Tarahumara people

For the 1965 Mexican film, see Always Further On.

Tarahumara
Rarámuri

Two Rarámuri women (one with a baby nursing) at Arareco Lake near Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico. The Tarahumara women wear the traditional brightly colored clothes for which they are famous. These women make and sell hand made items at the lake
Total population
Mexico:approx <70,000
Regions with significant populations
Mexico (Chihuahua)
Languages
Tarahumara, Spanish
Religion
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Guarijío, Huichol, Yaqui

The Rarámuri or Tarahumara are a Native American people of northwestern Mexico who are renowned for their long-distance running ability. In their language, the term rarámuri refers specifically to the males, females are referred to as mukí (individually) and as omugí or igómale (collectively).

Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Rarámuri retreated to the high sierras and canyons such as 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 is often called the Sierra Tarahumara because of their presence.

Current estimates put the population of the Rarámuri 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 Rarámuri still practice transhumance, raising cattle, sheep, and goats. Almost all Rarámuri migrate in some form or another in the course of the year.

The Tarahumara language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family. Although it is in decline under pressure from Spanish, it is still widely spoken.

History

By the start of the 17th century Spanish mines had been established in Tarahumara territory and the Tarahumara had been exposed to some Spanish slaving raids to get more workers for mines. A Jesuit missionary Juan Fonte established a mission at the southern end of Tarahuamara territory, expanding off of work with the Tepehuan to the school. The mission was known as San Pablo Ballesa. Fonte was killed during the violent resistance of the Tepehuan to Spanish incursion in 1616. The mission at San Pablo Bellasa was also disrupted by this event, and the Tarahuamara attacked Santa Barbara in 1618. The mission ceased to operate for over a decade.

With the establishment of Parral, Chihuahua in 1631 there was more Spanish presence in the Tarahuama lands, and the Jesuits sent more missionaries. There was also increased slave raiding by Spanish mine operators. New missions were established at Las Bocas, Huejotitlan, San Felipe and Satevo.

In 1648 the Tarahumara went to war against the Spanish. They met at Fariagic and then destroyed the mission of San Francisco de Borja. Two of the leaders of this attack were captured by the Spanish and executed. Shortly after this the Spanish established Villa de Aguilar in the heart of the upper Tarahumara county.

The Tarahumara split into two distinct groups from this point on. Those in the lower missions continued to move into the general Christian population and would largely lose their tribal identity. Those in the upper areas went to war under the leadership of Teporame and a few others. This resulted in driving the Jesuits and Spanish settlers from the area. The Jesuits returned in the 1670s and baptized thousands of Tarahumara, but these people continued to retain a separate identity. Teporame was executed by the Spanish in 1690.From 1696-1698 the Tarahumara also waged a war with the Spanish, but were militarily defeated.

By 1753 the lower Tarahumara missions were turned over to secular priests. With the dissolving of the Jesuits in Spanish territories in 1767 most of the missions among the Tarahumara were no longer operated.

Athletic prowess

The word for themselves, Rarámuri, means "runners on foot" or "those who run fast" in their native tongue according to some early ethnographers like Norwegian Carl Lumholtz, though this interpretation has not been fully agreed upon. With widely dispersed settlements, these people developed a tradition of long-distance running up to 120 miles (190 km) in one session, over a period of two days through their homeland of rough canyon country, for intervillage communication and transportation as well as to hunt.

The Tarahumara also use the toe strike method of running, which is natural for bare-footed runners. The long-distance running tradition also has ceremonial and competitive aspects. Often, male runners kick wooden balls as they run in "foot throwing" competitions, and females use a stick and hoop. The foot throwing races are relays where the balls are kicked by the runners and relayed to the next runner while teammates run ahead to the next relay point. These races can last anywhere from a few hours for a short race to a couple of days without a break.

Pre-tool humans may have used persistence hunting universally to hunt prey. Humans in excellent physical shape, given the time, can outrun quadrupeds, which slow down when fleeing over long distances and lose their ability to pant while running.

Tarahumara religion

The Rarámuri religion is a mélange of indigenous customs and Roman Catholicism, 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 Rarámuri cosmology, God has a wife who dwells with him in heaven, along with their sons, the so-called 'sukristo' (from Spanish 'Jesucristo') 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-Rarámuri. 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 Rarámuri, 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 Rarámuri. The Rarámuri share with other Uto-Aztecan tribes a veneration for peyote.

Luis G. Verplancken, a Jesuit priest who lived among them for many years and is probably the greatest authority on their history and culture, describes them as loyal to God, to their own traditions and their own culture. Although the majority of them have converted to Christianity, there are still some "gentile" groups who have refused baptism. Those converted have introduced their own ancient concepts into their new religion.

The Rarámuri are also known for the brewing of tesguino, a corn-based beer brewed in ceramic jars, that features prominently in many Rarámuri religious rituals.

Music

Tarahumara style flute, collected by Richard W. Payne, from the collection of Clint Goss

There is a high level of integration of music and dance into social life in the Tarahumara culture. The classical pianist Romayne Wheeler writes that Music sanctifies the moment in the life of all the Tarahumaras and All of our actions have musical meaning. They among instrumentation, they play three-hole flutes of river cane that are used in combination with drums.

Famous Rarámuri

• Teporame, leader of 1650 Tarahumara revolt
• Samuel Gamboa Potter, TV producer and actor [1]
• Daniel Ponce de León, former WBO world junior featherweight champion
• Luis J. Rodriguez, author [2]
• Arnulfo Quimare, subject in book Born to Run
• Erasmo Palma Fernández, musician, composer, philosopher, linguist, botanist, dancer. Mexico's National Prize of Science and Arts 2002.

See also

• Isidro Baldenegro López
• List of Spanish words of Indigenous American Indian origin
• Multiday races
• Tarahumara language

Literature

• Carl Sofus Lumholtz: Unknown Mexico: A Record of Five Years' Exploration Among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre; In the Tierra Caliente of Tepic and Jalisco; and Among the Tarascos of Michoacan, (New York: Scribner's and Sons, 1902)

  An early anthropological account from the 1890s of the peoples in the remote mountains of northwest Mexico, including the Tarahumara.

• Wendell C. Bennett and Robert M. Zingg: The Tarahumara: an Indian tribe of northern Mexico, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935)

  Provides the classic baseline ethnography of this group for the early twentieth century.

• Jerome M. Levi: "Tarahumara (Rarámuri)", In: David Carrasco, editor-in-chief. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, Vol. 3. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001: 183-185.

  A brief overview of Tarahumara culture and history.

• Jerome M. Levi: "The Embodiment of a Working Identity: Power and Process in Rarámuri Ritual Healing." American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 1999, 23: 13-46.

  A detailed case study of Tarahumara ceremonial healing.

• William L. Merrill: Rarámuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico, (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 1988)

  A comprehensive account of Rarámuri world view.

• Ivan Ratkaj: Izvješća iz Tarahumare (Reports from Tarahumara), (Zagreb: Artresor, 1998)

  A modern edition of the first detailed report about the Tarahumara, written by a Croatian missionary in the 17th century. Published in Croatian, German and Latin.

• 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.

• Joseph Wampler: Mexico's 'Grand Canyon': The Region and the Story of the Tarahumara Indians and the F.C. Chihuahua al Pacifico, (Berkeley: Self-Published, 1978. ISBN 0935080031)

  An account of Wampler's travels on the Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad that winds along the Barranca Del Cobre through Tarahumara lands.

• Jeff Biggers: In the Sierra Madre, (University of Illinois Press, 2006)

  An account of Biggers's sojourn among the Tarahumara in the late 1990s.

• Cynthia Gorney: "A people apart", National Geographic Magazine November 2008

• Fructuoso Irigoyen Rascón. Cerocahui, una Comunidad en la Tarahumara. 40 Años Después. Don Quixote Editions/AmazonKindle. 2011.

• Fructuoso Irigoyen Rascón and Jesús Manuel Palma. Rarajípari, the Tarahumara Indian Kick-ball Race. Centro Librero La Prensa. Chihuahua 1995.

• Christopher McDougall: "The Men Who Live Forever", Men's Health Magazine April 2008
• Christopher McDougall: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, (Knopf, 2009. ISBN 0307266303)
• Wyndham, Felice S.: 2010 Environments of Learning: Rarámuri Children’s Plant Knowledge and Experience of Schooling, Family, and Landscapes in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico. Human Ecology 38(1):87-99.
• Wyndham, Felice S.: 2009 Spheres of Relations, Lines of Interaction: Subtle Ecologies of the Rarámuri Landscape in Northern Mexico. (Special Issue: Traditional Resource and Environmental Management: Past, Present, and Future; Dana S. Lepofsky, ed.) Journal of Ethnobiology 29(2):271-295

External links

• Radio Tarahumara: Tarahumara Internet Radio featuring the world's largest collection of Tarahumara music and spoken word audio
• Tarahumara.com.mx
• Tesguino and the Tarahumara
• wbgu.org WBGU-PBS local production with Romayne Wheeler in efforts to aid the Tarahumara Indians.
• Raramuri Tale Short film about a Tarahumara child, filmed in the Copper Canyon.
• "The Men Who Live Forever" Men's Health article on the Tarahumara's athletic prowess
• The Tarahumaras: An Endangered Species