We Dance for the Virgen: Authenticity of Tradition in a San Antonio Matachines Troupevolume 19 Botello Robert R.
The danza de matachines is a tradition with roots in the Spanish colonization of Mexico that summons history for Mexican, Chicano, and indigenous communities. The elaborate ritual, regalia, and…
Specifikacia We Dance for the Virgen: Authenticity of Tradition in a San Antonio Matachines Troupevolume 19 Botello Robert R.
The danza de matachines is a tradition with roots in the Spanish colonization of Mexico that summons history for Mexican, Chicano, and indigenous communities. The elaborate ritual, regalia, and practices associated with the tradition tell of the repeated appearances of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Aztec Indian Juan Diego as she provided instructions for the building of a church. Matachines have been dancing in Mexico and portions of the southwestern United States for as long as 300 years, and various troupes in San Antonio date their beginnings to the late 1800s, as immigrants from Mexico brought the tradition to the southern reaches of Texas.In We Dance for the Virgen, Robert R. Botello, who participated in a family-based troupe from 2006 to 2019, reviews the history of the tradition while contrasting the troupe's internal changes in traditions with those