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Las Voladoras
The Women Who Dare to Touch the Sky
by Sam Crespi #SHE BECOMING
“…. The velocity of wings creates the whisper to awaken. I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend words of wounding without having these words become the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars.” When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
Fierce and feminine, they are unapologetic.
When the Mexican Voladoras fly, they´re performing a modern version of an ancient indigenous ritual for rain and crops which they learn from older relatives. In its original form, the ritual begins with performers dancing around a 30-metre pole. Then, climbing to the top, using a rope they secure their bodies with a rope tied around their hips. Launching themselves into the air headfirst, they spin around the pole toward the ground. Arms open wide, as if daring to embrace anything and everything that comes their way.
Synchronized Prayer Bodies
These women are not women who would apologize for what they do. What they are. By performing this death defying ritual, they intend to heal and energize the waters, the land and the crops. Their homes and villages that are being threatened by climate change.
The towering kowpataninih — the Nahuatl name for the tree trunk is believed to have originated with the Nahua, Huastec and Otomi peoples in central Mexico.
The Fifth Flyer
The fifth remains on top of the pole, where she dances and plays a flute and drum.
Each flier circles the pole thirteen times. Each circle brings their heads dangerously closer to the hard packed soil.
The Roar of the Crowd.
As the ceremony comes to an end, the crowd that was holding their breath sends up a roar of approval. They too are answering the deep soul call for healing. They have witnessed Coatlicue, (Nahuatl: “Serpent Skirt”) the Aztec earth goddess, symbol of creation and destruction fly.
