Everything about Yaqui totally explained
» Yaqui is the name of a river that flows through Sonora. See:
Yaqui language and
Río Yaqui. The language of the Yaqui Indians is "Yoeme."
The "Yoeme" or
Yaqui are a border
Native American people who originally lived in the valley of the
Río Yaqui in the northern
Mexican state of
Sonora and throughout the
Sonoran Desert region into the southwestern
U.S. state of
Arizona. The Yaqui call themselves "Yoeme," the Yaqui word for person ("yoemem" or "yo'emem" meaning "people"). The Yaqui call their homeland "Hiakim," from which some say the name "Yaqui" is derived. They may also describes themselves as Haiki Nation, the Haiki. Many folk etymologies exist as to how the "Yoeme" came to be known as the "Yaqui".
Lifestyle of the Yaqui
In the past, the Yaqui subsisted on agriculture, growing
corn,
beans, and
squash (like many of the
natives of the region). The Yaqui who lived in the
Río Yaqui region and in coastal areas of
Sonora and
Sinaloa fished as well as farmed. The Yaqui also made
cotton products. The Yaqui have always been skillful
warriors.
Yaqui cosmology and religion
The Yaqui conception of the world is considerably different from that of their Mexican and United States neighbors. For example, the world (in Yaqui,
anía) is composed of four separate worlds: the animal world, the world of people, the world of flowers, and the world of death. Much Yaqui ritual is centered upon perfecting these worlds and eliminating the harm that has been done to them, especially by people. There is a belief current among many Yaquis that the existence of the world depends on the yearly performance of the Lenten and Easter rituals.
The Yaqui religion (which is a
syncretic religion of old Yaqui beliefs and practices and the teachings of
Jesuit and later
Franciscan missionaries) relies upon song, music, and dancing, all performed by designated members of the community. There are also other, Roman Catholic, practices that are woven into the old ways.
The Yaqui
deer song (
maso bwikam) accompanies the
deer dance which is performed by a pascola [fromthe Spanish 'pascua', Easter] dancer (also known as a
deer dancer). Pascolas will perform at religio-social functions many times of the year, but especially during
Lent and
Easter.
The Yaqui deer song ritual is in many ways similar to the deer song rituals of neighboring
Uto-Aztecan peoples such as the
Tohono O'odham and
Mayo. However, the Yaqui deer song is much more central to the
cultus of its people and is greatly tied in to
Roman Catholic beliefs and practices.
Flowers are very important in the Yaqui cultures. According to Yaqui teachings, flowers sprang up from the drops of blood that were shed at the
Crucifixion. Flowers are viewed as the manifestation of souls, to the point that occasionally Yaqui males may greet a close male friend with the phrase "Haisa sewa?" ("How is the flower?").
History of the Yaqui
The Yaqui were never conquered militarily by the
Spanish, defeating successive expeditions of
conquistadores in battle. However, they were successfully
converted to Christianity by the
Jesuits, who convinced them to settle into eight towns: Pótam, Vícam, Tórim, Bácum, Cócorit, Huirivis, Belem, and Rahum.
For many years, the Yaqui lived peacefully in a relationship with the Jesuit missionaries. This resulted in considerable mutual advantage: the Yaqui were able to develop a very productive economy, and the missionaries were able to employ the wealth created to extend their missionary activities further north. In the 1730s the Spanish colonial government began to alter this relationship, and eventually ordered all Jesuits out of Sonora. This created considerable unrest amongst the Yaqui and led to several rebellions. Further, the Franciscan priests never arrived to be their religious leaders, leaving the Yaqui with no western religious ties.
Yaqui leader
Juan Banderas (executed 1833) wished to unite the
Mayo,
Opata, and
Pima tribes, together with the Yaqui, to form an alliance separate from Mexico in the 1820s, but the effort failed and the Yaqui remained within the scope of Mexican legal authority.
The nation suffered a succession of brutalities by the Mexican authorities, including a notable massacre in
1868 where 150 Yaqui were burned to death by the army inside a church.
Another prominent (and failed) effort to win independence was led by the Yaqui leader
Cajemé. Following this war, the Yaqui were subjected to further brutality under the regime of
Porfirio Díaz, who implemented a policy of ethnic transfer, in order to remove the Yaqui from Sonora so that he could encourage immigration from Europe and the United States. The government transferred tens of thousands of Yaqui from Sonora to the
Yucatán peninsula, where they were sold as slaves and worked on plantations; many of these slaves died from the brutal working conditions. Many Yaqui fled to the United States to escape this persecution. Today, the Mexican municipality of
Cajeme is named after the fallen Yaqui leader.
Yaquis in the United States
In 1964, Yaquis received 202 acres (817,000 m²) of land from the U.S. Federal Government near
Tucson, Arizona. Formal recognition of the
Pascua Yaqui Tribe by the U. S. came on September 18, 1978.
Yaquis have dwelt in the area of the southwestern United States since the incursions by Spanish missionaries and soldiers in the 1700s; Yaqui oral tradition is that there were small Yaqui settlements even earlier. The town of
Tubac,
Arizona, had Yaquis in its Spanish garrison.
Several communities of Yaqui have existed in Arizona since the 1800s:
Pascua Pueblo is in the northwestern part of
Tucson and
Hu'upa was to the south (and has since been absorbed into the Valencia and Freeway neighborhood of Tucson);
Marana has had continuous settlements of Yaqui.
In the late 1960s, several Yaqui, among them
Anselmo Valencia and
Fernando Escalante, started development of a tract of land about 8 km to the west of the old Hu'upa site, calling it
New Pascua or, in Spanish, Pascua Nuevo. This settlement has a population (estimated in 2006) of about 4,000 and is the center of administration for the Tribe. Most of the middle-age population of New Pascua is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Yaqui. Many older people also speak the Yaqui language fluently, with a growing number of youth learning the Yaqui language in addition.
Many Yaquis also moved further north to
Tempe, Arizona, and settled in a neighborhood named after
Our Lady of Guadalupe. The town incorporated in
1979 as
Guadalupe, Arizona. Today, more than 44 percent of the town's ethnic makeup is still
Native American, many of them trilingual in Yaqui, English and Spanish languages.
There is also a small Yaqui neighborhood in
South Scottsdale, Arizona.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yaqui'.
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