Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe {December 12}

With my focus on Jesus this Advent, I'm making an effort to recognize several of the feast days leading up to Christmas.  I have learned so much as I have grown in my Catholic faith, and I have a new-found respect for the many traditions we have!


December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Only recently have I learned about the miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary to Saint Juan Diego in Mexico.  I learned much about this miracle from watching the Catholicism series with Father Robert Barron (video clip below) and reading articles, like this one from Catholic Online.  There is also tons of information to be found about Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as Juan Diego at Sancta.





This video is longer, but it's very interesting and talks about what makes the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Juan Diego's tilma so miraculous.  It was so incredible that it converted millions in Mexico!




Pretty amazing stuff, right?!  Now that you're all inspired, here's some music to listen to as you peruse ideas for celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego with your family!

Teach kids about Our Lady of Guadalupe

A great way to teach kids the story of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe is with the DVD Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe.  We were able to get it on Netflix.





There are also several children's books featuring this story.  

Crafts and Coloring

 Here are a variety of Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring pages.

Several awesome coloring pages that tell the story of Juan Diego by Holy Heroes can be found here .













Make a printable Saint Juan Diego paper doll from Paper Dali.

Brown bag tilma
Catholic Inspired

Make a tilma out of brown paper bags.  

Ways to Celebrate

An easy way to celebrate is to eat Mexican food for dinner.  You can also have Mexican hot chocolate!

Get a Lady of Guadalupe candle and light it during dinner or prayer time.  You can find them at many grocery stores in the Latino food aisle.

Jessica from Shower of Roses celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a tea (pics below).  Her children created their own Tilmas.  They had some simple, yet creative and symbolic foods, including St. Juan Diego sombreros, Tepayac Hill mash potatoes, A Woman Clothed With the Sun taco dip, A Mantle of Stars cookies, and Tilma of Roses made of tortillas.  The kids also built and decorated their own church.  I will definitely be making a few of these!

A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Shower of Roses

Prayers

Mary is such a wonderful example for us mothers, and I find great comfort in asking her for her intercession.  You can find a variety of prayers to Our Lady of Guadalupe at Sancta, as well as a novena.  

Enjoy the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!