Mazatec facts for kids
Mazatec girls performing a dance in Huautla de Jimenez
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~305,836 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mexico (Oaxaca) | |
| Languages | |
| Mazatec, Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic, and Traditional religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Popolocas |
The Mazatec are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca and some communities in the adjacent states of Puebla and Veracruz.
Contents
Language family
The Mazatecan languages are part of the Popolocan family which, in turn, is part of the Otomanguean language family.
Post-colonial period
The Mazatecs' religion represents a syncretism of traditional beliefs with Christian beliefs brought by the Spanish conquistadors.
Traditional religious rituals
Mazatec tradition includes the cultivation of entheogens for spiritual and ritualistic use. Plants and fungi used for this purpose include psilocybin mushrooms, psychoactive morning glory seeds (from species such as Ipomoea tricolor and Turbina corymbosa), and perhaps most significant to the Mazatecs, Salvia divinorum. This latter plant is known to Mazatec shamans as ska María Pastora, the name containing a reference to the Virgin Mary.
Notable Mazatecs
- María Sabina
- Julieta Casimiro
See also
In Spanish: Mazateco (etnia) para niños
