Catholic
On 12 December, millions of Mexicans celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe — when Mary appeared to an indigenous convert named Juan Diego in 1531, leaving her image on his cloak. Pilgrims crawl for miles to her basilica in Mexico City; the shrine is the most visited Catholic site in the Americas.
The image is a symbol of Mexican identity as much as faith. Eden lists tours to Mexico and Latin American pilgrimage sites.
At a glance
- Type
- national feast
- Date type
- Fixed (same date every year)
- Regions
- Latin America, Global, North America
- Themes
- Mary
- Liturgical colour
- White, Gold
Common questions
Our Lady of Guadalupe is observed on December 12 (fixed). Moveable feasts shift each year; fixed feasts stay on the same calendar date.
The feast commemorating the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to the indigenous convert Juan Diego in 1531 at Tepeyac Hill, near Mexico City, and the miraculous imprint of her image on his cloak (the tilma). Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, Mexico, and the Philippines. December 12 is the most widely observed Marian feast in the Americas, celebrated with night-long vigils (las m
It is associated with Catholic. It falls in the Advent season of the liturgical year.