: Representaciones y narraciones en el trapecio amazónico. 2013 [Fecha consulta: 25 de Octubre 2022].

3 Balam translates to Jaguars in the Mayan language, this practice is associated with the symbol of Jaguars as guardians and providers of cornfields and villages.

4 “Balam: Jaguars in Guatemala.” Hachette Book Group, 20 Dec. 2018, https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/travel/outdoors/balam-jaguars-in-guatemala/#:~:text=Jaguars%20were%20a%20symbol%20of,protectors%20of%20the%20royal%20household. Accessed 26 October 2022

5 Ocarinas is a flute made from ceramics. Traditionally, this musical instrument has 12 holes around its ceramic body.

6 Cristina Gómez Garcia-Reyes and Esteban Payán Garrido. “Iconografías y representaciones del jaguar en Colombia: de la permanencia simbólica a la

In the musical realm in Colombia, jaguar iconography was present across the pre-hispanic world. Instruments like the ocarinas were made from snails, sea shells and rocks; which were also considered markers of power and richness due to the highly specialized value of production. Additionally, these instruments were utilized during war times, as they channeled power and strength.

While anthropological scholarship has merely scratched the surface in the pursuit of reimagining ancestral knowledge, the jaguar is positioned as a transhistorical celestial body. A body that reconstructs animal-human cultural exchange within unmarked spatial bounds. This flexibility and connectivity across Latin America that the jaguar offers, importantly highlights the significance of upholding and commemorating tribal knowledge that pushes against western perceptions. Intercultural exchange in Latin America thus becomes a gateway to solidarity that transcends spatial boundaries. They do this as we question capitalistic and imperial agendas that capitalize and simultaneously distort valued ancestral cosmovisions. With the ferocity and strength that the jaguar offers, Latin American activist groups have channeled the rage of the jaguar as a means of resistance against oppressive western agendas. Similarly, the jaguar as a cultural symbol in Latin America connects people across boundaries, and thus solidarity is established. This creates refuge and a community that has shared values for ancestral ontologies.

2 BELTRÁN, Catalina. En búsqueda del jaguar: Representaciones y narraciones en el trapecio amazónico. 2013 [Fecha consulta: 25 de Octubre 2022].

3 Balam translates to Jaguars in the Mayan language, this practice is associated with the symbol of Jaguars as guardians and providers of cornfields and villages.

4 “Balam: Jaguars in Guatemala.” Hachette Book Group, 20 Dec. 2018, https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/travel/outdoors/balam-jaguars-in-guatemala/#:~:text=Jaguars%20were%20a%20symbol%20of,protectors%20of%20the%20royal%20household. Accessed 26 October 2022

5 Ocarinas is a flute made from ceramics. Traditionally, this musical instrument has 12 holes around its ceramic body.

6 Cristina Gómez Garcia-Reyes and Esteban Payán Garrido. “Iconografías y representaciones del jaguar en Colombia: de la permanencia simbólica a la conservación biológica”. Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología. Accessed 26 October 2022.