[1] The image is enshrined in the Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, in the Extremadura autonomous community of Spain, and is considered the most important Marian shrine in the country.

According to local legend, when Seville was taken by the Moors in 712, a group of priests fled northward and buried the statue in the hills near the Guadalupe River in Extremadura.

[3] Since at least the late 14th century, the wooden figure has been almost completely clothed in embroidered and brocaded vestments, leaving only the faces and hands of mother and child visible.

Costly robes, deemed suitable for the Queen of Heaven, were often elaborately stitched in gold thread and set with precious gems, attesting to both the honor due the Virgin and the wealth of the donors.

[4] Pilgrims began arriving in 1326, and in 1340, King Alfonso XI took a personal interest in the shrine's development, and had a Hieronymite monastery built there, attributing his victory over the Moors at the Battle of Río Salado to the Virgin's intercession.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, along with Santiago de Compostela and Nuestra Señora del Pilar, became rallying points for the Christian Spaniards in their reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.

Considered a ritual of both healing and thanksgiving, the dance has devotees, facing the image, swaying to the rhythm of the drums and gongs lifting their hands and prayers to God through the intercession of the Virgen de Guadalupe following Mass.