MARION — Our Lady of the Angels Mission Church was filled Dec. 8 with hundreds of joyful worshipers who came to celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent and take part in a procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The overwhelming turnout was a tribute to the devotion for the “Morenita del Tepeyac” or Virgin of Tepeyac, whose feast day is commemorated on Dec. 12. This name for the Blessed Mother refers to her five appearances to St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City in 1531. Also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, she has become the patroness of Mexico City and Latin America.
Father Carl Kaltreider, parochial administrator, celebrated Mass in Spanish with the assistance of a translator.
In his homily, Father Kaltreider stressed that the different Marian apparitions, including the one to St. Juan Diego, occurred to “simple and illiterate people” – mostly children – to “be sure that this is God’s work and not ours,” because “children simply say what they see and hear without adornment.”
At the end of the Mass, the image of the Virgin located next to the altar was led in procession through the streets of downtown Marion, then returned to the mission grounds where everyone gathered for a reception.
The Conchera Tonatzin dance group, from nearby St. Aloysius in Hickory, led the way for the image and the crowd that accompanied it.
Around 40 performers led by Sergio Flores and his wife Edith Juárez Gonzales offered dances in honor of the Empress of the Americas. As Flores explained, “Tonatzin” in the indigenous Nahuatl language means “our mother.”
The folklore group “Herederos de Cherán” (“Heirs of Cherán”), directed by Juan Huaroco, was also on hand. Huaroco explained that most of its members come from or are children of people from Cherán, Michoacán.
“We came from Burnsville, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with all pleasure to serve our brothers in Marion,” said Huaroco, after performing a traditional dance known as the “Dance of the Old Men.”
Volunteers from the parish served hot chocolate, punch, hibiscus water and rice pudding to the crowd. Nearby at another table, delicious carnitas were offered accompanied by beans, rice and tortillas.
María de los Ángeles Amable Valdemar, one of the coordinators, was thrilled with how everything came together for the celebration. “We have worked for several weeks in the organization, and we are happy to see that everything has gone well,” she said.
The festivities were expected to continue in Marion and in many other locations throughout the Diocese of Charlotte on Wednesday night with the Guadalupe Vigil and Las Mañanitas, ahead of the main celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.
— César Hurtado
