Palo Volador

A volador displays a toy that mimics the dance of the voladores, the flying dancers indigenous to parts of Mexico and Guatemala.

Below a dancer flies through the air suspended by a rope attached to his waist while another volador anchors the rope below.

La Danza de los Voladores is an ancient tradition pre-dating written history in Mexico and Guatemala. Though the Spanish did their best to suppress local culture and spiritual traditions, this ritual lives on and is likely an old shamanic ritual involving shamanic flight and the World Tree that links heaven and earth together in a cohesive unit.

Four voladores (flight dancers) descend upside down as the ropes unwind while one more dancer sits atop the pole and plays a flute. The ropes are wound so precisely around the pole that the dancers cannot fly too far and hit the pavement.

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato México

September 2018