Mexican Concheros

The term concheros is derived from concha, the name of the musical stringed instrument that Mexican dancers use. Regardless of their precise origin, concheros have been performing with their colorful garments for a long time in the atriums of the Catholic churches of several cities and towns in the center of Mexico. In recent decades, their costumes, musical instruments, and ideology have undergone a transformation and a great expansion within Mexico itself, in the United States, and in Spain.

The concheros are organized in brotherhoods called mesas (tables), referring to the altar around which many of their ceremonies are performed. On this altar are placed the images of their revered Catholic saints and other sacred objects. This altar, or oratorio, is in the home of the ...