The image of Lady of Guadalupe has been a big part of Mexican tradition. It represented as a religious, cultural symbol of Mexican and also contributed to the turning point of Western civilization. The day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is chosen to be the same as the Constitution establishing day which can be seen in Article Nineteen of “The Sentiments of the Nation”.
Firstly, Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a peasant, on a winter’s day in 1531 and asked him to builder her a “casita” on the hill but when Diego got back home, his local bishop did not believe in his story. A day after, Juan Diego showed the tilma to the bishop then the flowers tumbled out and the life-size image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was inside of the cloak. There are many symbols hidden within her image. She has a unique dark skin that representing a mix of Spanish and dark native. This detail indicated that she is a saint for everyone instead of just one race. She stands on the crescent moon and in front of the sunray representing her power of God. Besides that, she also has another symbol of both Indian and Spanish like maternity band around her waist was a sign of a pregnant Indian woman or a symbol of a cross at her neck which is the same symbol as Spaniards had on their ships and the church that they build. The evolution of the Guadalupe symbol was succeeded as an attachment between colonial and invader.
Moreover, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has an impact not only on religious but also on politics. The abundant grace is Our Lady of Guadalupe brought help the Indian to embrace Christianity which has equality and liberty as core values. That is a reason why Father Morelos choose the Constitution establishing day the same as the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. His vision was focusing on the equality between white and indigenous people. He said: “Let there be no more ethnic distinction made among our people, but rather, we shall all be called simply americanos”. Besides, the liberty is mentioned in the first Article of the Sentiments of the Nation by Morelos: “America shall be free and independent of Spain or any other European nation, government, or monarchy. Let its independence be sanctioned and justified before the entire world.” Through the idea of Father Morelos, we can see that his ultimate goal was turning “New Spain” to become the kingdom of Christianity equality or communist and socialist ideas as nowadays knowledge. Furthermore, the image of the lady of Guadalupe also helped the Spaniards to treat native people with respect as they should have as the children of God. For that reason, it contributed to the independence movement of the colonial later.
In conclusion, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has shown its importance in religious, cultural, and shaping a New Spain. Also, Father Morelos is a person who has been instilled thought of Catholicism, the origin of the image of Lady of Guadalupe, and later having a great effect on the document named “The Sentiment of Nation”.