374 



RECREATION 



holiday in their own way with little or 

 no assistance from the priests, who give 

 the church over to them wholly. 

 Whether in their ceremony lingers any 

 trace of the rites with which they were 

 wont to worship Tonantzin, 'The 

 Mother of the Gods," to whom the hill 

 was sacred in Aztec -times, the good 

 fathers will not say. 



But the Virgin of Guadaloupe is by 

 popular adoption, as well as by papal 

 bull, the patroness and protectress of 

 New Spain. Her image has been borne 

 upon the banners of patriots and her 

 name upon their lips — a battle cry. 



Leaving the little "chapel of the 

 well," where the miraculous spring 

 flows as freely to- 

 day as when it gushed 

 forth from beneath 

 the Virgin's feet, 

 you climb the steep 

 street to the plateau 



upon which is built the great collegiate 

 church, where the sacred picture is 

 kept in her tabernacle of many col- 

 ored marbles, guarded by a massive sil- 

 ver railing ; amid her treasures of gold 

 and precious stones, that make her 

 shrine the richest in Mexico. Beyond, 

 up the stone steps that lead to the crest 

 of the hill, is Cap ell a del Cerrito (the 

 Chapel of the Little Hill), which 

 marks the spot where Juan Diego cut 

 the roses which sprang from the rock 

 as a sign to the unbelieving bishop of 

 that day. As you stand looking out 

 over the city and the plain beyond, the 

 mind filled with religious images, two 

 peasants come toiling up the stairs upon 

 their knees, evidently 

 father and son. Their 

 rapt faces permit no 



Pf *W 



%:, 



.? 



Chapultepec rising from the 

 level plain 



