could Totonacan culture be coming to Glastonbury Festival?

By Scott Williams | Published: Thu 29th Jan 2015

Glastonbury Festival 2015 - around the festival site (01)
Photo credit: Chris Mathews

Glastonbury Festival 2015

Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th June 2015
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£220 (secured with a deposit) - SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 198,000

An ancient Mexican temple festival held at Veracruz, and its people could be makng an appearance in Somerset this summer at Glastonbury Festival as part of a 'festival exchange'.

Organisers of the annual Cumbre Tajin Festival, a celebration of Totonacan culture, which occurs each March featuring indigenous and foreign cultural events as well as concerts by popular musicians.

Their home is the World Heritage site of El Tajín, site of the Pyramid of the Niches, an ancient archeological site in southern Mexico. It was one of the largest and most important cities that flourished for 600 years a thousand years ago building temples, palaces, ballcourts, and pyramids until the city fell, in 1230.

On the Festival's website, (here), the board of Cumbre Tajin festival announces that as 2015 is the Dual Year UK and Mexico, they hope to take a group of artisans, traditional medicine men, and flying acrobats to attend Glastonbury, to transmit Totonac culture, and some of the artists performing at the Festival will come to their event in a cultural exchange.

"A reciprocal exchange is being sought after. On one side, Cumbre Tajín could host an English based production/line-up and Glastonbury may obtain the very best of indigenous traditions through the ritual ceremony of the Papantla flyers, the native acrobatics laboratory and a healing space with traditional indigenous doctors from across the country. In 2015, Papantla flyers and “Guaguas” will participate in the Glastonbury Festival and in exchange, Steve Bedlam, YT and Iron Zion Ryan from The Common Glastonbury will come to Cumbre Tajín."

Cumbre Tajin Festival, which occurs in March features indigenous and foreign cultural events as well as concerts by popular musicians including Santana, The Flaming Lips, Incubus, Alesso, 2manydjs, Macklemore & Tyan Lewis, Empire Of The Sun, and Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl's The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, and Yoko Ono's Non-Violence Project.

There is no official confirmation from Glastonbury Festival  whether the sought exchange by Cumbre Tajin has been confirmed.

This year's sold out Glastonbury Festival runs for five full days from Wednesday 24th until Sunday 28th June 2015 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Pilton in Somerset.

As ever, entry includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising more than £2 million in funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and and hundreds of other worthy causes, both local and international.

The only act confirmed is Lionel Richie in the teatime legends slot. There are no other acts confirmed yet for 2015, the line-up will not be announced until spring. Expect something like 2,000 performances at over 100 venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information, site art, decor, and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2015 rumours, updated as we receive information.




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