Mesoamerican Indigenous People Today Groups Languages Laws

Indigenous Nations Aztecs Huichol Kiliwa Mayas PurÈpecha Tarahumara Tlahui Yaqui Zapoteco http://www.indigenouspeople.net/mexnat2.htm

Huichols The Huichols are a people numbering about 18,000, most of which live in the Jalisco and Nayarit, two rugged and mountainous states in North Central Mexico. http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/huichol/huichol2.html Also, permission from Robert Otey

Huichol, con’d They are descendents of the Aztecs and are related to their Uto-Aztecan speaking cousin, the Hopi of Arizona. They are representatives of a pre-Columbian shamanic tradition which is still functioning according to the ceremonies of their remote past. Having withstood the Spanish Invasion, they are still striving to keep their culture alive and viable, despite the ever increasing physical and cultural encroachment of their Mexican neighbors. http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/huichol/huichol2.html Also, permission from Robert Otey

Huichol Rain Ceremony http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/huichol/huichol2.html Also, permission from Robert Otey

Huichol Rain Ceremony The ceremony to bring rain for the maize is performed by anointing the maize with deer blood, however the deer can only be sacrificed after eating peyote. The peyote must first be obtained by the pilgrimage to Wirikuta. Each ceremony is rooted in a previous one in a yearly cycle. http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/huichol/huichol2.html Also, permission from Robert Otey

Kiliwa KO'LEW (Kiliwa) are located in the north part of the territory of Baja California The kiliwa call themselves ko' lew, "man hunter". The language is also known by the names of quinicua, quiniwa, kolew, kj' wash, koj wash or ko' jwaksh. Main settlements are located in the municipality of Ensenada. In the census of 2000, 52 speakers of this language were reported. http://www.indigenouspeople.net/kiliwa.htm

Purepecha Purepecha are the original inhabitants of the state of Michoacan in central Mexico The Purépecha language is spoken by about 200,000 indigenous Mexicans. 75% of the Tarascans are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and Purépecha. 25% speak only Tarascan. http://www.indigenouspeople.net/purepech.htm

Tarahumaras 50,000 ethnic Tarahumaras live in northern Mexico. Today many of them stay in permanent communities on the plateaus, or have been assimilated into Mexican towns. But several thousand retain their traditional migratory lifestyle, spending over half the year in the depths of the Barranca del Cobre.

Copper Canyon with Tarahumara settlement http://ease.com/~randyj/tarafoto.htm

Copper Canyon, con’d http://ease.com/~randyj/tarafoto.htm

Yaqui http://www.pascuayaquitribe.org/history_and_culture/culture/index.shtml

Zapotec Oaxaca de Juarez, the capital of the state of Oaxaca, has a predominantly ZAPOTEC population of 212,943 (1990). Oaxaca's industries produce textiles--including handmade serapes--as well as pottery, gold and silver jewelry, and leather goods. An important source of income is tourism. Nearby sites include MITLA, and MONTE ALBAN, a center of ancient Zapotec culture. http://www.indigenouspeople.net/zapotec.htm

Zapotec Weaving http://www.zapotec.com/zapotec.html

Indigenous Languages of Mexico http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=MX

Nahuatl words used in Mexican Spanish http://www.azteca.net/aztec/nahuatl/nahuawds.html

Protecting Mesoamerican sites INAH-National Institute of Anthropology and History This bureau is responsible for the over 110 thousand historical monuments, built between the 16th and 19th centuries, and for 29 thousand archaeological zones found all over the country, although is it estimated there must be 200 thousand sites with archaeological remains. Of these 29,000, 150 are open to the public. It supervises over a hundred museums within national territory, divided into different categories according to the extension and quality of its collections, geographical situation, and number of visitors. http://www.inah.gob.mx/

Legislation Protection of the Archaeological and Paleontological Heritage National Registry of Archaeological fields, collections and objects and of Transgressors and Repeat Offenders Procedures for Archaeological Studies Law 397 on National Archaeological Treasures http://www.glin.gov/search.do?searchBtn=true&offset=0