In this dance men dressed as eagles, monkeys, or angels “fly” by jumping off a tall pole and slowly spinning on ropes down to the ground. Even before the arrival of the Europeans, the dance of the Palo Volador had spread in Indigenous communities through Mexico and as far south as Nicaragua.

Matías situates his painting in the K’iche’ Maya town of Chichicastenango but draws on versions performed elsewhere. In pre-Hispanic times, the angels we see in the painting were probably dressed as eagles or other birds. As performed in Chichicastenango there are only two voladores (flyers) instead of four, and they are dressed as monkeys. They represent a passage from the Popul Wuj where Junajpu and Xbalanke, who would later become the sun and the moon, change their older brothers into monkeys to teach them a lesson. The pole used in the dance represents the tree their brothers had climbed. In Chichicastenango, the dance of the Palo Volador is performed on December 21, the solstice. In that sense, the dance represents the interrelation of life that exists under the earth (in the underworld), on the earth, and in the cosmos; as well as gratitude to the sun, which is inherent in Maya spiritual belief.

The Story of the Palo Volador According to the Popol Wuj

In Maya culture throughout history, scribes and artists have provided detailed accounts of great events relating to spiritual and material connections and experiences with nature. Features of these narratives can be seen in the grand Maya edifices and in painted ceramics dating from the pre-Classic period. The events recounted belong to the creation story of today’s world, back when only supernatural beings existed. In one such story, brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke were destined to defeat the Lords of the Underworld and transform themselves into the sun and moon, creating the conditions for the world as we know it.

In addition, the Popol Wuj tells the story of Sipakna and the four hundred young men. Sipakna helps the four hundred youths transport the main support post of an edifice they are constructing and secure it upright in a hole. Fearing the monster, the young men plan to kill him, but Sipakna finds out and kills them first. Later, brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke take revenge, killing Sipakna and turning the four hundred youths into the Pleiades.

The Selection of the Tree, and the Relationship of the Flying Pole with the Popol Wuj

The selection of the tree for the commemoration or celebration of community events is very important. The tree must be of a special height, some thirty meters: approximately one hundred feet. The whole process requires the efforts of hundreds of men in the community. The ajq’ijab’, or daykeepers, help choose the right tree, and then make an offering with incense, candles and marimba music to ask permission and give thanks to the tree. After felling the chosen tree in a nearby forest, hundreds of men use ropes to pull the tree down the mountain to a road where, unlike in previous eras, a large vehicle drags the pole to the town plaza. Before the pole is raised, another offering is made for the success of the event, and the blessing of those involved. The foot of the pole is then set into a hole, where a rooster has been sacrificed as the main offering. The ropes are handled by hundreds of people to plant the pole and secure it in the chosen place. The people of the town represent the four hundred youths, as narrated in the passage from the Popul Wuj. In addition, the tree represents the support pole that Sipakna carried and placed for the four hundred young men.

Another passage from the Popol Wuj concerns the actual performance of two flyers dressed as monkeys that climb to the top of the pole and then dive off, rotating and lowering themselves down little by little. This part of the creation story concerns brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke, younger stepbrothers of Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen, who are artists (scribes) and musicians. The older brothers are also wise men who can predict that their younger brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke are destined for greatness. Jealous, they want to kill their younger brothers. Finally, the brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke decide to teach Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen a lesson. In this lesson, Junajpu and Xbalanke shoot some birds, but the birds do not fall out of the tree. Therefore, they ask their older brothers to climb up the tree bring down the birds. When Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen climb up, the tree grows and grows so much that they cannot come down. Brothers Junajpu and Xbalanke then turn Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen into monkeys. The Flying Pole represents the tree that brothers Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen climbed but couldn’t descend until they became monkeys. Today, some of the fliers wear monkey costumes representing Jun B’atz’ and Jun Chowen. Such scenes or images can be found in Maya painted vases and manuscripts.

The Palo Volador and its Practice in Different Indigenous Towns of Mesoamerica

The Palo Volador is of unknown pre-Hispanic origin, likely first appearing among Indigenous people of what is now Vera Cruz, Mexico before spreading as far south as Nicaragua. Its adoption by different indigenous cultures both before and after the arrival of the Spaniards did not mean that its purpose and story necessarily remained the same over time. The spiritual significance of the Palo Volador differed throughout Mesoamerica. It is thought that perhaps the dance was first performed to end a drought.

The Palo Volador in Maya Communities

In Guatemala the Palo Volador is still performed in some communities during their fiestas or fairs. The town of Chichicastenago is one of the K’iche’ Maya communities most famous for the celebration of the Palo Volador. This dance is performed in Chichicastenango each December 21, the festival of the town’s patron, Saint Thomas the Apostle. December 21, the day of the solstice, is an inflection point in the astronomical year, a return to lengthening days. In that sense the dance represents the interrelation of life that exists under the earth (in the underworld), on the earth, and in the cosmos; as well as gratitude to the sun, which is inherent in Maya spiritual belief.

Men and boys perform all the roles in masked dances of Guatemala, no matter the sex of the character. Of all the masked dances of Guatemala and Mesoamerica, the Palo Volador is the most spectacular. Unlike the other masked dances, it includes at its center an incredible acrobatic feat where either two or four dancers, each with a rope tied to his waist, throw themselves off of the top of a hundred-foot pole and slowly descend to the ground. As they come down they circle the pole in a spiral dance, performing various motions with their body, for example, with the rope attached to their feet. They descend to the rhythm of the marimba until they reach the ground. Other characters accompany the dance of the monkeys, including jaguars, tigers, and various animals.

The Palo Volador in Art

The theme of the flying pole is commonly painted by contemporary Maya artists. When Matías González Chavajay painted it for the first time, it is very unlikely that he would have seen the Palo Volador performed in the town of Chichicastenango. That would explain why he depicts four voladores (flyers) rather than the two that are customary in that town today. It would also explain why the voladores are dressed as angels rather than as monkeys. In some Indigenous communities during pre-Hispanic times, the voladores were dressed as birds or eagles. In other Maya towns, the voladores are dressed as angels, and it is probably the voladores in one of these towns that Matías had either seen or, more likely, heard about. Through his art the artist can illustrate his dreams and his thoughts, even without ever having seen such things. Thus, the artist tries to build a reality parallel to what he imagines. Anthropologists speculate that, to preserve the ritual of the Palo Volador, some Maya communities changed the birds into angels in order to provide the dance a Christian façade.