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Devotion to 'Santa Maria' celebrated ahead of Guadalupe feast day in Wilkes-Barre

Dancers in traditional Mexican costumes practice at St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre ahead of Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day, which is observed on Dec. 12. The traditional costumes feature shields, some adorned with the image of the Virgin Mary, who is believed to have appeared to two Aztec peasants in Mexico in December 1531.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Dancers in traditional Mexican costumes practice at St. Nicholas Church in Wilkes-Barre ahead of Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day, which is observed on Dec. 12. The traditional costumes feature shields, some adorned with the image of the Virgin Mary, who is believed to have appeared to two Aztec peasants in Mexico in December 1531.

Sandra Martinez credits the Virgin Mary with two miracles surrounding her daughter's December birth.

This year, Martinez gets to honor "Santa Maria," as the Mother of Jesus is known in Spanish, by carving out a corner for Mary in her family's Plymouth home.

"Oh my God, I don't know. I don't know how to explain myself. It's something, so many feelings inside me," Martinez said.

For the coming year Martinez and her family will host a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as Mary is known by many Catholics from Mexico and Latin America.

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In Catholic tradition it commemorates the December 1531 appearance of Mary to to St. Juan Diego and his uncle, Juan Bernardino in what is now the Villa de Guadalupe neighborhood of Mexico City.

The manifestations helped to convert many of Mexico's native people to Catholicism. Latin American Catholics have carried veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe with them as they moved to the United States, including here in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Each year a local family is chosen to host the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the entire year. That’s after she's adorned in roses and marched through the streets to St. Nicholas’ Church in Wilkes-Barre, which has a growing Latino population.

The statue spent the year at Sixta Marianna Galeno’s Wilkes-Barre home and now she goes to the Martinez family.

A statue of the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is carried through Wilkes-Barre before it stays with the Martinez family for the year.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
A statue of the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, is carried through Wilkes-Barre before it stays with the Martinez family for the year.

'To me it was a miracle'

Martinez's daughter Lisbeth was due on the feast day, Dec. 12. She didn’t come, so Sandra Martinez walked in the yearly procession. Lisbeth, who will be 5 on Saturday, was born two days later.

Then, the family had to take her back to the hospital.

"She stayed there until Christmas Eve. And so to me, it was a miracle, because the doctors say that they never send anybody home on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,” she said.

Lisbeth hugged her father, Carlos Martinez, as Sandra Martinez told the story of her birth.

Lisbeth's middle name is Guadalupe.

"Everything is about faith," Sandra Martinez said.

Sandra and Carlos Martinez, with their children Carlos Jr. and Lisbeth Guadalupe, will house the Virgin for the year.
Aimee Dilger
/
WVIA News
Sandra and Carlos Martinez, with their children Carlos Jr. and Lisbeth Guadalupe, will house the Virgin for the year.

The Martinez family invited the community to their home to help decorate a platform for the statue.

The owner of Maria’s Market on Carey Street in Wilkes-Barre is a friend. The procession will begin at the market at 4 p.m. and end at the church on South Washington Street ahead of Feast Day Mass.

In the basement of St. Nick's on Wednesday, about 100 devotees prayed the rosary and sang to the statue. Guadalupe adorned their t-shirts and shawls. One by one, families placed vases full of roses at her feet.

According to Catholic tradition, the Archbishop of Mexico City did not at first believe St. Juan Diego, a peasant, when he said the Virgin Mary appeared to him.

The archbishop asked for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. The next time Juan Diego visited the archbishop he opened up his cloak, roses fell out, and an image of the Virgin Mother appeared on his clothing. Roses were not native to Mexico.

Moving to an Aztec Beat

On Wednesday Azteca dancers moved to the beat of two drums for the faithful and the virgin. St. Juan Diego and his uncle were members of Mexico's native Aztec people.

The dancers' traditional costumes featured feathered headdresses, shields and arm cuffs with the virgin's likeness. Dried-out beans wrapped around their legs shook at every foot stomp to the beat.

Their costumes are both custom made locally or in Mexico.

This is Kimberly Munoz’s first year performing. The 24-year-old King’s College student grew up watching the dancers.

She tied her black top with gold beads around her chest. Her mom made her costume.

She says she’s been called to the dance. But she was scared and shy. Her 9-year-old sister is a dancer.

“I had the opportunity to join them. So now I'm here now," she said.

Guadalupe means a lot to many people.

At the end of each semester, Munoz, who is studying nursing, takes flowers to a statue of the Virgin Mother on campus.

"I have, like, an offering, because ... I made it through another year semester. So that's what I do personally. But like, everyone here has their own stories, and like, sometimes it's very magical as to like, how things happen," she said.

Kat Bolus is the community reporter for the WVIA News Team. She is a former reporter and columnist at The Times-Tribune, a Scrantonian and cat mom.

You can email Kat at katbolus@wvia.org