Torch runners complete pilgrimages for the Virgin of Guadalupe

Catholics of all ages arrived from miles around to show their devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe on Saturday. Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

Police asked motorists to be careful driving around the countless pilgrimages underway this weekend as the faithful carry out a time-honored Guadalupe-Reyes tradition.

Motos in Valladolid are adored with decorations marking the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

The Marion Sanctuary in Valladolid was one of several gathering spots in Yucatán where the faithful are gathering today.

The Cathedral of Valladolid, Yucatán, is active while Catholics celebrate the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 2021. Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

Antorchistas, or Guadalupano torch runners, are honoring a promise they made to the patron saint of Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Church volunteers bring coffee and cakes to welcome them.

Catholics of all ages arrived from miles around to show their devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe on Saturday. Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

Driving around today, you’re likely to spot pickup trucks, or larger vehicles, packed with people who’ve made room for an altar honoring the Virgin, as she is also known. As a roadside runner approaches with a lit torch, another grabs it, jumps out of the truck, and continues down the road.

Faithful from as far away as Querétaro — an 87-hour bikeride according to Google Maps — to celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe in Valladolid, Yucatán. A youngster has the honor of running with a torch. Photo: Carlos van der Gracht de Rosado.

Some runners have a short route, while others — including one spotted today in Valladolid — came from a thousand miles away in central Mexico.

Worshipers traveling between Ciudad del Carmen and Tulum stop in Valladolid during a pilgrimage for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Photo: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

Sunday’s Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe marks the 1531 appearance in Mexico of the brown-skinned virgin to St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous man, on a hill in Tepeyac.

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