Cáhita

The Cáhita religion is the traditional belief of the Cáhita peoples, the Yaqui, Mayo and Tehueco among them, who farmed the river valleys of Sonora and Sinaloa. Jesuit missionaries recorded them in detail from the seventeenth century and counted five main nations: the Sinaloa, Ocoroni, Zuaque, Mayo and Yaqui.

They worshipped the forces of nature, the wind, the water, the earth, the sun and the sea, and made offerings to them for good harvests and abundant fishing. Above all these forces they believed in something superior that was responsible for all of creation.

Their ceremonies were simple and without elaborate ritual. Healers, who knew the medicinal herbs and treated the sick with strongly religious practices, held great prestige, and the Jesuits called them both sorcerers and political leaders.