Opata people

Opata (pronounced óh-pah-tah) is the collective name for three indigenous peoples native to the northern Mexican border state of Sonora. The whole of Opata territory encompasses the northeasterly and central part of the state. Most Opatan villages and subsequent towns have always been situated in river valleys.

The largest of the three Opatan groups are the Eudeve, (eh-oo-deh-veh), whose ancient villages and current towns encompass the northwestern, western half, and southerly portions of traditional Opata territory. The Eudeve also referred to themselves for short as “Deve.” Both names mean “people.”

The second largest group is the Teguima or Tehuima ( teh-wee-mah), whose ancient villages and current towns encompass the northeastern portion of Opata territory. “Tehuima” means “river people.”

The smallest Opatan group was the Jova (ho-vah). “Jova” means “water people.” They originally consisted of eight villages in the southeastern portion of Opata territory. By the 17th century the Jovas had inter-married with neighboring Eudeves to the extent where they evolved into a non-distinct indigenous ethnic group.

Several early Spanish Franciscan missionary records and subsequent anthropological accounts state that “Opata” was borrowed from a Pima Indian word meaning “enemy,” which is what the northern and southern Piman peoples allegedly referred to their Opatan neighbors as. However, both contemporary Piman-speakers and Opatan oral traditionalists deny this, being that “opata” was never a word for “enemy” in the O'odham language, and the Opatan and O'odham peoples were never known to have any major conflicts with one another to the extent of regarding one another as “enemies.”

According to Opatan oral traditionalists, “Opata” is what some Tehuima villages referred to themselves as, and that it means “iron people,” being that iron ore was abundant in Opata territory, and Opata spear tips were made from iron ore. Thus, those Tehuiman tribes were also known as “the iron spear people.”

It has also been reported in a few anthropological texts that the “Opata” referred to themselves collectively in their own language as “Joylraua.” However, according to Opata oral traditionalists, Joylraua was the name of an ancient Eudeve village that was named after an honored chieftain of that village.

Being that the three Opatan dialects are intelligible with one another; all three linguistic groups were adjacent to one another territorially, and the traditions, customs, and religious beliefs of all three peoples were virtually identical, Franciscan missionaries from Spain, who were the first Europeans to make contact with them, eventually lumped them anthropologically all into one group known as "Opata", collectively making them the largest indigenous nation in Sonora.

Opata population

Early Franciscan accounts of the Eudeve, Tehuima, and Jova populations combined estimated the Opatan population to number about 20,000. Today there are no known full-blooded Opatas left, but mestizo descendants still make up the vast majority population of traditional Opata territory, known in Spanish as opatería (Opata Country). Today many Opata descendants reside in other parts of Sonora, greater Mexico, and the southwestern United States, particularly in Arizona where their ancestors migrated to work in agriculture and mining. They mined bubbles.

Opatan sustenance and attire

The Opatan peoples survived off of hunting game with bows and arrows; fishing with spears and nets; the gathering of wild fruit and cactus, and the planting and harvesting of various legumes such as corn, beans, and squash.

They also produced a fermented maize atole beverage known as tanori, which was normally drank during certain ceremonies and celebrations. (Expert preparers of that beverage often took on the second name of Tanori).

Women wove, dyed and wore full-length colorful cotton fiber dresses. Men generally dressed more scantily in skirts made of hide, but also wore serapes (shawls) in cold weather. Footwear consisted of sandals made from hide. Women often only wore hide skirts similar to those of men during warm weather, and both sexes often went about nude during the hot season. Necklaces and other adornments made from hide, stone, bone, shell, and feathers were worn.

Dwellings consisted of thatched huts and small houses made of adobe and zacate with thatched roofs. During warm, dry seasons, semi-subterranean dwellings known as a huúki were also used. (In addition, huúkis were used as sweat lodges, and small ones were constructed for the purpose of storing legumes to keep them cool and fresh longer).

Opatan languages

The Eudeve, Tehuima, and Jova dialects are members of the greater mother Uto-Aztecan family of languages. Many words are the same or very similar to those in the O'odham (Pima and Papago), Raramuri (Tarahumara), and Cáhita (Yaqui and Mayo) languages. However, the Opatan peoples are not of “Piman stock” or a subgroup of the O'odham peoples as alleged by some anthropological writings about them.

The name of the Eudeve dialect is Dohema. The Tehuimas spoke Tehuima, and the Jovas spoke Jova. All three dialects are intelligble with one another.

Due to their amalgamation with the Eudeves by the 17th century, the Jova dialect became extinct by the 18th century.

During the 1993 census in Mexico, 12 persons interviewed for that census claimed to be “Opata” speakers. If they indeed were, the dialect was most likely Dohema, being that as indicated previously, Jova had died out before the 18th century, and Tehuima was believed to have become extinct by the early 20th century. However, there were known Dohema speakers in Eudeve territory as late as the 1950s.

Except for a few Opatan names of people, the sound of the letter “L” does not exist in the Opatan dialects, and neither do plurals. For example, in the Cahita language of the Yaqui and Mayo, “water” is “bah”, and “the waters” (as in river, stream, or spring) is “bahm.” In the three Opatan dialects, both “water” and “waters” are “bah.”

The Opatan dialects are among the easier Amerindian languages for native speakers of European languages to learn and pronounce because they are non-tonal, and most words include vowels. Many Opatan words and names in fact are easily mistaken for Italian or Japanese when viewed grammatically in the Roman alphabet.

Professor Manuel García Madrid, an Opata from Sonora, has published a linguistic text, Hía Tehuikatzion, on the Tehuima dialect.

American linguistic anthropologist David L. Schaul has done extensive research and published much material on the Eudeve dialect.

Field anthropologist Campbell Pennington researched and published much information on the Opatan peoples and their dialects during the latter part of the 20th century.

Traditional lifestyle, kinship, and social organization of the Opatan peoples

Most of Opata Country consists of a series of river valleys surrounded by mountain ranges. Most Eudeve, Tehuima, and Jova villages were small and were situated along the rivers, just as many municipalities in Opata Country are today.

Traditional Opatan society was matrilineal in kinship, and politically, there was no form of monarchy. Each Opata village, which was also considered a clan, had a small council of elders consisting of both men and women. One of them, usually in relation to age, would be designated as the village chieftain. The chieftain was not a dictator, but the village’s senior advisor, mediator, and spokesperson.

Other positions of leadership consisted of militia and hunting captains, which were normally held by male elders.

Opatan villages included a nemútz (shaman) who was a combination naturopathic physician or "curandero", sorcerer, and spiritual and ceremonial leader, adviser, and teacher. The majority of village nemútz were male, but some had female shamans, including apprentices.

Opatan coming of age and social bonding

Because most villages in Opata Country were small, romantic marital bonds primarily consisted of one man and one woman, although some village chieftains and shamans, particularly those who were male, were known to have more than one spouse.

There were no forced marriages or marriage ceremonies. People would just bond romantically and begin living together under the same roof.

Most women married and began having children by their mid-teens. Husbands were usually slightly older adolescents or young adults. The average Opatan nuclear family included an average of two-to-three offspring.

The onset of puberty was regarded as the first stage of adulthood as opposed to (adolescence) being the final stage of childhood.

Informal divorce was not uncommon. Some Opata individuals would have an average of two or three spouses at different times during their lifetimes, and new potential partners often came from different villages. Pre-adolescent children of parents who broke up would normally remain with the mother.

Opatan sexual mores and family planning

Homosexuality and transgenderism were not taboo in traditional Opatan society. Same-sex couples existed in some villages, including effeminate males who dressed and lived as women. Some of them were among the spouses in the plural marriages of chieftains and shamans. Emasculate lesbians served as hunters and warriors. Some shamans were hómari--the Opatan term for a "two spirit" person (homosexual or transvestite).

Also not taboo in traditional Opata culture were pre-romantic relationship ("marital") recreational sex, consensual extramarital sex, and sex orgies, which a few early Franciscan priests in Opata Country wrote about in their journals.

Fertility rites also took place. The most common one described as "obscene" in Spanish Franciscan accounts was known as the mariachi.

The only sexual taboos in traditional Opatan society were forcible rape, sexual contact with prepubescent children on the part of pubescent people, and intercourse with a woman during her menstrual cycle.

Abortion was not taboo in Opatan society due to the belief that the soul did not inhabit an infant until its first breath of life outside of the womb. Abortion was thus exercised as a means of birth control during the first trimester of pregnancy with the use of medicinal plants known as purgas. If a purga failed to induce a miscarriage, the woman utilized a surgical procedure by inserting a special blade made of stone or bone into her uterus.

Overview of traditional Opatan cosmology, religion, and rites

The traditional pre-Columbian spirituality of the Opatan peoples was a mixture of monism, limited demi-deity polytheism, pantheism, and animism.

Chamahua is the name the Opata give to the principal and ultimate formless source of all that exists, and which has no beginning, end, or humanly explainable purpose. All life forms are inter-connected with one another within the infinite body of Chamahua.

The sparks of Chamahua’s active energy of light are the source of all individual life forms, including the souls of man.

“Chamahua” means “From which all things flow”.

Chamahua emanates two energies that result in opposites in many aspects of existence. In the physical universe, such opposites include light and darkness, heat and cold, motion and stillness, masculine and feminine, love and hate, and good and evil.

Chamahua does not possess a human-like ego or cravings, which is why Chamahua does not require or desire people to worship it or even believe in it.

The nature of Chamahua cannot be described any further in words. It can only be experienced directly through silent, individual perception, which methods are initially taught to the young by the elders and shamans.

The four principal demi-deities are the Sun God, which represents fire, heat, and light; the Rain God, which represents all forms of water; the Corn Goddess, which represents the world’s vegetation, and the Earth Goddess, who is also called Grandmother Earth, which represents all human and animal life forms on Earth. Opata traditionalists believe that there are other demi-deities that serve other worlds and life forms that do not pertain to the earth world.

The four said principal demi-deities were recognized by the Opata as the principal sustainers of life on earth. However, like Chamahua, they are regarded as allies absent of human-like egos as opposed to deities that are to be feared and worshiped or who require austerities and sacrifices of man. Shamanic and collective village rites and ceremonies performed in their honor were/are nothing more than petitions for abundance or balance, such as in times of hunting, planting, drought or excessive flooding. But whenever such petitions seemed to go un-responded to, the Opata regarded it as a silent reason on the part of the deities as opposed to a form of punishment, and as a sign to implement change, such as in the form of migrating to another area.

Another important aspect of classical Opatan spirituality is the mescalito spirit ally manifested in peyote rite gatherings as a means of enhancing perception of and communication with the spirit world.

The temascal (known in English as the "sweat lodge") was also held for both spiritual and therapeutic cleansing purposes in a semi-subterranean huúki.

The Opatan peoples also performed a deer dance ritual similar to that of the Yoeme (Yaqui) and Yoerme (Mayo) peoples, which the latter two peoples still perform to this day. The dance was held as a primer for summoning and honoring the deer spiritually for their sacrifice as food and hide to the village by way of the hunters.

Aside from the above demi-deities, Opata traditionalists believe in other spirit beings that assist individuals as well.

“Wing people” are divine beings that have always existed in spirit form. “Spirit relatives” are those that have lived as worthy human beings. They are called “relatives” or “relations” because many of them are believed to be the ancestors of human mortals that serve as the spirit guides of descendants who choose to perceive them.

In relation to animism, Opata traditionalists also believe that spirit allies manifest themselves to humans in the form of certain species of animals, fowl, and plants as transmitters of omens, knowledge, medicine, and healing. They include the eagle, hawk, crow, owl, wolf, coyote, wildcat, snake, and dragonfly.

Opata traditionalists believe that the human soul is binary and that when the physical body dies, the soul divides in two. One half incarnates into the body of a newborn human or other intelligent being upon its first breath of life outside of the womb to become the infant's soul and primary life force. The other half of the soul goes to a spirit realm, of which there are infinite varieties, and which can include total immersion into Chamahua when not functioning as a spirit relative about the earth plane.

The Opata believe that free will exists to a certain extent in the spirit world as it does in the physical world, and that malevolent spirits and mischievous ghosts are the souls of people that lived evil or troublesome lives, and who elect not to move that half of their soul onto the spirit world away from the earth plane. Animals and certain people can perceive their presence, especially when they behave mischievously or appear to them to get attention. Sometimes they make themselves appear as innocent children in an attempt to gain sympathy. Nemútz and other holy people can exercise rites to expel them from that state of being.

The Opatan account of the origin of life on Earth

Opata traditionalists believe that all life forms on earth were born out of the muddy womb of Grandmother Earth, and that the first earth ancestors of humans were the fur people. The seven races of fur people lived and behaved more as animals until the star people came to Grandmother Earth in the bellies of large birds and planted their seed into the fur people through the wind and the waters, which eventually created the human race.

The star people eventually departed Grandmother Earth for other worlds and left most of their human earth children with Grandmother Earth. One of the reasons for the star people's departure was due to many of the elements of Grandmother Earth not being compatible with their bodies, which resulted in sickness. It is because of that blood inheritance from the star people that human beings are prone to suffer more illnesses, birth defects, injuries, and other physical and mental maladies than any other creature native to this earth, and why many women are prone to have more pain and complications with child-bearing than any other of Grandmother Earth's female creatures.

On the other hand, it is because of the more animal-like aggressive nature inherited from the ancient fur people ancestors that so many human beings, especially males, are predatory and aggressive towards one another on this otherwise naturally feminine planet.

The classical Tehuima account of origin teaches that their village of Bacoachi is where the first Opatan people originated.

Opata traditionalists teach that Grandmother Earth has gone through seven major cataclysms due to movements in the universe and due to her own internal movements and changes.

Opata traditionalists do not believe that nature is either cruel, kind, or perfect, but just is, and as with many other world traditions, they believe that nature has a natural reaction to every action.

They further believe that petitions of intent to the four deities and various other forms of spirit allies and relations can sometimes manipulate the forces of nature that are beyond mere physical manipulation and control. Successful manipulation through rites and sorcery, or a seemingly lack of response by such means, is recognized as indicated previously, as a necessary but sometimes not always understood condition.

A traditional Opatan rite that was once held openly was one similar to Mexico's Day of the Dead, in which villages would commune with the spirit relations collectively during a full moon day during the spring.

The Opata and death

Euthanasia by hydroasphyxiation was exercised in cases of infants born with severe, debilitating birth defects. It was carried out sacredly in a river by a nemútz with the parents present.

Some elders and younger people who became severely incapacitated permanently and unable to care for themselves any longer, and those who suffered from severe and painful, incurable injuries or illnesses also elected to be euthanized. In most cases it was carried out sacredly with the ingestion of a poisonous plant administered by the village nemútz with loved ones and other clan members present.

The deceased were normally buried in a sacred ground, although some people elected cremation on a pyre so that their ashes could be kept among their survivors in a clay vessel.

Classical Opata inter-tribal relations and justice

The Opatan peoples were generally peaceful and non-imperialistic. They held a universal ethic amongst themselves of not initiating aggression against other Indian Tribes and nations, particularly for the benefit of dominating more territory or stealing. The administration of justice by clan councils for certain societal violations depended on the offense, which ranged from various forms of restitution; temporary or permanent banishment from the village or territory, and in severe cases, execution.

Spanish encroachment into Opata Country

Because most Opatan villages were small and scattered apart from one another, they were vulnerable to attack by marauding bands of Chiricahua Apaches that were mainly based in southeastern Arizona. Because of that, the Opatan peoples by-and-large did not resist the encroachment of Spaniards into their territory, being that the Spanish soldiers had more advanced weaponry in fighting off the Chiricahua and could have eventually crushed the Opata themselves had they not been cooperative.

But along with that cooperation and military alliance came the price of Spanish religious (Roman Catholic) and cultural encroachment into Opatan society, which gradually suppressed many Opatan traditions into being exercised discreetly away from their villages during “hunting and gathering expeditions” that did not include the accompaniment of Spanish soldiers or Franciscan missionaries, and the eventual dormancy of many traditional beliefs, customs, and values.

Among the most initial outspoken Opata opponents of Spanish encroachment, especially of that of the missionaries, was nemútzan (the shaman/s), who upon learning Castilian and being taught about Christianity and Roman Catholic doctrine, recognized that many of those doctrines conflicted with Opatan religion and culture.

Opatas were not monotheistic and did not exercise creator-worship. Nemútzan questioned why the intelligent and almighty god that these yoris (non-Indian foreigners) believed in would create an imperfect world with imperfect people and punish people for their imperfections. Many of the Biblical taboos, especially those religiously-defined wrongdoings they called "sin" that conflicted with Opatan social practices and moral values, made no sense to nemútzan either.

Nemútzan also questioned why these Europeans seemed to regard this religion that originated in the far away land known as the Middle East as their spiritual and moral role model. What was wrong with traditional indigenous European religions? Did they not have any? Why was the religion that the foreigner Jesus taught superior? Why did they accept the New Testament teaching that this Jesus was the son of a god and a human virgin that was impregnated by a holy ghost, and is the only holy man to be accepted and revered? Why should the Indian people forsake their peaceful and harmless spiritual beliefs and practices for this foreign holy man and religion? Why was the religion and the ways of the yori superior to that of the Indian just because they had wondrous tools, water vessels, and weaponry?

The textbook Cycles of Conquest provides a brief 15th century Spanish Franciscan-documented account of an Opata nemútz who essentially confronted the Franciscan priest in his village with such questions. When the priest's responses did not satisfy nemútzan, nemútzan told the priest that he and his brethren ought to leave the Indians alone and never return. Nemútzan then turned around and walked away. The priest later recorded the incident in his journal that included the comment, "He was obviously of the Devil".

Nemútzan warned their people that compromising too many of their traditional ways for the ways of the yori and forsaking their religion for Roman Catholicism would lead to their children and future generations serving as the horses and dogs of the yoris. By that they meant, except for the introduction of the haro (parrot) brought to Opata Country by Indian hunters and traders from the tropical regions to the south, the taming and domestication of wildlife was never considered by the Opatan peoples or most Indigenous American cultures in general prior to its introduction by the Europeans.

Engaged conflicts of the Opata

Over the centuries, neighboring Opatan clans (villages) often ended up engaging in brief armed conflicts with one another. In most cases, the conflicts were initiated by some petty dispute between two or more individuals, which would then fester into more members of their clans backing them up. In many cases it was without prior consultation with the village chieftains and elders.

Sometimes a village nemútz would end up being killed by warriors of a (temporarily) rival village clan as a result of being accused of putting a curse on one or more of their villagers in the way of a sudden major illness, injury, or death that struck.

The chieftains and elders of the warring villages would eventually meet and implement a conflict resolution. The indigenous peoples of Sonora (Opatan, Piman, Yaqui, Mayo, Seri, and Cocopah) were never known to initiate major, on-going conflicts with another to the point of becoming "traditional rivals" as were some other indigenous tribes and nations throughout the Americas prior to the 20th century. Contemporary Yaqui and Seri elders tell of petty, brief skirmishes between their two peoples in previous centuries, but again, not to the point to where they considered one another traditional rivals. On the contrary, those indigenous Sonoran peoples affected by marauding bands of Chiricahua Apaches based in the general area of northeastern Sonora and southeastern Arizona territory often united to fight them off.

Prior to the 1850s, Chiricahua culture, as did some other indigenous peoples, held a predatory policy towards their indigenous neighbors in the way of invading, raping, and pillaging villages, which included the kidnapping of women and children.

When Opatas captured invading Chiricahua warriors that were mature adult males, they would execute them whether they were wounded or not, and place their bodies far enough away from their villages to avoid exposure of the odor of decomposition, and as food for wildlife to consume except for one hand, which the Opata warriors would cut off and wear around their necks on strings of hide as war victory trophies. They would also sometimes used a severed Chiricahua hand to stir their beverages in drinking vessels made from gourd or clay with as a further symbolic act of humiliation towards their defeated Chiricahua aggressors in the presence of their surviving captors. After decomposition, their skulls and bones would be used in certain ceremonies as well.

Surviving captors consisted of young Chiricahua male warriors (reported in Spanish Franciscan journals as being in their early teens), who were normally spared if not severely wounded. However, they would be tied to trees or wooden posts, whereupon female elders of the village would briefly burn their thighs with lit pieces of wood as a form of punishment and humiliation, as it was considered a humiliation for a male warrior to be punished in such a way by an old woman. The young men were not so severely burned that they could not walk. Upon receiving said consequences, they would be released without weaponry and forced to leave the village. Those that survived the journey back home to Chiricahua Country returned there with a humiliating story of defeat burned onto their thighs.

Some Chiricahua raiding parties included the young wives of warriors. Those that were captured and not severely wounded would end up the wives of Opata men. They would thus eventually learn the language and integrate into Opatan society.

(Contemporary Sonoran indigenous traditionalists hold no animosity towards contemporary Chiricahuas. Often said peoples participate together at inter-tribal indigenous events in North America).

Also between the 16th and mid-19th centuries, there were numerous incidents of Opatas, Pimas, Seris, and Yaquis forming alliances in response to excessive and unprovoked Spanish and later Mexican army aggression against some of their villages. Although Opatan villages tolerated the presence of "yoris" amongst them, they would not tolerate abuse.

The Seri people have always been the smallest "tribe" indigenous to Sonora. Seri elders to this day relate oral accounts of how the "Opati" as they call the Opata in their language, helped them defend their nation against oppression on the part of Spaniards and later Mexican government troops.

Most of the Indians that fought on the side of Maximillian during the French-Mexican War were from Sonora, which is elaborated on in more detail below under Noted Opatas and History.

Contemporary Opatan society

Although most residents of Opata Country today are of Opata descent and acknowledge it, very few Opata traditions are exercised by the general Opatan populace today, and their character is generally mestizaje (mainline Mexican mestizo) as opposed to a traditional indigenous character and lifestyle. Some have even gone so far (in objection of Opata traditionalists) as changing certain Opatan names that sound offensive in Spanish. For example, the Tehuima town of Oputo was changed to Villa Hidalgo by the municipal government as a result of mestizaje-centric people making fun of the "puto" in "Oputo". ("Puto" is a slang word in Spanish and Portuguese for "male prostitute" and also the derogatory equivalent of the English term "faggot" as in homosexual. In Portuguese, "o puto" means "the faggot" or "the male prostitute).

An oppressive Mexican general by the name of Ignacio López Rayón renamed the Eudeve town of Nacameri in honor of his mother ("Rayón") in the 1860s, and the municipal government has never changed it back to its original name.

The name of the Tehuima town of Oposura was also changed in the 19th century to the Nahuatl name of Moctezuma, and the municipal government there has never changed it back.

However, the ancient Opatan spring procession rite known today as the fariseo (with some Catholicism mixed in) is still exercised during Easter week in most towns and villages in Opata Country, which includes the wearing of masks and the use of traditional Opatan instruments during the procession that include hand-held gourd rattles, bands of small ankle rattles, and hand-held drums. Masks often include traditional ones carved from balsa wood depicting various painted human and animal-like facial figures.

Another ancient Opatan custom was the placement of a four-stations cross made of wood and covered with moss on the roofs of their dwellings, which were replenished with fresh moss at the beginning of each spring. The cross represents the four sacred directions and the four seasons. Many Opatan descendants in Opata Country today continue to exercise this tradition in the way of placing such a cross on the front door of their homes.

There are Opata elders who through oral tradition know a number of words and phrases in the Eudeve and Tehuima dialects, but there are no known fluent Eudeve or Tehuima speakers other than those alleged in the 1993 national Mexican census. However, efforts are being made by some contemporary Opata traditionalists to revive the Eudeve and Tehuima dialects and have them taught in schools in Opata Country.

Traditional Opata religion and traditional Opata cultural values that conflicted with Spanish/Roman Catholic teachings and attitudes went underground well before the 20th century, but have been discreetly preserved and exercised untainted by Christian/Roman Catholic rites, symbolism, and theology over the centuries by a minority of Opata elders from each generation who have passed the traditional teachings and ways onto select descendants of their communities, who in turn have exercised many of the ancient rites and traditions discreetly in caves and other remote areas of Opata Country. (Ethnologist R.W. Giddings documented that she happened upon such a gathering being held in a cave in Eudeve territory in 1959, but did not enter, participate, or inquire about it later).

The old traditions are not shared with most contemporary Opata descendants in general and especially non-indigenous peoples due to their cultural indoctrination by Christianity and Euro colonization. However, some among the minority of indigenous-centric Opata traditionalists are gradually attempting to revive many of the old peaceful Opata traditions and values among the general Opatan populace, and to petition the Mexican government into recognizing the Opata people as a living culture and nation that has just been culturally progressive in many aspects as opposed to becoming completely dormant or extinct language and traditions-wise.

Noted Opatas and history

Sisibotari was a respected Jova chieftain known throughout Opata Country who lived from the late 16th century to the mid-17th century. He served as a major intermediary between the Opatan peoples and the Spanish, which helped maintain peace between the two peoples during his time. ("Sisibotari" means, "The Great Lord"). Father Andrés Pérez de Ribas described Sisibotari as, "He was handsome and still young, wore a long coat attached at his shoulder like a cape, and his loins were covered with a cloth, as was the custom of that nation. On the wrist of his left hand, which holds the bow when the hand pulls the cord to send the arrow, he wore a very becoming marten skin".^[1]

Ignacio Dorame was an Opata Caudillo who led a large force of Opatas in the 1820s. The archivo de la Mitra (or Bishop's Archive) en Hermosillo contains correspondence from priests in the towns in eastern Sonora documenting his gathering recruits and rousing of the Opata in the region. The archives of Moris, Chihuahua just across the border from Sonora, document his arrival there to gather support of the Raramuri (Tarahumara) people as well as the Mountain Pima in creating a Confederation of Native Tribes. He was expelled by a General Urrea from Chihuahua. Ignacio Dorame is also referred to as "El Opata Dorame."

Juan Tanori and Refugio Tanori were a pair of Eudeve brothers that lived during the first half of the 19th century. Like their father Luis Tanori before them, they became respected militia chieftains among their peoples, and were commissioned brigadier generals in the French Army by Emperor Maximilian during the Franco-Mexican War as leaders of the Sonoran Indian troops, being that Maximillian made a pact with the indigenous nations of Sonora, which consisted of allowing Sonora independent statehood in the form of an indigenous confederation known as the Confederación India de Sonora if France won the war. The only stipulation after the war would be for the new Indian Confederation of Sonora to provide a percentage of silver mining profits to the French government, which the leadership of the indigenous nations of Sonora agreed to. Therefore, most of the “Indian troops” that fought on the side of Maximillian during the French-Mexican War were from Sonora, even though their motive for doing so was out of aspiration for an indigenous state independent from Mexico as opposed to loyalty to the French Crown.

In fact, after that offer from Maximillian had been made, the indigenous leadership of Sonora advised President Benito Juárez of it with the assumption that he would offer them the same deal, particularly since he was indigenous (a Zapotec from Oaxaca) himself. However, he refused, stating that it was in the best interests of the nation to leave the Republic intact as it was.

Juan Tanori was subsequently captured by the Mexican Army during a battle in the Tehuima town of Bavispe in 1862 and was sentenced to death by hanging shortly thereafter.

Refugio Tanori was captured at the end of the war while trying to escape with a Yaqui general and some of their militia in a boat across the Gulf of California from Sonora to the Baja California peninsula. They and other captured indigenous Sonoran militia leaders that had served under Maximillian were subsequently executed by firing squad by for what was regarded by the defending and triumphant Mexican nationalists as treason against the Mexican Republic.

In honor of those indigenous ancestors who fought for the ideal of an independent indigenous state of Sonora, some contemporary Opata and other Sonoran Indian traditionalists do not celebrate Cinco de Mayo—the national Mexican holiday that celebrates the defeat of French troops and their indigenous allies at the Battle of Puebla in 1865. (Cinco de Mayo is more of a popular celebration among Mexican-Americans in the United States than it is among people in Mexico anyway, and is often confused by foreigners with Mexican Independence Day, which is observed on September 16).

Kathleen Alcalá is an accomplished Mexican-American author of Opata descent who has included Opata themes in some of her works.

Teresa Leal^{[dead link]} is an Opata-Mayo civic leader and founder of indigenous women's and indigenous people's community health organizations in Ambos Nogales. She filed as the co-plaintiff-appellant, with the Sierra Club (Grand Canyon Chapter), in a citizen law suit filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission.

References

1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=jD540sJ1cGcC&pg=RA1-PA30&lpg=RA1-PA30&dq=sisibotari+He+was+handsome+and+still+young&source=bl&ots=-uu11yQ8zr&sig=8Fi8idO9pXY5HkhB1EcVCuQ2y18&hl=en&ei=ARzES5zxMZHWsQOmx_3ZDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=sisibotari%20He%20was%20handsome%20and%20still%20young&f=false

• Opatas Unidos Refer to the Files (Archivos), Links (Enlaces), and Photos (Fotos).
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Opata". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• David Yetman. The Opatas: In Search of a Sonoran People (University of Arizona Press; 2010) 338 pages; ethnohistory

Oral traditionalist consultants

Elders Doña Claudia, Don Domingo, Doña Gloria, and "El Güico" of Opata Country.

Medicine elder Cachora Guitemea of the Yoeme (Yaqui) Nation of Sonora.

External links

• Opatas Unidos An open membership Yahoo! Groups discussion forum in English and Spanish that includes files, links, and images.