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David Lopez

Professor Batty

English 101

2 March 2017

Mexican Mother of God

Murals play a huge part in the urban Los Angeles Mexican-American culture. They can

be about education, art, music, war, death, love, and even politics. Murals are legal documents

that portray society in various ways. They often tell stories of both past and present. The mural I

choose to write about is located outside one of my favorite Mexican restaurants called Rigos

Tacos. In the essay we will examine, the mural, located at Rigos Tacos, of the inspirational

portrait of La Virgen de Guadalupe. This translates into the Mother of God. La Virgen is

mother of all Mexicans, and is an iconic figure who gives hope to the all people south of our

borders.

Sitting on the parking stump admiring the mural, I was able to smell the meat that was

being cooked inside the restaurant. The restaurant is located in North Hollywood alongside

Vanowen, passing through Tujunga Ave. This mural is in the city, but it makes me feel like Im in

a little piece of paradise in the green hills of Mexico. The mural is about fifteen feet tall, and

thirty feet long. The middle left is where La Virgen is located. The far left has two cactus

plants, a barbary-fig to the right with boulders and flowers at the bottom, and to the left, a

ariocarpus plant that has flowers growing at the bottom as well. Behind the two cactus plants you

can see nothing but green hills with blue skies and white clouds. To the middle left is a beautiful

painting of the Virgin Mary holding out a flower in her right hand, and her left hand is up to her

chest. There is a child underneath the Virgin Mary with arms spread out and wings coming from
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his arms in the Mexican flag colors of green, red, and white. The entire right side of the mural

looks like a hotel resort advertisement. There is a stream that is created by the waterfall in the

mural. The waterfall falls between two big flat round rocks where it looks like children can use

to jump off the rocks and into the water. The waterfall is not a giant one, no more than about

fifteen feet. Behind the waterfall and the big flat rocks is a colorful jungle. To the right of the

waterfall, there is purple and green tree tops that are vibrant. Pink and red trees can be seen

directly behind the waterfall. The right corner has a plant that looks like the back of a

Bulbasaur-Pokemon. It has a red stem or trunk, purple on top of the red, and long leafy greens

sticking out of the whole plant. The flat rocks on the side of the waterfalls looks also like a place

of worship. It looks like a peaceful place for someone to go and pray. The sound of the stream

can be relaxing. I imagine the sound of the leaves moving from the wind, nature-like in noise,

and there are many plants and colorful flowers that you taste and smell.

La Virgen mother to all Mexicans, first appeared in Mexico during Spanish occupation

in the early 1500s. Since then she has been a symbol of patriotism and nationalism giving

Mexicans strength and pride, and is considered to be the first Mestizo, woman of mixed race,

that came from the Spanish conquest in Mexico. Spanish America is home to forty percent of the

worlds Roman Catholic population making La Virgen huge across Spanish America. You can

see her in paintings at local markets, an obituary on someones dashboard, and some people will

even get a tattoo portrait of her.

In my mural La Virgen is already included. But without the Virgin Mary, without the

waterfall on the other side, it would be only flat rocks and boulders. These rocks and boulders

look like the same rocks that was a tomb for Jesus Christ where he rose again on the third day.

The rocks would make sense since this mural is already has to do with religion. Both the Virgin
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Mary, the mother of God, and Jesus Christ are alive in the hearts of the people through hope.

Hope is an action predicted on uncertainty. Since they have discovered hope way back in the

1500s and until today, through the Virgin Mary, people have a demeanor in life, something to

look forward too, no one really knows whats going to happen tomorrow, so today, they put their

hope in the Virgin Mary.

My mural is located in North Hollywood. Its on the corner of the street but if you travel

one block into the neighborhood you will see cramp streets and small apartments that look like

they are building up on top of each other. Housing Projects. Section Eight apartments that used to

be the red zone for up to four different gangs back in the late nineties and early two thousands.

The area may have been cleaned up in the last decade but the projects remain birthing children

that grow up seeing these cramp homes when only two blocks away in three different directions

there are homes with a white fence and tire swing in the front yard. The placement of the mural

was intended for the restaurant's decoration, but if you ask me it was put there to give the

residents of the projects hope.

Murals like the one im expressing about belong in these neighborhoods to give people

faith and hope that maybe one day they can leave this neighborhood. Just how immigrants to this

day put their faith in La Virgen to travel safely into our country and the same way gang

members pray to her when they are incarcerated, putting faith and hope in La Virgen will keep

you alive.
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Works Cited

The worlds Catholic Population by Ross Toro, Feb. 19th, 2013

http://www.livescience.com/27244-the-world-s-catholic-population-infographic.html

The Importance of La Virgen de Guadalupe in Latino Culture by Megan Taros, Dec. 14th 2010

https://latinapoderosa.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/the-importance-of-la-virgen-de-guadalupe-in-

latino-culture/

La Virgen de Guadalupe-Mother of all Mexico by Judy King, Jan 1st. 2006

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1404-la-virgen-de-guadalupe-mother-of-all-mexico

La Virgen de Guadalupe [HISTORY] by Mario Cruz

http://www.latinlife.com/article/61/la-virgen-de-guadalupe-history

The Amazing Truth of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Dan Lynch, December 2002

http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-amazing-truth-of-our-

lady-of-guadalupe.html