mexcla

Cuetzalan

4)    The syncretism between Catholicism and Indigenous traditions. This is all over Mexico, but in Cuetzalan it felt especially strong. There is a tradition called Los Voladores, The Fliers, (there are some pictures from The Musuem of Anthropolgy somewhere below) where three or four people climb up a large pole and swing in these big lazy circles down to the ground. They’re held only by ropes that they twist, not even tie around their waists. It’s intense and I still (I seen this things more than a dozen times now) don’t quite know why it’s done, only that it’s an ancient practice. And in the zocalo of Cuetzalan, right in front of this big, stone moldy church they do this every other hour.