Who Is Virgin Mary of Guadalupe/Tonantzin?
Millions of Mexicans commemorate December 12th as the day when Mary the Mother of Jesus miraculously appeared to St. Juan Diego and spoke to him in his native Nahuatl language at Tepeyac in Tenochtitlan in 1531. Mary mysteriously imprinted her image on Juan Diego’s indigenous mantle known as the tilma. This tilma is kept at the altar of the Basilica of Guadalupe a Church that Mary had asked Juan Diego to have built in her honor at Tepayac. Scientists have examined the image on the tilma and say that the dye of the image is of an unknown origin. They are also baffled as to why after 465 years the tilma has no sign of deterioration. This sacred site is the most popular site in the world for pilgrimages second to the Vatican. Every December 12th famous singers and bands perform inside of the Basilica to pay their homage and sing to Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. The Hill at Tepeyac previously had a pyramid which was built to honor Tonantzin the Mother Goddess and Lunar Deity of the Mexica Trib
