I see Virgins everywhere! (Catholic)

ok, thank you both. what i was refering to though was not how Mary is depicted by different people, but how she appears to them. not skin tone alone, but ethnic appearence (race) as well. the features of an indigenous Aztec woman are very different from those of a Jewish woman from the Middle East. thank you for your answers though, they does help clarify things some.

I imagine there is a subjective element to any such appearances of the Virgin. Just as God speaks to us in the language of our own private lives- through signs and symbols peculiar to us, through people dear to us, and so on, so I would imagine the appearances of the Virgin would occur often in such a way that speaks most to the people concerned.

It does not have to imply, however, anything about what the Virgin actually looks, or looked like.