Paths of Life

Yaqui: Spiritual Ties to Yaqui Lands

The Yaqui people also have spiritual ties to their traditonal lands in the fertile Yaqui River valley of Mexico. After a great flood, God sent angels to accompany Yaqui prophets to "sing the boundaries" of lands that would belong to them alone. Although the Yaqui welcomed Spanish priests in the early 1600s, they fiercely resisted later attempts by the Mexican government to take their lands. But after fifty years of warfare, the Yaqui armies were defeated in 1887.

Mexico then began a campaign to deport the people and destroy their culture. Many Yaquis fled to the United States, settling in small communities in Arizona and California. The Easter Ceremony, with its Deer Dance and flowers from the enchanted world, became a focus for the Yoemem and their cultural identity.