Mazatec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mazatec are an indigenous people who inhabit an area of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, close to the border with Puebla and Veracruz.
Their name comes from the relative closeness to the town of Mazatlán, and the early Spanish explorers' naming them accordingly. "Mazatlán" itself is a Nahuatl name, meaning "place of deer".
They are a "humble" people, and often refer to themselves as such.
Mazatecs are most known for their cultivation, and spiritual/traditional use, of the sage salvia divinorum (diviners' sage), morning glory seeds and psilocybe mushrooms. See Mazatec shamans.
The Mazatecs' religion is a synthesis of both traditional beliefs and Christian beliefs brought by the Spanish conquistadors. This accounts for their naming of such entheogens as salvia divinorum Ska María Pastora, "María" being a reference to the Christian Virgin Mary.
The Mazatecan languages are part of the Popolocan family which, in turn, is part of the Otomanguean language family.
[edit] References
- Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
