Yaqui
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Yaqui is also the name of the language of the Yaqui people, and the name of a river that flows through Sonora. See: Yaqui language and Río Yaqui.
The Yaqui are a Native American people who live in region comprising the northern Mexican state of Sonora and the southwestern U.S. state of Arizona. The Yaqui call themselves "Yoeme," the Yaqui word for person ("yoemem" meaning "people").
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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). They also made cotton products.
The Yaqui have always been skillful warriors.
Don Juan Matus, the mystic teacher appearing in a series of books by Carlos Castaneda, was described as Yaqui Indian. However, critics have raised the question of whether Juan Matus was a real person or a fictional character, and any connection between actual Yaqui religious practices and those written about by Castaneda are controversial at the least.
History of the Yaqui
Throughout their history, they remained independent of the Aztec and Toltec empires, perhaps because of their remote northern locale. They were similarly never conquered 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: Potam, Vicam, Torim, Bacum, Cocorit, 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 colonial Mexican 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.
The Yaqui attempted to form an independent nation separate from Mexico in the 1820s, under the Yaqui leader Juan Banderas (executed 1833) who wished to unite the Mayo, Opata, and Pima tribes, 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 Cajeme. 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 of the brutal working conditions. Many Yaqui fled to the United States to escape this persecution.
Yaqui in the United States
In 1964 the Yaqui received 202 acres (817,000 m²) of land from the U. S. Federal Government near Tucson, Arizona. Formal recognition of the tribe by the U. S. came on September 18, 1978.
External links
The Official Website of the Pascua Yaqui Government (http://www.pascuayaqui-nsn.gov/)