MODULE 6

THE YAQUI

Key Concepts:
fusion
Rancheria Period
Mission Period
Autonomous Period
Relocation Period
diaspora
Enchanted World
Flower World
Surem
Deer Dancer
Yaqui Easter
Pascolas
Matachines
Fariseos
Chapayekam

Reading Assignment, Text: Chapter 6, "The Yaqui," pp. 204-231

Yaqui Contact History: Yaqui culture is remarkable for its fusion of European and indigenous traditions. In contrast to the Pueblos who kept Catholicism and their traditional religion separate by compartmentalizing each, and the Tohono O'odham who simply added the veneration of a Catholic saint to their traditional beliefs and practices, the Yaqui actually fused Catholicism with their own traditions, which is especially visible in their best known ceremonial, Yaqui Easter.

None of the other groups discussed in this course had a history with such distinct periods of cultural change, depending upon the type of contact with Spanish and then Mexican cultures. Anthropologist Edward Spicer divided Yaqui history into four periods of cultural change. In the rancheria period, before sustained contact with another culture, the Yaquis maintained their traditional type of rancheria communities. In 1617, the arrival of the Jesuits, whom the Yaqui invited to come to them, introduced the mission period, which was characterized by the acceptance of Spanish innovation. The first Yaqui Revolt, in 1740, inaugurated the autonomous period, a 150-year period of relative freedom from Spanish or Mexican domination that allowed the Yaquis to experience a time of cultural fusion and resynthesis when they integrated and blended Catholic-European traditions and beliefs that had been introduced by the Jesuits with their own world view. The reestablishment of Mexican control marked the beginning of the relocation period when the Yaquis experienced a diaspora, fleeing their homeland to stay alive. They dispersed throughout Mexico and the southwestern United States, going through a period of cultural revival and assimilation. The following chart summarizes these four periods of cultural change:

The Rancheria Period (1533-1617)
30,000 Yaquis lived in 80 rancherias
1533: the Yaqui first encountered Europeans
the Yaqui Talking Tree had prophesied the coming of armored foreigners
fierce warriors who organized tribally under a single captain, the Yaqui defeated the Spanish, but requested the Jesuits to return by themselves

The Mission Period (1617-1767)
introduced Catholicism with the help of Yaquis whom they trained
consolidated the Yaqui population into 8 church-centered towns
introduced agricultural items and techniques

The Autonomous Period (1740-1887)
Yaqui-Mayo Revolt of 1740 tried to crush non-Jesuit Spanish intrusion into their territory
1767: the Catholic church expels Jesuits from the New World
Yaquis then left in state of relative autonomy
modified Jesuit institutions to fit own needs
1771: Spanish secularized missions to get Indian land
Yaquis lived in state of defensive preparedness to protect their land
Mexican Independence 1821

The Relocation Period (1887-1906)
Mexican government initiated policy of deportation of Yaquis
Yaqui diaspora: Yaquis fled to other parts of Mexico and to the U.S.
1906: Yaquis received political asylum in the U.S.
1978: Yaquis received tribal recognition and reservation land in U.S.
1939: Land set aside by Mexican government for Yaquis

The Yaqui believed in the existence of several supernatural worlds, in the sense of domains or realms. These worlds, visible only through dreams or visions, are made public when they are put into words through stories. The most ancient of these realms, the Enchanted World, was home to the Surem, the ancestors of the Yaqui people. These little people, who never died, were instead renewed each month by the new moon. The Enchanted World is inhabited by enormous snakes and monsters who are the source of Yaqui deer songs. The Flower World, another realm, contains all the natural world and is a beautiful world filled with all that is good. Often mentioned in Yaqui deer songs, this is the domain of "our little brother, the deer." Because the Deer Dancer brings the Flower World into manifestation, providing a tangible connection to this world of good, he has become a powerful symbol of Yaqui identity.

The Jesuits, in their efforts to spread Catholicism, directed native peoples in the dramatization of key events in the life of Christ. The Passion of Christ became the major Yaqui ceremony, the culmination of the Yaqui ceremonial year and an elaborate morality play that dramatizes the triumph of Yaqui institutions over evil. This religious drama had such a profound effect on Yaqui culture for several reasons. The Jesuits were unencumbered by the usual bureaucratic missionary structure and were especially eager and enthusiastic because the Yaquis had invited them to come. For many years, an atmosphere of mutual trust prevailed because the Yaquis were free from Spanish oppression, totally unlike what the Pueblos had been forced to undergo. In order to dramatize the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, every member of each Yaqui community had to coordinate their efforts and to play some part, which gave everyone an investment in the outcome.

As a battle between good and evil, everyone has some part in the Easter season. The major participants as the Forces of Evil include the Fariseos, or soldiers of Rome who represent the people who persecuted and executed Christ, the Caballeros who ally themselves with the Forces of Evil during the early part of Holy Week, and the Chapayekas, who wear helmet masks with long thin noses, and develop into sinister aggressors over the 40 days of the Easter season by mocking the devotions of religious processions. The Forces of Good include the Angelitos or Anhelwarda (Little Angels), who are children who guard the holy figures and the altars and fight the Forces of Evil; the Matachinis, who are male dancers wearing cane crowns with brightly colored streamers and dance to violin and guitar music; and the Malinches, who are young boys that guard the Virgin. The Deer Dancer, the Pascolas (old men of the fiesta) who wear carved and painted wooden masks, and the musicians who accompany them also perform at certain fiestas and lead some of the ceremonial processions with the Matachinis; all of the participate not only as Forces of Good in the Easter pageant but also throughout the year in other fiestas.

THE RIVER YUMANS

Key Concepts:
Spirit Mountain
River Yuman warfare
dreaming
Mojave
Cocopah
Quechan (Yuma)
Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT)
Maricopa
Chemehuevi
the mourning ceremony

Reading Assignment, Text: Chapter 7, "The River Yumans," pp. 232-259

The River Yuman tribes lived along the lower Colorado and Gila Rivers in rancheria settlements, with each house separated from its nearest neighbor by 100 yards or more, and with each settlement separated from the next by some four to five miles. Their ancestors, as well as the ancestors of the Upland Yumans, are believed to be from the prehistoric Patayan culture. The three River Yuman tribes discussed in this course are the Mojave, the Cocopah, and the Quechan, or Yuma Indians. As previously noted, the Maricopa are a River Yuman tribe that moved eastward from the Colorado River and who now live with the Pima on both the Gila River Indian Reservation and the Salt River Indian Reservation.

Today, the Mojave, Cocopah, and Quechan live on a series of reservations that reach from the Fort Mojave Reservation in the north (which spans parts of three states, Nevada, California, and Arizona) to the Cocopah Reservation in the south (which is just north of the Mexican border). Spirit Mountain, the emergence place of the Yuman peoples, is clearly visible from the Fort Mojave Reservation and is described in the textbook.

The Chemehuevi are a Southern Paiute tribe that moved near their Mojave allies along the Colorado River. Today they live on two reservations, the Chemehuevi Reservation and the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation (that they share with the Mojave, Hopi, and Navajo).

The River Yuman tribes waged war against each other for at least three centuries. Originally directed at conquest and the seizure of territory, intertribal wars took on a new character after 1830, when several communities had been forced to relinquish their land. As early as the 16th century, some of the small River Yuman tribes were forced off the Colorado River because their farmlands were under attack from both upriver and downriver enemies. Some anthropologists theorize that River Yuman tribes resorted to warfare for economic reasons, instead of intensifying their agricultural production, but others point out that the Mojaves, Quechans, and Halchidhomas cultivated wheat in historic times, which would have given them an additional crop. Other motives include vengeance for the loss of kinsmen, the strong sense of tribal nationalism, and the conviction held by each tribe that they were the chosen people.

Dreaming guided all River Yuman peoples to special abilities, permeating almost every phase of their thought and endeavor, including warfare, gambling, love-making, and curing. All talents and abilities in life were believed to derive from dreams dreamed in the mother's womb, which projected the dreamer back in time so that Mastamho, the Creator, could confer power upon the unborn soul. Although prenatal dreams were forgotten after birth, they repeated themselves with the onset of adolescence; for this reason, recurring dreams were believed to indicate the bestowal of special powers, which were validated by success in the waking world, whether in battle, healing, or other endeavors. Shamans had the most elaborate dreams, and the portion of the creation myth they dreamed indicated their curing specialty, such as rattlesnake bites or witchcraft. Dreamers recited their dreams in song cycles, each of which consisted of 50-200 songs, which formed the basis of River Yuman ceremonialism.

The most powerful and moving of River Yuman rituals is the cremation ceremony. Singing and wailing precede an imminent death. Mourners sing some 30 song cycles with 200 songs in each, and funeral orators make ceremonial speeches extolling the virtues of the deceased. Traditionally, immediately after death, in order to transmit them to the land of the dead, the body and the possessions of the deceased-including the house and granary-were set on fire. Once the funeral pyre had been lit, mourners cast their personal offerings on the fire as men and women danced in line, arm in arm, moving back and forth to the accompaniment of song. The funeral orator addressed the dead, encouraging him or her to end ties with loved ones on earth, and wailing intensified as the dancing continued around the funeral pyre. After the funeral of a prominent warrior or chief, the people held a commemorative mourning ceremony featuring a ritual reenactment of warfare in his honor.