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Pascua Yaqui
The Pascua Yaqui, originally inhabited the length of Rio Yaqui in southern Sonora, Mexico. With abundant water, they formed concentrated settlements, or rancherias, and practiced farming and hunting. The intrusion of Spaniards in 1533 was strongly and successfully resisted by the Yaqui, but they allowed Jesuit missionaries to become established. Quiet years passed and the gradual mixing of Catholic and Yaqui beliefs began.
After the Mexican War of Independence from Spain in 1821, the Yaqui resisted the Mexican government, often with bloody conflicts, and gradually began to migrate north into Arizona. By 1919, only three original Yaqui rancherias remained. The best known Arizona Yaqui village was Old Pascua on the outskirts of Tucson. With tribal recognition and acquisition of reservation land just west of the San Xavier District in 1978, the village of New Pascua was built; it remains the seat of Yaqui tribal government.
The rich Yaqui ceremonial tradition is a blend of Uto-Aztecan beliefs and Jesuit Miracle Plays. Central is the Deer Dancer, a ritual representation rising from early ceremonies held on the eve of a hunt. Colorful Yaqui fiestas are times of religious renewal for the People and occasions for mingling with fellow Yaqui, Mayo cousins, and Tohono O'odham neighbors.
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