the head-flying pole; a reference to the pole used by those who are known today as the voladores de Papantla (the flyers of Papantla) (see attestations); in some records there is a confusion between the term starting with cua- (head) or cuauh- (eagle); if eagle, then perhaps the flyers are imitating eagles in flight. (SW)
yn Sancto Domingo teopixque yquac motlallique yn quapatlanallizquauhtitlan. calnacazco = the Dominican friars established themselves near to the head-flying pole, at the corner (early seventeenth century, central New Spain)
quapatlanaliztli = "head-flying" or "descending on spiraling ropes from a high pole"