The Rarámuri (Ra-RA-mu-ree)are a gentle tribe of Indians that have lived in the Upper Sierra for over 10,000 years now.

The Rarámuri are believed to be the purest and best preserved ethnic group on the entire American continent. Their culture and spiritual values are a result of thousands of years of struggle, which has filled them with an intensity for life and a sense of harmony in human relations and in their relationship with nature, the likes of which our modern society, with all of its technological advancement, and lack of spiritual advancement has been unable to understand or attain.

Many of the current Rarámuri traditions are based on their application of what they learned from Jesuit missionaries during 150 years of colonial rule. When the Jesuits were expelled from the order in 1776, the Rarámuri reinterpreted Christianity and cast the symbols and rites in their own molds, disregarding that which held no meaning for them and preserving and adapting the rest in accord with their own cultural symbols.

Among the most deeply rooted traditions is that of living in dispersed communities and sowing seasonal crops, especially corn. The corn is essential to life to the Rarámuri. There is nothing without it. The corn is harvested to make tesguino, their ceremonial drink of choice. The tesguino is ingested in celebration to bring the rains which grow the corn. The corn grows because the tesguino was used to bring the rains…it is their circle of life.