Danza de Los Voladores

According to the Totonac myth, at least 450 years ago there was a severe drought that brought famine to the people. The gods delayed the rain because people neglected them.

The ceremony was created to appease the gods and bring back the rain.

In some versions of the story, the ritual is created by the village elders, who then choose five chaste young men.

According to other versions, five men create the ritual themselves. With the permission of the mountain god, the tallest tree in the nearest forest is cut down, torn from its branches, and dragged to the village.

The trunk is erected with great ceremony. The youths climb the pole and four jump while the fifth plays music. The ritual pleased the rain god Xipe Totec and other gods, so the rains began again and the fertility of the earth returned.

The exact origins of this ritual (dance) are unknown, but it is believed to have originated among the Huastec, Nahua, and Otomi peoples of the Sierra de Puebla and the highlands of Veracruz.

The ritual spread throughout the Mesoamerican world until it was practiced from northern Mexico to Nicaragua. Evidence of the ritual dates back to at least the Preclassic period, according to ceramics found in Nayarit.

In pre-Hispanic times the ritual was much more complex and included taboos and meditation. Participants were believed to be posing as birds, and in some places were dressed as parrots, macaws, quetzals, and eagles.

These birds represented the gods of earth, air, fire, and water.

By the 16th century, the ritual was firmly associated with solar ceremonies such as the spring equinox. The ritual is most closely associated with the rain and sun deities such as Xipe Totec, and Tlazotlteotl.

In Mayan mythology, the world’s creation is associated with the bird deity (Itzamna), who lives on the World Tree (the center of the world). The five “bird people” at the top of the pole symbolize the avian deities.

The main dancer stands in the center and plays the flute, which reproduces the sounds of birdsong. Four other “bird men” (representing the four directions) spin around the pole, symbolizing the re-creation of the world (and the regeneration of life).

In the early form, instead of five men, there were six men dressed as birds, each of whom would climb to the top and perform a dance, and at the end, tie ropes around their waists, and everyone would jump in unison and come down.

In many villages in Mexico, this version of the practice has been banned due to injury and even death.

Diego Durán, who recorded many Aztec customs during the Spanish conquest, described an incident reminiscent of the Danza de los Voladores when the Aztec prince Ezhuahuacatl sacrificed himself by jumping from a high pole.

The four modern voladores typically circle the pole 13 times each, completing 52 revolutions, or the number of years corresponds to the Aztec solar year “calendar round.”

The ritual was partially lost after the Conquest, and the Spanish destroyed many records of it. The Church was strongly opposed to such “pagan” rituals after the Conquest, which were suppressed or practiced in secret.

Much of what is known comes from the oral traditions and writing of the first Europeans to arrive in Mexico.

Later, Catholic elements were added to the ritual, and in the late colonial period, it became something of a spectacle. The ritual has largely disappeared in Mexico and Central America, with small remnants remaining, including the Totonac people.

Although the ritual did not originate with the Totonacs, today it is often associated with the Totonacs of the Papantla region of Veracruz.

In our time, a number of changes have occurred. Due to deforestation in much of the Sierra de Puebla and mountainous areas of Veracruz, most voladores perform on permanent metal poles, which in Veracruz are often donated by the oil industry.

The most controversial change has been the induction of women to perform the ceremony. Traditionally it was forbidden to allow women to become voladores, but a few have become so, all of them living in the state of Puebla.

One of the first men to teach women, Jesus Arroyo Ceron, died after falling from a pole during the Cumbre Tajín 2006 cultural festival. Totonac elders believe this was divine retribution and still prohibit female participants from performing the ritual.

In addition to whether or not there is a pole ceremony, other variations in the ritual exist. Among the Nahua and Otomi peoples, there is generally no dance before climbing the pole; the ceremony begins at the top.

There is also a version where the suspended frame has five sides instead of four and the ritual involves six dancers and not five.

The most traditional time to perform this version is on Holy Thursday at the culmination of a festival held on this day called the Huapangueada.

Some dancers have rules to follow such as needing to fast for one or more days before the ceremony and abstain from sexual relations so that the gods will look upon the ceremony favorably.

Most of the variations are found in Puebla state. However, the most controversial variation is whether or not to permit women to perform the ritual. In Papantla, which is the community most closely associated with the ritual.

The Consejo de Ancianos Totonacas (Council of Totonac Elders) has formally prohibited the inclusion of women.

Traditionally, women have been excluded from all Totonac ritual dancing. Even for the dance called La Maringuilla, the female protagonist is portrayed by a man. The prohibition stems from the belief that women are “bad entities, who bring bad luck” and their inclusion would be a sin and/or anger the gods.

However, in a few communities, such as Cuetzalan and Pahuatlán in Puebla and Zozocolco de Hidalgo in Veracruz, women have been allowed to be voladores. Those who are allowed to take part must first complete a series of rituals designed to ask the forgiveness of the gods and Catholic saints for being a woman.

The women must also be virgins without a boyfriend if unmarried or abstain from sexual relations before the ritual if married. If a female volador is found to have broken the rules of sexual abstention, she is taken to an altar which is surrounded by incense burners and candles.

An image of the Archangel Michael or Saint James bears witness to the punishment, which involves a number of slaps to the face (bofetadas), with the quantity depending on the transgression and the decision of those in charge. It is claimed that the ritual cures “the fever” of the woman. It is believed that women who do not obey these rules will bring calamity to the ritual.

It is not known when the first female was allowed to take part as a volador. One of the first men to train women was Jesús Arroyo Ceron, who trained his daughter Isabel in 1972; after this, he trained his other three daughters.

In March 2006, aged 70, he fell from a pole during the Cumbre Tajín celebrations and died.

Family members believe he fell “at the side of the gods,” but many patriarchs believe the accident was divine retribution. A wooden cross and flowers at the Plaza del Volador in Parke Takilhsukut memorialize him.

Approximately twenty female voladores are known to exist.

In Guatemala the flying pole dance, called Palo volador, is still celebrated in Joyabaj (15 August), Chichicastenango (17–23 January), and Cubulco (26 July).

According to the Totonac myth, the gods told men, “Dance, and we shall observe.” Today, pleasing the gods of old is still a part of the most traditional version of the ritual.

The Totonac dress for this ritual consists of red pants with a white shirt, a cloth across the chest, and a cap. The pants, hat, and chest cloth are heavily embroidered and otherwise decorated. The cloth across the chest symbolized blood.

The hat is adorned with flowers for fertility; mirrors represent the sun and from the top stream multicolored ribbons represent the rainbow. These costumes are made by the voladores themselves and can cost between 250$ and 500$ USD each.

The most traditional and lengthy version starts from the selection and cutting of the tree to be used to the final dance after all voladores have descended from the pole.

The tree selection, cutting, and erecting ceremony is called the tsakáe kiki. It involves going into the forest to find a suitable tree and asking permission or the pardon of the mountain god Quihuicolo for taking it.

The tree is stripped of its branches and dragged to the ceremonial site, where a hole has been dug for the now-30-meter pole. Before erecting the pole, offerings of flowers, copal, alcohol, candles, and live chickens or a live turkey are placed in the hole.

These are then crushed as the pole is erected, adding to the fertility of the earth.

The pole becomes a connection point between the sky and the earth and the underworld with the surface world, a representation of the world tree, and is considered to be the fifth cardinal direction of the earth.

The post and the dancers are then purified with alcohol sprinkled in the form of a cross and tobacco smoke.

In most cases, however, the pole used is a permanently placed one, often of steel, and this part of the ceremony does not take place. On these occasions, the ceremony begins with a dance and song type called a “son.”

Usually, the initial song played and danced to is called the “Son of Forgiveness.” After this, the five begin to climb the pole with the chief or “caporal” going first. The caporal will not descend but rather will stay at the top of the pole until near the end of the ceremony.

The caporal stands on a capstan, called a manzana (apple) which is a small platform at the top of the pole. From this capstan is suspended a square frame called a cuadro (square) on which the other four voladores sit.

While these four wind the ropes around the pole and tie themselves to the ends, the caporal plays the flute and drum acknowledging the four cardinal directions, beginning with the east because it is believed life came from this direction.

The four ropes are each wound thirteen times for a total of fifty-two, the number of years in a Mesoamerican great year. The caporal then bends fully backward to acknowledge the sun, playing all the while.

The four voladores represent the four cardinal directions as well as the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

The caporal represents the fifth sun. The four voladores seated on the cuadro face the caporal and at the appropriate moment fall backward to descend to the ground suspended by the wound ropes.

As the ropes unwind, the voladores spin, creating a moving pyramid shape. As the other voladores descend, the caporal plays the “son of goodbye” and dances on the narrow platform. Traditionally, after the descent, there is another dance of goodbye.

The Ritual Ceremony of the Voladores of Papantla was recognized as an Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) by UNESCO in 2009.

This is the second Mexican event to be so recognized, with the first being the Indigenous Festivity of the Dead in 2008.

Governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán received the award in the name of the people and the government of Veracruz, especially the indigenous people of the Totonacapan region of the state.

Celebrations of the recognition took place on October 12, 2009, in Takilhsukut Park at El Tajín and other volador sites in Mexico. The ritual was inscribed along with the Traditions of the Otomi-Chichimecas of Toliman, Peña de Bernal, Querétaro.

The recognition carries the responsibility for Mexico to safeguard and promote the tradition to keep it alive.

A part of the nomination process was an extensive regional plan for the preservation, promotion, and development of the cultural heritage in Veracruz and other parts of Mexico and Central America.

One effort that has been underway is the establishment of the Escuela de Niños Voladores (School of Volador Children), which is located at Takilhsukut Park and is the first formal school for voladores.

It has a student population of between 70 and 100 students who learn about the history, significance, and values associated with the ritual from the pre-Hispanic period.

These include those associated with the taking of the pole, called a tsakáe kiwi, from the forest, an aspect of the ritual that is in danger of extinction. The school is sponsored by the Veracruz state government and children begin attending between 6 and 8 years of age.

Most come from the neighboring communities of Plan de Hidalgo, El Tajín, San Lorenzo Arroyos del Arco, and Oxital, whose fathers and grandfathers are voladores.

The school requires students to meet certain requirements, such as being able to speak Totonac, and girls are not permitted.

However, most voladores learn the ritual from their fathers and grandfathers starting at age eight or ten. To become a volador in the traditional Totonac community requires 10 to 12 years of preparation and many consider it to be a life vocation.

Another effort to conserve and promote the tradition is the Encuentro de Voladores (Volador Encounter), which was begun in 2009 and coincides with the Cumbre Tajín spring equinox event of the El Tajín site.

For five days, voladores from various places perform at the poles erected at the site. The objective is not only to see the different costumes and styles of the groups but also to share experiences about the fertility ritual.

Voladores come from as far as San Luis Potosí and Guatemala.

One reason for the need for protection is that in most cases in Mexico, the ritual is not performed for religious purposes. The first organization for voladores came about in the 1970s but also the commercialization of the ritual.

There are about 600 professional voladores in Mexico.

In smaller communities, the ritual is enacted only on the feast day of the community’s patron saint or other religious events, but in larger communities, especially where there are tourists, it is performed as an attraction for donations.

Two examples of this are the voladores that perform in Xcaret and Xel-Ha, and the Totonac voladores in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, which are one of the park’s major attractions.

Some groups of voladores try to balance respect for the ritual while still performing for spectators. There is a formally established group in Boca del Río that has been recognized by municipal authorities and receives support in the way of space and a permanent pole.

The goal of the group is to offer tourists a dignified version of the ritual at the Plaza Bandera that does not forget its roots.

Members of the group are all natives of the city of Papantla. The ceremony is held in a public park and youths are required to leave items such as bicycles and skateboards outside the ceremonial space.

To promote the ritual and the culture behind it internationally, groups of voladores have performed in many parts of Mexico and other countries as part of cultural festivals.

Voladores have performed at the Zapopum Festival in Guadalajara, the Festival of San Pedro in Monterrey, the Indian Summer Festival in Milwaukee, the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaíso, the Forúm Universal de las Culturas in Barcelona, and at an intercultural show in New York.