 Yaqui Musicians at the Yaqui Dance of the Deer, II Festival of Indigenous Cultures, 2015 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 38,652 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mexico (Sonora,Sinaloa) | 16,240 (2019)[1][2] |
| United States (Arizona[1]) | 22,412, self-identified (2003)[3] |
| Languages | |
| Yaqui (Yoem Noki),[2] English, Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Peyotism,Christianity (Roman Catholicism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| OtherUto-Aztecan-speaking peoples, especiallyMayos | |
| Hiaki | |
|---|---|
| Person | Hiaki / Yoeme |
| People | Yaqui / Yoemem |
| Language | Yoem Noki |
| Country | Hiakim |
TheYaqui,Hiaki, orYoeme, are anIndigenous people of Mexico andNative American tribe, who speak theYaqui language, anUto-Aztecan language.[2]
Their primary homelands are inRío Yaqui valley[4] in the northwestern Mexican state ofSonora.[1] Today, there are eight Yaqui Pueblos in Sonora.[4][1]
Some Yaqui fled state violence to settle inArizona.[1] They formed thePascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona,[4][1] based inTucson, Arizona, which is the onlyfederally recognized Yaqui tribe in the United States.[5]
Many Yaqui in Mexico live on reserved land in the state of Sonora. Others live inSinaloa[2] and other regions, forming neighborhoods in various cities. Individual Yaqui and people of Yaqui descent live elsewhere in Mexico and the United States.
TheYaqui language, or Yoem Noki, belongs to theUto-Aztecan language family.[2] Yaqui speak aCahitan language, a group of about 10 mutually intelligible languages formerly spoken in much of the states of Sonora andSinaloa. Most of the Cahitan languages are extinct; only the Yaqui andMayo still speak their language.[6] About 16,000 people speak Yaqui, primarily in Sonora, Sinaloa, and Arizona.[2] Approximately 15,000 Yaqui speakers live in Mexico and 1,000 in the US, mostly inArizona.[7]
Yaqui is a tonal language, with a tonal accent on either the first or the second syllable of the word. The syllables that follow the tone are all high. This is known as apitch-accent language.
The Yaqui call themselvesHiaki orYoeme, theYaqui word for person (yoemem oryo'emem meaning "people").[8] The Yaqui call their homelandHiakim, from which some say the name "Yaqui" is derived.
Spanish Jesuit missionaryAndrés Pérez de Ribas (1576–1655) first wroteYaqui andHiaqui, later spelledHiaki.[9] Another early 17th-century Jesuit first recorded the termCahita, which refers to the Hiaki, Mayo, and Tehueco.[9] Mid-19th-century Mexican scholars usedYaqui andHiaqui interchangeably and broadened the termCahita to refer to more regional peoples.[9]
When theSpanish first came into contact with the Yaqui in 1533, the Yaqui occupied a territory along the lower course of theYaqui River. They were estimated to number 30,000 people living in 80 villages in an area about 60 miles (100 km) long and 15 miles (25 km) wide. Some Yaqui lived near the mouth of the river and lived off of the resources of the sea. Most lived in agricultural communities, growingbeans,maize, andsquash on land inundated by the river every year. Others lived in the deserts and mountains and depended upon hunting and gathering.[10]
Captain Diego de Guzmán, leader of an expedition to explore lands north of the Spanish settlements, encountered the Yaqui in 1533. A large number of Yaqui warriors confronted the Spaniards on a level plain. Their leader, an old man, drew a line in the dirt and told the Spanish not to cross it. He denied the Spanish request for food. A battle ensued. The Spanish claimed victory, although they retreated. Thus began 40 years of struggle, often armed, by the Yaqui to protect their culture and lands.
In 1565,Francisco de Ibarra attempted, but failed, to establish a Spanish settlement in Yaqui territory. What probably saved the Yaqui from an early invasion by the Spaniards was the lack of silver and other precious metals in their territory. In 1608, the Yaqui and 2,000 Indigenous allies, mostly Mayo, were victorious over the Spanish in two battles. A peace agreement in 1610 brought gifts from the Spanish and, in 1617, an invitation by the Yaquis for theJesuitmissionaries to stay and teach them.[11]
The Yaqui lived in a mutually advantageous relationship with the Jesuits for 120 years. Most of them converted to Christianity while retaining many traditional beliefs. The Jesuit rule over the Yaqui was stern but the Yaqui retained their land and their unity as a people. The Jesuits introduced the Yaqui to wheat, cattle, and horses.
The Yaqui prospered and the missionaries were allowed to extend their activities further north. The Jesuit success was facilitated by the fact that the nearest Spanish settlement was 100 miles away and the Yaqui were able to avoid interaction with Spanish settlers, soldiers and miners. Important, too, was that epidemics of European diseases that destroyed many Indigenous populations appear not to have seriously impacted the Yaqui. The reputation of the Yaqui as warriors, plus the protection afforded by the Jesuits, perhaps shielded the Yaqui from Spanish slavers. The Jesuits persuaded the Yaqui to settle into eight towns:Bácum,Benem,Cócorit,Huiribis [es],Pótam [es],Rahum,Tórim, andVícam.[12]
However, by the 1730s, Spanish settlers and miners were encroaching on Yaqui land and the Spanish colonial government began to alter the arms-length relationship. This created unrest among the Yaqui and led to a brief but bloody Yaqui and Mayo revolt in 1740. One thousand Spanish and 5,000 Native Americans were killed and the animosity lingered. The missions declined and the prosperity of the earlier years was never regained. The Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767 and the Franciscan priests who replaced them never gained the confidence of the Yaqui.
An uneasy peace between the Spaniards and the Yaqui endured for many years after the revolt, with the Yaqui maintaining their tight-knit organization and most of their independence from Spanish and, after 1821, Mexican rule.[13]
During Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain in the early 19th century, the Yaqui showed that they still considered themselves independent and self-governing. After Mexico won its independence, the Yaqui refused to pay taxes to the new government. A Yaqui revolt in 1825 was led byJuan Banderas. Banderas wished to unite the Mayo,Opata,Pima, and Yaqui into a state that would be autonomous, or independent of Mexico. The combined Indigenous forces drove the Mexicans out of their territories, but Banderas was eventually defeated and executed in 1833. This led to a succession of revolts as the Yaqui resisted the Mexican government's attempts to gain control of the Yaqui and their lands.
The Yaqui supported the French during the brief reign ofMaximilian I of Mexico in the 1860s. Under the leadership of Jose Maria Leyva, known asCajemé, the Yaqui continued the struggle to maintain their independence until 1887, when Cajeme was caught and executed. The war featured a succession of brutalities by the Mexican authorities, including a massacre in 1868, in which the Army burned 150 Yaqui to death inside a church.[citation needed]
The Yaqui were impoverished by a new series of wars as the Mexican government adopted a policy of confiscation and distribution of Yaqui lands.[14][15] Some displaced Yaquis joined the ranks of warrior bands, who remained in the mountains carrying on a guerrilla campaign against the Mexican Army.
During the 34-year rule of Mexican dictatorPorfirio Diaz, the government repeatedly provoked the Yaqui remaining in Sonora to rebellion in order to seize their land for exploitation by investors for both mining and agricultural use.[14] Many Yaqui were sold at 60 pesos a head to the owners ofsugar caneplantations inOaxaca and the tobacco planters of theValle Nacional, while thousands more were sold to thehenequen plantation owners of theYucatán.[14]
By 1908, at least 5,000 Yaqui had been sold into slavery.[14][15] At Valle Nacional, the enslaved Yaquis were worked until they died.[14] While there were occasional escapes, the escapees were far from home and, without support or assistance, most died of hunger while begging for food on the road out of the valley towardCórdoba.[14]
AtGuaymas, thousands more Yaquis were put on boats and shipped toSan Blas, where they were forced to walk more than 200 miles toSan Marcos and its train station.[14] Many women and children could not withstand the three-week journey over the mountains, and their bodies were left by the side of the road.[14] The Mexican government established large concentration camps at San Marcos, where the remaining Yaqui families were broken up and segregated.[14] Individuals were then sold into slavery inside the station and packed into train cars which took them toVeracruz, where they were embarked yet again for the port town ofProgreso in the Yucatán. There they were transported to their final destination, the nearby henequen plantations.[14]
On the plantations, the Yaquis were forced to work in the tropical climate of the area from dawn to dusk.[14] Yaqui women were allowed to marry only non-native Chinese workers.[14] Given little food, the workers were beaten if they failed to cut and trim at least 2,000 henequen leaves per day, after which they were then locked up every night.[14] Most of the Yaqui men, women, and children sent for slave labor on the plantations died there, with two-thirds of the arrivals dying within a year.[14]
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During this time, Yaqui resistance continued. By the early 1900s, after "extermination, military occupation, and colonization" had failed to halt Yaqui resistance to Mexican rule, many Yaquis assumed the identities of other Tribes and merged with the Mexican population of Sonora in cities and on haciendas.[15] Others left Mexico for the United States, establishing enclaves in southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.[14]
Many Yaqui living in southern Arizona regularly returned to Sonora after working and earning money in the U.S., often for the purpose of smuggling firearms and ammunition to those Yaqui still fighting the Mexican government.[14] Skirmishes continued until 1927, when the last major battle between the Mexican Army and the Yaqui was fought at Cerro del Gallo Mountain. By employing heavy artillery, machine guns, and planes of the Mexican Air Force to shell, bomb, and strafe Yaqui villages, Mexican authorities eventually prevailed.[16]
The objective of the Yaqui and their frequent allies, theMayo people, remained the same during almost 400 years of interaction with the Jesuits and the Spanish and Mexican governments: independent local government and management of their own lands.
In 1917, GeneralLázaro Cárdenas of theConstitutionalist army defeated the Yaqui. But in 1937, as president of the republic, he reserved 500,000 hectares of ancestral lands on the north bank of the Yaqui River, ordered the construction of a dam to provide irrigation water to the Yaqui,[17] and provided advanced agricultural equipment and water pumps.[18] Thus, the Yaqui continued to maintain a degree of independence from Mexican rule.[19]
On 9 January 1918, the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment was involved in a firefight with Yaqui Indians just west of Nogales, Arizona akaBattle of Bear Valley. E Troop intercepted a group of American Yaquis on their way to render aid to Mexican Yaquis of Sonora, who were in the midst of long running war with the Mexicans. Yaquis had 1 killed and 9 POWs. The Americans claimed victory; however it was a successful Yaqui delaying action.
In 1939, the Yaqui produced 3,500 tons of wheat, 500 tons of maize, and 750 tons of beans; whereas, in 1935, they had produced only 250 tons of wheat and no maize or beans.[20]
According to the official government report on thesexenio (six-year term) of Cárdenas, the section of the Department of Indigenous Affairs (which Cárdenas established as a cabinet-level post in 1936) stated the Yaqui population was 10,000; 3,000 were children younger than 5.
Today, the Mexican municipality ofCajeme is named after thefallen Yaqui leader.[13]
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In the past, the Yaqui subsisted on agriculture, growingbeans,corn andsquash (like many of theIndigenous peoples of the region). The Yaqui who lived in theRío Yaqui region and in coastal areas ofSonora andSinaloa fished as well as farmed. The Yaqui also madecotton products. The Yaqui have always been skillfulwarriors. The Yaqui Indians have been historically described as quite tall in stature. Yaqui men have an average height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and Yaqui women have an average height of 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m).[21]
Traditionally, a Yaqui house consisted of three rectangular sections: the bedroom, the kitchen, and a living room, called the "portal". Floors would be made of wooden supports, walls of woven reeds, and the roof of reeds coated with thick layers of mud for insulation. Branches might be used in living room construction for air circulation; a large part of the day was spent here, especially during the hot months. A home would also have a patio. Since the time of the adoption of Christianity, many Yaquis have a wooden cross placed in front of the house, and special attention is made to its placement and condition duringWaresma (Lent).[22]
The Yaqui conception of the world is considerably different from that of their European-Mexican and European-American neighbors. For example, many Yoeme believe that the universe is composed of overlapping yet distinct worlds or places, calledaniam. Nine or more differentaniam are recognized:
Each of these worlds has its own distinct qualities, as well as forces, and Yoeme relate deer dancing with three of them, since the deer emerges fromyo ania, an enchanted home, into the wilderness world,huya ania, and dances in the flower world,sea ania, which can be accessed through the deer dance.[23] Much Yaqui ritual is centered upon perfecting these worlds and eliminating the harm that has been done to them, especially by people. Many Yaqui have combined such ideas with their practice ofCatholicism, and believe that the existence of the world depends on their annual performance of theLenten andEaster rituals.[21]
The Yaqui Religion (1500–present), which is asyncretic religion of old Yaqui beliefs and practices and the Christian teachings ofJesuit missionaries, is considered the earliest revitalisation reform movement withinNative American religions.[24] It relies upon song, music, prayer, and dancing, all performed by designated members of the community. They have woven numerousRoman Catholic traditions into the old ways and vice versa.[21] For instance, the Yaquideer song (maso bwikam) accompanies thedeer dance, which is performed by apascola (Easter, from the Spanishpascua) dancer, also known as a "deer dancer." Pascolas perform at religio-social functions many times of the year, but especially during Lent and Easter.[21] The Yaqui deer song ritual is in many ways similar to the deer song rituals of neighboringUto-Aztecan people, such as theMayo. The Yaqui deer song is more central to thecultus of its people and is strongly tied to Roman Catholic beliefs and practices. There are various societies among the Yaqui people who play a significant role in the performance of Yaqui ceremonies, including:
Flowers are very important in the Yaqui culture. According to Yaqui teachings, flowers sprang up from the drops of blood that were shed at thecrucifixion. Flowers are viewed as the manifestation of souls. Occasionally Yaqui men may greet a close male friend with the phraseHaisa sewa? ("How is the flower?").[21]
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As a result of the wars between Mexico and the Yaqui, many fled to the United States. Most settled in urban barrios, including Barrio Libre and Pascua in Tucson, and Guadalupe and Scottsdale in the Phoenix area. Yaquis built homes of scrap lumber, railroad ties, and other materials, eking out an existence while taking great pains to continue the Easter Lenten ceremonies so important to community life. They found work as migrant farm laborers and in other rural occupations.
InGuadalupe, Arizona, established in 1904 and incorporated in 1975, more than 44 percent of the population isNative American, and many are trilingual in Yaqui, English, and Spanish. A Yaqui neighborhood, Penjamo, is located inSouth Scottsdale, Arizona.
In the early 1960s, Yaqui spiritual leaderAnselmo Valencia Tori approached University of Arizona anthropologistEdward Holland Spicer, an authority on the Yaqui, and asked for assistance in helping the Yaqui people. Spicer,Muriel Thayer Painter, and others created the Pascua Yaqui Association. U.S. RepresentativeMorris Udall agreed to aid the Yaquis in securing a land base. In 1964, the U.S. government granted the Yaqui 817,000 m2 of land southwest ofTucson, Arizona. It was held in trust for the people. Under Valencia and Raymond Ybarra, the Pascua Yaqui Association developed homes and other infrastructure at the site.
In the late 1960s, several Yaqui in Arizona, among themAnselmo Valencia Tori andFernando Escalante, started developing of a tract of land about 8 km to the west of the Yaqui community of Hu'upa, calling itNew Pascua (in Spanish,Pascua Nuevo). This community has a population (estimated in 2006) of about 4,000; most of the middle-aged population of New Pascua speaks English, Spanish, and a moderate amount ofYaqui. Many older people speak the Yaqui language fluently, and a growing number of youth are learning the Yaqui language in addition to English and Spanish.[citation needed]
Realizing the difficulties of developing the community New Pascua without the benefit of federal Tribal status, Ybarra and Valencia met with U.S. SenatorDennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) in the early months of 1977 to urge him to introduce legislation to provide complete federal recognition of the Yaqui people living on the land conveyed to the Pascua Yaqui Association by the United States through the Act of October 8, 1964 (78 Stat. 1197).
Senator DeConcini introduced a federal recognition bill, S.1633 on June 7, 1977. After extensive hearings and consideration, it was passed by the Senate on April 5, 1978, and became public law, PL 95-375, on September 18, 1978. The law established a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and gave reservation status to Pascua Yaqui lands. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe was the last Tribe recognized prior to the BIA Federal Acknowledgement Process established in 1978.
In 2008, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe counted 11,324 voting members.[25]
Many self-identified Yaqui descendants live throughout the Southwestern United States. There are also multipleunrecognized organizations that identify as Yaqui tribes. These include the Yaqui Nation of Southern California inThousand Palms, California,[26] the Yaquis of Southern California inBorrego Springs, California,[27] and theTexas Band of Yaqui Indians, based inLubbock, Texas.[28] They are neither federally orstate-recognized tribes.[5] In 2015, the State of Texas passed SR 989, acongratulatory resolution honoring the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians.[29]
| More than 100,000 people | ||
|---|---|---|
| 20,000 – 100,000 people | ||
| 1,000 – 20,000 people | ||
| Less than 1,000 people | ||
