Bernalillo event celebrates 323 years of unbroken tradition
La Danza de los Matachines has been performed since 1693
As August draws near, a crowd gathers in a Bernalillo neighborhood every Sunday evening to watch a group of men and women, organized in rows called filas, rehearse a dance in the street.
The dancers are the key figures in La Danza de los Matachines, a tradition steeped in Nuevo Mexicano (Hispanic New Mexican) culture and history.
They are preparing for the Feast of San Lorenzo, set for Wednesday, Aug. 10.
This year marks the 323rd anniversary of the dance, an unbroken tradition since 1693.
“It’s always been important,” said Gilbert Sanchez, describing the Matachines dance. “It’s been a staple of the community for hundreds of years.”
Sanchez, a police officer, is one of two men who hold the rank of monarca (monarch), the highest position in the group. He has been dancing for more than 30 years.
According to the group’s oral tradition, the early Spanish settlement in Bernalillo before 1680 had a good relationship with the people of Sandia Pueblo.
When news of the coming Pueblo Revolt reached Sandia, friendly Native Americans warned their Spanish neighbors to evacuate.
The people of Bernalillo thus escaped before the revolt struck on Aug. 10 — the Feast Day of San Lorenzo.
“The people of Bernalillo really had a lot to thank San Lorenzo for,” said Joe Moreno, academic program manager at the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. candidate in education/language, literacy and sociocultural studies.
A lifelong resident of Bernalillo, 33-year-old Moreno has been dancing in the Matachines group for 16 years.
The group’s historian, he
explained that the Matachines tradition took root in Bernalillo in 1693 when Don Diego de Vargas resettled New Mexico.
De Vargas made a promise to God and to St. Lawrence that returning Spanish settlers would honor the saint’s feast day on Aug. 10.
Returning to their former town after being exiled with other Spanish survivors to the El Paso area, the Bernalillo refugees chose to honor their patron saint with the Matachines dance — a practice with deep historic ties to Spain and cultural assimilations from the Aztec empire.
“Believing in a European, particularly Spanish, origin of the Matachines dance, Bernalillo thus reverts to its chivalrous and powerful linkage to Spain by performing this dance,” Moreno wrote in a 2008 thesis.
‘People from all communities’
The Matachines group performs nine intricate dances over the course of three days.
The dance in its entirety tells the story of Montezuma’s conversion to Christianity, using figurative characters, complex dance steps and unwritten music — all passed down through the generations via hands-on learning and sheer memorization.
The dancers, called danzantes, step and whirl to the sounds of Spanish guitar and violin. They are organized in filas.
“It’s all based on seniority within the group,” Sanchez said.
Danzantes are adorned with headdresses called cupiles, emblazoned with the images of their unique patron saints. Their faces and eyes are completely masked with black fringe and a matching veil. The tradition was brought to Spain by Arabs in the wake of the Moorish invasion. The fringe, Moreno said, was a metaphor for rain-bringing in desert areas.
“We can see you, but you can’t see our faces,” said Moreno, explaining that anonymity plays an important role in the deeply religious aspect of the dance.
As monarcas, Sanchez and his fellow leader, Edward Torres, represent the Aztec ruler Montezuma. They are distinguished by the tall crowns of flowers they wear during the dance.
“It’s the leading position,” said Sanchez of the monarca role. “You teach the danzantes … you control the entire structure of the dance.”
Another important character is the malinche — a little girl dressed in white who represents, according to Moreno, “the Christian religion, purity and all that is good in humanity.”
The historical malinche was the Aztec wife of Hernan Cortes but, to the Matachines of Bernalillo, she is the innocent daughter of Montezuma.
Other figures are the toro (bull), representing paganism and temptation, who wears a horned headdress and wields canes.
The abuelos (grandfathers), senior members in the group, protect the malinche and the other dancers from the bulls’ advances using whips.
The dance group is flanked by capitanes (captains), whose rank is signified by the position they occupy.
Together, all ranks perform the nine dances, including La Crusada (the sign of the cross), La Toreada del Toro (the fighting of the bull) and La Corrida, a triumphant procession with an image of San Lorenzo through the streets of Bernalillo.
“Through our oral traditions, we understand that our dance has never stopped — it’s been performed every year since 1693,” said Moreno. “We truly believe that we are the oldest, largest and most wellknown group of Matachines (in the United States).”
Rules governing the Matachines were very strict in former times, Sanchez recalled. A person must be at least 13 to dance in the corrida procession. Although tradition holds that certain positions are reserved for men, women are now permitted to participate in the corrida and to dance in the fila ranks.
“We want people from all communities,” said Sanchez, adding that the group is not racially exclusive and is currently joined by Native Americans. “It’s a cultural and religious fiesta. There are no restrictions on who can or can’t dance.”
The Matachines also travel to different communities to raise money to repair and restore the Santuario de San Lorenzo, the old church that stands beside Our Lady of Sorrows in Bernalillo.
The church, a local landmark, was the religious center of Bernalillo under Spanish rule; ancestors of Nuevo Mexicano locals are buried under its antique floorboards. It was designated as the official shrine of St. Lawrence by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1993.
“The church was really, really old,” said Sanchez. “We needed money to restore it and bring it back to life.”
To raise funds for the restoration, groups of danzantes have visited Corrales, San Luis, Jemez and many other places across that state.
The Matachines of Bernalillo were recognized by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., at its Folklife Festival in 1992 and in its 12-year “American Encounters Exhibit,” which ran from 1992 until 2004. The group was inducted into the New Mexico Hispanic Traditional Folk Musicians Hall of Fame in 1997.
Monday through next Sunday, the Matachines group will practice dances every day in front of the house of the mayordomo (steward of San Lorenzo).
The main public celebration of the Fiesta of San Lorenzo will take place Aug. 10, with religious observances and smaller private celebrations occurring over a three-day period.