Religion

Mexico prepares to receive 11M pilgrims to venerate Guadalupe Virgin

Mexico City, Dec 11 (EFE).- Mexico said it was getting ready to receive at least 11 million pilgrims from all over the world to venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe.

To mark the day of the Lady of Guadalupe, celebrated Tuesday, millions of people travel from Mexico and abroad to the Basilica of Guadalupe, in the Mexican capital, to thank the Virgin for her blessings and ask her to cure sick relatives, among other requests.

Faith in the Virgin of Guadalupe arose in Mexico on Dec. 12, 1531, as legend says this virgin appeared to indigenous man Juan Diego, canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, on Cerro del Tepeyac, at whose feet the basilica is currently located.

The number of pilgrims expected this year would be a record surpassing last year’s 10 million visitors.

Pilgrim Matilde Gomez, who traveled from Cuitlahuac, in the eastern state of Veracruz, told EFE that these days of journey, as well as the veneration of the Virgin, give off the “smell of faith, of love and hope.”

Some elements that reach other senses, according to Jonathan Vera, from Amecameca de Juarez, in the central State of Mexico, because he believes that the Guadalupe celebrations are colored by the triad of green, white and red, distinctive colors of both the Virgin and the country.

“These days of pilgrimage and tomorrow are pure songs or praises of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” says Jose Ignacio Oropesa, who organizes the traditional dance of the Toreadores in his native Ahuacatlan, in the also central state of Puebla. EFE

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