Word: zinacantan
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Zinacantan is the physical center of the universe. Or so the Zinacantecos believe people, eight thousand strong, scattered over a mountainous section state of Chiapas, Mexico, near the Guatamalian border--an area that seems quite insignificant on any map of the world. But Zinacantecos do not care how they appear to the rest of the world. They do not even think of themselves primarily as Indians, despite the fact (unrecognized by them) that descendants of the great Mayan race. What a Zinacanteco? He speaks a language known as "Tzotzil." He has developed over centuries a way of life strongly resistant...
...Zinacantan, hilly and forested, does not have enough arable land to produce all the corn needed. So the Zinacantecos often rent fields a days walk from their homes, in a tropical part of Chiapas called "hot country." For weeks at a time the men are gone from home, tending their fields. During the summer, I worked with them, in return for my shelter, but especially for their friendship...
...leaning pieces against the fire, beans, stewed squash, or some other stewable kind of weed. Or perhaps chilis crushed in a bowl, with water and bits of onion added, into which to dip the koshosh. As darkness fell, the Indians sat over the oak fire and talked of Zinacantan politics, of weather and witchcraft, sickness and crops. At the center of the world things are fairly simple, after all; and it gave me a good feeling. There were only the elements, the earth, the corn, the fire, the night; and out of them a few men, asking few questions, trying...