The report of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to a humble native peasant in Tepeyac, in the first decades of the sixteenth century, has been considered one of the crucial elements in understanding the Mexican national identity. Unlike other reports of the miraculous presence of the Virgin Mary among the recently converted Indians, the account of the apparition of Guadalupe became intensely popular and widely known among all social levels of the Spanish colony But as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, criticism began to be exerted on the historicity of the origin of the Marian cult in Tepeyac since no contemporary eye-witness reports were found. Many scholars, particularly in modern times, began to consider the account of the apparitions only as pious legends Everything we know about the supernatural presence of the Virgin Mary and her early cult comes from a group of 46 documents. According to several of those sources, the apparitions actually took place in a historically determined space and time. Sometimes the documents give us very detailed information. Such as the case of the famous Hueitlamahuizoltica, the long Nahuatl account now considered the 'official version' of the Mexican Catholic Church Our study of the origin and the content of these 46 documents confirmed that none of them can be considered historical since none of them contains a contemporary eye-witness report. Furthermore, it was found that five sources traditionally considered to be Guadalupan documents have no relation to the apparitions, the image, or the early cult A close examination of the documents leads us to believe that they have their roots in a group of native oral traditions created collectively between 1521 and 1649. The oral traditions served as the basis for what was later recorded by both Indian and Spanish writers. Our hypothesis may explain the incongruities found in the texts. It may also explain why most of the native documents are by unknown authors
