Zapotec

By Douglas P. Fry

Ben 'Zaa, Binii Gula'sa', Tsapotecatl, Za, Zapoteco

The Spanish name "Zapoteco" stems from the Nahuatl name for the Zapotec, "Tsapotecatl," which, in turn, was derived from the name of a fruit, the zapote, that was common in the region. Pre-Hispanic Zapotec referred to themselves as the "Ben 'Zaa" (cloud people). On occasion, modern Zapotec refer to themselves as "Za" (the people), but it is more typical of them to identify themselves as being from a particular community or region.

The Zapotec are the largest indigenous group in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Oaxaca is located between 15° and 19° N and 94° and 99° W. The Zapotec inhabit four main areas of Oaxaca: the central valley, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the sierra region in the north, and the southern coastal mountain area called the Sierra de Miahuatlán. The central valley (average elevation 1,550 meters) has a temperate climate, the isthmus and other coastal areas are tropical and semiarid, whereas the sierra regions to the north and south, with variable elevations higher than the central valley, have a cooler climate than the temperate central valley. All regions experience dry and rainy seasons, the latter beginning in May and extending to October. Diverse microclimates exist in all of these regions.

The indigenous populations of Oaxaca generally, and the Zapotec in particular, underwent a marked depopulation following the Spanish Conquest. For example, the population of the central valley, estimated at about 350,000 when the Spanish arrived, had declined to about 40,000 or 45,000 by the 1630s, and regained its pre-Conquest level only in the mid-1970s. In 1971 the state of Oaxaca had 307,245 Zapotec speakers; in 2005 the state of Oaxaca had 357,000 Zapotec speakers.

Zapotec languages belong to the Otomanguean Language Family. There are probably at least nine separate, mutually unintelligible Zapotec languages: one in the central valley, one in the isthmus, four in the northern sierra, and three in the southern Sierra de Miahuatlán. Additionally, dialect differences often exist between communities.

Today, the impressive ruins of Monte Albán, Mitla, and Yagul (among others) stand as testimony to the accomplishments of the pre-Hispanic Zapotec. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the Zapotec developed a powerful state system that flourished and then declined. Long before the rise of the state (ca. 8000 to 1,500 BC), the Zapotec and the related Mixtec camped in small groups probably of twenty-five persons or less. Permanent villages appeared during the Formative period (ca. 1,500 to 100 BC) as did various new customs and practices, including loom weaving, adobe construction, stone masonry, pottery making, a 260-day calendar, human and animal sacrifice, and redistribution and reciprocal exchange systems. During the Classic period (ca. AD 300 to 900), Monte Albán was the metropolis of the Zapotec area, the center of a state organization that exerted its influence throughout southern Mexico. The Postclassic (ca. AD 900 to 1520) was the time of competitive Zapotec city-states. During the fifteenth century, the Aztec occupied the central valley and founded a garrison that would later become the state capital, Oaxaca City. When the Spanish arrived in Oaxaca, this garrison served as their colonial headquarters. Compared with the Aztec invasion, the Spanish presence in Oaxaca was exploitative and religious rather than military; compared to many parts of Mexico, most Zapotec communities remained relatively autonomous. Presently, through the market system, the Zapotec have contact with other indigenous groups and mestizos

The Zapotec are primarily town-dwelling peasant farmers. In the central valley, for instance, communities are compact and most villages have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. The mountain Zapotec also live in compact settlements, although in the southern sierra there are some scattered ranches. In the isthmus, in addition to rural villages, there are two urban centers that are primarily Zapotec in composition-Juchitán and Tehuantepec. A typical Zapotec community has a Catholic church, a central plaza, local governmental buildings, a primary school, perhaps a health clinic, and probably several small dry-goods stores. Depending on its history and size, the community may be divided into barrios or sections. Generally, narrow unpaved streets are lined with adobe house walls, fences of woven cane, or cacti planted in a row. Yards and patios are often only semiprivate, being visible from the street and neighboring compounds.

The majority of Zapotec in all regions are peasant farmers, practicing a mixture of subsistence and cash agriculture with some animal husbandry. This is also the case in the isthmus urban centers. The primary subsistence crops are maize, beans, and squashes; various other crops are grown, depending on the climate, the availability of irrigation sources, and soil conditions. The household is the basic production unit but it is linked to the outside through an elaborate, cyclical marketplace system that has operated for centuries. At times, maize may be sold as a cash crop. In the valley region, a limited number of farmers plant garbanzo beans or wheat as off-season crops, whereas maguey, which is used to make the liquor mescal, is widely planted as a cash crop.

In the mountain regions, coffee is a cash crop; in the isthmus, cash crops are bananas, mangoes, and coconuts. Crops are sometimes irrigated, although many villages remain totally dependent on rainfall. In all regions, farmers use teams of oxen to plow their fields; however, when mountain slopes are too steep for oxen, planting may be accomplished with a digging stick. Tractor use is gradually increasing.

Many Zapotec communities are specialized by craft and industry. In the valley, for instance, village specializations include the production of pottery, wool serapes, grinding stones (metates), woven belts, baskets, and other goods. In the northern sierra, crafts are less prevalent but include leatherworking and cotton weaving. Dress varies both among and within the Zapotec regions, with women's clothing showing greater variety than men's apparel. The Zapotec can often identify a woman's village of origin by her style of dress.

Oaxaca is known for its highly developed market system, and the Zapotec are renowned for their commercial activities. Since pre-Hispanic times, the Zapotec have maintained trade routes through much of Oaxaca. Products were carried by tumpline, a device that is still used by farmers to transport such loads as firewood. Certain localities, for example, the valley community of Mitla, specialized in trading activities. Presently, the Zapotec play a central role in the indigenous marketplace activities in both Oaxaca City and Tehuantepec.

In each Zapotec region, men and women engage in different activities, but the specific nature of the division of labor is somewhat variable. Generally, men farm, and women prepare food, perform domestic chores, and perhaps participate in commercial activities. The isthmus Zapotec women are well known for their commercial activities and are almost exclusively the traders in marketplaces. Selling is an activity closed to isthmus men, whereas in other regions both men and women produce and sell various goods. In the valley town of Teotitlán del Valle, only men weave and generally sell serapes. Some men are so successful as weavers (they now sell to an international market) that they hire farmers from neighboring villages to work their fields.

Prior to changes in the Mexican constitution in 1992, land tenure consisted of a mixture of private land, communal land, and ejidos. A farmer's private land usually consists of several small separate parcels, not one continuous holding. Local authorities grant permission to community members to farm or graze livestock on communal lands, which generally are of poor quality. Ejidos do not exist everywhere. They were established under the land reforms following the Mexican Revolution and are portions of communities (sometimes whole communities) that hold land in common under a special local authority structure. The large haciendas, common in other parts of Mexico, were relatively insignificant in Zapotec Oaxaca.

The aboriginal Zapotec kinship system was bilateral and ambilineal, that is, descent was reckoned in both lines-and still is today. With variation from place to place, the system of ritual co-parenthood, compadrazgo, is used by the Zapotec.

Zapotec kinship terms, ancient and modern, are closest to the Hawaiian type. Spanish terms are replacing some of the Zapotec designations.

Most Zapotec communities are endogamous, although this is by custom, not by rule, and there are exceptions in most locations. Monogamy is generally practiced. The Zapotec discuss at least two types of marriage: free union and church marriage. Divorce is not permitted by the Catholic Church, but sometimes spouses simply separate and take other spouses. Young couples sometimes live together prior to a formal marriage. Often they are later married by the church, but sometimes they separate. A pregnancy often will prompt a marriage, either through the church or through common law. The most common residence pattern is patrilocal for young couples, but neolocality sometimes follows patrilocality, perhaps after the birth of the first child. Less commonly, residence may be matrilocal; for example, when a bride lacks brothers, her husband may come to live with her and assist his father-in-law in the fields.

Depending on his or her stage in the life cycle, a Zapotec may live in a nuclear or an extended family.

The rule is that all children should inherit equally, but in actuality, younger offspring who are still living with parents at the time of death may inherit more. Additionally, sons tend to inherit more land than do daughters. Land may be inherited at the parent's death, at an offspring's marriage, or when a parent becomes too old to work the fields.

There is considerable variation in socialization practices even among closely situated Zapotec communities. For instance, parents in two adjoining valley communities may have very different beliefs about the use of physical punishment on children and also have different expectations about their children's conduct. Generally, young children up to the age of three years are treated affectionately, but often, corresponding with the arrival of the next sibling, parental affection is curtailed. Parents regularly frighten children by threatening that outsiders will take them away or eat them. Children are rarely instructed in how to accomplish a task or how to behave; rather, children are expected to observe, practice, and consequently learn. Older children are regularly the caretakers of younger children, which allow the adults to tend to their work.

From the Postclassic period onward, the local community has been the primary sociopolitical entity in Zapotec society. Post-Classic Zapotec society consisted of three groups: commoners, priests, and the nobility, with each community having a controlling lord. In modern Oaxaca, the community remains the essential unit of organization, bound together by an institutionalized form of exchange called the guela uetza, or gozana, which has several manifestations. It can involve the exchange of agricultural labor or the exchange of goods during celebrations such as weddings and saint's day fiestas. For example, when a son or daughter is going to marry, the father visits all the households that owe him some form of debt from past occasions (e.g., mescal or turkeys) and ask for repayment at the upcoming wedding.

In most Zapotec communities, citizens are elected to fill positions in a cargo system. Zapotec cargos are hierarchically arranged, age-graded religious and political posts in which adult men in the community serve terms of office without pay. The cargo system itself is consistently present in Zapotec communities, although variation exists as to details such as how officials are nominated and elected, the number of posts, and the duties of particular positions. Common posts include mayor, judge, and other officials such as treasurer and police captain. It is also noteworthy that the isthmus Zapotec women in particular wield considerable political power.

The Zapotec employ a variety of formal and informal social controls. Formal disputes may be brought before the local or district authorities, who have the ability to fine and imprison wrongdoers. At the informal level, mechanisms such as the avoidance of conflict situations; the denial of hostility and anger; the internalization of ideals such as respect, cooperation, and responsibility; fear of witchcraft; gossip; envy; and the withdrawal of social support operate variably in different locations. One frequently notes that Zapotec ideal behavior involves respect for others. The renowned former Mexican president, Benito Juárez, a Zapotec, reflected the importance of respect in Zapotec thinking when he wrote, "respect for the rights of others is peace."

Notwithstanding the Zapotec valuation of respect, they have been involved in conflict. For much of the Classic and Post-Classic periods, there is evidence that military conquest, coupled with the enslavement and at times sacrifice of captives, was a prevalent Zapotec institution. During the Mexican Revolution, some Zapotec communities, such as Ixtepeji in the northern sierra, became involved in the conflict, but others did not. Intervillage disputes over community boundaries, sometimes resulting in the loss of life, have periodically arisen in many areas for at least the last several hundred years. Interestingly, the level of intracommunity conflict is extremely variable; some Zapotec communities are very peaceful, whereas others are much more violent. Historical, social-structural, and psycho-cultural variables appear to be interrelated factors accounting for this pronounced variability.

The pre-Hispanic Zapotec perceived their universe as consisting of the center surrounded by four quarters, each with a certain color and supernatural attributes. Time was viewed as cyclical, not lineal, and the Zapotec believed in gods associated with various natural elements, such as rain. The Zapotec rain god was worshiped in the northern sierra region until the mid-twentieth century. Presently, the Zapotec follow a form of Catholicism wherein saint worship plays a dominant part and pre-Hispanic beliefs have become fused with Catholicism. The Zapotec worldview includes a cast of supernaturals: witches, male and female devils, images of Christ (as a child and as an adult), and animal guardians (tonos). At birth, each person acquires his or her tono (e.g., a mountain lion). An unbaptized person risks becoming a nahual-an animal form assumed in the state of possession.

Aside from Catholic priests, specialized Zapotec ritual leaders, hechiceros, also conduct certain ceremonies, including offerings of flowers, food, poultry blood, mescal, money, cigarettes, and prayers at occasions such as weddings, funerals, and house initiations.

Traditionally, the Zapotec engaged in numerous rituals associated with their farming activities. Lightning, Cosijo, was seen as alive; the powerful deity was offered human blood, quail, dogs, human infants, and war captives in exchange for rain. Modern Zapotec mark major life-cycle events such as baptism, communion, marriage, and death with ceremonies in the church and in their homes. Important ceremonies occur on Todos Santos (All Saints' Day) and on the patron saints' days in each community.

Pre-Hispanic Zapotec architectural achievements are especially evident from the temples, compounds, and courts of Monte Albán and Mitla. Some modern Zapotec towns are renowned for serape weavings, pottery, and other crafts.

The Zapotec have an impressive repertoire of remedies and cures. Members of both sexes are curers, but only women are midwives, and only men mend bones. Illness may be attributed to improper religious conduct, soul loss, envy, anger, the evil eye, fright (susto or espanto), and witchcraft.

The Zapotec distinguish between ordinary death and sudden violent death; in the latter, the deceased's soul does not make the transition to heaven. A distinction is also made in the death ritual for married and unmarried persons.

Chiñas, Beverly L. (1973). The Isthmus Zapotec: Women's Roles in Cultural Context. New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston.

Flannery, Kent, and Joyce Marcus, eds. (1983). The Cloud People. New York: Academic Press.

Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografia e Informatica. 2006. Resultados Definitivos del II Conteo de Población y Vivienda 2005 Para el Estado de Oaxaca. http://www.inegi.gob.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/Boletines/Boletin/Comunicados/Especiales/2006/Mayo/comunica23.pdf Accessed May 30, 2008.

Nader, Laura (1969). "The Zapotec of Oaxaca." In Handbook of Middle American Indians, edited by Robert Wauchope. Vol. 7, Ethnology, Part One, edited by Evon Z. Vogt, 329-357. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Whitecotton, Joseph W. (1977). The Zapotecs. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

This culture summary is from the article "Zapotec" by Douglas P. Fry, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 8, Middle America and Caribbean, James W. Dow and Robert Van Kemper, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall &Co. 1995. Population figures were updated in June 2008 with information from the Mexican census.