Guadalupe

A short distance inside the northern city limits is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. This is often a stopping place on the way to Teotihuacan. En route, via the northward extension of Pasec, de la Reforma. and about 16 blocks beyond its intersection with Juarez, you can also visit the Plaza of the Three Cultures. You can't miss it because from the time you start the drive north, the high rise buildings of the Tlatelolco housing project will dominate the horizon. Turn left around the traffic circle, and then west onto Calzada Nonoalco, the southern boundary of the project. Turn right at the first corner and the plaza is on your right.

Below street level are the excavated remains of pyramids and platforms, a small portion of Tlatelolco's ceremonial center. Behind the plaza is the attractive 16th century Church of Santiago Tlatelolco and adjoining it, the College of the Holy Cross, completed in 1536 for the sons of Indian nobles. It was in this college that Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, aided by survivors of the Conquest, completed a monumental work by recording in Nahuatl the history and customs of the Aztecs.

Returning to Paseo de la Reforma, continue north to Villa de Guadalupe by either Misterios or Calzada de Guadalupe. As you approach the enormous plaza in front of the Basilica, you'll note the new Basilica on the left. The old Basilica, dating from 1709, is to become a religious museum.

It is said that on December 9,1531, a young Indian convert named Juan Diego was on his way to Mass in Tlatelolco when a vision appeared in his paththe Virgin Mary, dark skinned and clad in the robes of an Indian princess. It was her desire that Juan should go to the Bishop, relate his experience, and express her wish that a chapel be erected there, on Tepeyac Hill, where she might minister to her Indians.

The Bishop was understandably skeptical. On the following day the Virgin again appeared to Juan and repeated her instructions. Still unconvinced, the Bishop requested that Juan bring him proof of the Virgin's identity. Reluctant to embarrass both the Virgin and himself, Juan remained at home on December 11. On the 12th, though, he set out in haste for Tlatelolco to fetch a priest ' for his uncle was gravely ill. As he had feared, he again encountered the Virgin and had to tell her of the Bishop's demand,

Unperturbed, she sent Juan to gather the roses she said he would find growing on the desolate hillside. Then she assured him that there was no need to worry about his uncle, who had recovered his health, and asked Juan to take the roses immediately to the Bishop. When Juan opened his cloak in the prelate's presence, its inner side contained a portrait of the Virgin. Satisfied at last that a miracle had occurred, the Bishop ordered construction of a chapel on Tepeyac Hill; the sacred painting was placed above its altar.

The Virgin of Guadalupe became Mexico's patron saint. Her portrait, in a heavy gold frame, hangs over the altar of the Basilica. Skeptics continue" to assail its authenticity, but experts have confirmed that the "canvas" is genuinely of 16th century Mexican manufacture, and that in 1531 there was no one in Mexico capable of painting such a portrait. As for the paints, they have so far successfully defied analysis.

Mexico City's Christmas season begins with midnight Mass in the Basilica on December 11, when thousands of the faithful crowd the church and atrium. After an all night vigil, they sing Las Mananitas (Happy Birthday) to the Virgin at dawn on the 12th.