Brownsville celebrates feast of Virgen de Guadalupe

Alfonso Landeros has celebrated the feast of la Virgen de Guadalupe since he was a young boy in Aguascalientes, a city in the heart of Mexico. Every year, he and his parents would make the three-day pilgrimage to San Juan de los Lagos in the northeastern part of the country to honor the Virgen’s day.

In the dawn hours Saturday, Landeros continued the tradition in Brownsville. Despite the cold weather, he and more than a hundred other people met about 3 a.m. at San Felipe de Jesus Church in Cameron Park to follow a procession to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on the south side of the city.

"As long as I have the strength to keep doing this, I will keep doing this," said Landeros, who has participated in the march for the last 13 years.

Outside of Our Lady of Guadalupe, matachines, or religious dancers, stomped their feet to the rhythm of the pounding drums. Hundreds packed into the church after the dance performance to listen to a choral group sing "Las Mañanitas" and other songs before Mass.

"It is a very special day for us. (The Virgen) is the mother of God and the mother of all of us," said Alicia Ramirez, who walked in the procession from Cameron Park with her sisters, Yolanda and Maria Ramirez.

Known as la Virgen Morena, or la Morenita, the Virgen’s presence in the Rio Grande Valley is just as ubiquitous as it is in Mexico and Latin America.

Rosie Vera prays to the Virgen Mary following the custom of her grandmother, she said. Although friends have criticized her for praying to the religious icon, Vera said her faith remains strong.

"I look to her for support," she said. "I wish everybody would just respect each other’s beliefs."