Danza de los Voladores

Dress and the pole

Totonac dancers dress in a white shirt and red trousers, embroidered all over, and a cap. A decorated length of cloth is worn over the chest. It stands for blood. The cap carries flowers for fertility, mirrors for the sun and long coloured ribbons for the rainbow. The dancers make these clothes themselves. In the longest form of the rite, the tree is chosen and cut first, in a part called tsakáe kiki. The cutters ask pardon of Quihuicolo, the mountain god. Branches are stripped, the trunk is hauled to the village, and a hole is dug to hold it. Offerings of flowers, copal, alcohol, candles and a live chicken or turkey go into the hole, crushed as the pole rises.

Origins and history

No one knows exactly where the rite began. It is usually traced to the Huastec, Nahua and Otomi peoples of the Sierra de Puebla and the mountains of Veracruz, and from there it reached most of Mesoamerica, from northern Mexico down to Nicaragua. Pottery found in Nayarit points to the pre-Classic period, so it is very old. In early times it was longer and stricter, with taboos and meditation, and dancers dressed as parrots, macaws, quetzals and eagles. Records were destroyed after the Spanish conquest and the church discouraged such rites, so they were silenced or kept in secret. Juan de Torquemada left a detailed account, and Catholic elements were added later.

Numbers, birds and gods

The four men on the frame stand for the four directions, and for earth, air, fire and water. The caporal above them is the fifth sun. Every rope is wound thirteen times, and the four together make fifty-two turns, the count of years in a Mesoamerican great year. In Maya telling the pole is the world tree at the centre of the world and the five men are bird deities; the flute sounds like birdsong. The rite belongs above all to rain and to the sun, and is tied to Tlaloc, Xipe Totec and Tlazolteotl. Diego Durán recorded a story of an Aztec prince, Ezhuahuacatl, who killed himself by diving from a high pole.

Versions and rules

Practice varies. Nahua and Otomi dancers often begin at the top with no dance on the ground first. One variant uses a five-sided frame and six dancers instead of five, and is kept most traditionally on Holy Thursday, at the close of a festival called the Huapangueada. Some dancers fast for a day or more beforehand and abstain from sex, so that the gods will look on the rite with favour. In Papantla the Council of Totonac Elders has barred women from taking part, and Totonac ritual dancing has long been closed to them. A few towns in Puebla and Veracruz allow women, who must first seek forgiveness from the gods and the saints.

Today and change

Most dancers now use a permanent pole, often of steel; in Veracruz the oil industry has given many of them. The sharpest change concerns women. No one knows when the first woman flew, but Jesús Arroyo Cerón trained his daughter Isabel in 1972 and later his other daughters. He died in 2006, aged seventy, in a fall during the Cumbre Tajín festival. His family say he fell beside the gods; some elders call it a punishment. A wooden cross and flowers mark the place. About twenty women are known to have been voladores. UNESCO listed the ceremony as Intangible Cultural Heritage to help it live on.

How Danza de los Voladores is kept

The caporal climbs first and stays at his small platform, the manzana, near the top. A square frame, the cuadro, hangs below it. The other four take their places on the frame and wind the ropes. Then they tie themselves on, tip backwards and drop, and the ropes unwind and carry them in circles to the ground. All this time the caporal plays a flute and a drum, greeting the four directions and beginning with the east, then bending far back towards the sun. In the full traditional form, a last dance ends the ceremony once all have landed.

When and where

No single date governs it. In Mexico it may be danced at many points in the year, often around local festivals and the farming calendar, and the six-dancer version belongs most traditionally to Holy Thursday. Guatemalan towns keep it on fixed days: 15 August in Joyabaj, 17 to 23 January in Chichicastenango, 26 July in Cubulco.

Mexico is its main home, and Veracruz and Puebla states hold the strongest centres. Papantla in Veracruz is the town most closely linked with it, and Totonac dancers there are its best known keepers. Other towns in Puebla, among them Cuetzalan and Pahuatlán, and Zozocolco de Hidalgo in Veracruz, also keep it. In Guatemala it survives in Joyabaj, Chichicastenango and Cubulco.

What Danza de los Voladores means

The pole is a meeting place of sky, earth and the world below, treated as the world tree and as a fifth direction. The four who descend stand for the four directions and the four elements; the man above is the fifth sun, and their turning pictures the world made again and life returning. The flute is the birds' song. The Totonac say the gods asked to be watched in dance, and the old purpose of the whole rite is rain, fertile ground and food.

Days Danza de los Voladores is marked

Questions people ask about Danza de los Voladores

See also

Holy WeekThe solemn seven days leading to Easter, recalling the final week and Passion of JesusHalloweenAn annual observance on 31 October marking the eve of All Saints' Day, rooted in Christian tradition and Celtic heritageCarnival of MazatlánAn annual five-day festival of parades, fireworks, poetry and dance in coastal MexicoEid al-FitrThe feast that ends Ramadan, opened with morning prayers, sweets and visits home

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Danza de los Voladores on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.