| Abstract: | The importance of the Virgin Mary in Mexico's religious pantheon is well documented. Of the great variety of devotions imported to New Spain from Europe, Mary became a favored one; she was invoked by all sectors of society at different historical junctures, and was often promoted by specific religious orders or social groups. A number of these cults became inextricably linked with a sense of community autonomy and evolved into emblems of local pride, of which the Virgin of Guadalupe is the best-known example. To strengthen their local and creole character, a significant number of these devotions grant an essential place to the Amerindian in their apparition stories. This is the case with the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Virgin of Remedios, and the Virgin of Ocotla´n to cite a few examples. Several works of art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries represent these devotions by showing the Virgin Mary and the American Indian together. |
