Danza de los Voladores de Papantla

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Totonacs of Papantla, Veracruz performing the "voladores" ritual

Performance of the Voladores in the central park of Chapultepec in Mexico City, next to the National Museum of Anthropology and History. The famous modern towers of Polanco can be seen in the background.

The Danza de los Voladores de Papantla (Dance of Papantla's flyers) is a ritualistic dance in Veracruz performed by the Totonac Indians. Five men, each representing the five directions of the indigenous world climb atop a pole, one of them stays on the pole playing a flute and dancing while the remaining four descend the pole with a rope tied by one of their feet. The rope unwraps itself 13 times for each of the four flyers, symbolizing the 52 years of their century.

[edit] Origins

According to legend, a long drought covered the Earth so five men decided to send Xipe Totec, the God of fertility a message, asking them for the rain to return. They went to the forest and looked for the straightest tree, cut it, and took it back to their town. They removed all branches and placed it on the ground, then dressed themselves as feet/birds and descended flying attempting to grab their God's attention. It is believed that this ritual begun over 1500 years ago, and later on was disguised as a sort of game to protect their customs from the Spanish Priests.[1]