Society-TARAHUMARA

The Tarahumara Indians inhabit the Sierra Madre Mountains of the State
of Chihuahua in Northwest Mexico. Their territory centers in the upper
Rio Urique drainage, and covers approximately 5,000 square miles.
Modern population estimates range between 40,000-50,000. The Tarahumara
language is classified as Uto-Aztecan and seems to be most closely
related to Pima-Papago, Mayo, Huichol, and Yaqui.

Fried (1952: 1) divides the Tarahumara into three categories, on the
basis of geographical and historical factors: (1) Christianized mountain
(high sierra) dwellers (2) Christianized canyon (barranca) or lowland
dwellers, who vary in material culture from the former and who have
been usually subjected to greater Mexican influence, and (3) gentiles,
those who have resisted Christian (Mexican) influence. Most of the
gentile communities are located in the high sierra. Bennett and Zingg
(1935:ix) add as a fourth category a Christianized sierra region,
displaying special cultural traits.

Although the majority of the Tarahumara have been Christianized to
some degree, they have also tended to be a highly conservative people.
In fact, Champion (1970: 429) claims "There have been no significant
or basic changes in the culture of the Tarahumara since at least 1700."
Perhaps this is an overstatement, but the general pattern of conservatism
is supported by Kennedy (1963: 639), who says of his field data: "There
is an amazing correspondence . . . between what Lumholtz found in
1896 and what I found in 1960." A key aspect of this conservatism
may be language, since most Tarahumara evidently still do not speak
Spanish.

The Tarahumara are basically an agricultural people and till their
lands either by slash-and-burn techniques or with the use of ox-driven
plows. Maize is the most important crop, followed by beans and squash.
Other fruits and vegetables are cultivated or collected but are of
only minor significance when compared to maize. Domestic animals include
cattle, sheep, and goats. These animals are not eaten. What little
animal food the Tarahumara consume is obtained through occasional
hunting and fishing. Although the division of labor is somewhat flexible,
men tend to do the hunting, fishing, agricultural tasks and woodworking,
while women are in charge of domestic tasks including weaving, and
pottery making.

The nuclear family is both the basic household unit and the primary
unit of economic cooperation. Actual household composition varies
as assorted kin often move in to take up temporary residence. After
marriage, a Tarahumara couple tends to reside with the bride's parents
for a few years before setting up a separate household. Bilateral
marriage restrictions prohibit marriage between collateral kin of
the first degree of relationship as well as between lineal relatives.
Few marry non-Tarahumara. Sororate and levirate arrangements are reported,
but these are preferential rather than prescriptive patterns. Polygyny
is practiced. Divorce is frequent and involves little formality. While
the bilateral kin group is important in mutual aid, the Tarahumara
are not organized into formal kin groups above the family level.

The settlement pattern is characterized by dispersed households grouped
into ranchos, with each rancho averaging from two to five households
(although the actual range is from one to twenty households). The
widely dispersed ranchos (from one to five miles apart across mountains
and canyons) are grouped in turn into geographical and political units
called pueblos. The pueblos, which average about fifteen miles in
radius, are the basic territorial units in the society. Kennedy says
that the pueblo is the largest entity to which the Tarahumara feel
any allegiance. There are no social mechanisms integrating the Tarahumara
as a whole. Each pueblo contains a center, composed of a church and,
usually, a comunidad, or combined courthouse and jail. Large-scale
religious ceremonies are held in the center. Tarahumara men elect
a number of officials, the most important of whom are the gobernador
and mayor, to handle the political, legal, and ceremonial affairs
of the pueblo. These offices are of indeterminate length, depending
on the abilities of the men filling them.

The Tarahumara religious system is a blend of Catholicism and indigenous
beliefs. Fried (1952:120) divides religious practices into two spheres:
(1) the large-scale pueblo ceremonies run by pueblo officials and
highly influenced by Catholicism, and (2) rancho ceremonies, in which
the shaman is the key figure. The status of shaman is reached through
apprenticeship, and these men and women are both feared and respected
for their powers of divination, curing, and sorcery.

Culture summary by Robert O. Lagace and Eleanor C. Swanson



Bennett, Wendell C. The Tarahumara: an Indian tribe of northern Mexico.
 By Wendell C. Bennett and Robert M. Zingg.
 Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935.
 19, 412 p. illus.
 Champion, Jean Rene.
 A study in culture persistence: the Tarahumaras of northwestern Mexico.
 Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1963 [1970].
 17, 566 l., maps, table.
 (University Microfilms Publications, no.
 63-6107) Dissertation (Anthropology) -- Columbia University, 1962.
 Fried, Jacob.
 Ideal norms and social control in Tarahumara society.
 6, 297 1.
 illus., map.
 Dissertation (Anthropology) -- New Haven, Yale University, 1952.
 Kennedy, John G. Tesguino complex: the role of beer in Tarahumara culture.
 American Anthropologist, 65 (1963): 620-640.


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