All photos on this page: Doris Ting
Matachines
A procession of matachines fills the streets of downtown Houston every year around the time of the Mexican celebration for the Virgin of Guadalupe (December 9-12). It is a religious tradition practiced by Mexican and Mexican American Catholics in which groups of dancers clad in outfits reflecting Native American ceremonial garb dance their devotion to a particular holy personage or symbol. Thousands of dancers and drummers moving through downtown Houston have usually ended at the convention center where they partake in a group mass to venerate the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Matachines perform their dance as an offering to the Virgin of Guadalupe. During their strict rehearsed and repetitive movements to the beat, a roving entity walks throughout the rank and file of dancers to disrupt them. The goal is to not fall out of a lockstep with their fellow dancers but the "viejo de la danza" (old man of the dance) represents temptation via distraction and those who fall for his antics lose their focus and "fall prey to temptation." Concentration during the dance is reinforced by the viejo who the lead dancer or teacher is usually.
