Christmas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
By: Jim Scherrer
Five centuries ago, Christmas was virtually nonexistent in Mexico; in fact, Christianity had not even been introduced to the New World. The native Aztec Indians weren’t even aware of the concept of Christianity until 1524, when Twelve Franciscans (Twelve Apostles of New Spain) came to Mexico; about a decade later, the Dominicans followed.
Soon after the arrival of the Twelve Franciscans, some of the native Indians began accepting the story of Christ and converting to Christianity. One such Indian, an indigenous farmer named Cuauhtlatoatzin (the talking eagle in the Nahuatl language) living north of what is now known as Mexico City, claimed to have witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary on Tepayac Hill. Our Lady of Guadalupe, as the Virgin Mary came to be known, is to this day recognized as the Patron Saint of all the Americas and is the basis for much of the Catholic faith throughout Mexico. As an example, the most predominate historical landmark in Puerto Vallarta is the Our Lady of Guadalupe church in El Centro.
Evidently the Franciscans were quite impressed with their new convert; they moved him and his wife into their new mission and changed his name to Juan Diego (a bit easier for them to pronounce!). After Juan Diego witnessed the mystical Lady on Tepayac Hill who supposedly cured his uncle of a terminal illness, the rest of the local Indians reasoned that it must be an awfully good religion that these intelligent Spaniards had brought to them; they soon dumped their ancient pagan beliefs in favor of the new Catholic Church teachings. With the miracles that these Spanish God-like Fathers had to offer, it took the Franciscans only six years to sign up the first eight million new