Tz'utujil

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The Tz'utujil (Tzutujil, Tzutuhil, Sutujil) are a Native American people, one of the 21 Maya ethnic groups that dwell in Guatemala. Together with the Xinca, Garífunas (Black Caribs) and the Ladinos, they make up the 24 ethnic groups in this relatively small country. Approximately 100,000 Tz'utujil live in the area around Lake Atitlan.

The Tz'utujil are noted for their continuing adherence to traditional cultural and religious practices. Evangelical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are also practiced among them.

The term Tz'utujil also denotes their native language, and their nation in pre-Columbian times, a part of the ancient Maya civilization.

[edit] The Tz'utujil people

The Tz'utujil date from the post-classic period (circa 900-1500 ) of the Maya civilization, inhabiting the southern watershed of Lake Atitlán, in the Solola region of the Guatemalan highlands.

Today they dwell in the towns of San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo La Laguna, San Marcos La Laguna, San Pedro La Laguna, Santiago Atitlán, Panabaj and a very few in San Lucas Tolimán, although they used to inhabit a much wider region. In 1523 the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, with the help of the Cakchiquel Maya, defeated them in a battle close to the town of Panajachel in which they lost a portion of their lands, and the control of the lake.

Although tourism is now an increasing source of income, many still practice traditional methods of farming of the two main crops in the region, coffee and maize (corn}.

In 2005, several hundred Tz'utujil died in the mudslides caused by Hurricane Stan. The exact death toll was unknown but may have exceeded 1,000 as many bodies were left in place beneath the mud.