Xalapa, Ver.- (AVC/Verónica Huerta) Every December 12, the Catholic religion relives the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to San Juan Diego on Cerro del Tepeyac, now Mexico City in the year 1531.
Years following the apparition, but since the times of New Spain, families characterize their girls and boys as San Juan Diego to take them to the temples on December 12 as an offering to the Virgin of Guadalupe, a tradition that has remained to the present day.
In Xalapa, the family from Quecholac in the state of Puebla arrived on Saturday to visit the Virgin and dress their four-month-old son in the clothes of Saint Juan Diego.
The father of the family José Manuel Peña Villa expressed that it would possibly be closer to them to go to the Basilica in Mexico City, but because they are originally from Veracruz, they prefer to bring their son to the church in Xalapa.
“It is the first time that we bring my son, we ask for health and well-being as a family; we left Veracruz because there was no work, we found ourselves there in Puebla and we stayed there; but we are from here from Veracruz ”he explained.
The López Family, from the neighboring municipality of Banderilla, expressed that they visit the Virgin of Guadalupe by tradition.
“We come by tradition, by faith and we bring our child; This is the first year that we bring it, we come because the pandemic is over and we are calmer “they indicated.
For their part, the women parishioners help to make the entrance and exit of the Catholics flow inside the temple; there since they try to enter they ask them to put on the mask or they will not be able to stay inside.
The forewarned pilgrims wore face masks to protect from the coronavirus, but others who did not meet the requirement had no choice but to stay outside.
This Sunday at 11:00 p.m. the Archbishop of Xalapa, Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong and the Auxiliary Archbishop Jorge Rafael Palma Capetillo will offer the mass prior to the morning of the Virgin of Guadalupe, to which thousands of visitors are expected in the minor basilica .
