Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá Celebration Ideas

This well known title of Our Lady from Latin America, Our Lady of Chiquinquirá (also known as “La Chinita” or “Virgen de Chiquinquirá” or “Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá”) comes with an amazing story, sure to captivate you and your children! She has 2 feast days- both July 9, and November 18. She is the patroness of the countries of Colombia and Venezuela, and there are so many fun ways you can celebrate this feast day. You can find all my resources on November feast days here. Let’s take a look at some Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá celebration ideas, right after I tell you her amazing and miraculous history! 

I love learning about different Mary’s from around the world, and this one is extra special to our family since my husband is from Venezuela! This particular story of Mary does NOT disappoint! I was surprised to find out what a big deal she is in Latin America, yet in a lifetime of being Catholic, I had never heard of her once. 

First, if you’re not sure how to pronounce this particular name of Our Lady, you can check out this pronunciation video. If you have trouble pronouncing her name, she really is commonly referred to as “La Chinita”, which is much easier to say. 

The History Of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá

I know that no one on the internet has the attention span for actually reading anymore, but this story is fascinating and I highly encourage you to actually read it! 

In The Country Of Colombia

There was an image painted of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá that hung for years in a chapel in Colombia. (“Chiquinquira” being the town in Colombia). Over time it became old and faded. After being stored in a back room of the church for some time, it was found by a lady cleaning and rehung in the church. Miraculously, the day after Christmas, the painting was miraculously restored to its original brilliant color! Over the years the canvas continued to restore itself by healing torn holes in the canvas as well! You can read more details of this part of the story here, or see the video below. 

In The Country Of Venezuela

In Venezuela, a woman was washing her clothes by the river, and a small board came floating by. Thinking it might have some use, she brought it home with her. 

The next day the woman was making her morning coffee and she heard a knocking coming from the wooden board. When she looked over a faint depiction of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá had miraculously appeared on the board! So she hung it up on her wall. Later on she heard another knocking coming from the board, and when she looked the image was now in color and with much more detail!

They built a Basilica over the place of the woman’s house, where the image is still displayed. At one point the Venezuelan government decided that the image belonged to Caracas, and soldiers came to take it away from the church. As they moved it farther and farther away, it became heavier and heavier until they couldn’t carry it anymore. It was returned to the basilica where it still resides today!

Isn’t that such a cool story? I don’t know how I spent so many years as a Catholic and never even heard it. There are just so many rich cultural aspects to the faith that the amazing stories are like a never ending spring! You can find more details about this amazing story here. 

How To Recognize The Image Of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá:

• Mary stands on a half moon
• She holds the child Jesus
• She holds a rosary
• She holds a gold scepter 
• Jesus has a bird perched on his hand (sometimes)
• Mary and Jesus are wearing crowns
• St. Anthony on one side, and St. Andrew on the other (sometimes) 

How To Celebrate The Feast Of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá

First of all, share this amazing story with your kiddos! It is every bit as fascinating and captivating as the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe! Learn how to pronounce her name. Then show your kids on a map where the countries of Colombia and Venezuela are. Show them the image of Our Lady so they can recognize her when they see her. 

How To Draw Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá

I now have a video on how to draw Our Lady of Chiquinquirá! You can find the video here along with a free coloring page of the image that you can print for the smaller kids that aren’t ready to draw her yet.

Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá Songs

The Latin community has so many beautiful songs about this amazing title of Mary!

This song tells that story of the lady finding the tablet in the river and the image of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá in Venezuela.

This song is about the celebration of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá that happens on November 18th every year.

Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá Activities

There is no easier way to celebrate a feast day with kids than printing a coloring page! Coloring pages are also good to start learning the imagery of this particular depiction of Our Lady, and seasonal coloring pages are also good for temporarily displaying on your home altar. I found a couple of coloring pages to choose from.

• Find your coloring page of Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá here
• There is a coloring page that has Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá, St. Anthony, AND St. Andrew here

Here are Violet and Anabelle with their colored pages! 

Over on Julie Fruuu’s Etsy shop, she has a pattern to make your own Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá doll! Isn’t is so cute?! Complete with rosary and baby Jesus!

Since Our Lady Of Chiquinquirá is both the patroness of Venezuela and also Colombia, I thought what better way to celebrate than to eat their traditional food? Arepas! Our family loves eating arepas, and you can find my directions for making arepas at your house here.

There are prayer cards for asdf over on Amazon. They are in Spanish, but I think that makes them super cool!

Since she is Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá, you may want to check out my rosary activities for kids, which would all be perfect for celebrating this special feast day!

You can also find the rest of my Mary resources for kids here. Happy celebrating!