Copper Canyon Travel
The Tarahumara People (Raramuri)

They call themselves the Raramuri, "men of light feet".  Tarahumara is the name given to them by the Spanish.  Numbering approximately 50,000, they are the last free living indigenous people in North America, living their lives in the vast Sierra Madre region, only a tiny portion of which you will see from the train, a mountain range called often called the Sierra Tarahumaras because of their presence. 

Before the mid-16th century, when the Spaniards arrived, little is known of the Raramuri Indians beyond the fact they are descendents of the Aztecs.  The Raramuris' "cosmic vision" places them as an integral part of the earth, nature, and the universe. They live according to their own traditions and ideas, living in caves in the winter and modest houses during the warmer months.  They are farmers of corns and beans, and they are ranchers.  They tend to live in small communal groups rather than cluster together in large villages or towns.  Tarahumara crafts are colorful and include wool blankets, pots, drums, flutes, beautiful clothing, and other interesting items.  You will have an opportunity to see these wares when the train stops at El Divisadero, but without some idea of how these people got there, and the suffering they have endured, you are much the poorer.

The story of their interaction with Western civilization follows the same sad pattern as that of the indigenous peoples of what is now the United States:  one of being violently subjugated by an arrogant and more powerful culture which viewed them as sub-human.  An early Spaniard wrote:  "They are inclined to idleness, drunkenness, and other vices. They are ungrateful, dull and stupid, very cunning and alert in evil things. They have no sense of personal honor nor the honor of their daughters".  (Heaven only knows what led to those conclusions, but the image of the Spanish exploiting the natives' weakness for alcohol to make them pliant, in all matters large and small, certainly leaps to mind.)

When gold and silver was discovered in the Sierra Madres in the late 1500's, the Spaniards wasted little time impressing the Tarahumara Indians into slavery as miners. They were forced to live in concentration camps, and, of course, the Tarahumara quickly discovered they were susceptible to a host of lethal western diseases, such as small pox and tuberculosis.  This bothered their conquistadors not in slightest, and as demand for the gold and silver increased the Spanish needed more slave labor and began to raid even the mission pueblos which had been established by the Jesuits to protect the Indians.  Many Raramuri fled into the canyons. 

The Jesuits were finally recalled in 1767, but, strangely, their influence over the Raramuri continues to this day.  The natives incorporated much of Christianity into their own indigenous view of the world, discarding what made little sense to them and clinging to what did.  They were particularly fascinated with the Resurrection, and to this day Semana Santa (Easter week) is a huge celebration and is considered to be the key annual event in their culture.  The celebration of the Virgin de Guadalupe on December 12 is a festive occasion involving a lot drinking of native beer, dancing, and feasting.  The spectacular clothing worn and the music of the ancient drum and flute are said to create a hypnotic euphoria similar to that found at many pow-wows among Native American cultures north of the border. 

Their suffering was made worse in 1821.  Mexico had won it's independence, and huge land grants were given to individuals who drove the Tarahumara even deeper into the canyons, forcing them to trample over the rights of other indigenous peoples, resulting in a great deal of bloodshed.  Fortunately, the 25,000 square miles of the Sierra Madre range made escape possible and made the Raramuri extremely difficult to find and capture, or, no doubt, they might be living on a tiny reservation today.  They were saved by geography and their own determination to remain Raramuri.

The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1921 finally brought a little justice in the form of the Tarahumara being given communal rights to vast tracts of land excellent for lumbering, farming, and, of course, tourism, which is pretty much where they are now, finally left alone to live in peace the way they were living for hundreds of years before Columbus landed or the first conquistador set foot in North America.

They are called "men of light feet" because of their fantastic long distance running ability.  Both the men and women compete in races which often stretch as long as 100 miles, run barefoot with the men kicking a ball and the women thowing hoops.  Like all indigenous peoples, they live a spiritual existence in which respect and reverence for nature, and gratitude to the Creator, play a central role in every day life, not just on Sundays.  They are reputed to have achieved a harmony among one another no Western civilization can match. 

Since the Tarahumara religious festivals have also become tourist events, if you wish to be a good ambassador please act with respect, keep a polite distance, do not get carried away and try to participate in the dancing or other events, don't interrupt, and, above all, do not whip out your camera and start shooting photos without permission, permission, by the way, which will probably not be granted, as most of the Raramuri care nothing for having their photos taken.  If you don't wish to be a good ambassador, please stay home.

I can only hope that if a new vein of gold or, heaven forbid, uranium were discovered in the Sierra Madres tomorrow that our civilization would have learned enough from past mistakes to keep from disrupting the life of this beautiful and tranquil culture.  But I wonder, and hope you will, too, whether or not we would simply find new ways to rationalize our intrusion into their world under the misguided belief we would be "helping" them, when, once again, we are really only wanting to help ourselves.  May God bless the Raramuri for being true to their ancient ways, and may He continue to protect them from us!