Mazatec people
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 people are an indigenous people who inhabit an area known as the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, as well as some communities in the adjacent states of Puebla and Veracruz. The meaning of "Mazatec" translates to "people of the deer," derived from the Nahuatl word Mazatl meaning deer.
The Mazatecan languages are part of the Popolocan family which, in turn, is part of the Otomanguean language family.
The Mazatecs' religion represents a syncretism of traditional beliefs with Christian beliefs brought by the Spanish conquistadores.
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.
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Wikipedia