Las Mañanitas is a Mexican folk song traditionally sung by family and friends early in the morning to wake up the person who is having a birthday.
The mixed-race, Indigenous-Spanish, brown madonna, Our Lady of Guadalupe, is not only the patron saint of Mexico, she is the icon of Mexican identity. We accepted the colonizer’s religion through her.
The Virgin of Guadalupe represents the fusion of our Indigenous and Spanish identities. The celebration is very important in Mexico and the Mexican diaspora. It’s importance is right up there with Easter, Christmas and Mexican Independence Day.
There is an annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City that approaches 10 million pilgrims.
Las mañanitas a nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe is a Mexican community concert and performance at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown East, Manhattan on December 11, the night before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Las Mañanitas 2023
The next festival is Monday, December 11, 2023. We couldn’t confirm the usual celebration at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown, Manhattan.
Las Mañanitas
This traditional Mexican birthday song is popular across the Hispanic world.
It is traditionally sung early in the morning by family and friends to wake up the person who is having their birthday. In Colombia it is sung to girls on the morning of their quinceañera (15th birthday celebration which represents the transition to womanhood).
It’s a playful version of the old Hispanic courting tradition in which you proposed marriage by singing a song to your love below her balcony. If she lit a candle, opened the window, or the family invited you into the house, it meant she accepted you. If the room remained dark, it meant no.
One famous version has Pedro Infante singing to La Chachita, teenage movie star Evita Muñoz in “Nosotros los Pobres” (1948), one of the most famous Mexican movies of all time. You can see the tension in the house. The family let him inside so it worked out.
Las Mañanitas a Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe
The concert celebrates the birthday of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. We love her because like many of us, she is mixed race, a brown Madonna.
The miracle of her appearance took place on a hill in Mexico City that was sacred to the Mixtéca (Aztecs), so she also represents the fusion of all our traditions.
The show is a series of performances sung and danced to an image of La Virgen de Guadalupe in front of the main altar. Many performers parade up the center aisle.
Arrive a half hour before the show to get the best seats. Seats nearest the stage are roped off, but open up after the first group of performers parades through. Stand up and move up with them.
The pacing can be a little slow, but it’s worthwhile to see the mariachis, folk dancers and Mexican carnival characters.
Las Mañanitas 2019
Las mañanitas a nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe is at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown East, Manhattan on the night before the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7pm. FREE
- Mariachi Tapatió de Alvaro Paulino
- Mariachi Juvenil Tapatío
- Mariachi Nuevo Amanecer
- Ballet Folclórico Mexicano de Nueva York
- Grupo Folklorico de Poughkeepsie
- Comparsa Guadalupana de Chínelos de José Peña
- Danza de Tecuanes San Gabriel
Las Mañanitas 2018
Tuesday, December 11, 2018 ~ New York City’s Mexican community celebrates the birth of La Virgen de Guadalupe at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown East, NYC at 7pm. FREE
The 2018 lineup includes:
- La Energia Norteña
- Mariachi Tapatío de Alvaro Paulino
- Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York
- Mariachi Nuevo Amanecer
- Mariachi Colonial
- Marilyn Castilla
- Ballet Folklórico de Poughkeepsie
- Comparsa Guadalupana de Chinelos de Jose Peña
- Danza de Tecuanes San Gabriel
Producers
The concert is produced by Casa Puebla New York (the New York house of Puebla, a community organization that represents one of NYC’s largest Mexican communities) and El Comite Guadalupano de la Arquidiócesis de Nueva York (the Guadalupe Committee of the Archdiocese of New York).
The Pueblan community is one of New York City’s largest Mexican communities.
After the show, the party continues into the wee hours at Don Jaime Lucero’s restaurant, Mexican Festival, in the Upper West Side.