Ciudad Juarez.– Saint Lawrence in Juarez is prayed to in a thousand ways: people offer him their knees that are bleeding from walking on them, long candles, endless prayers, Eucharists at all hours, flowers, hair braids, rosaries…
Rafael Núñez, originally from Jiménez, Chihuahua, has his own way of thanking the saint and venerating his God, “giving him our prayers with our feet.”
The man, who is wearing a black loincloth with pre-Hispanic motifs, chaps with dark feathers and a chest of more dark greenish feathers, hides his naked torso. Minutes before there were more feathers on his head, in the headdress, but now only his gray hair is visible. He has been in Aztec dance for 47 years.
He was with about 20 other members of that dance group, a mix of natives from Juárez, Jiménez, El Paso, Torreón and even Monterrey. They were called to dance for San Lorenzo during his patronal festival yesterday morning for more than two hours.
That dance was started in Ciudad Juárez by Manuel Cano Vicuña, around 1950. They then connected with dozens of dancers throughout the country and even organized themselves into a hierarchy that keeps them connected and in order to support each other in major events such as the celebration of the so-called patron saint of this border: San Lorenzo.
For Rafael, “it is a very beautiful thing. We put a lot of effort into our devotion. There is a lot of satisfaction in dancing for our father God.”
They are different from other dances, as they wear headdresses with more natural-looking feathers, they use lutes and shells to dance, they beat drums made in a more traditional way, and even the percussion they perform is done with the entire instrument and not just with the skin.
They use incense burners, there are women dressed in white, although the steps seem similar.
“We are one family. What sets us apart is our discipline, our way of acting and dancing,” says Manuel, who can no longer dance because he fell ill a few seasons ago and now offers free food and drinks to the dancers.
His values, he says, are unity, conformity and conquest.
From Coahuila they also thank
But they also came from other states. From Coahuila, from the La Luz ejido, came the San Isidro Labrador Dance, led by Rosa Isela Canales.
She said that they have been coming to this city with their dance for 30 years to give thanks, “to pay their debts, to repay favors received” by the Spanish saint who is so loved in Ciudad Juárez.
Rosa said that “most of us who come from there come to thank San Lorencito for something; the people from my ranch have a lot of family here. We come to see our countrymen, and although he is the patron saint of Juárez, he is deeply rooted there with us.”
It is a different dance. It is not a bow and arrow dance or just acayachtli (rattles), but they wear very traditional clothing. Red skirts with yellow details, white blouses with a blue band across them and on the back a blanket with the image of San Isidro Labrador. Some of the girls wear hats with costume jewels covering their faces, and there are three of the dancers, girls between 8 and 10 years old, who are dressed all in white and are in front doing the same step together, separated from the rest.
Those who wear the red skirts are all teenagers; they do not wear a crown or a headdress, but in their hands they carry a piece of wood with a medium-sized structure decorated with pink, blue and yellow feathers, that is why they are called Feather Dance, and they move to the drums and to the rhythm marked by a violin.
Rosa Isela said that one of those dancers was sick last year and could not attend this border festival, but that she prayed to San Lorenzo for her health, and since she got better, now it is time to come and give thanks.
This is how at least a dozen groups thanked San Lorenzo yesterday before noon, dancing, in the middle of the second day of the patronal festival in the church located at the intersection of Valle de Juárez Avenue and Fray Junípero Serra Street.
Not far from the dances and drums there were food stalls, Mexican snacks, soft drinks and sweets, but there were also clothes, glasses, plants and even plastic dishes and all kinds of kitchen appliances. These stalls kept the square in front of the church crowded, with bushes crushed by tables, apparently unsafe electrical connections, and on the other hand the stalls were clean, and they kept nearby garbage bins that were constantly being passed to the municipal government’s cleaning service.
Contrary to the stalls, the perimeter of the temple was seen full of bottles, disposable utensils and dishes and thrown food, with no public workers seen entering to empty the overflowing garbage cans.
The celebration for the anniversary of the death of the sainted martyr of Spanish origin will continue until today, so the citizens of Juarez can still enjoy food, rides and drinks, as well as attend the different Eucharistic celebrations that will take place at the sanctuary.
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