Tarahumara
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| Tarahumara Rarámuri |
|---|
| Total population |
|
Mexico:approx >70,000 |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Mexico (Chihuahua) |
| Languages |
| Rarámuri, Spanish, |
| Religions |
| Animism, Catholicism |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Guarijío |
The Tarahumara are a Mexican Indigenous people of northern Mexico, renowned for their long-distance running ability. Their word for themselves, Raramuri, means runners or foot throwers in their native tongue, according to some early ethnographers like Norwegian Carl Lumholtz, though this interpretation has not been fully agreed upon. The term Raramuri refers specifically to the males of the tribe. The females are referred to collectively as igomele or individually as muki. With widely dispersed settlements, these people developed a tradition of long-distance running for intervillage communication and transportation. The long-distance running tradition also has ceremonial and competitive aspects. Often, the runners kick wooden balls as they run.
Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Tarahumara retreated to the Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century. The area of the Sierra Madre Occidental which they now inhabit are often called the 'Sierra Tarahumara' because of their presence.
Current estimates put the population of the Tarahumara in 2006 at between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Most still practice a traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, as well as small cabins of wood or stone. Staple crops are corn and beans; however, many of the Tarahumara still practice transhumance, raising cattle, sheep, and goats. Almost all Tarahumara migrate in some form or another in the course of the year.
The Tarahumara language is in the Uto-Aztecan family. Although it is in decline, under pressure from Spanish, it is still widely spoken.
Contents |
[edit] Tarahumara Religion
The Tarahumara religion is a mélange of indigenous customs and Roman-Catholic Christianity, characterized by a belief that the afterlife is a mirror image of the mortal world, and that good deeds should be performed not for spiritual reward, but for the improvement of life on earth. In certain traditions (perhaps those more strongly based on pre-Columbian practice), the soul ascends a series of heavens, is reincarnated after each death, and after three lives becomes a moth on Earth which represents the final existence of the soul. When the moth dies, the soul dies completely. However, this end is not regarded as negative or a punishment, but merely as a continuation of the order of life. In Tarahumara cosmology, God has a wife who dwells with him in heaven, along with their sons, the so-called 'sukristo' (from Spanish 'Jesuscristo') and their daughters, the 'santi'. These beings have a direct link with the physical world through Catholic iconography, respectively crucifixes and saint's medallions. The Devil's world is not necessarily evil, but is tainted through its ties with the 'Chabochi', or non-Raramuri. The Devil is said to sometimes collaborate with God to arrange fitting punishments, and can be appeased through sacrifices. In some cases, the Devil can even be persuaded to act as a benevolent entity. The Devil and God are brothers (the Devil is the elder) who jointly created the human race. God, using pure clay, created the Raramuri, whereas the Devil, mixing white ash with his clay, created the Chabochi. Thus, the Devil is as much protector and life-giver to the Chabochis as God is to the Raramuri. The Tarahumara share with other Uto-Aztecan tribes a veneration for Peyote, the spirits of which are said to be mischievous and capricious.
The Tarahumara are known for the brewing of tesguino, a corn-based beer brewed in ceramic jars, that features prominently in many Tarahumara religious rituals.
[edit] Sources
- Raramuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico by William L. Merrill
[edit] Famous Tarahumaras
- Samuel Gamboa Potter, TV Producer and Actor [1]
- Daniel Ponce de Leon, Current WBO world junior featherweight champion [2]
- Luis J. Rodriguez, Author [3]
- Liliana Dominguez, Super Model [4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Literature
- Antonin Artaud: The Peyote Dance (transl. Helen Weaver; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1976)
An account of Artaud's visit to the Tarahumara in the mid-1930s and of his peyote experience.
- Carl Sofus Lumholtz: Unknown Mexico New York: Dover Publications, 1987)
An account of Lumholtz's visit to the Tarahumara and other tribes in the Sierra Madre in the 1890s.
- Jeff Biggers: In the Sierra Madre (University of Illinois Press, 2006)
An account of Biggers's sojourn among the Tarahumara in the late 1990s.
