El Tajín facts for kids
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 Location in Mesoamerica
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| Location | Veracruz, Mexico |
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| Region | Veracruz |
| Coordinates | 20°26′53.01″N 97°22′41.67″W / 20.4480583°N 97.3782417°W |
| History | |
| Periods | Early Classic to Late Postclassic |
| Cultures | Classic Veracruz |
| Site notes | |
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| Official name | El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City |
| Criteria | Cultural: iii, iv |
| Inscription | 1992 (16th Session) |
| Area | 240 ha |
El Tajín is an ancient city in southern Mexico. It is one of the biggest and most important cities from the Classic era of Mesoamerica. This time was between 600 and 1200 CE. El Tajín was part of the Classic Veracruz culture. During its peak, many temples, palaces, ballcourts, and pyramids were built here.
The city was abandoned around 1230 CE. For a long time, no Europeans knew it existed. Then, in 1785, a government inspector found the Pyramid of the Niches by chance. El Tajín is named after the Totonac rain god. In 1992, it became a World Heritage Site because of its important culture and unique buildings. Its architecture uses special decorative niches and a type of cement not seen elsewhere in Mesoamerica.
The most famous building is the Pyramid of the Niches. Other important spots include the Arroyo Group, the North and South Ballcourts, and the palaces of Tajín Chico. So far, 20 ballcourts have been found at this site. Since the 1970s, El Tajín has been the most popular ancient site for tourists in Veracruz. Over 386,000 people visited in 2017. It also hosts the yearly Cumbre Tajín Festival in March. This festival features local and international cultural events and concerts.
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Where is El Tajín?
The ancient city is located in Mexico. It sits in the highlands of Papantla, in the state of Veracruz. It is not far from the city of Poza Rica. El Tajín is nestled in low, rolling mountains. These mountains lead from the Sierra Madre Oriental to the Gulf coast. It is also close to the Tecolutla River.
In ancient times, this city was in the northeast part of Mesoamerica. It controlled a large area between the Cazones and Tecolutla Rivers. This area reached into the modern state of Puebla. Two streams flow through the main city. They join to form the Tlahuanapa Arroyo, which feeds into the Tecolutla River. These streams provided fresh water for the people. Most of the buildings are in the flatter southern part, where the streams meet. The city also spread northwest, with terraces built for more buildings. These were mostly for the city's rich families. There were also communities on the hills east and west of the main city. These had homes for the working class. The entire site covers about 1,056 hectares (4.08 square miles).
The area is a rainforest with a hot, wet climate. The average temperature is 35°C (95°F). Hurricanes can happen from June to October. Cold fronts called "nortes" also affect the area. These bring strong winds from the north along the coast. There are no big towns right next to the site today. Instead, you'll find tobacco fields, banana farms, bee farms, and vanilla groves. The closest town of any size is Papantla.
What Does "El Tajín" Mean?
When officials found the site in 1785, local Totonac people already knew it as El Tajín. Their ancestors might have built the city. They said "El Tajín" means "of thunder or lightning bolt." The Totonac also believe that twelve old thunderstorm gods, called Tajín, still live in the ruins.
However, some old maps from the time of the Spanish conquest suggest another name. These maps, found in Tihuatlan, are called the Lienzos de Tuxpan. They hint that the city might have been called "Mictlan" or "place of the dead." This was a common name for ancient sites whose original names were lost. This name also appears in an Aztec record called the Matricula de Tributos. This record later became part of the Codex Mendoza. This might connect to another Totonac meaning for El Tajín: "place of the invisible beings or spirits."
History of the Ancient City
Studies at El Tajín show that people have lived in this area since at least 5600 BCE. Nomadic hunters and gatherers slowly became farmers. They built more complex societies before El Tajín became a city. This progress sped up when the Olmec civilization grew around 1150 BCE. However, not many Olmec people lived here.
It's not clear who built the city. Some think it was the Totonacs and Xapaneca. But there's also evidence that the Huastec lived here when the city started in the 1st century CE. Large buildings began to appear soon after. By 600 CE, El Tajín was a full city. Its fast growth was due to its location on important trade routes. It controlled goods like vanilla (exports) and items from other parts of Mexico and Central America (imports). Many objects from Teotihuacan have been found here from early times.
From 600 to 1200 CE, El Tajín was a rich city. It eventually controlled much of what is now Veracruz state. The city was very organized, with over fifty different groups of people living there. Most people lived in the hills around the main city. Food came from the Tecolutla, Nautla, and Cazones areas. These farms grew corn and beans, and also luxury items like cacao. One carving at the Pyramid of the Niches shows a ceremony at a cacao tree.
The religion was based on the movements of planets, stars, the Sun, and the Moon. The Mesoamerican ballgame and pulque (an alcoholic drink) were very important. This led to many pyramids with temples and seventeen ballcourts being built. This is more than any other Mesoamerican site. El Tajín's influence grew around this time. You can see it at nearby Yohualichan, where buildings have niches like those at El Tajín. Evidence of the city's power can be found along the Veracruz Gulf coast, into the Maya region, and up to the high plateau of central Mexico.
El Tajín survived the big changes and collapses that happened at the end of the Classic period. Many cities were abandoned then. El Tajín reached its peak after Teotihuacan fell. It kept many cultural ideas from that civilization. It was at its best between 900 and 1100 CE. Then, it was destroyed and the jungle grew over it.
El Tajín thrived until the early 13th century. It was then burned down, probably by an invading group called the Chichimecs. After El Tajín fell, the Totonacs built the nearby town of Papantla. El Tajín was left to the jungle for over 500 years. Even though the city was covered by jungle, local people likely still knew about it. Archeological finds show a village existed here when the Spanish arrived. The Totonacs have always considered the area sacred. However, no European records mention the place before the late 1700s.
How El Tajín Was Rediscovered
In 1785, an official named Diego Ruiz found the Pyramid of the Niches. He was looking for hidden tobacco farms in this remote area. He drew the pyramid and reported his discovery to a newspaper called Gaceta de Mexico. He said the local people had kept the place a secret.
The news of the pyramid excited scholars in New Spain and Europe. Antiquarians José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez and Ciriaco Gonazlez Carvajal wrote about it. Academics compared the pyramid to buildings in ancient Rome. Italian Pietro Márquez and Alexander von Humboldt also helped spread the word in Europe.
Since its discovery by Europeans, the site has attracted visitors for two centuries. German architect Charles Nebel visited in 1831. He was the first to draw and describe the Pyramid of the Niches and nearby ruins. He also guessed that the pyramid was part of a larger city. His drawings and writings were published in a book in Paris in 1836.
The first archeologists arrived in the early 1900s. They included Teobert Maler, Edward Seler, Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, and Herbert and Ellen Spinden. Oil was discovered in the area, leading to better roads from the 1920s to the 1940s. This allowed for more detailed studies. From 1935 to 1938, Agustin Garcia Vega made the first official maps and cleared the site. The Pyramid of the Niches was the first building completely cleared of jungle. He cleared about 77 acres (31 hectares), finding more buildings. He suggested calling it "The Archeological City of El Tajín."
Starting in 1938, the INAH (Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History) funded excavations. Jose Garcia Payon led this work. He uncovered platforms, ballcourts, and parts of Tajín Chico with its palaces. He continued exploring for 39 years until he died in 1977. He faced challenges like jungle conditions and lack of money. By then, he had uncovered most of the main buildings. He showed that El Tajín was one of ancient Mexico's most important cities. By the 1970s, it was one of the few sites in Veracruz that attracted many tourists. From 1984 to 1994, Jürgen K. Brüggemann continued García Payon's work. He uncovered 35 more buildings. It's believed that only about half of El Tajín has been uncovered so far.
A World Heritage Site
El Tajín became a World Heritage Site in 1992. This was because of its important history, architecture, and engineering. Its unique architecture in Mesoamerica has detailed carvings on columns and walls. The 'Pyramid of the Niches' is a masterpiece of ancient Mexican architecture. It shows the astronomical and symbolic meaning of the buildings. The site is one of Mexico's most important and the most important in Veracruz state.
Its importance comes from its size and unique art and buildings. The edges of the city's living areas are not fully known. But the whole site is thought to be about 2,640 acres (10.7 square kilometers). So far, only about half of the city's buildings have been dug up. This has revealed plazas, palaces, and government buildings in a two-square-mile area. Unlike other ancient cities in central Mexico, El Tajín's buildings were designed and lined up as separate units.
Several building features here are unique to El Tajín. Or they are rarely seen elsewhere in Mesoamerica. Decorations like niches and stepped frets are everywhere. They even decorate useful buttresses and platform walls. Stepped frets are seen in other parts of Mesoamerica, but not as much as here. The use of niches is special to El Tajín.
A unique part of building at El Tajín is the use of poured cement. Surviving roof pieces from Building C in Tajín Chico show how cement roofs were made. These roofs had to be very thick to support themselves, as there were no beams. To make them lighter and stronger, pumice stones and pottery pieces were mixed into the cement. The cement was poured in layers, not all at once. It's thought that buildings were filled with earth to support the roof while it was poured and dried. The finished roofs were almost a meter (3 feet) thick and very flat. While this cement roof is common now, it was unique in ancient Mesoamerica. Impressions of baskets and other items have been found in the dried cement. Poured cement was also used in Building B, the only two-story building at the site. It formed the roof and the floor between levels. The only other known two-story buildings are in Mayan areas. Another feature shared only with the Mayans is the use of light blue paint. Also, some homes at El Tajín have windows placed to let in cool breezes on hot days.
Ballcourts are common in Mesoamerica, but El Tajín has seventeen! Two of these ballcourts have carved panels. These panels show the ball game and its special meaning. The most impressive panels are on the South Ballcourt. They show images of underworld gods and a ballplayer being sacrificed. This was done to ask the gods for pulque for his people.
Since becoming a World Heritage Site, efforts have been made to study and protect El Tajín. There have been many research and reconstruction projects. More of the site has also been made open to visitors. However, experts say more needs to be done to protect the site, especially its delicate murals. They also work to balance tourist needs with the need to protect the site. Since 1992, the number of visitors has grown to 653,000 annually.
Air pollution from oil platforms and power stations causes a lot of acid rain. This rain is eroding the detailed carvings on the soft limestone buildings. According to Humberto Bravo from the University of Mexico in 2007, this is happening "at an alarming rate."
Major Monuments
The Entrance and Site Museum
The entrance to El Tajín is at the south end. When it became a World Heritage Site in 1992, new facilities were added. These include a cafeteria, information services, a park, and offices. The site museum is also here. The Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) is performed near the entrance. It's a must-see for visitors. The voladores perform every half-hour at a tall pole outside the main gate.
The park is called Parque Takilhsukut. It is about one kilometer (0.6 miles) outside the main site. It is a modern center for Totonac culture. It covers 17 hectares (42 acres) and can hold 40,000 people. It hosts fairs, meetings, and other events. This includes part of the yearly Cumbre Tajín cultural festival in March. There are also places for workshops, exhibits, alternative therapies, and ceremonies.
The site museum has two parts. One is an enclosed building, and the other is a roofed area with large stone sculptures. The enclosed room holds smaller items found during explorations. Most came from the Pyramid of the Niches. One interesting item is an altar from Building 4. It's a large stone slab carved with four people standing in pairs. Between them are intertwined snakes. These snakes represent the ball game marker called the tlaxmalacatle by the Aztecs. The main exhibits in the roofed area are pieces from the Building of the Columns. Some have been put back together. One tells the story of 13 Rabbit, a ruler of El Tajín. He probably had the building built. The scene shows a procession with 13 Rabbit on a wooden throne. In front is a person to be sacrificed. 13 Rabbit's name is above, along with an attendant named 4 Axe. The rest of the procession includes warriors holding captives by their hair.
Arroyo Group
This area is called the Arroyo Group because two streams surround it on three sides. It is one of the oldest parts of the city, covering over 86,100 square feet (8,000 square meters). It is surrounded by four tall buildings (Buildings 16, 18, 19, and 20). These buildings once had temples on top. Stairways lead from the plaza floor to the temples. Unlike the rest of the city, these four buildings are all the same height and almost perfectly matched. The pyramids here are simpler than others at the site. Their niches are not as finely made. The east and west pyramids of the Arroyo Group each had three temples on top. Another unusual thing is that this plaza has no smaller structures like altars. It is believed this was the city's marketplace. This is because of the large plaza space for stalls and a god found here related to trade. This merchant god looks more like trade gods from central Mexico than from El Tajín. The market had stalls made of sticks and cloth. They sold local products like vanilla and items from other parts of Mesoamerica. These included jaguar skins, exotic birds like parrots and macaws, and quetzal feathers. Slaves for service and sacrifice were also sold here. West of the building on the south side is a large ball court. It has sloped sides and carved pictures of the god Quetzalcoatl. When the city fell, most sculptures in this area were broken or damaged. Some were even reused as building stones.
The Pyramid of the Niches
This pyramid has many names, like El Tajín, Pyramid of Papantla, and Temple of the Niches. It is the most famous part of the site because of its unique design and good condition. It was also important in ancient times. Many sculptures were found here. The building is mostly made of carefully cut stones. The largest is thought to weigh about eight metric tons (8.8 tons). The stones, especially around the niches, fit together so well that very little mortar was needed. The structure was originally covered in stucco, which was painted.
The pyramid has seven levels. Each level has a sloping base wall (called a talud) and a vertical wall (called a tablero). This was common in Mesoamerica. What's special here are the decorative niches. The top is capped by a "flying cornice," a triangular overhang. The stones are arranged in neat lines and delicate shapes. Originally, the pyramid was painted dark red, with the niches painted black to make the shadows deeper. Niches are also found under the stairway on the east side. This shows the stairway was added later. The niches on the original structure, not counting the stairway, total 365. This matches the number of days in a solar year. At the top, there were tablets framed by strange serpent-dragons.
The building's main purpose was not just about the calendar. The deep niches look like caves. Caves have long been seen as paths to the underworld, where many gods live. Caves, especially those with springs, were sacred in Mexico. People traditionally left offerings of flowers and candles. Even in the mid-20th century, beeswax candle remains were found on the first level of this pyramid. Many people believe each niche held an idol or statue, but archeological work has shown this is not true. The most important part was the temple on top of the pyramid. However, this was completely destroyed, so we don't know what it looked like.
Sculptures from the temple are mostly broken pieces. Larger tablets show the rain god, or a ruler dressed as the god, in ritual or mythical scenes. This seems to have been the most important god of the culture. His image here shows how important this pyramid was. The stairway to the temple has decorative frets on its sides. These are called xicalcoliuhqui. They are thought to symbolize lightning. While common in Mesoamerica, they are very prominent here. These frets were probably painted blue, like on other buildings where paint remains have been found. At the top of the stairway, there were likely two large, three-dimensional stone slabs (stelae). One has survived mostly whole and is now in the site museum. Off the stairs and leading east from the pyramid are large round stones with holes in the middle. Banners were probably placed in these holes. The inside of the pyramid is filled with rocks and earth. This fill is held between the sloping walls of each level. Buried underneath is a smaller, older structure with sloping walls but no niches.
The pyramid is flanked by two smaller buildings, Building 2 and Building 4. Both are small temple-like platforms. Building 4 contains a smaller, older structure inside it. This might be one of the earliest buildings at the site.
Tajin Chico
Tajin Chico is a part of the site with many levels. It stretches north-northwest from the older parts of the city up a hill. Much of this section was built using huge amounts of earth fill. It is a massive acropolis with many palaces and other city buildings. There are relatively few temples here. It was also easier to defend than other parts of the city. Tajin Chico is named this way because people first thought it was a separate but related site. Now we know it was part of the city center. But the name stuck.
Building C was not a temple, and its exact purpose is unclear. Nearby Buildings A and B were palaces. It's likely that Building C was used by priests or rulers to meet visitors and others. The roof of Building C was over 1,600 square feet (149 square meters). It covered two rooms on the west side and a main room that opened to the east through five pillars. The outside of the building is covered in stepped frets. These frets are arranged to look like niches. To make this effect stronger, the inside of the frets was painted dark red, and the outside was light blue, like turquoise. The wide eastern stairway was also painted with cloud-like scroll motifs.
Building B is a two-story building used as a home, like a palace. Like other nearby buildings, its roof is a thick slab of cement. Another slab separates the ground and upper floors. The entrance from the plaza was through a split stairway. This led to a single room, about 32 by 24 feet (9.8 by 7.3 meters). This space has six stone and cement pillars that support the floor above. These columns were made thicker over time to better support the weight of two floors. A narrow stairway leads to the upper story. This floor is more spacious, even with columns. This is the only multi-story palace found outside the Mayan areas.
Building A has two levels, stepped frets, and niches. It looks like buildings found in the Yucatán. However, the lower level of this building is not rooms but a solid base. The lower level is decorated with large rectangular panels that seem to have been painted red. The entrance on the south side is quite fancy. The upper level has a corridor that goes all the way around and several rooms. The upper level was also decorated with stepped frets and scrolls. These were painted yellow, blue, red, and black. The panels inside were painted with murals, but only small pieces remain. Building A is built over older buildings that were buried when this area was filled in. Some parts of the building, like the buttresses, have been damaged due to settling where there are no buildings below. The front of the building shows a false stairway and balustrades of stepped frets topped by niches. It's not known if the similarity between this building and the Pyramid of the Niches means they are related. The false stairs were originally decorated with blue and yellow scroll motifs, but very little of that paint remains. In the center of the false stairway are real stairs that lead up under an arch to the first level of the palace.
The Building of the Columns stands on the highest part of Tajin Chico. It is part of one of the last building groups constructed at El Tajín. These buildings are on a platform-terrace. This platform was made from natural land shapes and filled-in areas. The other building on this platform is called the Annex or the Building of the Tunnels. It is connected to the Building of the Columns by a passageway. Behind these buildings is a large plaza with small, low structures around its edges. This building is named for the columns that decorated its east side. The columns were made by stacking circles cut from flagstone. Then, the surface of the columns was carved with scenes celebrating a ruler named 13 Rabbit. He probably had this building constructed. Most of the remains of these columns are in the site museum. This building also had a cement roof. It was arched in the "porch" area between the columns and the inner rooms. There is an inner courtyard that was richly decorated with stepped frets and other symbols in stone and cement, which were painted. This complex was one of the last to be built. It also shows signs of fire and other damage from the city's fall.
Just east of Tajin Chico is a valley floor area. There are many buildings here, but most are not open to visitors because there are no paths. Many have not yet been explored. Two have been partly explored. The first is the Great Xicalcoluihqui, or the Great Enclosure. This is a wall that, from above, forms a giant stepped fret. It encloses about 129,000 square feet (12,000 square meters). This structure is unique among Mesoamerican sites. It contains two or three small ballcourts. The sides of the enclosure are a thin platform with sloping sides and free-standing niches. These look like the Pyramid of the Niches. There are over a hundred niches in this wall, broken up by several entrances. The other structure is the Great Ballcourt, the largest court at El Tajín. It is at the northwest corner of the Great Xicalcoluihqui and at the base of Tajin Chico. It has vertical sides and is about 213 feet (65 meters) long. Unlike other ballcourts, it has no carved panels or sculptures.
Buildings 3, 23, 15 and 5
Building 3, also known as the Blue Temple, has some features that make it different from other pyramids at the site. Except for six benches on the staircase and at the top of the balustrades (which were probably added later), there are no niches. The pyramid has seven levels. These levels are made of gently sloping walls divided into panels of different widths. The unreconstructed north side has a large dent from looters before the site was protected. No sculptures are known to have come from this building, and nothing remains of the temple that was on top. The building was covered in cement several times over its history. Each layer of cement was painted blue, which is unusual as red was more common. You can still see remnants of this blue paint on part of the stairway and on the side facing Building 23 to the east. Blue is often linked to the rain god, but there's no other evidence to support this here.
While the Blue Temple was built fairly early, the pyramid next to it, Building 23, was built very late in El Tajín's history. It has five levels with almost vertical walls and no niches. The original staircase was destroyed and then rebuilt into its current shape. The divider in the center is a support to hold the fill behind the stairs in place. The stairs are made from a mix of lime, sand, and clay, without a stone core. The inside of the building is filled with loose stones, mostly rounded river boulders. At the top, where the temple was, there is a series of stepped merlons. These look like medieval European castle battlements.
Just south of Buildings 3 and 23 is Building 15, which is only partly dug up. It faces west and seems to have been used for civil purposes, much like Building C in Tajín Chico. It has stairways on both the east and west sides that lead to the top of the second level. The third level begins with a wall of niches and no visible stairs. The two lower levels are decorated with larger niches, as is the top of the stairway divider. Below the larger niches is a line of seven panels. Under the fourth panel, an older panel was found. Deeper digging found an older, damaged structure that was covered by the visible building. This building is thought to be the last one built with niches.
Building 5 is considered one of the most impressive structures at El Tajín. Even though it's next to the more famous Pyramid of the Niches, its beauty is still striking. It's in the center of a pyramid complex. It consists of a pyramid rising from a platform that is over 32,000 square feet (2,973 square meters) in size. You can reach the first level of the pyramid, which is lined with niches, by a single staircase on the west side or a double staircase on the east side. To reach the top of the pyramid, where the temple once stood, you use a double staircase on the east side. The top of the pyramid has two platforms, both decorated with stepped frets. Between the two sets of staircases on the first level on the east side is a tall, column-like sculpture. It had been thrown down from the top of the pyramid long ago and broken. Archeologists put it back together where it was found. The sculpture's style is similar to the carved stone yokes found in Veracruz. The small buildings around this pyramid are meant to complement it. However, the one on the northeast side has been completely destroyed by a centuries-old trail used when this area was still jungle.
The North and South Ballcourts
The North Ballcourt is built with three layers of large flagstones. It has six carved panels with ritual scenes and a decorative frieze along both walls. The court is 87 feet (26.5 meters) long, which is considered unusually small. It has vertical walls instead of sloping ones. It is probably one of the oldest buildings at El Tajín.
Parts of the panels and friezes are so worn that large areas are missing. The four end panels show scenes related to the ball game ritual. These scenes lead to requests to the gods. The central panels show the gods responding or performing their own rituals. Different forms of the pulque god appear over each end panel. This suggests that the drink was an important part of the ritual. The southeast, east, and northwest panels show a ruler on a throne. The southwest panel has a figure dressed as an eagle sitting in a vat of liquid, probably pulque. A female figure on the left and a male figure on the right are feeding him. The damaged north central panel shows two figures sitting cross-legged, facing each other. One is on a throne, and the other is by a pulque vat. In the center are two intertwined serpents. They seem to form the shape of a tlaxmalactl, or ball game marker. The friezes along the top edges of the court have interlocking scroll figures. Each scroll has a central element of a head and an eye. Many have feathered headdresses and reptile features, and a few look human.
The South Ballcourt, like the North Ballcourt, has only vertical walls that are sculpted. The carved panels on these walls are mostly intact. They show step-by-step how the ball game was played here. This includes ceremonies, sacrifice, and the gods' responses. The court generally runs east-west. It is 198 feet (60.4 meters) long and 34.5 feet (10.5 meters) wide. Spectators could watch from Building 5 to the north and Building 6 to the south. There were also stands built on one side of the court. The court is made of stones weighing up to ten tons. Many of these stones came from outside the valley. Once the court walls were built, six panels were carved at the corners and centers of the two walls. The panels on the ends show scenes from the ballgame itself. The center panels show responses from the gods.
The southeast panel shows the opening ritual. The main player is dressed in fancy clothes and is being given a bundle of spears. This is part of an activity before the game starts. Overlooking this scene is the death god, who rises from a vat of liquid, perhaps pulque. The symbols above the god identify it with the planet Venus. Next is the southwest panel, which shows a different ceremonial preparation. The main player is lying on a sofa. Two musicians are playing a turtle shell drum and clay rattles. A figure dressed as an eagle dances in front. A skeleton-like god flies above, and the death god rises from liquid. The northwest panel shows the start of the ballgame. Two players stand in the center of the court, with speech bubbles coming from their mouths. One holds a large knife in his left hand and gestures with his right. Between them are intertwined slashes, the symbol of the ballgame, and a ball. At their waists are protective and ritual items. These are very similar to the stone yokes, palmas, and hachas found in important burials. Behind the players are two figures, one with a deer head, watching from the court walls. The death god is also shown again above. The northeast panel shows that the game has been played. One player is about to be sacrificed by having his head cut off. The three figures are all dressed in ballgame clothes and symbols. The center figure has his arms held back by the one on the left. The figure on the right holds a large knife at the center figure's neck. There are speech bubbles from the sacrificed person, and a picture of the skeleton god.
After this point, the panels show the gods' response. The north central panel shows the ritual continuing in the afterlife. It shows how the ballgame connects El Tajín society to the gods. In the center of the scene is a temple with the rain and wind gods sitting on top. There is a vat of liquid inside. The sacrificed player appears here, whole, with a pot under his arm. He points to the vat and speaks to the rain god. The liquid is protected by a reclining chacmool, who is speaking. What is being asked for is pulque. This is shown by a glyph (symbol) for the mythical origin of the drink and a split image of the pulque god above the scene. The south central panel shows a scene after the sacrificed ball player has received the pulque. It has the same temple, glyphs, and picture of the pulque god. The differences are a picture of the moon as a rabbit, the rain god in front of the temple, and a lower liquid level in the vat.
The Cumbre Tajín Event
The Cumbre Tajín is an annual art and cultural festival. It is held at the site every March. The Cumbre Tajín is seen as a festival of identity for the Totonacs. They are considered the guardians of El Tajín. Events include traditional Totonac culture, as well as modern arts and events from cultures as far away as Tibet. Some events include music concerts, experiencing a temazcal (a traditional steam bath), theater shows, and visiting El Tajín at night. There are over 5,000 activities in total. Many cultural, craft, and food events happen at the nearby Parque Takilhsukut. This park is just outside the ancient site. In 2008, 160,000 people attended the event. It featured artists like Fito Páez, Ximena Sariñana, and Los Tigres del Norte. Thirty percent of the money the event makes goes to scholarships for Totonac youth.
In 2009, the event added the Encuentro Internacional de Voladores (International Encounter of Voladores). For five days, voladores from different places perform at the poles set up at the site. The goal is not just to see the different costumes and styles. It's also to share experiences about the fertility ritual. Voladores come from places like San Luis Potosi and Guatemala.
The Cumbre Tajín has been criticized for focusing too much on modern shows. Some say it doesn't focus enough on cultural events. One criticism is lighting up the pyramids at night without any cultural or historical information. Critics say this disrespects the site and the Totonac people. There are also worries that large numbers of visitors for concerts by artists like Alejandra Guzmán could damage the site. However, the Centro de Artes Indígenas de Veracruz says it works very hard to preserve and promote Totonac culture through the event. They sponsor events like traditional cooking, painting, and the ritual of the Voladores.
See also
In Spanish: El Tajín para niños
