20 Years of Our Lady of Guadalupe
in Wilkes-Barre
Photos by Aimee Dilger | Video by Kelly Dessoye
Every December 12 the sun sets over Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania as cries of “arriba, arriba, arriba” fill the air and the final glow of the winter day blankets a procession brimming with costumed revelers dancing through the streets to St. Nicholas Church; leaving in their wake a palette of rose petals and feathers.
It’s all to mark the Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe when the Virgin Mary - a central figure in the Catholic faith - appeared to a boy named Juan Diego in Tepeyac, Mexico. 2023 marked the 20th year Wilkes-Barre’s Mexican community has gathered to honor the day. “The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a feast day for the whole Catholic church, not just for Mexicans, but they celebrate it in a special way… it’s all about their gratitude to God, first, for being in this country,” recounts Father Fidel Ticona of St. Nicholas Church. He’s been working with Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Hispanic community since the mid aughts when only a small handful of people gathered to process through streets lined with empty storefronts. In the 20 years since, the procession has grown to the hundreds and the Hispanic community to the thousands, leaving their mark on once abandoned buildings by opening small businesses like restaurants, bakeries and barber shops; reinvigorating Wilkes-Barre’s economy while paving the way for their kids. “They risked their whole lives to have a better life,” says Ticona, “ and their faith was important in this process, in this journey.”
Find out more about what brought the Hispanic community to Wilkes-Barre in the film and photos below.
Translation by Angel Flores
Translation by Angel Flores
Women prepare garlands of flowers to adorn the Virgin statue.
Aztec dancers perform the night before the Feast Day during a program at Saint Nicholas Church.
Members of Rosario en Familia Prayer group recite the rosary.
A young girl wears Guadalupe earrings.
An Aztec dancer is seen dancing between other dancers. The troupe consists of all ages of dancers.
A painting of the Virgin along with candles and flowers are placed before the statue that will be in the procession.
The virgin is carefully placed in the church prior to a celebration.
Rosarys adorned with Guadalupe were given out to those in attendance.
Sixta Marianna Galeno speaks during the rosary. The Statue will be going to her family home for the year.
Aztec dancers wear shakers on their feet while they dance.
Rosarys adorned with Guadalupe were given out to those in attendance.
Aztec dancers spin and dance before the Virgin.
Ciro Galeno, the son of Sixta Marianna Galeno carries the Virgin Guadalupe that will stay in the home for a year.
Sixta Marianna Galeno prepares for guests at her home the evening before the Feast Day of Guadalupe.
Copal incense is presented before the stature upon its arrival.
The statue of Guadalupe is prepared and decorated prior to friends arrival.
Members of Rosario en Familia Prayer group recite the rosary again at the Galeno home.
Members of Rosario en Familia Prayer group are seen through the window.
The morning of the Feast day of Guadalupe family and friends arrive at the Galeno home to prepare the cart used to carry the Virgin the mile and a half to St. Nicholas church from the families home on Ketchem street.
Sixta Marianna Galeno walks beside the Virgin as she once did in Mexico showering the Virgin in rose petals.
Dancers from the Tecuanas, Aztec and Chinellos dance as the procession makes their way to the church for Mass.
