Guatemala: A Nation Consecrated to the Virgin Mary
by Pastor Kenneth Lawson
Introduction
For the people of Guatemala, the Virgin Mary is synonymous with nationalism, patriotism, and personal identity. For the average Guatemalan, life without devotion to the Virgin is no real life at all. Icons and relics devoted to the Virgin are sensationally popular through all levels of society. The so-called "Mother of God" reigns in the hearts and minds of the people of Guatemala as a queen and a goddess. The purpose of this article is to observe and explain the consecration of Guatemala to the Virgin Mary.
Before 1525, the dominant religions of the people of Guatemala centered around animistic and pagan devotion to thousands of gods and goddesses. The technological genius of the Mayan civilization had past. The people were primitive, warlike, and highly superstitious. In 1521-1522, the Spanish conquistador Don Pedro de Alvarado entered Guatemala and easily subdued the Indians. Here the Spanish Inquisition was imposed upon the natives, as they were forced by torture or death to transfer their devotion from their native gods and goddesses to the Saints, Jesus, the Roman Mass, and the Virgin Mary, as demanded by the Spanish.
The Spanish hoped to convert the Indians to Roman Catholicism. The horrors of the Inquisition had limited success in forcing the native population into conversion. A far more successful technique was synergism, which meant that allegiance to pagan deities was not halted, but rather transferred from the idols of the Guatemalans to the idols of the church of Rome. Even non-Christian experts acknowledge this transfer of devotion. For example, James Nach said in his book, Guatemala: The Visual Geography Series, "Preconquest Maya religious customs have survived to this day among the Indians and have been blended with [Roman] Christianity .... Christian saints were soon added to the roster of Indian gods, and even today Indians frequently pray to their old gods outside the village church and to the Christian God inside the church'.
The most extreme example of synergism between pagan spirituality and the Church of Rome is in the fanatical dedication the Guatemalan people have towards the Virgin Mary. She has absorbed the attributes of the Indian goddesses to the point that the paganism of the native population has been sanitized and Christianized into consecration to Mary as the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God.
Initial Observations
A visitor to Guatemala today will immediately see a nation obsessed with the Virgin Mary. Her image is on buses, posters, and in the windows of businesses. Virtually every private home in Guatemala has a family altar dedicated to Mary. These home shrines usually consist of a small statue of Mary behind glass, surrounded by flowers, candles, and rosary beads. An unusual custom of the Guatemalan people is to explode fireworks to the Virgin Mary as offerings. These explosions are heard all hours of the day and night, showing consecration to the "Mother of God". In 1993, the Congress of Guatemala voted that the Virgin Mary would be honored forever as the co-mayor, or the mayorist of the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala City.
Villa Nueva
As a suburb of Guatemala City, Villa Nueva represents a typical Guatemalan urban community. The central plaza of the city is dominated by a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Mary, called the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion (Immaculate Conception Church). When I asked a native pastor friend to take me to see Mary shrines, he said that "There are such shrines in every Roman Church in the country, thousands of them. She means more to the people than God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. To them, Mary is everything."
The Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion is an older building, open all day, frequently visited by the working class people of Villa Nueva. Behind the front altar is an example of the common spirituality of the people. There sits a small statue of Jesus still hanging on the cross, overwhelmed by an enormous image of Mary in gorgeous royal robes, crowned as the Queen of Heaven. The imagery of this site is significant. Those people praying in the church that day fully believed that they had to pray through the Virgin Mary in order to have their prayers heard by Jesus.
A highly important aspect of the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion is the side chapel dedicated to La Dormision y La Transicion de Maria (The sleep and the transition or assumption of Mary). Here the traditions and superstitions of Roman theology are manifested and venerated by the people. This shrine is dedicated to the idea that since Mary never sinned, she could never have really died, so she instead was placed in a dormant state until she was translated or assumed into heaven. In the hundreds of Marian shrines I have visited in various cultures, this is the first altar I have ever seen dedicated to the sleeping virgin after her death.
Residing temporarily in Villa Nueva allows a visitor to sense the power of the Roman Church over the people. Nightly processions in city streets with loud singing and fireworks exploding bring the image of Mary from home to home. Paths of pine needles stay for days, as reminders of the route taken by the image of Mary from house to house. Streets full of mourning and screaming people were seen, as a hearse carried the corpse of a loved one to the Iglesia Imaculata Concepcion, so Mary could be begged to intercede for the soul of a loved one after death. It is obvious that devotion to Mary is big business, as vendors are everywhere seen selling statues, beads, prayer cards, and other religious items consecrated to Mary.
Antigua
Located about 15 miles west of Guatemala City is the ancient city of Antigua. The Catedral de Antigua (Cathedral of Antigua) was originally dedicated in 1545. Here a more tourist emphasis is found among the people, as cheap icons and imitation velvet paintings of Mary are sold both to natives and visitors. This cathedral, while in a state of disrepair, still shows the early architectural abilities of the conquering Spaniards. Local history says that the images brought from Spain here replaced the local Indian images. Natives were whipped if they would not transfer allegiance from their pagan deities to the icons and images of the Roman Church.
The exterior of the Cathedra de Antigua is covered with exquisite carvings of the 12 Apostles, with a larger image of Mary above and central to the Apostles. Again, the placement of such icons sends a message to the people. Mary is above all others. Inside the Cathedral, numerous shrines and statues of Mary appear. Located here are two images devoted to the apparition of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, both surrounded with flowers and melted candies. Here I found another representation of the "dormicion" (sleep) and "transicion" (transition or assumption) of Mary. This particular shrine of the sleep and transition of Mary was especially elaborate, as the sleeping Virgin is represented in a gorgeous white gown resting on cloud-like pillows, awaiting her assumption into heaven.
Guatemala City
As a major metropolitan city of close to 2 million people, Guatemala City has a mix of both contemporary technologies and simple native customs. There are dozens of major shrines devoted to Mary in Guatemala City. I took the time to visit three of the sites that I believed to be the most significant.
Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church is located in a congested, working class neighborhood. The massive stone structure dwarfs everything in the area, towering over the community. Inside there is the familiar theme of a small crucified Jesus overwhelmed by an elaborate, massive idol dedicated to Mary. Again, the message is clear. To get to Jesus, you must first go through Mary. This particular building is unique because of its enormous basilica dome, with a gigantic crown on its top. The crown, visible for miles around, symbolizes the crowning of Mary as the Queen of Heaven. Angels are carved in a way showing them holding the massive crown about to placed upon the head of the glorified Mary. The outrageous idolatry of such a site was personally disturbing. I have never become accustomed to such idolatry.
In 1995, Pope John Paul II visited Guatemala City for the second time. It was here, in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guatemala City, that the Roman Pope publicly coronated an image of Mary. He bowed before the idol in worship, then placed a crown of gold upon the head of the image. There are very few evangelical Christians who have seen this famous idol crowned by the Roman Pontiff. Actually, the idol itself and the crown are not significant in size nor style. This crowned image is displayed in a side chapel within the massive cathedral. The importance of this statue is not from its size or beauty, but from the theological significance of the crowning of the Virgin. In crowning the idol of Mary, the Pope publicly and flagrantly showed both his personal idolatry and the official acceptance by the Roman Church towards the pagan titles of Mary as the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven.
The third site I visited in Guatemala City was the Nuestra Senora de la Ascencion Iglesia (Church of Our Lady of the Ascension). Located several blocks from the main plaza, this modest building represents the true spirituality of most Guatemalan people. To them, the Virgin is everything. All of their spirituality is centered on Mary. In this church building, the worship of Mary was unrestricted. An enormous statue of Mary towers over the altar. Through her hands must flow all grace unto the world. She is represented as a crowned goddess, exalted upon an eagle in the clouds, surrounded by adoring angels. Nowhere in this altar scene was there any representation of Jesus.
Concluding Remarks
Guatemala was liberated from Spain in 1821, becoming a republic in 1847. It was not until 1872 that Guatemala was granted freedom of religion. No longer would the Kings of Spain and their Inquisition against the people be tolerated. The Church of Rome lost formal political control in Guatemala, but not the practical piety of the people. Three hundred years of official Catholic oppression by law and the practical synchronism of pagan customs has created a country that remains to this day around 95% Roman Catholic.
In relation to the Virgin Mary, the entire country looks to her daily for grace. The central government recognizes her as the mayorist of the capital city. The concept of a mother earth goddess that gives life, known to the natives for centuries before the Spanish arrived, has been transplanted to the mother of Jesus. Natives in rural areas are not ashamed to call the mother earth goddess by both her Indian name and her Christianized name, Mary. More urban people have also made the transition to Marian spirituality by synchronism and absorption of pagan beliefs. The candles, chants, offerings, and devotion once reserved for the mother goddess of Mayan times is now enthusiastically transferred to the Virgin Mary as presented to the people by the church of Rome.
