Brazil - Ethnic group in which LAIM is involved:
Ticuna
Mexico - Ethnic groups in which LAIM has been involved:
Totonac
Tzotzil
Tzeltal
Mazahua
Otomi
Mixe
PERU - Ethnic groups in which LAIM has been involved:
Quechua
Shipibo/Conibo
Ticuna
(For listing of all tribes in the country, refer to SIL.org/ethnologue presented by SIL International)
THE TOTONACS - A profile of the ethnic group
Location: North sector of Puebla and southeast sector of Veracruz states
Language: Totonac, belonging to the Totonac-Mayan group, Totonac trunk, Totonac family.
General Information: During the pre-Hispanic period the Totonac group lived in the
Totonacapan, an
extensive area located in part of the present states of Puebla and Veracruz.
Nowadays, the Totonacs are established in the North of Puebla and the Southeast of
Veracruz, in a territory with two geographic regions: the coast and the
mountains. The weather in the mountains is cold or mild with frequent rains.
On the coast, the weather is warm with rains during summer. The Totonac territory its
territory is crossed by the Tecolutla, Pantepec, Cazones, Tecuantepec and Lalaxaxolpan rivers.
In 1980 there were 185,836 Totonac speaking people, 117,533 in Veracruz and 63,303 in
Puebla. The Totonac language has some dialectical variations that
make communication impossible between people from different villages. Houses in both
regions are very similar, with a rectangular shape, walls of wood and ceilings of
palm, but there are also brick houses with tiled roofs, and generally among they
have nearby the temazcal or steam bath. The traditional masculine outfit is the shirt
and pants of white cotton, hat and sandals, and in the cold area, they add a wool
coat. The feminine outfit is white skirt, sash, blouses with colorful embroideries,
quechquémitl of wool with embroideries and a kind of scarf on their heads. The
traditional clothing is worn with less frequency today.
Economy: Agriculture is the basis of their economy. In the coastal area they grow
corn, chili and beans for their own use, as well as coffee, tobacco, tomato, cotton,
cocoa, vanilla and sugar cane for sale. In the colder areas they grow almost exclusively corn, beans
and chili for family use because they have little land to cultivate. In both regions they
raise pigs and farm birds; they fish in the rivers to complement their nutrition.
Their crafts are in general of a domestic or ritualistic type; they make different
objects of mud, knit natural fiber, work on wood to create masks, and knit the quechquémitl and the sash for
feminine attire.
Social Organization: The nuclear family predominates as the foundation of the
society, but there is also evidence of extended famiy organization. Up until a few
years ago, the parents of a young man would negotiate for a suitable bride by taking
presents to her family until they reached an agreement. But now this is almost completely unused; rather, the couple decides to get married, tell their
parents and then have the civil and religious ceremonies, together with a feast at the groom's
house. When somebody dies, the corpse is cleaned and dressed with new clothes, put
in a box along with a bottle of water, tortillas and some coins that the soul will use
in its trip. During the wake, food and beverages are offered to people, a priest
repeats prayers and they bury the body on the following day. In some villages they believe that the soul does not leave its
house until several days afterwards, during which time they continue putting food at the place where the dead person used to
eat. There are some places where the closest family members submit themselves to
purification rituals, or they have a ceremony with food and beverages, either nine or
eighty days after the death.
Religion and Beliefs: Most of the Totonacs practice the Catholic religion, but they
keep some of their old beliefs, specially in the mountain area, which results in
syncretism. Saint John is equated with the old deity of rain and lightning, and they
still worship the "fathers" and "mothers" of the group. They also worship the Sun
which is related with the corn and their crops. Other deities are the fire, the earth,
the moon, the winds and the mountains. There are some deities that are considered to
be bad, such as the Moon and Venus which are related to the devil, and are supposed
to rule in the "infra world".
Some people believe, especially in the mountains, that the soul of a new born baby is
linked to an animal, with which the baby will have to spend the rest of its life. They
have ceremonies to have good crops and to keep the new born babies from being hurt. The witch doctors direct the rituals. They can be in
touch with the supernatural and are respected and feared because they can heal and benefit people,
but also they can make witchcraft.
The traditional religious organization is practically lost in the coastal area, but in
some villages the tekles organize the festivities of the saints, while in the
mountains they have a piskal, who carries a cane symbolizing authority and is in charge of
taking care of the church.
Holidays: In each village the day of the patron saint is celebrated and in some places
they also celebrate the Holy Kings, the Candlemas, the Carnival, the Holy Week, and
the Holy Cross in which they bless the land and the seed that will be planted. The
celebration of Saint Anthony is the day they begin sowing seed.
Saint John the Baptist is related with rain. The Day of the Dead and of the Virgin of
Guadalupe are also celebrated. In most of these celebrations there are dances such as
The Flier, The Mores and Christians, The Little Blacks and The Santiagueros. During
the Carnival they dance The Mulattos and The Huehues (elders).
Political Organization: Traditional organization in this sense no longer exists, but
the civic towns are governed according to the rules of the whole country, the leaders
are publicly elected and people with religious positions no longer interfere in the
political area.
The Shipibo/Conibo
There are 47 Shipibo communities with established congregations, spread more than
250 miles along the Ucayali River and its smaller tributaries, both north and south
of Pucallpa, Peru, the location of the Wycliffe base in Peru. Visitors to Yarinacocha
have undoubtedly seen Indians in small canoes passing on the lake; these were Shipibo
Indians.
There is an estimated 35,000 Shipibo/Conibo Indians, living in 120-130 villages.
Those that do not have congregations are largely unevangelized. Three years ago there was a meeting of Christians representing many of the
congregations, who had gathered to hear some visiting Bible teachers. Those present decided that they needed
this fellowship on a regular basis, so annual conferences now take place. The last
one drew seven hundred beleivers to an isolated village two days by canoe from
Pucallpa. The speakers were a group of
Quechua pastors led by Joshua Saune. At that meeting, the congregational leaders decided to begin a permanent organization
with the core purpose of evangelizing the unreached villages.
In order to achieve this goal, they need a larger and faster canoe than any of them
possess. This canoe or boat would have a hallowed out tree as the hull, but with
sides built up with planks to increase its carrying capacity. A 25 horsepower diesel
engine with a long drive shaft, one which extends backward from the canoe (rather
than downward) would provide greater speed and range, and the ability to go into
shallow or log-filled streams in order to reach even the most remote villages.
The Shipibo leaders see three uses for the motor boat: