The town festival on Christmas day consists masses, processions, traditional dances and a feast at the home of the Mayordomo ( sponsor).Mayordomia is an important part of Nahua culture and indigenous culture. A family sponsors the festival paying for many on the functions including the dancers, music, and the food to feed any one that shows up at there home. They keep the towns saint at their home for a year ( in most cases) I was staying in a near by village and decided to visit some people I know in Zoatecpan. When i arrived I found that the people I know were part of the Mayordomia and I was invited to film and participate. The main dancers were the San Miguelitos, which is a battle of good against evil, the dancers dance to violin and quitar. The wear wings of angels and battle evil until at the end of the dance evil is heal down and slain. The voladores is a traditional dance based on 4 eagles and the four cardinal points. Often called Voladores de Papantla , this dance is a ritual which includes the cutting of the proper tree , the village men carry this tree , the ceremony to place it in an upright position and finally the most famous part, the flying eagles. At the top of the pole a man dances playing the flute and drum on one foot, rotating and paying homage to the four cardinal points. While the ceremony is well know as from Papantla the entire Sierra Norte of Puebla uses the ritual in the most important festival for each town. In some towns there are contest to see who is the best and they have erected steel poles of 30 yards high for the Voladores. While this is safer it takes something away from the tradition. In many areas there are no trees left of the correct height. The procession features the Virgins who carry the saints and Christ child , the entire village follows along with the dancers and musicians to the home of the mayordomo, where the saints and Christa child are placed on a alter inside the home. The music continues and the people are feed en mass. The tortilla making part is interesting; if you look closely you can see many women in traditional blouses for which the village is famous.
My project is to document the indigenous textiles of Mexico. To do this I travel to remote indigenous villages to photo and film the traditional textiles and festivals over 650 are now documented. There are over 60 different languages spoken in Mexico and I try to document all that I can reach. My home base is Mexico City. This films are part of the documentation project which is presented as a web museum at www.mexicantextiles.com . The indigenous cultures of Mexico will be brought to you in short but interesting video clips and on my blib.tv blog. Thanks for you interest. bob Freund
