flying upside down

flying upside down

Voladores de Papantla

worship the sun god

We're sitting on the top row of a little amphitheater in Xcaret, waiting for the show to begin. Xcaret, which means "small inlet" in Maya, is an eco-archeological theme park on the Yucatán Riviera that combines elements of Disney World with National Geographic. This afternoon we've joined a small crowd to watch Voladores de Papantla, "flyers of Papantla," perform a ceremony to the sun god. Four of the men, the flyers, represent the elements of earth, air, fire and water, while the fifth man represents the unifying element of space. 

         
          The men, dressed in colorful costumes and playing traditional rattles, drums and flute, march in a row into the open space below a large pole 30 meters (almost 100 feet) high and as big around as two men, set in a wide stone foundation. They dance around the pole, shaking rattles. 

          One of the men plays a small wooden flute held in his left hand along with a small drum, which he is beating with his right hand.
        

          
          One by one they begin to climb the pole, placing their feet on narrow foot rests set on alternate sides and grasping a thick yellow rope that's wrapped around the poles at intervals. 

          
          As each one reaches the top, he sits on a narrow bar forming one of the four sides of an open square painted red, green and white. They hang onto the bar, their legs dangling down.

          The fifth man mounts a conical spindle in the middle, wrapped round and round with the yellow cable. He wraps his legs around the spindle, leaving his hands free for his musical instruments. The four flyers begin leaning out and throwing their weight to one side, causing the platform to rotate, while the musician, perched on top and hunched over like an eagle, plays his flute and drum.

          Suddenly the four flyers simultaneously lean all the way back and drop upside down off the platform, arms spread wide, the ribbons on their headdress streaming behind them. Each flyer is suspended only by a yellow rope looped around the body. One foot is hooked around the rope while the other foot hangs free. 

          While the musician continues to play, I find myself holding my breath as the flyers slowly descend, circling wider and wider until they near the ground. Then, like the acrobats they are, they miraculously right themselves to land on their feet.

          But what about the musician in the eagle's nest? While one of flyers holds his rope at an angle from the pole, the musician lowers himself down the cable. I finally start breathing when he reaches the ground and the crowd applauds.

          But they're not done yet. On one side of the area there is a low wooden windmill with four blades, painted red, green and white. The four flyers don their large solar headdresses and mount the four blades, hanging onto pegs. Again, they use their bodies to begin rotating the windmill, which rotates slowly. While the musician pipes and drums, each flyer moves from face up to head up to face down to head down. 

          Finally, they all dance around the windmill and then bow to the applause of the enchanted audience.

          Some of their colorful fringed scarves and headdresses, decorated with flowers, ribbons, rainbow fans and circular mirrors.