The streets were still half-asleep when the first drumbeats rolled down Avenida Vallarta, echoing off the shuttered storefronts and apartment balconies. One by one, the dancers appeared out of the darkness — plumes of red, turquoise and gold swaying in rhythm, the sharp scent of copal mixing with the early-morning chill. Metal barrels mounted on wheels served as drums, their deep, insistent pulse carrying the heartbeat of a city on pilgrimage.
I had waded into this living river an hour before dawn, searching for a familiar face among the thousands making their way to the Basílica de Zapopan. The Romería — a 290-year-old procession honoring the tiny image of the Virgin that guards Guadalajara — had begun, and the avenue had transformed into a sea of movement and devotion.
Somewhere amid the feathers and banners, I spotted the Grupo Ritual Azteca Hermanos Plascencia — more than 350 strong. In their midst stood General Daniel Plascencia, calm but focused, his drum captains unceasing in their thunderous beat in the golden glow of the streetlights. Nearby were his brothers, Adrián and Jorge, keeping the formation tight as the procession swelled around them. Their sister, Marisela, the troupe’s primera capitana, was watching this year from the sidelines, her knee still healing but her heart as present as ever, guiding her doncellas from afar.
And weaving through the ranks with her unmistakable warmth was “Jefa” Paty Ríos Duggan, her laughter bright as the morning sun. A longtime friend and spiritual sister to the Plascencias, Paty had first brought me into their orbit — her stories full of feathers, miracles, and the steady devotion of a family who had danced for the Virgin for generations.
The Plascencias’ legacy reaches back nearly eight decades, to the early days of Guadalajara’s Danza de la Conquista, when Rosendo “Chendo” Plascencia and his brothers carried the drums and banners that would become their family’s inheritance. Today, his children lead the same troupe under the name Grupo Ritual Azteca Hermanos Plascencia, preserving not only a tradition, but a living rhythm of faith that continues to pulse through their city — and their hearts.
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