Danza de los Quetzales

The Danza de los quetzales can be traced back to ancient Mesoamerica, as can other dances, including various eagle dances and the best-known of all, the Danza de los voladores de Papantla, which is closely associated with the Totonac culture. These dances originally were important for their ritual representation but are now performed primarily as entertainment. Enthusiasm for preserving the danza de los quetzales has increased in the last decade.

Click here to see a Quicktime video montage of its performance by various groups.

As is common in such traditional dances, costumes are important. The danza de los quetzales calls for large headdresses that are reminiscent of the male quetzal's crown, an important physical characteristic that is commonly used to identify the species. Similar to its representation in dance, the quetzal's crown was also highly stylized in ancient glyphs, such as those pictured below.

The crown-like headdress also evokes the sun, a logical association, since the quetzal represented virility, fertility, water, and the sun to peoples of ancient Mesoamerica. Quetzals were seen as both messengers from the heavens and divine in their own right.