BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS - Although the sun did not shine, the traditional Baile del Sol went on with music, food and folklore.
The Dance of the Sun is the kick-off of the annual Charro Days celebration that takes place to commemorate the cultural ties between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico.
The celebration has been going since 1937 and it’s now commemorating its 89th birthday.
The Baile del Sol fiesta took place Saturday, Feb. 21, as students from a number of schools from the local district put on a display of dancing rhythms as they followed an array of songs played through the loudspeakers.
The Albert Zamora Band highlighted the evening as some people rushed to hear their music as they munched on tacos, turkey legs and many of the delicacies native to this region of the country.
The Baile del Sol is the first of seven events that include a kayak race, a folkloric fiesta put by students from the Brownsville Independent School District, a children’s parade, a Mexican Night pachanga, an illuminated night parade, the grand international parade and the popular Sombrero Festival to be held Feb. 26-28.
But as the festivities kept on going, a group of bearded men were spotted either wondering around or standing in front of a makeshift jail cell.
Each man is dressed in jeans and white shirts embroidered on their backs by a Mexican eagle with a serpent on its beak that sits on a cactus ear flanked by the colors of the county’s flag.
They also don Mexican straw sombreros and red handkerchiefs.
They are known as the Order of the Brush and belong to the Beard Posse whose jobs are to pick up at random clean saving men and young adults to lock them in the small cell until a ransom, which comes in the form or cash, is posted for their release.
For Alonso “Tiny” Barrientes, an original member of the Order of the Brush, the round-up is a tradition they started about 15 years ago.
“We collected a few thousand dollars the first year,” he said. “And every year, we have been collecting more and more.”
But the best year was 2025, he said, as they made more than $25,000.
Asked what they do or where the money goes, Barrientes said, “One hundred percent of that goes to the Brownsville Historical Museum.”
