Feast Day Fun: St Juan Diego

December 9th is the Feast Day of St Juan Diego. With the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Friday…we will be able to use some of the same decorations (and mexican food!) again…very soon!

Feast Day Crafts and Activities

Excerpts from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families , various posts at Equipping Catholic Families and our Saint Scripts Craft Kits (Series ONE and TWO)

An imprinted image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was found with out-of-season roses, in the cloak (or tilma) of Juan Diego. The Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to Juan and encouraged him to convince the authorities to build the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, now a popular pilgrimage site.

A couple years ago, I compiled a bunch of links to make awesome craft flowers and you’ll find them here: St Juan Roses but you can also find a tilma worth of flower crafts on Pinterest just by searching craft flowers, tissue paper flowers, ribbon flowers…

I always marvel at the awesome St Juan costumes on All Saints Day…

Here are the best St Juan costumes I have found online:

St Juan Costume at Sometimes Martha, Always Mary

St Juan costume over at Catholic Icing.

St Juan Costume at Catholic Inspired.

I decided to make one for Bridget’s American Doll. It was quick and easy with the Kelly Saints Our Lady of Guadalupe…you’ll see her on Friday! (You will find Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring pages that would be easy to use…below!)

I used old fashioned carbon paper and some markers on a paper lunch bag. I cut holes for the head and arms and voila! St Juan costume for Bridget’s American Doll!

I tried my best at some little tissue paper roses and this is the best one that I made. I think I may need to try some of the other craft flowers…

I think that the Kelly Saints St Juan is one of my favorite of her drawings…and St Juan is one of my favorite of the Wooden Painted Saints! When I realized that I could print out a tiny image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and modpodge it onto the little 1.5″ wooden doll…things got interesting!

I love the way he turned out and his tilma is a great conversation piece with our little Adam.

Adam loves playing with the Wooden Painted Saints. Check out our Wooden Painted Saint Tutorial to make your own army of Wooden Painted Saints!

You will find quite a few coloring pages for Our Lady of Guadalupe…once again great for both the Feast Day of St Juan on December 9 and the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

These look great colored…and can be traced to make the American Girl tilma!

Our Lady of Guadalupe at CatholicMom

Our Lady of Guadalupe at Beebee Sheeps

Our Lady of Guadalupe at Catholic Playground

Our Lady of Guadalupe and St Juan Diego at Holy Heroes (Glory Stories)

Shining Light Dolls Printables

A whole list of resources at JOY{filled} Family for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Catholic Icing Advent Ornaments: St Juan and Our Lady of Guadalupe

Do you have your own family activities, traditions, crafts or celebrations to share for this special Feast Day? Don’t forget to add it at the Celebrate the Saints Link-Up…or pick up an idea or two for your family to enjoy!