Truth of the Spirit welcomes back Juanita Salazar Lamb for Part 5 of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Aztec Calendar to bring understanding of the appearance of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to Juan Diego from the viewpoint of the Aztec Calendar. In this episode, Truth of the Spirit explains why the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared in 1531, why on December 12th, and why on the hill of Tepeyac. Host is Patti Brunner. For audio, video links or to read the script please continue reading.
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playlist: Our Lady of Guadalupe – YouTube
Part 5 of Our Lady of Guadalupe brings the depth of understanding the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego from the viewpoint of the Aztec Calendar. This ancient culture incorporated the rotation of the sun in the cosmos into their religion and into their culture. In our previous episode, Part 2, The Codex of the Tilma, we describe the various aspects of the image. The miraculous tilma of Juan Diego displayed Mother Mary overshadowing the sun and wearing the stars of the universe. Understanding the culture and the information about the Aztec religious culture in keeping their calendar allows us to appreciate the length God went to, to arrange for the conversion and salvation of the 9 million Aztecs to the Catholic faith. In this episode, Part 5, Truth of the Spirit explains why Mary appeared in 1531, why on December 12th, and why on the hill of Tepeyac to make such an impact on the Aztecs.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit I’m your host Patti Brunner. We are so excited at Truth of the Spirit to welcome Juanita Salazar Lamb who will continue her series on Our Lady of Guadalupe with a very special understanding of the Aztec culture in the timing of the appearance of Our Lady. Our Lady not only was a gift to the Aztecs, she’s been a gift to the whole world! So as we welcome Juanita we are so excited to hear more about Our Lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe. Welcome Juanita!
Good afternoon, everyone, I am so happy to be back here with you. Today let’s talk about the why of Guadalupe. Up to now we have learned the who, the what, the when and the where of the story of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and her encounters with Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac; and Juan Diego’s mission to carry a message to Bishop Zumárraga; which culminated on December 12, 1531 when her image imprinted on Juan Diego’s tilma. So today we are going to learn the “Why”. Why did La Virgen come in 1531? Why did she have encounters with Juan Diego between December 9 through 12? And why on Tepeyac?
Let’s start with the first question. Why did La Virgen have her encounters 1531? That year according to the Aztec calendar, and I think many of us have seen the big round calendar stone, according to that calendar stone, the year 1531 was the end of the Aztec age. 1531 occurred during the Fifth Sun –and that is how the Aztec accounted for their eras, their long eras. There had been four prior suns. The first sun was the Jaguar Sun followed by the Wind Sun, followed by the Rain Sun which was followed then by the Water Sun. I won’t go into each how or why these various periods ended but the Aztecs knew.
The Aztecs living in the Fifth Sun knew the stories, they believed their stories. It was part of their traditions, their belief systems, and so the current sun was scheduled to end in 1531. Now the Fifth Sun was the Sun of Movement, The symbol for the Fifth Sun is the Nahui Ollin, which is the four petal flower, which represents movement or all the four movements of the universe come together and there was constant movement. Now, according to the teachings then, what this meant is that the era of the Fifth Sun would end in an earthquake. Now, 1530 alone, just the prior year, there had already been three earthquakes that shook central Mexico and this just affirmed to the Aztecs that the end of time was near and that their calendar was correct; that their calendar was to be believed. Not only that but along with the earthquakes other very clear signs presented themselves in the skies over central Mexico: a comet streaked through the skies from west to east, and on March 18th of 1531 a partial eclipse of the sun dimmed the day, and now, if you will also recall, the sun was also the greatest deity in the Aztec pantheon of deities.
So what happened then, the year 1531 on the calendar stone was at the very top of the round calendar stone, in the Aztec in the Nahua language the year 1531 is interpreted or is written as “13 Reed” (13 Caña)—and there is a symbol at the very top of the Aztec stone that represents 13 Reed . In 1531 there had already been a period of ten years since the Spaniards arrived in 1521 that the Aztec culture, their religion, their customs could not be practiced openly. And the Aztec religion, involved human sacrifice. Not pretty, but that’s what they believed. And they believed that in order to keep nourishing the Sun and the other gods in the Pantheon, human sacrifices needed to be performed.
So now it is in 1531 the Aztec stone is predicting the end of the world, the end of life, the end of the age. The Aztecs have not been able to perform; they have not been allowed to perform, their life affirming sacrifices for ten years. And so, here we are, we are looking at the end of the world, 1531.
Ok, so, when you say, “Why did she come? Why did La Virgin come December 9 through 12? This is where it gets a little tricky, so just bear with me here. December 12th, 1531, is when the winter solstice was celebrated. Ok, but you’re thinking, but wait, we celebrate the winter solstice December 21st to 22nd. That’s what we do now. The calendar in use by the Europeans, in 1531 was the Julian calendar. And it was in effect, that calendar was in effect until 1582 when suddenly Pope Gregory realized in his wisdom that the European calendar was off by ten days. And so when he instituted or enforced the new calendar, suddenly there were ten days added on so that December 12th became December 22. So, keep that in mind. December 12th, then, 1531, is the day that the winter solstice is celebrated. So what does that mean?
What did that mean for the Aztecs? They feared the winter solstice, they celebrated with many sacrifices—human sacrifices, they did, they performed penance; everyone throughout the culture performed fasting and penance and it involved, the rituals involved every single person in society. In fact on the night of December 12, in those times, is when the sun “should” rise again. Remember, it has been at the lowest point in the sky up to now. It’s been cold and its dark, it gets dark early, the sun rises a little bit later each day, and their belief was that if—if they had performed—they being everyone in their society—had performed the necessary sacrifices, the necessary prayers, the necessary offerings the sun would rise again to start another journey around the earth.
So, on the night of, or the eve of the winter solstice, there was a great gathering of people. All the lights, all the fires, were turned off. All the candles were blown out, were extinguished. So the earth was in complete darkness. And (the Aztecs believed) that’s how we would be if the appropriate rituals and sacrifices had not been performed. And there was great fear among the people, because they didn’t know “Have I done the right thing?” “Have I performed the right ritual?” There were rituals of self-sacrifice where they would mark themselves or pierce their tongues, pierce their ears, their upper arms. Until they saw the sun rise again, on December 21st / 22nd they didn’t know if they had done the right thing. And so they would all gather around; they would all come out of their houses, and into the square, into Tenochtitlan and the priests –the Aztec elders—would hold a ritual, and there were many slaves involved. There were parades, or marches of the slaves throughout the, throughout the town, the surrounding area. The winter solstice was celebrated as birth of Huitzilopochtli, which is the sun god. If the sun rose again, it means that Huitzilopochtli rose again he was happy, he was satisfied everyone had done. Everyone had done enough to please the gods and Huitzilopochtli rose again. So now we know “why” in 1531 and now we’ve talked about why on December 9-12th. Those were the four days which culminated in the rise of Huitzilopochtli, if everything had been done correctly.
As we discovered in our previous episodes, Part 1, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared to Juan Diego the first time on December 9th, on Tepeyac Hill, and sent him to the Bishop for the first time. On the next day, December 10th Our Lady again revealed herself to Juan Diego and sent him back to the Bishop who then requested a sign from the Blessed Mother Mary. On the third day, December 11th, Juan Diego didn’t go back to the Tepeyac Hill because his uncle was dying and needed his help to get a doctor. In the middle of the night the uncle sent Juan Diego to get a priest for last rites. As he neared Tepeyac, he started thinking, “If I take my regular route The Lady’s going to see me, and she’s going to slow me down and I’ll have to talk to her and maybe my uncle will die before I get back. So I’m going to take a different path that goes between the mountains and she won’t see me. ” So, he starts over the pass in the valley to avoid Tepeyac Hill and La Virgen (v 100). And what does he see coming down the hill but Our Lady who, after telling him that his uncle was healed, sent him to climb Tepeyac Hill before sunrise on December 12. It was there he was to gather the flowers in his tilma to take to the bishop as a miraculous sign. But it also strategically placed him in the perfect location as the sun was supposed to rise.
Why on Tepeyac? Well, throughout the night of the winter solstice—again, nobody knew, not even the Aztec elders, the highest ranking elders, knew whether the sun would rise again. And so they had sentries, posted throughout the city, but they were all leading up to sentries that were posted on Tepeyac. From Tepeyac the sentries had a straight sight, sighting of the sun if the sun was going to rise. They had a straight sighting of the sun as it rose over the hill called Papayo. So when the sentries on Tepeyac see the sun they send down word. At first of course there is a sacrifice offered up in thanksgiving but then there was a fire lit—a torch lit at the sight of the sacrifice and then that torch is carried down on all way into Tenochtitlan. Remember that’s about seven miles away, and all the new fires are lit from that one fire. And all this happens on December 12th. And this was not going to happen on December 12th in 1531. The Aztecs could not practice their religion, they couldn’t practice their dancing, which is how the Aztecs honor their gods. Remember that is also how they honor La Virgin, once she came. They had not practiced their sacrifices for over ten years. When La Virgin appeared to Juan Diego, that was supposed to be the end of the world. Well, let’s look at it this way: December 12th, December 9th through 12th, 1531, which was supposed to be the end of the Aztec age. In a sense was the end of the Aztec age. And La Virgin ushered in the “new” age. If you will look at her image she holds her hands up to her heart. And right here, where her heart is, is a symbol on her vestments that symbolizes a heart. And so, what she is saying to the population is, “You no longer need to sacrifice hearts. You no longer need to sacrifice people and excise their hearts in order to please, in order to please the gods. All you have to do is bring me your prayers. Remember when she asked Juan Diego to build her a little house and she says, so that everyone those who live here and those who live far, will come to me, will have a place where they can come to me, bring me their prayers, bring me their tears, bring me their joys, bring me their hopes. And I will carry them up to the one true God.
And if you’ll also remember, in her vestments she carried the entire message which the Aztecs could read. She literally, for the Aztecs, her whole vestments were an open book. She was bringing to them the new age. It was the end of the Aztec age.
So now we’ve covered the “why” the 1531, it was going to be the end of the Aztec age. “Why” December 9 through 12, those were the days , the four last days that culminated on the birth of Panquetzalitzli, the god of the sun, and “why” on Tepeyac, the sentries on Tepeyac were the ones who let the Aztec world know of the good news that the sun had risen. Just as she [Our Lady of Guadalupe] brought to us on Tepeyac she brought to the whole world the message that she brings the Son for everyone.
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit with Juanita Salazar Lamb and I’m your host Patti Brunner. We invite you to click “like”, to subscribe, and to check our channel to find our other shows and prior episodes especially those on our Lady of Guadalupe. We will put a link to our free YouTube channel playlist on Our Lady of Guadalupe in the description. You’ll find Part 1 the Intro, we give the story of the apparition, and Part 2, the description of the Codex of the Tilma. Number Part 3 we share the modern discovery of Music on the Tilma. In Part 4 we share Conversion stories connected to the apparition and the miraculous tilma. All of our episodes are also available on our website. This one is at Patriarchministries.com/188. We offer so many wonderful things for you here on the Truth of the Spirit. We know you’ll enjoy coming back for more, because, with the Holy Spirit, there’s always more! Amen!
