Mexico retains a mixture of sophisticated, cosmopolitan cities and isolated, traditional Indian towns.

Once each year, these towns celebrate their ancient roots, also with the blessing of their contemporary priest.

Cuetzalan in the state of Puebla is one such place.

Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman , was provided by Agnese Haury.

♪ music ♪ ♪ music ♪ Patriotic festivals are one sort of fiesta.

There are other kinds as well.

Mexico is a very Catholic country and Puebla is a strong hold of Catholicism within Mexico.

When the conquering Spaniards arrived, they were motivated primarily by the three G's: glory, gold and God, but to achieve these goals they were often forced to confront native peoples with developed cultures and ancient rituals and fiestas.

Some Spaniards chose to adapt, acculturate and accommodate, rather than destroy.

The town of Cuetzalan in the state of Puebla in Southern Mexico lies about five hours north of the capital city in a very remote area.

The town is of mixed ethnic identity.

About 65% are Nahua or Aztec or Totonacan.

The remainder are Mestizo.

Each year on October 4th, people from all over the region head for the town to venerate the patron saint of Cuetzalan, San Francisco.

(Spanish) We were isolated for many years, until 1962 when they built the highway.

That's why Cuetzalan preserved many of our customs and traditions.

It was because there was no contact with the outside world.

To go to Papantla, it would take me all day to get there even with a good horse.

Nowadays it takes an hour at most.

It's just 72 kilometers from here to Papantla.

It's very close, but in times past, it was really far.

People come from all over the region, on foot, on horseback, on carts and in vehicles.

To do honor to San Francisco, their patron saint.

They also come to commemorate Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec king.

This is what anthropologists describe as a refuge area, where people under pressure from other cultures escape to try and find refuge and be able to continue traditions that they have.

Pyramids in this area are Totonacan, because as the Totonacan people were under pressure from other groups, they came here to continue their practices.

They were succeeded by other groups under pressure from Cholula and Tlaxcala.

About 1440 Aztec troops came into this area and conquered the people who were living here.

They didn't kill them all.

They made them tribute paying members of the Aztec Empire and so all sorts of food products were shipped to Mexico City.

Cynics would perhaps say that that pattern has not yet changed from 1440 down to today to our times.

Later when the Spanish arrived, they continued the practice of coming in periodically to establish their supremacy and to accept tribute, but never really establishing a permanent control.

There are waves of political and cultural interest in the Northern part of Puebla and that's reflected in both government and administrative support from cultural activities like the fiesta of San Francisco that takes place on October the 4th.

The Church arrived with the Franciscans about 1540 to carry out Evangelization.

The Franciscans were great Evangelizers because what they tried to do is create a hybrid religion, drawing in music and dancing that the people were already familiar with and using that to teach Christianity.

That same merging of Christianity and previous practices has continued since the 1540's, right up until the present day.

(Spanish) The fair was divided between the white people and the indigenous people.

The white people have cock fights, dancing and rodeo shows.

(Spanish) (Spanish) But the indigenous people here in this plaza, had their own fair.

They would set off a hundred toritos, a thousand firecrackers and performed many dances.

So we had to combine them and we have to give the proper respect to the Macehual people and that's why the fair of the Huipil was created.

This is the Fiesta de los Huipiles, the embroidered blouses or smocks and believe it or not, they have a lot of them and so many women are wearing them.

This is a pre-Colombian piece of clothing that has some additions to it, after the arrival of Europeans.

That's right, they had cotton here.

Very good cotton.

Absolutely, and look at how beautiful the embroidery is that she's doing.

The highlight of the social year in Cuetzalan is the selection of the Queen of the Huipil fair.

There are 8 young women who are candidates, each coming from a different village and they have to prove their merits by delivering a speech, both in Nahuatl and in Spanish and they are judged very severely on their ability to speak fluently, carefully and articulately, especially in Nahuatl.

(Spanish) The spirit of this town is due to the patron saints.

We say that the fiesta starts today, but actually it started a year earlier with the community counsel.

The mayordormo, the patron, has to work hard to raise money and resources to fund the festival.

He looks for helpers and appoints people to be in charge of different functions.

They look for choreographers for the dances.

Helpers in charge have decorated all the areas such as placement of flowers and such things.

To organize the festival, it takes a year of hard work that culminates today with the festival of our patron saint.

You know, there's a huge salsa rock band in the background, near Cuetzalan but the food is really indigenous.

I mean look at these tacos are... Every fiesta in Mexico is about eating and every region has special tacos.

I think these are out of the middle east, I don't know where they got them here in Cuetzalan.. Look at that.

Cooking right there.

I'd like to have one of those at my house.

Look here is a different kind of tortilla, I don't know what this is.

(Spanish) Gorditas!

(Spanish).

So these are fat maize tortillas, a kind I've never seen...they must be... Made with lots of lard Dave.

Oh that's for me.

Exactly.

You can't cook great Mexican food without fabulous lard.

Oh look here's the old jar, the old fashioned jar where you...there's probably Jamaica, hibiscus water and elotes.

What would a festival be without corn on the cob.

Let's go back.

I want one of those.

No sorry not for tonight.

Not for tonight, okay.

And custard and more corn.

What do you think about corn dipped in mayonnaise?

It's very Mexican.

You know I haven't had that before but if Mexicans are eating it, I'm willing to bet that it's fabulous.

It's got to be good, yeah.

And mustard, I mean mayonnaise and a little bit of chile.

Sounds great.

More tacos.

Look everything here is based on cilantro.

Yeah that's wonderful.

You can just smell the cilantro.

Alright, time to go eat.

And just in case anybody misses it, hot dogs right here.

One refreshing thing about being in Cuetzalan, so isolated, is that every basic food here has corn in it.

Not flour tortillas, but real corn and here you can get it.

Oh and it looks... And you can look at this and see what fabulous corn they grow.

(Spanish) So he's going to get one and I'll share it.

Oh look what could be more indigenous then corn with chili on it.

Yeah, this is like two of the pre-Colombian food groups.

Yes.

The other two are beans and squash so.. You know we're 50% there.

Alright, evaluate it Bill.

Well, this almost makes me break into song, singing corn is high as an elephant's eye.

Please, let's not.

I'm not going to do it Please spare us that.

Taste it.

Alright, I'll have a kill at it.

If corn and chili are indigenous foods here on the highlands, then vanilla and cinnamon from the lowlands are indigenous spices.

This is the currency of the Paplantla.

(Spanish) So are the female parts of the vanilla plant.

Very delicate.

(Spanish) This is cinnamon.

(Spanish) So this is the bark of the cinnamon tree.

It smells just like cinnamon.

Oh, much richer than the cinnamon we get.

This is the real McCoy.

This is incredibly rich.

You know I'm not sold on its efficiency as a sun breaker and maybe you want to get a size that's somewhat smaller you think?

(Spanish) This community festival is the heart of their culture, tied to the cycles of planting and harvesting.

During the San Francisco fiesta, we're able to see the hybrid nature of Mexican culture.

What we see is both Pre-Colombian fiesta rituals like the voladores.

The plaza in Cuetzalan, Puebla is home of the tallest volador pole in all of Mexico.

This one is over 31 meters tall, that's 110 feet.

The voladores themselves are now inside the church asking for a special blessing from the virgin to make sure that they are safe and that they carry out their duties well.

The voladores here are Nahua or Aztecs.

The original voladores were Totanacans, it was their dance, but over 500 years ago the Aztecs moved into the area and militarily crushed the Totanacans.

They took their dance from them and made it into one of their own and today we have a continuation of that Aztec-Totanacan tradition.

(Spanish) Four of us go out in search of a tree.

We ask from mother Earth a favor, permission so that she will allow us to perform our ritual.

After we bring the trunk here, we perform another ceremony before we stand it up in place.

We place some ingredients in the hole, including mole poblano, chili ancho, chipotle, cinnamon, cloves and other ingredients used in making mole.

Lastly, we place a turkey heart in the hole.

The turkey is killed using a branch from the same tree.

It must be sacrificed so that we can perform the ceremonies at the top.

Remember that at the top is God and at the bottom is evil.

If we don't perform this right, we could be injured.

So in this way we are in balance, the good with the evil.

I began to do this when I was nine.

Each element signals a cardinal point.

There are four cardinal points: north, south, west and east.

Dancers on top symbolize the sun and the circular movement represents the rotating earth.

Every time the voladores take off, the crowd gets a little bit quiet and holds their breath and as they descend they twist and turn and do acrobatic things.

It's something that is started at a very young age and these young people are probably none of them older than twenty.

It takes a lot of guts, a lot of talent and a lot of devotion to do it.

(Spanish) When they are new at this, they get dizzy as they spin.

They need to control their emotions.

Their minds must be tranquil.

They need to free their minds from fear.

(Spanish) My first time I got motion sickness.

The second time I felt good.

I felt beautiful with the flowing air around me.

I am not the first female to do this, because there are a few of us spread out into different groups.

It comes down to your mental control.

You cannot be afraid while on top.

You have to be really concentrated in what you do as you climb to reach the top and then tie yourself in before you let yourself go in a downward spiral towards the bottom.

The first time is most difficult then it gets easier.

It's a beautiful feeling now.

This is a long complex ritual that of course involves the Meso-American calendar because it has four people jumping off to the four cardinal points and making thirteen loops around the pole.

We know that that symbolizes the Totonac century of 52 years that was the 52 year calendar system used throughout Meso America.

Totonacan and other Meso-American religions have a deep connection to the earth and then of course the person at the top, whether it's one or two has a relationship to the sun if there's one or to the sun and the moon, if there are two.

Of course the voladores perform primarily at pyramid sites because these were essentially religious administrative sites and consequently, that's where all of the major religious festivals and rituals would take place.

Today we see exactly the same thing with the voladores performing in front of officials from the federal government in Mexico city and the religious figures from the church itself.

(Spanish) We enter the church in the name of our patron saint of the festival, we ask for help for protection throughout our lives.

(Spanish) In all of Meso America there were the high flyers the voladores, that's why Cuetzalan in Totonaca means yaca, the place of the flyers.

The legend goes like this: One time a long ago, the inspiration to fly was so strong that the voladores just flew away, gone.

Imagine 600, 700 years ago that they fell a mile away.

They took with them the evil spirits.

That's why Cuetzalan in Totonaca is yaca.

Later when the Aztecs arrived, they saw lots of red color.

Cuetzal means red and when the Spaniards arrived this town became San Francsico of Cuetzalan.

This is a very important location, so much so that the Franciscans built a Church here.

Before the highway, there were more than 56 groups.

Now only 5 - 10 groups make the trip here.

Especially important are those groups that came after the Spanish arrived.

The Santiagos represent the arrival of Christianity and the conquest of the indigenous Pagan peoples by Christianity.

The Santiagos are a group based upon events in Spain, but with a clearly derisive tone to them.

Santiago was the leader of the Spanish forces in and came to represent the power of Spain and you'll notice the Santiagos, they are not a terribly reverent bunch of people.

It's a way of them thumbing their noise at anything Spanish and all the influence that came with them to the Americas.

(Spanish) The Santiagos represent the life of Christ.

Really, they represent the life and death of Jesus Christ.

That's who the Santiagos are.

Cuetzales part back to Aztec times when the most powerful rulers wore headdresses of immense size covered with Cuetzal feathers.

A bird that goes well to the south.

It was a measure of power and authority.

(Spanish) The large headdress dancers worship the sun.

The dance steps performed with the featherhead dress are beautiful and complicated and the dancers perform without touching each other.

50-60 years ago the headdresses were much larger than now.

There are still many people here that worship the sun.

Powerful people who still believe that God is the sun.

There's still a confusion in the community, whether one should worship Christ or worship the sun.

If you ask indigenous leaders what is the sun, many people will reply, God.

(Spanish) The dances are based on myths, recreated and interpreted through dance and music with the use of colorful costumes and figuras.

One group of dancers lead and the same number follow.

Their dance steps form a symbolic language.

Through figuras, colors, music and movement, they attempt to communicate their beliefs and hopes of their ancient world, their myths.

The dance is a symbolic language of form through festival.

Our rich cultural heritage of the native people who have always lived here.

We have indigenous, black, Mestizo, Mexican and we have a kind of dissection of modern Mexican society and all of its wonderful diversity both cultural and ethnic.

(Spanish) It is very important for us to hold on to our identity, our language.

(Spanish) The day we are no longer able to understand the legends of Ixtacihuatl and Popocatetetl means will be a sad, sad day.

We will be losing our history and the foundation of the community of our people.

If we don't know where we came from, there is no way to know where we are going.

To conserve and use the language means to enter and secure our roots as a people.

After the festivities ended, the pilgrims set off for home, crossing the same mountains and rivers that their ancestors traveled centuries before.

Still fresh in their minds were the images of the voladores and the annual cycle of planting, harvest, and life.

Southwest Alaska has glaciers andicebergs in fresh water lakes, towering young mountains and volcanoes, salmon, bears, lots of them and Lake Clark National Park.

We have about 7 different clans in the village.

Join us next time In The Americas with me David Yetman.

[music] Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman , was provided by Agnese Haury.

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