The Otomi are a Mexican indigenous people who, due to coexistence in the same regions over the centuries, share traits of material culture with the Nahuas .

At the time of the arrival of the Spanish to Mexico, in the 16th century , the Otomi lived in village communities and in neighborhoods of the cities of the political-military confederations that disputed control of the territory of Central Mexico: the Triple Alliance, the Tlaxcala confederation and the Tarascan State.

Location of the Otomi

It is considered that the place of origin of the Otomí peoples, in pre-Hispanic times, was the northwest of the Mexican Central Highlands, since in that area it is possible to trace various peoples with languages ​​related to Otomí. From this region, where they lived for millennia, migrations to other areas would have occurred since the end of the pre-Hispanic period.

Today, the Otomi occupy various areas of central Mexico. They settle especially in the Valle del Mezquital , in the State of Hidalgo. There are also more or less numerous Otomi communities in the States of Mexico, Querétaro and Veracruz. 

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Characteristics of the Otomi

The main characteristics of the Otomi are the following:

• Groups with Otomi linguistic roots inhabited Central Mexico from 2500 BC. C., approximately, which allows us to affirm that this group is among the first to occupy the Mexican highlands .
• There was no Otomi cultural unit beyond linguistic identity and certain ethnic markers, such as clothing and some hairstyles. The cultural traits varied according to the environment of the regions they inhabited and in general they were shared with other groups.
• Since 1000 AD. C. the presence in the Otomí region of Nahua groups, as well as the integration with other peoples that inhabited the territory, produced a homogeneous culture with few differentiations beyond the language. The researchers refer in general terms to a Central-Mexican cultural unit with different languages.
• At the time of the conquest of Mexico there were different Otomi lordships inhabiting central Mexico and also Otomi neighborhoods in lordships of other ethnic groups.
• These were village settlements that were mainly dedicated to the cultivation of corn , beans and squash. The groups that inhabited the cities were engaged in trade, especially textiles.
• At present, the Otomí population is around 670,000 people . Most of them inhabit the central area of ​​Mexico, especially in the State of Hidalgo. The Otomi people of the Mezquital Valley call themselves hñähñü .
• The current Otomí populations practice agriculture with traditional techniques . They grow corn, potatoes, beans, cactus, pumpkin and chickpea. In the Valle del Mezquital, maguey is grown to obtain fibers and to prepare pulque.

Otomi religion

1. The religion of the Otomi revolved around the cult of various deities integrated into a cosmogonic whole. Each of these gods symbolized a natural force or a trade. Each town had a patron god identified with an ancestor, or it could correspond to the trade god characteristic of each locality.
2. There are many parallels between the Aztec and Otomí religions, which are manifested through the same polytheistic organization in a pantheon dominated by the presence of an ancestral couple, for the Otomí Old Father and Old Mother, and for the Nahua the gods Tota ( our father) and Tonan (our mother) on the one hand, and Uehuetéotl (old god) and Ilamateuctli (old lady) on the other.
3. The Atitalaquia Relation says that the peoples who gave obedience to Mexico were obliged “to take for gods the demons that those of Mexico pointed out to them.” Similarly, the Queretaro Relationship says that the Otomi, in addition to their particular gods, worshiped those of Mexico.  Huitzilopochtli appears in the Relationships as the god of Ueypochtla and Ajacuba. With respect to Tezcatlipoca, it is said that he was the god of Tornacuxtla and Tepatepec. The Metztitlán Relationshipspeaks of various deities such as Ometochtli, Tezcatlipoca, and Hueytonantzin. The Otomi of Tutotepec “used to see in their sacrifices on the saddle a very black figure without distinction of parts or fractions and that caused them great fear and amazement” that Carrasco supposes was Tezcatlipoca in his form of Youalli Ehécatl. According to the Anales de Cuauhtitlán, the Toltecs began the skinning of men in worship of Xipe, with an Otomí woman as the first victim, in the year 13-cane, one before the destruction of Tula. The name of one of the Otomi months is equivalent to “skinning”.
4. The Huichapan Codex shows a set of numerical correlations between the calendrical systems of the Mexica and that of the Otomi, both based on annual cycles of 18 months of 20 days. In the Metzca calendar, the months have Nahua names, but the sixth and tenth months ( tzahio and tzinco ) have Otomi names. In the Metzca religion, the cult of the moon stands out. Metztitlán means “Place of the moon”, since it is believed that the Metzcas fought war on nights of the full moon.
5. But the most characteristic of the Otomí gods was Otontecutli, the first leader of the Otomí (also worshiped by the Mexica). Another name for Otontecutli is Xócotl (according to Carrasco, “oak wood”). In the Otomi festivities it was customary to raise an oak stick with a mass idol on top, which represents Otontecutli in the figure of a bird, which alludes to those who died in war and those who had been sacrificed, who, after four years of death According to beliefs shared with the Mexica, after having accompanied the sun, they turned into birds.
6. The existence in the Otomí pantheon of deities of a sexual nature is interesting. The old god of fire was also called Cuecuex, which means “lustful.” Another Otomí goddess was Xochiquetzal, a young woman derived from the old mother in the Huamantla Codex ; under his invocation were the fabric and sexual license. Another form of the goddess of the earth and the moon that existed among the Otomi was Tlazoltéotl, which was considered of Huastec origin, and whose attributes are related to lust; in Otomí it is Nohpytecha, goddess of garbage.
7. According to Sahagún, the main god of the Otomí was Yocippa (equivalent to totol , bird), to whom “they had made very good cu which was a hut made of very fine straw whose construction was only dedicated to his cu and nobody made a house for that way or form ”.  One of the main Otomi gods of Xilotepec was the god of the wind whom they called Edahi, equivalent to the Ehécatl Mexica. Fray Esteban García says that the Otomi of Tutotepec worshiped the air, personified in the god of the wind Edahi. They also worshiped Muye, lord of the rain, who must be equal to the Tláloc mexica. Among the Otomi there were the lesser gods Auaque and Tlaloque who were invoked by the conjurers of rain. The god of pulque was Yo Khwa (two rabbits), the Mexican Ometochtli.  Ueuecóyotl, an old coyote, was the god of dance and song among the Otomi.  The Otomi god of battles was called Ayonat Zyhtama-yo. The Otomi of Tutotepec worshiped a god of the mountains called Ochadapo, and a god of the sows called Bi-mazopho.  Regarding the Otomi priests, Sahagún says:
8. In his cu [of Yoccipa] there were priests called Tlamacazque who raised and taught the boys there. They did penance for all there: they watched all night at the time of the sacrifices, they stabbed or bled their lips or thighs with the maguey tips, and at midnight they washed at the time of the cold and fasted and played their tambourine or teponaztli on top of the cu and they said that they watched and guarded with that instrument of tolling.

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Political and social organization of the Otomi

Political organization

Otomi populations participate in Mexican political life. They are inserted in the constitutional city council scheme with elective local political authorities .

Social organization

The social organization of the Otomi is based on the family, which, depending on the region, can be a nuclear family or an extended family . The family structure is patrilineal, that is, the children live with the father’s family.

The work is divided by sex. The men take care of the crops, livestock, construction and community work, and the women carry out the housework, take care of the children and collaborate during the sowing and harvesting.

Community work , called “la faena”, is very important .

Otomi beliefs

At present the Otomi practice the Catholic religion with aspects of syncretism in worship. They maintain beliefs linked to pre-Columbian religions .

The identification of Christian saints with original deities of pre-Hispanic cultures is common. Their original beliefs are also manifested in the propitiatory rituals of agricultural activities, in the cult of the dead and in medicine .

Otomi language

They are known four variants of the Otomi languages . They all have the same Ottoman linguistic roots , but have been diversified as a result of migrations. While two of them have numerous speakers, the other two are tending toward disappearance.

Otomi clothing

The Otomi, in general, adopt the clothing of the peasants of the region where they live . Older women tend to keep traditional clothing , which consists of an embroidered blouse and a shawl, the shawl, with which they cover their shoulders.