The importance of religious symbols
By Katie Cosgrove 

This week I read the reading The Virgin of Guadalupe as Cultural Icon by Virgilio Elizondo.   Elizondo investigates the meaning behind popular symbols and how they function in popular religion and within the masses. Elizondo uses the case study of Our Lady Guadalupe to illustrate the importance of religious symbols.

Elizondo argues the importance of understanding and reinterpreting symbols in popular religion as they are symbols of the way people relate to God and religion.  Elizondo begins the article with a brief historical overview to help the reader gain an understanding the context for the time of the apparition of Our Lady Guadalupe.

Elizondo argues that in order to understand the powerful symbolism that Our Lady Guadalupe holds for the Mexican people one must first understand that the Mexican people had undergone a huge defeat by the Spanish they had lost their lands, their religion had been overthrown, their temples destroyed and their Gods defeated (2005: 202).  Early missionaries attempts to communicate to the Mexican people their understandings of Christianity had also failed.  

Ten years after the Spanish conquest the first apparition of Our Lady Guadalupe takes place. It is important to note that no early documentation of this event exists yet the symbolic meaning is so powerful that the memory continues to live on today in the memory of the Mexican people (2005: 203). 

The apparition of the Virgin Mary brings about a new life and meaning for the Mexican people.  Our Lady Guadalupe becomes a symbol of strength and compassion for the Mexican people still even to today. Guadalupe symbolizes hope and strength to the suffering and gives a voice to the powerless to stand up for their rights and demand a more human existence for everyone (2005: 207). It is clear that that the symbol of Our Lady Guadalupe plays an integral role in the function and meaning of Christianity for the Mexican and Mexican Americans today.

References:

Elizondo V. 2005. The Virgin of Guadalupe as Cultural Icon. In C.H. Badaracco, Ed., Quoting God. How Media Shape Ideas about Religion and Culture, 201-208. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. RL.

Image source:

Wikimedia commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Escola_Cusquenha_-_Nossa_Senhora_de_Guadalupe.jpg