Danza de los Voladores
The Danza del Volador or Juego del Volador is a ceremonial dance that is for about 500 years by the indigenous peoples of the Olmec and Totonac in several places of Mexico and Guatemala (such as Tulum, El Tajin, Papantla in the state of Veracruz ) celebrates. It was probably originally a ritual for fertility and yield of crops or a ritual in honor of the gods of fertility Xipe Totec and Tlazoltéotldes.
Implementation
For the Danza del Volador five men climb an approximately 25m high pile, the palo volador high, at whose top is reminiscent of a stork's nest platform is attached. Four men to be bound by a rope, while the fifth on the pile takes place and playing a flute or drum. The four men ( Voladores ) symbolize the four winds, the fifth man is a symbol of the sun. Dancing the four men to move to the root. They welcome the trunk and encircle him several times. Then go the four " winds " at the beginning of the music on the ropes to the top of the trunk.
The last climb of the fifth as the "sun " on the top. He sits to the east and begins to play with a small drum and a flute, while the four winds clockwise wrap the rope around the abdomen. The sun now welcomes the four cardinal directions with their game. She turns to this one after the other and dancing on the top. Then the four winds can upside down slowly with 13 turns on the ground. The sun is playing during this time the drum and flute. After the four winds have reached the earth, the sun goes down on the ground on the trunk or on one of the cables.
History
This ritual has been previously prepared by young men between 20 and 25 years. The Voladores went a week before the ritual on the search for a suitable tree, a Arbol de Vida, the Tree of Life. Before the cases they danced in his honor and asked permission for the cases. Only then the tree was with great caution like, so that he had to suffer as little pain as possible. The chosen tree trunk had at least 25 m high and the rope length to be accurately measured, so that the Voladores reach exactly 13 orbits of the tribe multiplied by the four dancers a period of 52 years, which means an age as you understood it before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, symbolize.
The clothes of the Voladores traditionally consists of a red pants, a white shirt, a red band around the hips, and a feather headdress.
Tourism
In some cities in Mexico and also at cultural events in Spain and South and Central America, the Voladores games will continue to be maintained and considered as a tourist attraction. The descendants of the Totonac dance now for pesos and at key tourist sites. They are now unionized and strive to maintain and make the ritual faithfully.