Participants in the 91st annual Virgen de Guadalupe devotion procession come from half the 30 parishes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Along the 0.7-mile parade route, they carried flowers, statues, paintings, and murals depicting saints and the Virgen on wooden platforms called andas.
Carrying Andas During Feast of Virgen de Guadalupe
The oldest continuous religious parade in Los Angeles was established in 1931 by Mexican war refugees in order to honor the Virgen de Guadalupe, who is considered to be Mexico's patron saint. Roughly a dozen other churches participated in the parade by entering bands, mariachis, or Indigenous dancers.
Meanwhile, the move to decrease the costs of andas, which was prompted by the increasing costs of local parade permits, was applauded by some individuals who believed that the floats were a diversion from devotion to Mary. In contrast, others who cherished the pomp disregarded the sentiment.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, according to archival photographs, the car floats that are used in the East Los Angeles parade date back to at least the 1950s. This contrasts with the custom of using andas during the devotional ceremony in some Mexican villages.
Father Julio Ramos, the principal organizer of the event, stated that the price of licenses for car floats, which are required by the governments of Los Angeles and Monterey Park, has increased quite drastically.
He said that the parishioners, who were spending thousands of dollars on floats even though they were dealing with inflation and COVID-19, could purchase andas at much more reasonable prices. Various volunteer organizations raised funds for the parade permits.
Among the parade vehicles, a few were merely pickups decked out with flowers and a statue of the Virgin Mary in the back.
The Catholic tradition of the apparitions of the Virgen de Guadalupe to an Indigenous farmer called Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City in December 1531 inspired some of the more complex works.
Spending Lots of Money to Build Andas
Teresa Quezada, the church's organizer in East Los Angeles' Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, reported that the congregation spent $12,000 for the andas last year. However, they managed to slash the price in half this year.
Fresh red, white, and pink roses were used in their anda, featuring sunflowers and the number "100" to commemorate the church's centennial, as the report stated.
On the other hand, eight Holy Cross Church congregation members in South Los Angeles worked together on Friday morning to construct a Mexican flag-draped anda that stood four feet tall and weighed 15 pounds.
The $150 devotional display includes a three-foot figure of the Virgen de Guadalupe surrounded by vibrant artificial roses and butterflies. Members of the Holy Cross congregation raised $1,200 last year to fund a car float.
Juan Carlos Cruz Rojas, a parishioner of Holy Cross who works as an installer of drywall, mentioned that the parade entry of his church brought back memories of the veneration of the Virgen de Guadalupe that takes place along the Costa Grande in the Mexican state of Guerrero.
At several points along the path, fans could be seen smiling and waving, but they were also heard grumbling about the modifications.
Feast of Virgen de Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe is honored on Dec. 12 with a feast day in Mexico and the United States. St. Mary is revered as both Mexico's and the Americas' patron saint. Thousands of worshippers annually make the journey to Mexico City's Basilica.
According to Saints Resource, the event celebrates the 1531 apparition of the Virgin Mary in Tepeyac, when she appeared to Saint Juan Diego. She instructed him to approach the bishop and explain that the Ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, had sent him to petition to construct a church on top of Tepeyac.
