The Mazatec are an Indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca and some communities in the adjacent states of Puebla and Veracruz.

Mazatec
Ha Shuta Enima
Mazatec girls performing a dance in Huautla de Jimenez
Total population
~305,836
Regions with significant populations
Mexico (Oaxaca)
Languages
Mazatec, Spanish
Religion
Roman Catholic, and Traditional religion
Related ethnic groups
Popolocas

Some researchers have theorized that the Mazatec, along with Popoloca speakers, once inhabited the lowlands of the Papaloapan basin, but were driven into the adjacent highlands by the expansion of Nahuas.[1]

Language family

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The Mazatecan languages are part of the Popolocan family which, in turn, is part of the Otomanguean language family.

Traditional religious rituals

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Mazatec tradition includes the cultivation of entheogens for spiritual and ritualistic use. Plants and fungi used for this purpose include psilocybin mushrooms, psychoactive morning glory seeds (from species such as Ipomoea tricolor and Ipomoea corymbosa), and Salvia divinorum.[2][3][4] This latter plant is known to Mazatec shamans as ska María Pastora, the name containing a reference to the Virgin Mary.[3]

Notable Mazatecs

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Wauchope, R. (2015). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 7 and 8: Ethnology. United States: University of Texas Press. pg 325
  2. ^ Jean Basset Johnson (1939) The elements of Mazatec witchcraft, Etnologiska Studier 9:128-150.
  3. ^ a b Valdés et al. (1983)
  4. ^ Osiris Sinuhé González Romero (2022-02-10). "Mazatec Shamanic Knowledge and Psilocybin Mushrooms". Chacruna. Retrieved 2022-04-15.

References

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