ABOUT THE SIERRA:
Indigenous Cultures

Four related indigenous peoples inhabit the contemporary Sierra Madre Occidental: the Mountain Pima, who number only a few hundred; the Guarijio, whose population is now said to be less than two thousand; the Tepehuan, or Odame, with perhaps nine thousand members in two communities in Chihuahua and one in southern Durango; and the Rarámuri, or Tarahumara. All are members of the Uto-Azteca language family, closely related to the Huicholes, Seris, and Yaquis.

All regard corn as the center of their ceremonial lives and practice a form of the tesgüinada, the ritual consumption of a mild beer made from corn, and they have all historically practiced a similar form of subsistence agricultural, supplemented by hunting and gathering, which is now under attack by outside forces. To learn more about the Rarámuri, read on.