Ethnology.
To a less extent than the native languages the old-time customs still hold out against the tide of European influence. In regions not easily accessible on account of deserts, mountains, or tropical jungles, there are a number of Indian tribes that preserve in a large measure their ancient arts and ideas. But the study of these remnant peoples has not been very thorough.
Fig. 8. Design on Modern Huichol Ribbon.
Fig. 9. Woven Pouch of the Huichol Indians showing Two-Headed Austrian Eagle.
The Pima, Seri, Tarahumare, Tepehuane, and other tribes of the extreme north and northwest of Mexico have until recent times been comparatively unmodified by Spanish influences. Basketry, textiles, and pottery have been maintained by them as well as many religious ceremonies. Farther south among the Cora and Huichol there also are surviving arts. The woven fabrics of these Indians are very beautiful but introduced ideas are frequently seen. For instance, a very common motive in Huichol textile art is the two-headed Austrian eagle evidently taken from the coins of Charles V. Crowns similar to those worn by the two-headed eagle are often shown on the heads of rampant animals. But most of the motives are doubtless of native origin.
Among the Huichol and Tarahumare the curious peyote, or hikule worship may be studied. A small variety of cactus is eaten, which induces ecstasy or stupor accompanied by color visions and peculiar dreams. Elaborate ceremonies are associated with the eating and gathering of this plant. The religious cult of the peyote has swept over a large portion of the Great Plains Area of the United States and is known even to Indians in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes. There can be no doubt that the narcotic action of the peyote was known to the Aztecs, who made a ceremonial use of it under the name teonanacatl. An intoxicating drink called teswin is commonly made in northern Mexico from the heart of the mescal plant. It takes the place of the famous pulque, the ancient beverage of the Mexican highlands. Hunting dances in which are employed regalia and ceremonial objects of great interest occur among the Huichol and neighboring tribes. The so-called “god’s eyes” made of yarn strung spider-web fashion over crossed sticks are practically identical with the “squash blossoms” of the Pueblo Indians. There are also real temple structures, or “god houses,” which are very significant when we consider the former importance of the temple among the more highly civilized peoples to the south. In these and other respects the Huichol culture is about midway between the culture of the Southwestern Pueblo tribes and that which formerly existed in central Mexico.
Elsewhere in northern and central Mexico it is possible to find many suggestions of ancient Indian ways of living. In nearly all the outlying villages the old-time thatched huts are still used, while baskets, gourd vessels, wooden bowls, earthen pots, and other household objects hark back to native origins, although often modified by European contact. For instance, glazing is commonly seen on the modern pottery. Many travelers in Mexico bring away as souvenirs pieces of pottery from Guadalajara and Cuernavaca. These wares are made by Indians, but in decoration they have only slight traces of the ancient art of the Mexicans.
In dress there are noteworthy survivals. The serape made either on the narrow hand loom or on a crude form of the Spanish tread loom is a picturesque element in the national dress that is rapidly disappearing from view. Time was when the rich plantation owner wore a gayly colored blanket on fiesta days. The most famous centers for the manufacture and sale of blankets were the cities of Saltillo and San Miguel. The Saltillo pattern shows a medallion consisting of concentric diamonds in various colors upon an all-over design in stripes. The motives are minute geometric figures skilfully interlocked. The colors are rich and permanent and are combined in a very pleasing manner. Saltillo blankets must be classed among the finest textile products of the world. The best period was before 1850. San Miguel blankets show characteristically a rosette instead of a diamond in the center. Many beautiful blankets come from other localities in Mexico. The Chimayo blankets have the same part Indian, part Spanish origin and are made by the Spanish-speaking natives in the mountain valleys of New Mexico.
[Plate IV.]
(a) A Guatemalan huipili decorated with Highly Conventionalized Animals in Embroidery.
(b) Pouches of the Valiente Indians of the Chiriqui Lagoon, Panama.
In southern Mexico there are many towns of Indians where the women still wear the finely embroidered huipili. This old-time garment varies considerably in different towns but as a rule it is a simple sack-like gown cut square at the neck and with short sleeves. Sometimes it is shortened to a blouse, and is worn with a skirt; at other times a short huipili is worn over a longer one. An easily visited town where the natives still wear the old-time dress is Amatlan, within an hour’s walk of Cordova. The women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec have a gorgeous costume of which the most remarkable feature is a wide ruff worn around the neck or on the back of the head. The Mayan women of Yucatan wear white huipili with needlework in color around the bottom. On the highlands of Guatemala the huipili is usually a blouse. The skirt sometimes consists of a strip of cloth wrapped several times around the body.
An interesting ceremony which survives in some parts of Mexico and Guatemala has as its principal feature a lofty pole with a swivel arrangement at the top to which long ropes are attached. These ropes are wound round the swivel and performers, who may be dressed like birds, attach themselves to the rope ends. During the process of unwinding the performers whirl dizzily around the pole descending lower and lower and swing in a wider and wider circle till they reach the ground.
The Lacandone Indians live in the marshy jungles that border the winding Usumacinta. They speak the same tongue as the Maya Indians of Yucatan but in the matter of culture they have acquired little from the Spaniards. They still weave simple garments and make pottery vessels. In hunting they use the bow and arrow, the latter usually tipped with a point of stone. In their religious practices they use incense burners which are comparable to those of the sixteenth century.
[Plate V.]
(a) Zapotecan Girl from the State of Oaxaca, wearing a Turban-Like Headdress made of Yarn.
(b) Lacandone Man from Southern Mexico. Wavy hair is sometimes seen among the few members of this Mayan tribe.
The Caribs occupy the greater part of the north coast of Guatemala and Honduras, running east from the port of Livingston on the Gulf of Amatique. These people, originally of South America and later of the West Indies as well, were deported by the English from the Island of St. Vincent in 1796. They have now established themselves in the new land where they raise the manioc or cassava root and press out the poisonous juice in a basketry tube as do their kindred in the Orinoco Valley. Long before the forcible immigration it is likely that the Caribs, who were cannibalistic in habit, had raided the shores of Central America in their seagoing canoes. A significant passage in the chronicles of the Mayas states that naked man-eating savages visited Yucatan long before the coming of the Spaniards.
The Mosquito Indians of the east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras have a very considerable negro admixture. They are fishermen of low culture. Farther inland are found the Sumo who flatten the heads of their children and who hold strange feasts in honor of the dead in which the dancers are masked so that none may be recognized. A string is stretched over the tree tops from the grave to the feasting place and over this string the ghost of the dead person is supposed to walk. When everyone has fallen in a drunken stupor from mishla the ghost of the dead man departs for the land of the dead. These Sumo Indians build large houses with open sides and are very skilful at fishing with bow and arrow and steering their canoes through white rapids. They practise polygamous marriages, weave cotton, and make interesting beadwork ornaments.
In the narrow Isthmian region there are tribes of Indians that resist manfully the inroads of civilization. Perhaps the best known of these are the San Blas Indians who inhabit the mountain fastnesses east of the Canal Zone. In northern Costa Rica the Guatuso and Talamanca tribes still maintain to a considerable degree their old native character.