If you have an Instagram account and live in Richmond, you probably saw footage of the Richmond Folk Festival this weekend – and if you missed the best part, you’re in luck because we’ve got it below…
If you have an Instagram account and live in Richmond, you probably saw footage of the Richmond Folk Festival this weekend – and if you missed the best part, you’re in luck because we’ve got it below…
The ritual, known as “Danza de los Voladores,” originates from mesoamerican cultures and is a slightly modified version of a ceremony dateing back about 450 years.
More via wiki:
The ritual consists of dance and the climbing of a 30 meter pole from which four of the five participants then launch themselves tied with ropes to descend to the ground. The fifth remains on top of the pole, dancing and playing a flute and drum. According to one myth, the ritual was created to ask the gods to end a severe drought. Although the ritual did not originate with the Totonac people, today it is strongly associated with them, especially those in and around Papantla in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
In the Totonac myth, the gods were angry with man for neglecting them, so five young chaste men cut down the tallest tree in the forest (with the blessing of the gods), erect the pole, climb it, and then hurl themselves off it dramatically.
They pray to the rain god Xipe Totec, and then gods willing, they get rain.
The irony of this weekend’s weather is not lost on me – though it seems the rain actually let up long enough for the local group, Tezcatlipoca Voladores, to perform the ritual.
For a less dramatic view, check out this more edited cut showing the nuts and bolts of the stunt:
