The original image is a popular focus for pilgrims and is located in the state of Jalisco, in central Mexico, 122 kilometers (76 mi) northeast of the city of Guadalajara.

The statue is venerated both in Mexico and in the United States where it is known by its proxy title Nuestra Señora de San Juan del Valle (Our Lady of Saint John of the Valley), mainly focused in Texas.

The image is widely known for the jeweled regalia offered by its devotees and is permanently enshrined at the Basilica Minor of San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico.

[3] The sanctuary's history begins in 1543 when Father Miguel de Bologna, a Spanish priest, brought a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception to the village.

[3] According to local histories, and some eyewitness accounts, a certain aerial acrobat was traveling along the Camino Real, "the Royal Highway," from San Luis Potosí to Guadalajara, performing in the towns along the way.

Taking the statue from its altar in the sacristy where it had been consigned because of its poor condition, Ana Lucia laid it near the child's dead body.

About 20 inches (50 cm) tall, the statue was made by the Tarascan State of southern Mexico using an indigenous technique called titzingueni, in which a frame of wood is covered by a paste of corn pith and orchid juice, and then coated with gesso and painted.

At the end of January and beginning of February each year a great pilgrimage occurs to the shrine and the city grows many times in size.

During a week of festivities there are hundreds of temporary stalls selling pilgrimage icons, multiple bands of musicians playing around the great basilica, fireworks demonstrations in the evenings, and a palpable feeling of spiritual joy descends upon the town.