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Yaqui
Location: Sonora, Mexico and Arizona, U.S.A. The original settlement of the Yaqui people began along the coastal strip opposite of the Sea of Cortes. After the Jesuits entered the population, most of their communities expanded within eight main villages next to the Rio Yaqui (Olavarria 2009).
Language: Yaqui is a part of the Cahita Subgroup, within the Taracahita Group from the Sonoran Branch of the Uto-Aztecan Family. The Cahita Language is made of both Mayo and Yaqui (Olavarria 2009).
The term Yaqui has been used since the mind 1600's, referring to "he who speaks in a loud voice". The Yaqui refer to themselves as Yoeme, which means "person" or "human." The Europeans referred them as the Yaqui to distinguish them from other tribes such as the Mayo (Olavarria 2009).
Daily Life: The Yaqui religious culture is a hybrid of their traditional religion and the teachings of the Jesuits. The Virgin Mary is known as Itom Aye (Our Mother) and Jesus Christ is Itom Achai (Our Father).
A constant figure that appears in all religious ceremonies is the deer dancer. These are men trained specifically to conduct all ancient religious practices. He wears a headdress in the shape of a deer's head and his dance mimics the movements of a deer. For the Pascua Yaqui, he is the main logo and tribal symbol (Valenzuela 2009).
Flowers are also an important symbol in Pascua Yaqui ceremonies. They represent "beginnings, new life, beauty and happiness" (Amarillas 2009).
History: The Yaqui distinguished themselves by fighting the Spanish and then the Mexicans as they tried to take away Yaqui land. Their territory was greatly reduced due to the arrival of frontiersmen and their guns. Now they have a reservation in Southwest Arizona and continue to fight to preserve their culture.
In the beginning, the creator made life in the oceans and permitted some of those animals to live on land. Some of these animals evolved into small human creatures called the Surem, who were ancient ancestors of the present Yoeme (the people). The Surem were a peaceful people who had no need of government and lived in harmony with the land. It was through a God sent prophecy about the comings of new farming techniques, Christianity, foreign invaders and a divided nation that transformed them into the a taller more defensive race as the Yaqui (Sandoval 2009).
The Yaqui have been living in family settlements along the Yaqui River since 552 AD. There they hunted local game and collected edible plants from the desert. They also learned to grow corn, beans and squash. Contact with nearby tribes was also apparent in the evidence of trade in various goods such as fur, shells and other subsistence materials. Some of the tribes they had frequent contact with include the Pimas, Aztecs, Pueblo, Shoshone, Comanche and Toltec (Sandoval 2009).
1533 AD marked the year for the appearance of Spanish militants who invaded Yaqui land in search of slaves. From the early 1600's and onwards, many aggressive confrontations between the Spanish and the Yaqui resulted in the loss of thousands of Yaqui lives. To maintain a sort of peace between the Spanish invaders, the Yaqui agreed to allow Jesuit missionaries to enter their villages. Not long after the Jesuits joined their society, most Yaquis decided to form and settle into eight sacred pueblos along the Rio Yaqui (Sandoval 2009).
After the discovery of silver along the Yaqui River in 1684, many more Spanish explorers came to exploit the land for its riches and more conflicts occurred. The result was the union of Yaqui and other existing tribes, such as the Mayo, who joined forces to fight back for their land. And for the next 190 years, they kept fighting for the rights to their homelands (Sandoval 2009).
In 1741, the Yaqui were able to obtain a treaty stating their rights to keep their traditional ways of life without interference. They were also given certain land rights and the ability to keep weapons.
In 1767, the Jesuits were pushed out their communities and ceased the state of peace with the current outside government. In turn they began to lose more land and were put under the supervision of the Franciscan government. From 1825 and on, revolts against the new Mexican government went on for several years. During the reign of Porfirio Diaz, many thousands of Yaquis were forced into slavery and forcibly moved to distant regions of the continent. Many fled towards Arizona in the U.S. and established small communities such as Pascua and Guadalupe where most descendents still live today (Olavarria 2009).
Additional Reading
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Arizona Indian Reservations
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