Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Jaquelyn Salinas
Professor Batty
English 101
February 28 2018
The devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most important elements in the
development of Mexican religion and nationality over the centuries. This picture of the Virgin is
to be found everywhere throughout Mexico, and her iconography is varied almost beyond telling.
Although other people believe that Paul Botello’s mural called The Virgin’s Seed represents
concerns about environmental issues, I argue that what the artist is trying to explain is here is
how Native Indians and Spaniards adopted the Virgin of Guadalupe-Tonantzin to become one
culture, through the historical context of the Virgin of Guadalupe, symbolism of the colors and
The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and her shrine at Tepeyac are surrounded by an
origin myth. According to this myth, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego, a
christianized Indian of commoner status, and addressed him in Nahuatl. The Virgin appeared on
Tepeyac Hill north of Mexico City, which was the site of the former temple of Tonantzin, the
earth goddess of the Aztecs and the virgin mother of many of the Aztec gods that were
worshiped by the Native Indians. To emphasize the encounter of the Virgin, she asked Juan
Diego to deliver the message that a temple should be built there. After her presence was gone,
Juan Diego had to prove this message, so the Virgin had him go to the top of the hill, where he
found roses blooming out of season in a place where they would ordinarily not grow. He picked
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the roses, put them in his mantle and took them to the bishop. When he unfolded the garment in
the bishop’s presence, the roses fell on the floor, and on the cloak a picture of the Virgin was left
imprinted. Asking for forgiveness for his doubt, the bishop started to build the chapel at Tepeyac.
The Spaniards believed this because there was already a similar Virgin in Spain (Handbook of
Middle American Indians). So when this occurred, the word spread throughout the community.
This brought all Native Indians and Spaniards to Catholicism, and it became a great symbol of
This mural contains different symbols such as the different skin colors of the people in
the image. In the mural, two giant people surround the Virgin. The blue person represents the
Native Indians because of the color. The color blue, also called Mayan blue, is a symbol of trust,
loyalty, wisdom, confidence, faith, truth and heaven. It also mirrors the water of rivers, lakes and
seas, and the daytime sky (Mexicolore). Therefore, the blue person represents Juan Diego
holding the roses he found at the Tepeyac Hill. The light brown person represents the Spaniards.
This person is holding scientific objects and jewelry that was brought to Mexico when the
Europeans first came. In sum, this is another example of how the Virgin of Guadalupe was the
first factor that brought peace to the relationship between the Spaniards and the Native Indians,
which is shown in the mural with different types of birds holding each other, uniting the two
Another symbol that prevalents in this image were the bride and the groom that are being
held by each giant. These represent the story of Hernan Cortes’ first marriage to La Malinche,
the mother of Cortes first son, Martin. This is also shown in the mural, as a fetus coming out of
the bride’s dress. The story says that La Malinche, also known as Malinalli, Malintzi, or Doña
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Marina was a Nahuat woman, one of 20 slaves given to the Spaniards by the natives of Tabasco
in 1519. Later, she married Cortes and gave birth to one of the first Mestizos (ToughtCo). To put
it in another way, the mural reflects how the Virgin of Guadalupe connects these two different
cultures and seals it with a Mestizo child that will maintain them together. Paul Botello states,
“This combination of parts is a metaphor for a mestizo. I wanted to fuse and merge Indigenous
and European, which are all a part of my schema and form the many facets of this work.” This
means that he wanted to show the merging that he believed this belief created.
The Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (MCLA) organization states that this mural is a
representation of the artist’s childhood and his concerns about the environmental issues that were
happening in the 1990s. They argue that the blue giant represents the future. His color in part
reflects the artist's concern over the effects of pollution and other environmental crises. The other
giant is a woman. She is a teacher, modeled after Botello's sister, and holds gifts of knowledge in
her hand. Though I concede that MCLA’s statement is very convincing, I still insist that this
mural describes the role that the Virgin of Guadalupe played in the bond built between the
Spaniards and the Native Indians because as there are many factors that contributed to support
my claim provided by the organization Murals of East Los Angeles. Such as the image of the
Virgin of Guadalupe, the people of different skin colors walking to the Tepeyac Hill, and also,
In conclusion, I concluded that the mural The Virgin’s Seed, is a piece of art that
demonstrates the union between the Europeans and the indigenous people caused by the
miraculous appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. I also learned that this appearance
was an important factor because it brought the two groups together. They believed that sharing
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the belief that they are all connected in some way or another would keep them united. I believe
that Juan Diego’s and La Malinche’s stories are being presented by the different symbols, colors,
and people shown in the mural. The union that the Virgin of Guadalupe wanted to create
between societies, it is seen in our everyday lives in different places because the image of the
Virgin of Guadalupe is considered a master symbol for all Catholics, not only in Mexico but in
whole world.
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Works Cited
Mexicolore,
www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/which-was-the-most-precious-colour-f
or-the-aztecs-and-why.
Botello, Paul. The Virgin’s Seed. 1991. Hazard Ave. at Hammel St., Los Angeles, CA 90063.
Minster, Christopher. “10 Facts About ‘Malinche’ The Woman Who Betrayed the Aztecs.”
www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-dona-marina-malinche-2136536.
Monaghan, John, and Barbara Edmonson. Handbook of Middle American Indians. University of
“Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.” Paul Botello | Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles,
www.muralconservancy.org/artist/paul-botello.
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