Families celebrate Guadalupe feast in La Salle

A big dinner was planned for Laura Lugo’s table Tuesday night, followed by an evening of song and prayers. Christmas is days away, but another holiday demanded celebration.

Tuesday was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Lugo, a Peru resident, is among the Americans of Mexican descent who eagerly mark the holiday. The feast is first and foremost a religious observance but it’s also a day when Hispanic families celebrate their heritage, which is interwoven with the feast.

“My plan is to to watch the televised coverage of the many millions of pilgrims who traveled to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City and listen to all the beautiful songs that they have chosen as a birthday gift of music to our Blessed Mother Guadalupe,” said Lugo, who has personally visited the shrine. “We will enjoy a nice dinner and pray the rosary to thank her for watching over us this year.”

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Parishioners crawl on their knees down the aisle as a way of giving thanks for prayers answered during the Lady of Guadalupe event on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, at St. Hyacinth Church in La Salle. Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus. (Scott Anderson)

Tuesday’s feast dates back to the 16th century, when a mysterious woman appeared in 1531 to a poor peasant named Juan Diego outside modern-day Mexico City. Secular and church authorities did not at first believe him, until he returned bearing roses in the dead of winter along with an image of the Virgin Mary miraculously impressed onto his cloak.

The apparitions had a seismic effect on the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Millions converted to Christianity within a decade and the church in Mexico has long held Dec. 12 a holy day of obligation.

In La Salle County, where 11% of the population is Hispanic – and 7.5% of households speak a language other than English – the feast is arguably the single biggest Mexican cultural celebration of the year.

Sara Escatel of Mendota said the feast day is a unifying observance among Spanish-speaking families across the Illinois Valley.

“I think there’s not one Hispanic household that believes in saints that does not have a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” Escatel said. “She’s a saint to whom you pray for health, happiness and whatever comes to your heart. She’s the mother of all our people.”

Observances vary a bit by how the the feast day falls on the calendar. In Mendota, Escatel said, the feast was observed this past Sunday so that Hispanic families could celebrate before the work week begins.

In La Salle, however, the feast is literally a dawn-to-dusk affair. The celebration began with prayers before daybreak and was to conclude with an evening Mass featuring traditional music and with boys dressed as Juan Diego and girls dressed as the Virgin Mary.

Overseeing this marathon is the Very Rev. Thomas Otto, pastor of the La Salle Catholic Parishes, who said he feast is increasingly elaborate – “In some ways it’s even bigger than Christmas” – and who foresees extra-strong coffee on Wednesday morning.

“Here in La Salle we’re blessed to have such a huge community from Latin America,” Otto said. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful part of living in the Illinois Valley, where we’re blessed to have a large, vibrant immigrant community. The way they live their faith is inspiring.”