Mayo people originally lived near the Mayo River and Fuerte River valleys.[1] The Mayo sustain themselves mainly by agriculture and fishing, but also create artwork and crafts.
Customary, everyday dress worn by Mayo women, displayed at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City.
They own traditional authorities, who are elected by vote and their hierarchy is respected on par with the Mexican civil laws.
The earliest inhabitants of this region hunted, fished, and gathered plants. They gradually developed an agricultural technique that allowed them to settle in various communities. On arrival of the Spaniards in the present-day states of Sonora and Sinaloa, the Mayos were part of an Indian confederacy with the Apaches, Pima, and Yaqui. Their purpose was the joint defense of the invasion of other groups, mutual respect for their territory, and cultural exchange.
Currently, most Mayo farm, often with advanced techniques. They fish and make handicrafts intended for use by the community. They build their adobe or wood houses, depending on the climate and location.
The first traces of settlements in the Mayo region date from 180 CE in the present municipality of Huatabampo, Sonora.
In 1531, after the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish, military campaigns were organized to subdue the Mayo region to the Spanish crown. However, this was not achieved until 1599, through the mediation of Jesuit missionaries.
The Jesuit Pedro Méndez tried evangelizing the Mayo. However, Mayos did not cease to resist the Spaniards. In 1740 marked an armed uprising, which ended with victory again for the Spanish, after which a period of peace lasted almost a century.
For 1867 the Mayo returned to take up arms with the Yaquis against the government of Mexico. They achieved a peace agreement after the Mexican Revolution with the distribution of land as communal property. The Mayo fought with Alvaro Obregón's Constitutionalist fighters during the revolution.[4]
The Mayo Flag was designed by a young Sonoran individual, whose name is not known. A deer surrounded by stars, called masochoquim or "Deer of the stars" in Cahita culture, stands on an orange field, representing the earth.
Acosta, Roberto. Apuntes históricos Sonorenses: La conquista temporal y espiritual del Yaqui y del Mayo. Mexico city: Imprenta Aldina.
Crumrine, Lynne S. "Ceremonial Exchange as a Mechanism in Tribal Integration Among the Mayos of Northwest Mexico." Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 14, 1969.
Crumrine, N. Ross. "A New Mayo Indian Religious Movement in Northwest Mexico." Journal of Latin American Lore 1(2): 127-145, 1975.
Crumrine, N. Ross. The Mayo Indians of Sonora: A people who refuse to die. University of Arizona Press 1977.
O'Connor, Mary I. "Two Kinds of Religious Movements Among the Mayo Indians of Sonora." Journal for the Scientific study of Religion 18(3)1979 :260-268.
O'Connor, Mary I. Descendants of Totolinguoqui: Ethnicity and Economics in the Mayo Valley. Berkeley: University of California Publications, Anthropology, vol. 19. 1989.
Troncoso, Francisco. Las guerras con las tribus Yaqui y Mayo del Estado de Sonora, Mexico. Hermosillo 1905.
