Laredo Matachines Danza Guadalupana dances for Virgin of Guadalupe

Leticia Lerma, founder of the group, said that she has been leading the group for almost 20 years.

“The biggest day we participate in is (the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe),” she said. “We dance all month long. This December is full, and I thank God and the Virgin of Guadalupe because this gives us a lot of joy and fills us with the Holy Spirit.”

The matachines are groups of dancers who, with unique clothing and instruments, dance to a place of pilgrimage or devotion, mainly during the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

She said that during the year they also dance on other festivals of different saints such as San Martín de Porres, San Francisco de Asis or when someone has to keep a promise,

For Lerma, the greatest satisfaction that being the founder and director of the group has given her is the strength and faith that dancing for the Virgin of Guadalupe gives her.

“I’m also very proud that my children are involved here,” she said. “That I am sowing this seed of faith in them just as my mother sowed it in me.”

She said that her mother was a (matachin) dancer in Nuevo Laredo.

“She always brought me closer to the Virgin of Guadalupe. I had that calling, and I think the only way to thank her is to serve her in this way,” she said.

The Danza Guadalupana matachines group is made up of almost 37 members.

“There are five drummers, two accordion players and the rest are dancers,” she said.

Lerma called on the community of Los Dos Laredos to keep the faith.

“The only thing I would ask of our community is that we continue with this faith, that this tradition is not lost and to say ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!”  she said.