The Pima Bajo (Lower Pima or Mountain Pima) people are
indigenous people of Mexico
Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...
who reside in a mountainous region along the line between the states of
Chihuahua and
Sonora in northern
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. They are related to the
Pima and
Tohono O’odham of
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
and northern
Sonora, speaking a similar but distinct
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
.
[Estrada-Fernández, Zarina. 1998. Pima Bajo de Yepachi, Chihuahua (Archivo de Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico). Colegio de México.]
"Bajo" or "Lower" as part of the name refers to the geographic location in the southern part of the traditional Pima homeland. Some peoples identifying themselves as Pima and speaking the Pima language formerly lived farther west in the lowlands of Sonora, but they have long been absorbed into mainstream Mexican society. At present, the Pima Bajo are located in rugged, mountainous terrain in the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Major communities in the Pima Bajo region include Maycoba and
Yécora on the
Sonoran side of the line,
Yepáchic on the
Chihuahuan. All three of these communities were almost exclusively Pima in the 19th Century, but in recent decades many mainstream Mexicans from the lowlands have migrated into the area.
Traditional Pima Bajo culture in many ways resembles the cultures of the neighboring Warihio and
Tarahumara peoples more than that of the other Pima peoples to the northwest. This is partly due to the common mountainous habitat, partly due to a long history of interactions between the groups. The Pima were also converted to Christianity early in the Spanish period, and most of them still practice an antiquated, almost medieval, form of Catholicism introduced by the
Jesuit missionaries.
[Laferrière, Joseph E., & Willard Van Asdall. 1991. Plant use in Mountain Pima holiday decorations. Kiva 57:27-38.]
At present, the people are in the process of being acculturated into mainstream society, especially since the paving of the highway through the area in the late 1980s. The Pima do, however, attempt to preserve their identity as a distinct culture. There have been some attempts at reviving. A few of the tribal leaders collected some traditional Pima myths and published them in a book in the Pima language to be distributed in the region. Holidays, especially
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
(
Semana Santa) involve elaborate ceremonies and celebrations reflecting the form of Catholicism practiced by the Pima. Mainstream Mexicans are allowed to attend and to participate, but Pima tribal leaders organize and supervise the activities.
[Dunnigan, T. 1981b. Ritual as interethnic competition: indito versus blanco in ]
References
{{Indigenous peoples of Mexico
History of Mexico
Peoples of the Sierra Madre Occidental
Indigenous peoples in Mexico
Indigenous peoples of Aridoamerica