Gloria Anzaldúa

Today, in Texas and Mexico she is more venerated than Jesus or God the Father.

the patron saint of Chicanos.

Today, la Virgen de Guadalupe is the single most potent religious, political and cultural image of the Chicano/mexicano

She, like my race, is a synthesis of the old world and the new, of the religion and culture of the two races in our psyche, the conquerors and the conquered. She is the symbol of the mestizo true to his or her Indian values. La cultura chicana identifies with the mother (Indian) rather than with the father (Spanish). Our faith is rooted in indigenous attributes, images, symbols, magic and myth. Because Guadalupe took upon herself the psychological and physical devastation of the conquered and oppressed indio , she is our spiritual, political and psychological symbol. As a symbol of hope and faith, she sustains and insures our survival.

Mexicans on both sides of the border, Guadalupe is the symbol of our rebellion against the rich, upper and middle class; against their subjugation of the poor and the indio.

La gente Chicana tiene tres madres. All three are mediators: Guadalupe , the virgin mother who has not abandoned us, la Chingada (Malinche ), the raped mother whom we have abandoned, and la Llorona , the mother who seeks her lost children and is a combination of the other two.