Triquis: The Worshipers from Oaxaca

The nominative Triqui is a deformation of the word driqui, from the Triqui language, composed of Dri, derived from dre: father, and qui: great or superior. The Triqui region comprises a lowland area, whose main town is San Juan Copala, and a highland area, with its main town in San Andrés Chicahuaxtla.

The main festivities are those dedicated to the patron saint of the community.

Triqui women are known for their creative and artisanal skill in making clothing, primarily on backstrap looms and horizontal four-stake looms, also called malacates; they also make shirts and sashes, weave palm hats and baskets, which they use for themselves.

The Triqui people have actively participated in two historical movements in Mexico: The Caste War (1822-1865) and the Revolution (1910-1919).

San Andrés Chicahuaxtla and San Juan Copala lost their status as municipalities in 1940 and 1948, respectively. San Martín Itunyoso is the only Triqui municipality that still exists.

The migration of the Triqui people, from both the lowlands and highlands, is not only due to political and social conflicts, but also to a lack of educational and employment opportunities.

They have migrated to the agricultural fields of Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California, and Cuautla, Morelos. Many others have gone to large cities such as Mexico City, the State of Mexico, and Oaxaca City, among other Mexican states. But Triqui migration doesn’t remain within Mexico, as many have crossed the northern border into the United States or Canada.

After the arrival of Europeans, the Triqui adopted Catholicism. However, they have undergone a syncretic process, preserving the religion of their ancestors. From their traditional religion, they maintain the worship of nature, astronomical phenomena, and the stars, their religion being a syncretism between shamanic-animistic practices and Christianity.

They believe in the existence of good and evil gods. Some of the good gods are the god of the earth, called Naac Shishec; Naac Yahui, the god of the moon; Naac Naac, the name of the sun god; and Naac Cunmá, the god of water.

Among the evil gods are the god of death (Naac-Nimá) and the underworld (Naac Chunguy). All these gods have a father named Nexquiriaco, their creator, who is respected and venerated by the ethnic community.

They celebrate the day of their patron saint, the Day of the Dead, Holy Week, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Easter, among others.

Triqui Food

Their cuisine is based on the preparation of rich traditional dishes such as roasted venison, beef chilatas, enchiladas, chileatoles, and the traditional tepache made with sugarcane. From gathering, they obtained sweet potatoes, wild herbs and fruits, quelites (edible greens), edible mushrooms, and wild fruits such as capulines (Mexican cherry blossoms) and blackberries. Animals and insects, such as giant ants called chicatanas, obtained through hunting, are also part of their daily diet. They prepare tamales, salsas, and pozole with special aromatic herbs. They also eat lobsters. Today, the Triqui people continue to maintain their traditional dishes in their daily diet, enriching them with some processed foods. The most traditional food of the Triquis:

“Hniín gànè-e”. ‘Pozole’. The triqui style pozole is a pozole with corn kernels cooked without juice and bathed with a sauce similar to a corn atole and dried chilies.

“Nneè txrùnj-un”. ‘Slow Cooked Meat’. The meat is cooked in an underground oven, covered with maguey leaves and a layer of soil is placed on top.

“Diyaan-an.” ‘Enchilada’. It is a type of enchilada bathed in red sauce generally.

“Runee nayúun kinj-in.” ‘Beans with dough’. They are boiled beans and later the dough and dried chilli sauce

is added.

“Txra natah yahaj.” ‘Omelette muddy with sauce’. The tortilla is smeared with a special sauce made exclusively with dried chili peppers without any other seasoning. It is accompanied with some boiled eggs. This meal is exclusively for women who have just given birth.

Triqui Legend of the Devil’s Sink

According to the elders, many years ago there lived a newlywed couple. The wife was very beautiful, while the husband was a hardworking man, though, he was very poor. 

Before marrying, the woman already had a very rich lover, so she never loved her husband, because, the woman’s greatest desire was to marry her rich lover. 

One day, she got tired of living with the poor man, the woman invited him for a walk along the banks of the Devil’s Sink. Upon arriving, the woman told her husband to look down the sinkhole, and while he was looking at the bottom, she pushed him in. That is how the woman married her lover, believing her first husband had died, and a grand wedding was celebrated. The woman’s first husband remained inside the sinkhole for seven years, thanks to the help of a crow that dropped an ear of corn for him to survive. He ate a kernel of corn each day so he wouldn’t go hungry and quenched his thirst with water from the river that flowed inside the sinkhole.

One day, a feathered serpent descended into the sinkhole and saw a very sad man. She asked him what he was doing there, and he told her his whole story of how he got there and his unhappy life. The serpent took pity on him and said, “Don’t be afraid, good man, I will get you out of here. Hold on to my tail tightly so you can get to the outside.”

When he emerged, the feathered serpent said to him, “I will shake myself, and my feathers will fall out. Gather them and sell them so you can become a very rich man.” He did as he was told; he gathered all the feathers, sold them, and became a very rich man, thanks to the beautiful feathers of the feathered serpent.

When his wife saw him, she was surprised; but he no longer wanted to be with her and married another woman who treated him well, and with whom he was very happy.