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Gabi95
Guest
Thank you for taking the time to look at my question!
I have read many accusations about the Virgin of Guadalupe being ‘pagan.’ I wasn’t sure what to think. I personally had always hoped it was truly the Mother of God. Knowing Latinos who were truly touched by her reinforced that hope. Just recently, a Native American woman I am friends with made the same accusation I had heard before, as we were discussing religion together in conversation. She said that Guadalupe was really simply an Indian ‘goddess’ who had been Christianized, and was used by the Indians to practice their Aztec religion undercover. Even though I had read plenty before, I decided to do some more research, and again it seemed inconclusive. How do we know that she is the Mother of God and not a pagan deity in disguise? One of the reasons I decided to convert to Orthodoxy instead of Catholicism was because our local cathedral decided to have a Day of the Dead altar at the entrance, and I had a hard time watching a pagan method of celebration (summoning dead spirits to visit and enjoy food and mementoes left by living relatives) brought into a cathedral. I thought that was an unnecessary mixing of Aztec/Mayan beliefs and Christianity. How is the Guadalupe apparition not the same? Thank you so much, and I’m sorry that I wrote a lot.
Very Respectfully,
Gabi
I have read many accusations about the Virgin of Guadalupe being ‘pagan.’ I wasn’t sure what to think. I personally had always hoped it was truly the Mother of God. Knowing Latinos who were truly touched by her reinforced that hope. Just recently, a Native American woman I am friends with made the same accusation I had heard before, as we were discussing religion together in conversation. She said that Guadalupe was really simply an Indian ‘goddess’ who had been Christianized, and was used by the Indians to practice their Aztec religion undercover. Even though I had read plenty before, I decided to do some more research, and again it seemed inconclusive. How do we know that she is the Mother of God and not a pagan deity in disguise? One of the reasons I decided to convert to Orthodoxy instead of Catholicism was because our local cathedral decided to have a Day of the Dead altar at the entrance, and I had a hard time watching a pagan method of celebration (summoning dead spirits to visit and enjoy food and mementoes left by living relatives) brought into a cathedral. I thought that was an unnecessary mixing of Aztec/Mayan beliefs and Christianity. How is the Guadalupe apparition not the same? Thank you so much, and I’m sorry that I wrote a lot.
Very Respectfully,
Gabi