Home › Photo File › Seeing
Matachine dances bind generations in tradition
Photo by Craig Fritz
Related Links
More Seeing
MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES
-
ABQTrib.com to remain available
08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008 -
Congressman is indicted
08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Series of attacks target Green Zone
08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Iran is defying U.N., agency says
08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Waterboarding approval probed
08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008
TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*
- Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
- Is Rome Burning?
- Ominous Skies
- The Road to Invalidation
- Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.
STORY TOOLS
SHARE THIS STORY [?]
Charles Aguilar, the former mayor of Bernalillo, has been playing music for the Fiestas de San Lorenzo for 48 years, since he was 11. His grandfather trained him in the tradition for fear of the music being lost. His promesa to San Lorenzo, Bernalillo's patron saint, keeps him coming back each year.
The honoring of San Lorenzo is a year-round activity in Bernalillo that culminates with a celebration on August 9, 10 and 11 of each year. The Matachine dancers figure prominently and are wrapped up with the transfer of two San Lorenzo bultos to the home of a new mayordomo, the saint's caretaker.
"There's a lot more young people participating these days," Aguilar said, adding it once was hard to find enough people to be part of the fiestas.
These days, two squads of dancers participate and while there are probably enough people for three, the logistics would make it difficult.
Aguilar, the longtime lead violinist in the celebration, is doing his part to make certain the tradition continues. He has recruited his son and niece to play instruments and has already bought a violin for his 4-year-old grandson.
Some of the articles worn and carried by dancers at the Fiestas de San Lorenzo in Bernalillo - wooden tridents, called palmas; rattles, called guajes; and the headdress, called cupiles - lie atop the hood of a Buick in the backyard of Gloria Garcia, this past year's mayordoma of the tradition.
A toro, one of two in Bernalillo, wait for the Matachine dancers to pass him on Avenida Bernalillo during last week's procession to the Santuario de San Lorenzo.
Young girls, who hold the arches for the procession, line up to have their pictures taken by family members after walking from the Santuario de San Lorenzo to the mayordoma's home on Calle Placitas last week during the Fiestas de San Lorenzo.
