March 21, Good Friday Yaqui Indians-First People

At 9 at night we drove to the six block Yaqui Pueblo reservation located in south Tucson. (In 1900 several Yaqui Pueblos fled Mexico to what was then a territory of the U.S. to escape solders pursuing them.) We were the only white people at the Easter gathering that lasts for three days. The Christian three-sided church for the pueblo is located almost under a freeway bridge. What a contrast of witnessing a ceremony dating back 200 years with the roar of traffic and the taking off and landing of planes. My god!!
The part of the ceremony we saw was the parade of the Stations of the Cross with 50 tribal members participating. Many were dressed in black from head to toe, others were in white mask wearing Mexican blankets belted at the waist. I could not help but compare what I was seeing with the ceremonies I’ve seen on the Pacific Northwest reservations. By comparison the Yaqui ceremony was very simple with the church overtones everywhere and little indigence input. The regalia was very plain; the singing by only a few with just one small flute being blown. Very stark.
We wanted to see the “deer dance” but since there is no schedule we knew not when it would happen so we left after a couple of hours. I greatly appreciated the chance to witness First People of the southwest. For sketches of ceremony CLICK HERE