Virus can’t stop a spiritual experience

Leonard Jimenez was six the first time he went “up the mountain.”

There’s a good chance he was carted up there a few other times before he could even remember. Just as his grandfather, his dad, his uncle, his cousins, his nieces, nephews.

Just as hundreds of other families.

The tradition has been going on in some fashion in southern Las Cruces for nearly 150 years.

The Our Lady of Guadalupe Fiesta at Tortugas, like so many other plans of 2020, is not happening this year.

The mountain of which Jimenez speaks is Tortugas Mountain, also known as “A” Mountain. An integral part of the fiesta is the six-mile processional walk Dec. 11 from the Tortugas Pueblo grounds to the top of the mountain, culminating in a ceremony where the faithful carry their families’ promises. It’s happened over the years in all types of weather, and some do it barefoot.

“With all the trials we’ve had nationally and internationally, if any time the fiesta would benefit us all spiritually, this would be the time,” said Jeannette Castillo, president of Los Indigenes de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, the organization that formed in 1914 to build the church and set aside land for the Tortugas Pueblo. It also formalized the fiesta, which by that time had already been going on for 30 years or more.

If you’ve never experienced the fiesta, there’s no way to adequately describe its effect on all your senses. It’s three days of ritual, sacrifice, solemnity, tradition, exhaustion, prayer, God, family, friends, music, dancing, eating, celebrating and joy. The three days are a culmination of a year’s work, planning and preparation by organizers and participants.

The event celebrates the December days in 1531, when Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus, appeared before humble Juan Diego, speaking in his indigenous language, in what is now Mexico.

In the nearly 500 years since the original apparitions, stories of other miracles have intertwined, along with the stories of Juan Diego’s descendants, the relevance to the Catholic faith, the blending of families and nations, the consequent development of societies in Mexico, the United States, New Mexico, Las Cruces and Tortugas.

That, plus nearly 150 years of celebration, has given this fiesta its unique, complex mix of indigenous, religious, historical and cultural traditions. Most church fiestas take place over a weekend: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Our Lady of Guadalupe Fiesta takes place Dec. 10-12, regardless of the days of the week.

The Tortugas Pueblo and, in turn, the fiesta have managed to honor and respect the traditions of the Tiwa and Piro tribes, as well as the Catholic faith.

“The sounds of the drums, the sounds of the guns, the sounds of the violins, it all sings to your soul,” said Jimenez, who has danced with two of the four groups at the celebration. “I’ve been going to the fiesta since I was 6, and I don’t think I’ve skipped. I’m still in shock it won’t be happening this year. I feel like everyone else. In a fog. Ordinarily I would have been practicing for over a month. This week is particularly somber.”

Multiple dancing groups play roles in the celebrations, representing various aspects of the cultures. There are the Los Indios, Los Danzanantes, Danza Guadalupana Azteca, Danza Azteca Chichimeca and the Malinches, young girls dressed in white, who dance with Los Danzanantes.

“For each group, each tribe, each dancer, there’s a different dance that tells a different story,” Jimenez said. “I’ve gotten to see two different tribes tell two different stories. Symbolically, it’s something you can’t replicate.”

Neither can you replicate the work and the passion that goes into each fiesta.

“The mayordomos who put it all together, feed the public, feed the dancers, the albondigas, the red chile, there’s nothing like it,” Jimenez said.

All of that adds up to a tradition that cannot be stopped.

The Coronavirus may have canceled the fiesta at the church and Pueblo grounds, but nothing can stop the fiesta in the hearts of the faithful.

“We are asking the public to continue saying prayers,” Castillo said. “You can pray the Rosary on the night of the 10^th, you can sing the songs we’ve sung for many years, you can hold your own individual prayers, you can sing Las Mañanitas before sunrise on the 11^th, you can go for a long walk, and even though we won’t have the large public mass, you can celebrate at mass at your church or another church.”

Jimenez said he will still pull out his traditional costume, iron it, and have photographs taken of him wearing it.

Even without the public events and ceremonies, Castillo said, celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe will still have its message.

“It can be a time of renewal,” she said. “A reflection time for us to gather ourselves spiritually.”

Our society and our world are in troubled times right now. In many ways, we feel alone.

When Juan Diego encountered the Virgin of Guadalupe, he was alone. He was in troubled times. His uncle was gravely ill. No one would believe the story of his encounter, not even the church bishop. But when he found himself in times of trouble, Mother Mary came to him.

“Go and pick the beautiful flowers, and take them to the bishop,” Mary told Juan Diego, who knew, of course, in December, those flowers were not growing. He went anyway, and was shocked to find a paradise of beauty, color and flowers. He gathered them and went to the bishop

The flowers were so unusually beautiful, and so miraculous, the bishop could not deny the source, and was convinced.”

So, no, I won’t get to go to the Our Lady of Guadalupe church this year for lunch and dine on the delicious red enchiladas and albondigas soup with a room full of 300 people. You won’t get to make the trek up the mountain. We won’t get to watch the dancers.

But we can gather ourselves spiritually, have a time of renewal and, just as Juan Diego did nearly half a century ago, find our own beautiful miracle.