My Great Endeavors : Zapotec

Introduction

Who are they? They have a long history and civilization. They have their own language. Their culture is sweet and it consists of art, music, medicine, religion, food/cooking, clothes, politics. They're still living in Mexico. I wonder how they doing.

Definition

They are a tribe that live southern Mexico. Farming is big in their society. They inhabit mountains, valleys, and coastal regions. Pottery and weaving is popular. Cloud People is what the elite called themselves because they believed their ancestors came from the sky. They may have been descendants of aliens. The commoners believed their ancestors came from caves.

Civilization

They moved in Oaxaca 3,600 years ago and traded with the Olmecs. Their civilization started in southern Mexico 2,600 years ago. They were imperial so they tookova various city-states. Monte Alban was the capital of the Zapotec empire. There was a Zapotec ghetto in Teotihuacan!!! They were polytheistic and cities had patron deities. The Zapotec had their own written language and calendar. The empire fell to the Aztec 520 years ago.

Language

They speak 50 different languages today. The languages are related to each other, but they have been influenced by other languages. There are 4 branches of these languages recognized by the Mexican government. The branches are as follows: western, northern, southern, and central. These languages are tonal and they are as old as Romance languages. The word order is verb-subject-object.

Culture

Art: They made bas-reliefs, ceramics, statues, jewelry, buildings, pyramids, and pottery. They were great weavers

Music: They had clay flutes and whistled. Today they use modern instruments.

Medicine: They were big on herbalism. Healing energy comes from Mother Earth, Diseases and herbs are hot or cold. You heal hot diseases with cold herbs and via a versa. They practice curanderismo, which is a form of Latin American shamanism.

Religion: Today they are Roman Catholic; but prior to the Spanish conquest, they were polytheistic animist. So am I. They had @ least 15 deities and everything is alive. There was also a priesthood. Catholic and folk saints replaced the deities they worshiped.

Food; They ate weasels, deer, badgers, turkeys, dogs, raccoons, and rabbits. Beans, squash, corn, "plantains, chickpeas, peas, sweet potatoes, garlic and onions" were planted by them. They also ate "papayas, plums, pitayas, chirimoyas, wild grapes, tamarind, guava, avocados and peanuts." Tamales and tortillas were created by them as well. They make the best chocolate in Mexico!!!!

Clothes: Women wear a short sleeve blouse called huipil. They also wear a skirt called petticoat. "Men typical clothing was a blanket ova the torso with hats and huaraches. Nowadays black dress pants are worn, guayaberas or white philippines, huaraches, handkerchief and hat."

Politics: In the past Zapotec communities had a mayor, nobility, priesthood, and commoners. The communities traded goods with each other and celebrated weddings and other events together. These communities may have been or still are matriarchal. Today people of certain ages are elected to certain positions, it's called Cargos.

Currently

Today they are the largest tribe in Oaxaca. There are ova 300,000 of them. There is great diversity in their languages because they been separated from each other 4 a long time because of colonization. They were involved in the Reform Movement and the Mexican Revolution.

Conclusion

The Zapotec are ancient tribe(s) that live in southern Mexico. They created their own magnificent civilization ova 2,600 years ago. They speak @ least 50 languages and have an amazing culture. Today they are the largest group of aboriginals in Oaxaca and their communities have Cargos. They make the best chocolate and they are Catholic.