here are a few web-links for voladores -

http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/NorthAmerica/Mexico/Veracruz/Volador\
es.html
http://kellerperez.org/alejandro/cgi-bin/thumbnail.cgi?gallery=gallery1&subdir=V\
oladores

you're right, Dave - it's all about the tall platform with four men
descending. A fifth man sits on top of the platform playing the pipe and
tabor. The descending men circle around the central pole 13 times as they go
down, and the platform on top turns with them.

It's a really ancient practice, and ties in with Mayan cosmology. The Mayan
calendar is fascinating as it doesn't have the same 'units' as us (we use a
mixture of 60 seconds, 24 hours, 7 days, 30/31 days etc) - it has 4 units of
13 units making a larger unit of 52. Each of the 13 has a glyph, and the
units cycle round the four directions. So there are cycles of 52 days, 52
years, whatever, depending on the size of the unit. The different sizes of
units have different names, and go from days to years long. It's complex and
simple at the same time. A point on the smaller cycle of 52 days can have
the same combination of 13 and 4 as a point on a huge cycle - it's like a
zoom lens of time.

So, the 4 voladores descending and turning through the four directions 13
times is hugely symbolic, as the whole thing acknowledges all 52 points on
the cycle.

Makes sense?

Helen


>From: davbarnert@...
>Reply-To: tabor_n_pipe@yahoogroups.com
>To: tabor_n_pipe@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: [tabor_n_pipe] Re: Mexican Pipe and Tabor (2nd part)
>Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:23:13 EDT
>
>Ken wrote-
>
> >All the three hole pipes I saw in Mexico were played by
> >voladores. There is a group outside the National Museum of
> >Anthropology (possibly the best archaeology museum in the world,
> >by the way. Certainly the best I've visited) that perform every
> >couple of hours, and have piles of spares sets of pipes and
> >tabors, just in case. Sadly, I didn't buy one because I had a
> >hangover.
>
>I'm not sure what voladores are (fliers? I suspect not). I saw a
>display of native dance accompanied by pipe-and-tabor in the
>Yucatan. It was performed on a platform atop a very tall pole (30
>meters?). Before I thought to look up, I had trouble discerning
>where the music was coming from. It was in the parking lot of
>Xel-Ha or Xcaret, I forget which, about eight years ago.
>
>David Barnert
><davbarnert@...>
>Albany, NY

_________________________________________________________________
Sign-up for a FREE BT Broadband connection today!
http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/btbroadband