Thousands of Roman Catholics will flock to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines next week for the annual Christmas season pilgrimage.
The crowds will gather at the shrine at 1170 N. River Road on the Maryville Academy campus for the Guadalupana Celebrations held Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 11-12. It involves two days of food, song and prayer to commemorate Saint Juan Diego’s claims to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary near Mexico City in 1531.
“It’s a time they’ll ask for certain miracles and to pay tribute for miracles she has helped them out with,” said Fernando Ramirez, president and founder of the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage in West Chicago.
The annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is among the ways Hispanics in the suburbs observe the monthlong Christmas season, which begins Sunday, Dec. 8, and runs until Three Kings Day on Jan. 6.
Celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Des Plaines will attract thousands of people on Dec. 11 and 12.
John Starks/[email protected], 2023
Jesus Rios of Des Plaines says he knows people from all over the state who will be going to the shrine this year.
“A lot of the stuff that we do involves religion,” Ramirez said.
Other activities bear more cultural significance.
The Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, whose residents are about 50% Hispanic, hosted an event this week with a bilingual Santa Claus. The Wednesday event was fully booked in advance.
“We do a lot to bring that culture into the library,” said Denise Raleigh, director of exhibitions at the library.
Raleigh noted the library has an exhibit featuring 33 Olmec heads, painted by different artists, that were displayed throughout DuPage County this summer. The heads are reproductions of Mexican stone artifacts dating from about 1400-400 BCE.
Some of the heads, Raleigh said, will be decorated for the holidays.
Monica Martinez, 7, of Carpentersville, and her cousin Benjamin Ruiz, 3, of Elgin have their photo taken with Santa at the Gail Borden Public Library Wednesday in Elgin.
Brian Hill/[email protected]
Various cultures have their own celebrations.
This Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, Columbians may celebrate the Day of the Candles — the Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of Sept. 8, nine months after the Dec. 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne — by lighting candles at home and outdoors.
On New Year’s Eve, Cubans may mop their floors to signify a fresh start or eat 12 grapes in the first minute after midnight to herald a year of prosperity.
Carolers going house to house and singing traditional Christmas hymns is a common practice, though an article on bilinguallyyours.com says, “its popularity has waned recently.”
The Rev. Miguel Martinez of Santa Maria del Popolo Parish in Mundelein said another Hispanic Christmas tradition is the Posada, a centuries-old Mexican and Central American custom that recreates the journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem in reenactments held from Dec. 16-24.
When ministering in Chicago, Martinez had obtain a donkey for the woman portraying Mary to ride through the neighborhood seeking “shelter” at designated houses.
Different couples will reenact the same journey over the nine days. When shelter is found — often at the couple’s actual home — a celebration begins that includes prayer, song and food. Tamales and chocolate are popular holiday fare.
“At the end of the journey, whoever is hosting the posada gives candy, sometimes piñatas, food,” Martinez said. “There’s a lot of carols, songs. The piñata is made of seven cones that represent the seven capital sins, so we are supposed to destroy them.”
In some neighborhoods and parishes, secular and religious traditions are observed.
Santa Maria del Popolo is hosting Christmas tree sales through Dec. 15 to benefit the Knights of Columbus and the parish. On Saturday, Dec. 7, it will have a Christmas-themed craft fair.
But on Dec. 16, the first night of posadas, it will hold a “Pastorela.” Martinez described it as a humorous play in which the devil tempts the shepherds not to reach Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.
In addition, the Mundelein church is hosting posadas, and individual families may hold them. But Martinez said the holiday custom has become less common in some neighborhoods.
“That happens in a few communities, but we are losing it here, which is hard,” Martinez lamented.
Jessica Smith of West Dundee has her photo taken with her daughter, Vivian, 4, and Santa Wednesday at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin.
Brian Hill/[email protected]
• Daily Herald staff writers Alice Fabbre, Ana Hinkhouse, and Chris Placek contributed to this report.