Yaqui people
The Yaquis are an indigenous people from the state of Sonora (Mexico), originally settled along the Yaqui River.
General characteristics
The Yaqui territory as a whole comprises three clearly differentiated zones: a mountain zone (Sierra del Bacatete), a fishing zone (Guásimas and Bahía de Lobos) and farmland (the Yaqui Valley). Currently, the population reaches approximately 32,000 inhabitants, having been severely reduced by the wars that waged for their survival for more than 50 years. At the end of the XIX century, under the government of Porfirio Díaz, they were combated and many deported to plantations in Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Many of them returned on foot to their ancestral lands, while others emigrated to Arizona (United States) to escape the repression of the Mexican government. The Yaqui population of Arizona is 8,000 and the tribe is recognized by the US government.
Currently, in addition to the inhabitants of the traditional Yaqui area, there are other groups settled in the different cities of the state of Sonora. Not returning to their towns, they form their own colonies within major cities. In the city of Hermosillo, capital of Sonora, the neighborhoods of La Matanza, El Coloso and Sarmiento are known as Yaqui neighborhoods, places where their inhabitants make efforts to preserve the traditions and cultural roots of the Yaqui nation..
The house is generally made up of three rectangular sections: the bedroom and the kitchen, whose structure is made of mesquite posts planted on the ground, with walls of interwoven reeds, and a roof of reeds and mats covered by a thick layer of earth; in addition to a room built with branches, called a portal, where they spend a large part of the day, especially during the hot season. The patio is used for animal husbandry; At the far end, the latrine is installed, which is built with the same material as the houses.
There is a good infrastructure for land, rail and air communication. The area is crossed by the Pacific Railroad with several stations near its towns, as well as by Highway 15 or the Mexico-Nogales International Highway in its Ciudad Obregón-Guaymas section, where paved or dirt roads from the various Yaqui towns come together.. Radio, television and the telephone are means of communication to which many inhabitants have access. All the Yaqui towns have electricity, and water is obtained through canals from the Oviáchic Dam, or by pumping from deep wells.
History
Colonial period
1533. the first contact between Spaniards and members of the ethnic group occurs, the expedition led by Diego de Guzmán (Nuño de Guzmán's nephew) arrives on the banks of the Yaquí River on October 4, 1533 and is hostilely received by members of the tribe. As a result, the first confrontation between the two took place, resulting in several dead Spaniards and Yaquis as well as Yaquis taken prisoner who were used by the Spanish as guides for their subsequent explorations.
1607. Captain Diego Martínez de Hurdaide arrives in Yaqui territory chasing some Mayo Indians. There are several battles to subdue the Yaqui, which, however, manage to corner the Spanish. But thanks to a ruse by the Spanish captain, they fled and since then, they have nicknamed the Spanish (and by extension non-indigenous people) yori: those who do not respect traditional law.
1610. The Yaqui accept peace from the Yori.
1617. The Jesuits Andrés Pérez de Ribas and Tomás Basilio arrive in Yaqui territory, beginning with them a long period of peace. In order to teach them more easily, these missionaries gather them in eight towns: Cócorit (Chiltepines), Bácum (lagoons), Vícam (arrowheads), Pótam (moles), Tórim (rats), Huírivis (a type of bird), Ráhum (backwaters) and Belem (Bethlehem).
The missionaries introduced, along with livestock, European crops such as wheat, grapevines and legumes and improved their crops with the technological advances that brought them. In the missions, work was regulated: three days on mission affairs, another three on their own communal lands, and the seventh was dedicated to Christian worship.
Evangelization was so effective that the rites are still today as taught by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century, in a syncretism of ancestral and Christian beliefs, maintaining the institution of the tematián or indigenous catechist and other religious authorities.
1740. Uprising of the tribe together with Mayo, Pima and Ópata groups, when the whites tried to seize their fertile lands and use them as cheap labor.
1767. The expulsion of the Jesuits from the territories of the Spanish crown causes them a strong lack of control and disagreement and the period of peace is broken. The Franciscan missionaries replacing the Jesuits could not control them.
Independent time
1810. The Yaquis do not participate in the War of Independence since they always considered themselves an independent nation.
1825. Yaqui rebellions resume with continued clashes between the new Mexican government and the Yaqui to form an independent nation separate from Mexico, under the leadership of Juan Banderas. There are continuous uprisings, assaults, executions, promises, divisions that diminish the ethnic group, forcing them to take refuge several times in the Sierra del Bacatete and creating a climate of unrest throughout the area. Among the uprisings, those of Cajeme in 1870 and the Tetabiate guerrillas stand out.
1897. Ortiz's peace with the Mexican government, which soon breaks down and hostilities return.
The Yaqui War arose in the last third of the XIX century as a response to the open call to colonize the lands of the Yaqui and Mayo Valleys by the Mexican government. The Yaqui rise up in defense of their land and their autonomy. In this war, the Battle of Mazocoba (1900) was decisive, in which the federal army inflicted a heavy defeat on the Yaquis, hundreds of them died and the army took 300 women and children prisoner. From this moment the deportation to Yucatán began, which was maintained steadily until the end of the first decade of the XX century., with the majority arriving in 1908.
Deportation to Yucatán. To put an end to the Yaqui rebellions, the government of Porfirio Díaz deported thousands of Yaquis, including entire families, to go work on the henequen haciendas in Yucatán, very heavy work that caused high mortality. The Yaqui were famous for their strength and because they cut more stalks than the others (there were also Chinese, Koreans, Tlaxcalans, etc. on these haciendas). The women worked in the communal kitchen. Of the 6,500 estimated to have been deported to Yucatán, some 3,500 returned, most of whom died and a few settled there by marrying a Mayan woman or man (in the 1990 INEGI census in Yucatán only two speakers were registered). Yaqui language). As of 1911, his return to Sonora began gradually. The deportation did not achieve its goal of uprooting, but it strengthened them more as a people and as their own culture.
With the deportation, some 3,000 Yaquis remained in Sonora, protected by influential landowners. Most were in Yucatan and others emigrated to Arizona (United States). Upon their return, many settle in Pótam and others look for work in Hermosillo where they settle in the neighborhoods of El Coloso. El Mariachi and La Matanza, working in numerous public works such as the Penitentiary, railway, etc. although its presence in this city dates back to the mid-XIX century.
1910. The ethnic group had an important participation in the conflict of the Mexican Revolution, since they had been promised that with their collaboration, at the end of the war, they would return their territories. When the authorities did not comply, there were new uprisings still in 1929.
1937 to 1939. Agreements with the Mexican State. Agreements, under the presidency of General Lázaro Cárdenas, granting and ratifying ownership of their lands to the ethnic group, incorporating it into the national ejido system and recognizing the legitimacy of the traditional Yaqui authorities. The left bank of the Yaqui River remains in the power of Yori and the right bank in the power of the Yaqui people.
On October 27, 1937, by means of a presidential agreement, the Yaqui Tribe was given possession of a portion of territory that they had historically claimed and for which they had fought tirelessly. The agreement endowed 13 rural nuclei in the Yaqui Valley region, on the left bank of the river, with ejidos, which were granted 17,000 irrigated hectares and 36,000 rainfed hectares, benefiting 2,160 ejidatarios.
The endowment to the ejidos should not be confused with the restitution to the tribe. In the ninth fraction of the presidential agreement of 1937, it is established that the Yaqui Tribe "is granted the entire expanse of arable land located on the right bank of the Yaqui River, with the necessary water for irrigation, of the La Angostura dam under construction, as well as the entire mountain range known as "Sierra del Yaqui", whose components will be provided with the necessary resources and elements for the best use of their lands.
The Mexican State recognized the possession of the Yaquis over their territory, but what seemed like a happy ending only meant that they passed from the rule of settlers and landowners to the sphere of Mexican institutions and bureaucrats.
In the last days of the Cardenista government, on September 30, 1940, the "Resolution that definitively titles and specifies the location of the lands that are restored to the Yaqui Indigenous Community of the State of Sonora" was issued.
The Yaquis, who since the beginning of the independent life of Mexico had fought tirelessly to defend their territory and protect their self-government, finally received legal certainty from the Mexican State that recognized their ownership of their vital territory, their limits and extension that totaled 489,000 hectares.
With the tranquility of peace, the Yaquis went to work. In 1935, 121 hectares were planted on the right bank, four years later in 1939, 2,206 hectares were planted. of wheat, 833 has. of corn and 300 has. Of bean. As soon as the Yaquis had possession of the land and enough tranquility to dedicate themselves to their work, they increased the production of their lands by more than 2,700%.
In the official publication at the end of Cárdenas' six-year term there is data from the Department of Indigenous Affairs (which Cárdenas established in January 1936) that there are 7,000 Yaquis older than 5 years. The Yaquis received 500,000 hectares of land endowed by the Federal Government; Also provided agricultural implements: 3 tractors, 1 thresher, 2 threshing machines, 1 disc plow, 2 12-disc harrows, 2 wheat planters, 6 water pumps, 400 moldboard plows, 3 trucks and vans, 700 mules, 500 shovels, and 500 pickaxes. In 1939 the agricultural production of wheat was 3,500 tons, 1,000 tons of corn, and 750 tons of beans. In 1935, production was only 250 tons of wheat; and there is no production of corn or beans.
2018-2021
So far in the current government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) there have been new approaches with the Yaqui People materialized in a public request for forgiveness on behalf of the State for the abuses they have experienced throughout centuries, carried out by the president on September 28, 2021. In the same way, steps have been taken to materialize the decrees of General Lázaro Cárdenas with the delivery of just over 2,900 hectares that are part of more than 20,000 hectares that belonged to them by decree but that in reality were never delivered to the Yaqui population. The above coupled with a public investment plan that has an important participation of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) for its execution, focused on equipment actions, works in public spaces, as well as housing actions.
Currently, the Yaqui struggle for the defense of their lands and their autonomy continues, governed by their own traditional authorities, within the framework of Mexican legality.
Yaqui Flag
The Yaqui flag has the following meanings: blue, the strength of the people covered with the blue mantle of the sky; white is the purity of the blood of the Yaqui race; the Sun is God the Father who illuminates and gives life to the race; the Moon is the Mother Goddess that protects us by day and night, the stars are the spirits that watch over the four cardinal points of the Yaqui territory from the afterlife; The Cross is the new religion of the Yaqui and the red is the blood they shed for the defense of their territory and autonomy as a nation.
The Yaqui or Jiak Nokpo language belongs to the Cáhita linguistic system, of the Yuto-Aztec family. Cáhita is a term that names a linguistic or racial group. At present, two of the twenty-three Cahita groups survive in Sonora: the Yaquis and the Mayos.
The Yaqui language is somewhat difficult for Hispanics to pronounce correctly: word-final sounds are voiceless (they do not produce vibration of the vocal cords), the use of the glottal stop, and there is use of tones among older speakers of language.
Therefore, there are differences between the spelling of the words: for example, some write hiakim and others write hiaki - and with the influence of the Spanish orthography we can see jiaqui.
Yaqui is a relatively modern spelling, since the etymological form is hiaqui. Apparently the indigenous people took their name from hia, which means voice and also shout or shout, and baqui, which is river, connoting those of the river who speak to screams.
They call themselves yoreme, that is, people, as opposed to those who are not Yaquis or yori (that is, the fierce ones; originally meant just lions).
It is curious to observe the meaning of these words in whose composition yori or yoreme enter:
- Yori: Aioioreto abide, to have respect; ioretiutuameaffronter; iorevebiawhip, whip. I'm sorry.Killer of people.
- Yoreme: ioremrauahumanity; ioremte, beget; ioremtuaacquire sanity.
As can be seen, the connotation of yori, white, conquering, Creole, refers to what is external or different. Even the same aioiore, to abide, to have respect, refers to an imposed, demanded and tyrannical compliance.
Economy, housing, health and education
There are three forms of land tenure: the ejido, communal property, and small property.
They own livestock and crops (wheat, safflower, soybeans, alfalfa, vegetables and fodder), they also fish in Puerto Lobos and do artisan work.
The traditional house is a reed and adobe structure, with a dirt floor and a reed or palm roof. Currently they are made of cement and sheet material, they have electricity, drinking water, mail, telegraph, telephone and Internet.
At the educational level they have primary schools for bilingual education, secondary and technological baccalaureate. Primary school textbooks are in the Yaqui language with examples from the group's social context, so that children do not distort their knowledge of the values and traditions of their group. The Educational Project of the Yaqui Tribe is also being developed, within the headquarters of indigenous education supervision zones of the Ministry of Education and Culture. They have quite a few students of the ethnic group at the University of Sonora doing undergraduate studies in Linguistics, Law and other higher careers.
Lutisuc Cultural Association, works with the Yaqui groups settled in the city of Hermosillo trying to support them in the preservation of their culture. With this objective, support workshops are held for music and traditional clothing, craft workshops, and Yaqui language recovery courses. They also have very exotic crafts that attract tourism.
Government
When the missionaries arrived, the Yaquis lived in eleven towns and many ranches along the river. The missionary work began by bringing them all together in the eight traditional towns.
In addition to religion, the missionaries taught them new agricultural techniques and literacy, the social organization governed by civil, military, and religious authorities, which are currently known as traditional authorities:
- Civil and judicial authority. Each town has a governor or Cobanao major, assisted by four other governors and Los Pueblos, a kind of council of elders or senate, formed by the Pueblo Mayor and many others according to the number of inhabitants of the village. The supreme government of the ethnic group consists of the 40 governors and elders of the assembled peoples.
- Military authority. The most important one is the alferez or abander, then the tambulero, then the captain yoowe or first, captain second, lieutenants, sergeants and corporals.
- Religious authority. It functions during the Lent era, in which the supreme and total authority is deposited in the Pharisees o chapayecas, under whose orders the military and religious authorities act, while the civilians temporarily cease their functions.
Religion
Evangelized by Jesuits, they consider themselves Catholic and grant certain authority to Catholic priests (cf. In some communities, they still ask or take palms to bless the priest of Vicam, they ask for the priest's presence at some festivals, etc.). They have a structure similar to the Catholic hierarchy: sacristans (almost perform the functions of deacon in some respects), "maistros" (who perform the functions of priests in the celebrations of the mass) and the "temastimon" (almost functions of Bishop). Formerly they had an institution called "catechists" which was lost in the mid-20th century (source: maistros de Vicam Pueblo). Its rites are in Latin, according to the tradition inherited by the Jesuits. They use the Tridentine missal and in some now simply a Latin missal even when they do not understand the translation and read it literally as if it were Spanish. The "Mass" which is chaired by the "Maistro" it is all in Latin, from the "Introitus" (corresponding to the entrance antiphon of the post-Vatican II reform) until the "ite misa est" (Current farewell). They only eliminate the whole part of the Eucharistic prayer (moment of the consecration of bread and wine in the body and blood of Christ according to the Catholic tradition, making reference to the fact that they know that "something is missing in our mass") 34; (Source: Maistro Fausto de Loma de Bacum).
The main festivity is Lent, which determines a dual division of the ritual calendar and which coincides with the seasonal division between the dry winter season and the summer rainy season (as corresponds to the origin of "lent&# 34; from the first centuries of Christianity). Some say that Christ is the central figure in the Lenten rites, Mary is the central figure in the non-Lenten rites, but due to the festivities throughout the year it is seen that both are central depending on the time and the festivity.
In Lent the group of Pharisees, known as La Costumbre, plays the most important role. Its members represent all the characters that took part in the passion of Christ: Pharisees or Chapayecas, Pilate, Roman soldiers, Jesus Christ himself (only during Holy Week), to which is added a tambulero (its sound recalls the nails of Christ in the cross, a flutist (its sound is the lament of the mother of God) and a security guard with military ranks to protect and monitor order.
All members of La Costumbre are by mandate or promise made for three consecutive years (although some have the mandate for life). One of the sacrifices consists of wearing a mask made of leather and not speaking during all the acts of Lent, not drinking alcoholic beverages, and the predominance of the masculine, and they also eat establish a parallel between this ceremonial and that of other Yuto groups. -Aztecs, who perform similar rites dedicated to the sun.
Sun, moon and evening star, were for the Yuto-Aztecs the sacred triad, which together with the rest of the stars directly influence life on earth and establishes contact with the world beyond. Among the Yaqui these beliefs remain latent under the Catholic garb.
The somber Lenten season ends on Glory Saturday, not on Sunday, with the Resurrection of the Lord (according to the Prevatican II tradition that was celebrated in the Catholic Church). It begins in the morning taking out a straw monkey for a walk mounted on a donkey: Judas, who is the depositary of all the guilt of the Passion and the object of ridicule and claims. After the walk, perhaps picking up on himself the evil that is in the town, he dismounts and holds himself up to a pole in front of the temple. The masks of the Pharisees surround him to form with him a bonfire that will burn and burn all the evil.
After the burning of Judas, a new season begins full of life, flowers, joy, abundance, which covers the rest of the year. This second period establishes the reign of Mary (symbol of rain, abundance, fertility...) symbolized in the flower petals that are thrown into the air and scattered all over the ground in the liturgy of Glory Saturday (Save Loria).
From this moment you can return to daily activities, while the matachines or dancers of the Virgin resume their dances.
Other festivals are: Holy Cross, on May 3, where Lent really ends; the Cabos de año or vigils with traditional dances on the birthday of the deceased (for 4 years), festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Loma de Guamuchil; of the Holy Trinity in Potam; Corpus Christi in Rahum; Saint John the Baptist in Vícam; Virgen del Camino in Lomas de Bácum; of San Francisco de Asís (there are those who confuse San Francisco Javier) on October 4 in Magdalena de Kino, among others. In the area of southern Sonora, the largest festival corresponds to the Loma de Bacum festival on July 2. (To see a bit of the "Catholic" aspect of the tradition one could see the "Yaqui Catechism" published by various organizations with the help of the Diocese of Ciudad Obregón but respecting almost " to the letter" the contributions and reflections of "teachers", "singers", "catechists", etc.)
Beliefs
Oral tradition speaks of the existence of the Surem as their ancestors, describing them as a wise people with a large beard, who ate roots and wild fruits and lived many years.
- "One day they knew that parents came to baptize them, some did not want to be baptized and went to hide to the mountain (i.e. to the mountain), under the earth and therefore became animals, say that the main governor is the ant, the others are birds, rabbits, etc.
- Those who were baptized stayed on earth, those are us, those of now. The Sures still visit us when the time comes..."
(Testimony of Don Pedro Matus, Guásimas community, 1994)
The origin of the rain
Legend has it that in ancient times, the Yaqui region experienced an intense drought. The springs dried up, the rocks charred and the ground burned due to the scarcity of this precious liquid. The eight villages suffered from an insatiable thirst.
The main leaders of the eight villages, very thirsty at the time, decided to try to communicate with Yuku, the god of rain. The noble sparrow, capable of flying through the vast skies with its incessant fluttering, was the first chosen to carry the message to Yuku, in the presence of which he exclaimed:
– I have come in the name of the eight towns to ask you for the favor of your rain.
To which the god replied:
– With pleasure. Go without worry and tell your bosses that there will be rain very soon.
Although the sparrow descended at the speed of lightning, shortly before reaching the town the world filled with clouds and lightning began; It was thus that the fast hurricane reached the bird and the water therefore never reached the Yaqui land.
In view of the sparrow's failure, the Yaqui people now ordered the swallow to carry out the mission. The swallow flew to the rain god, begging him on behalf of his chiefs to send some water because the people were dying of thirst. Yuku replied in a very good mood:
– Go without concern with your bosses and rest assured that the rain will come after you.
The swallow flew back, but like the sparrow, it was struck by lightning and wind. Neither she nor a single drop of rain reached the Yaqui land. So, the leaders of the tribe, desperate for not knowing who else to send, decided to send the toad. They first tried to locate it in the lagoon or "Bahkwam" as it is known according to the Yaqui tradition. Once they found him calling him by name Bobok they told him to go to a meeting in a place near Vícam. There were the main leaders of the eight towns. The toad appeared and they told him:
– "You must go to the rain god and pray that he sends it to us" –
"Very well," said the toad, "With your permission, I will retire to get ready for the trip tomorrow. Wait for me and the rain". He went back to the Bahkwam and visited a friend who was a magician who gave him some bat wings. The next day, Bobok flew into the clouds and found the god of rain. After greeting him on behalf of his bosses, he told him: "Sir, don't treat the Yaquis so badly."
Send us some water to drink because we are dying of thirst".
"Very good" Yuku replied. "Go ahead, don't worry, the rain will follow you very quickly" Bobok pretended to leave but really went under the door of the house of the rain god.
Then the sky clouded over, lightning was seen, thunder was heard, and it began to rain. The rain reached the earth but did not reach Bobok.
The toad (now with wings) climbed higher than the rain, saying: "Kowak, Kowak, Kowak".
The rain, hearing the toad, began to fall again. The toad stopped singing and the rain, thinking that Bobok was dead, calmed down again. Then, the toad began to sing again, going from the rain to the earth. Finally the rain reached the Yaqui region, still looking for the toad to kill it.
It was raining all over the land and suddenly there were many frogs, all singing. Bobok returned the bat wings to his mage friend and lived peacefully in his Bahkwam lagoon.
About death
Whoever dies in Lent cannot have funeral services with parties, music, dances and drunkenness, until this time has passed. Only then can the soul find its way to return to the house of the old father, of the 'ITOM ' ACHAI (our father in the Yaqui language).
With evangelization, the ritual of burying the deceased with their belongings was modified by wearing new sandals and placing a gourd with water next to them for the road.
The Yaqui sky is the happy arrival of the spirit at the house with the Old Father and where all his ancestors and ancestors await him, for which a party by the living is convenient to accompany the deceased in his joy. Pain due to separation from a loved one should never be manifested by crying, as this would cause the spirit to lose its way and could become an eternal wanderer, lonely and aimlessly (which could be considered as Yaqui hell). The joy or sacrifice after death will not be due to personal merits in life, but rather as a result of the attitude of the living and the accuracy of how the rites are celebrated.
Crafts
Yaqui crafts are related to the celebration of their traditional festivities.
They make the pieces that make up the clothing and accessories of their dancers: deer head and masks; necklaces; Chapayeca or Pharisee rosaries; belts and tenabaris; huajes or rattles; drums and scrapers; violins and harps among others.
They also make furniture made from wood and leather, such as: tables and benches, etc.
The women make and embroider the garments of their traditional dress (shawls, blouses, skirts), as well as dolls representative of their ethnic group.
Health
The ailments of the Yaqui do not differ much from the rest of the indigenous groups of Sonora and there is a strong practice of traditional medicine among them.
Healers and healers are highly respected among the population and some of them, through a program of the Mexican Social Security Institute, have received training to function as midwives, with the assistance of IMSS doctors.
The Yaqui are the indigenous group with the greatest social cohesion in Sonora and quite possibly in all of Mexico.
Gallery
Yaqui stone labyrinth to sow. It was destroyed.
Danzante yaqui carved in a tree in Cocorit, Sonora
Journal of the U.S. Yaquis
President Obregón with the Yaquis authorities
Yaquis women during exile in Yucatan
Yaqui Flag of Arizona
Yaquis Pascolas
Yaqui family on their flight to Arizona ca. 1910
Cactus of the Yaqui Valley, Sonora
Santa Rosa de Lima Temple in Loma de Bácum, Sonora
Yaquis Veterans of the Vietnam War
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