Lacandón

Mayan Indians who live in a rich tropical rainforest on the border of Mexico and Guatemala.

Largely isolated, they maintained a traditional way of life until modern times, fishing, hunting, and growing vegetables and fruits. They spin fibres and weave cloth, tan leather, and make pottery, flutes, dugout canoes, and nets. They have preserved their traditional beliefs. Their total number has declined, and only several hundred remain.

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▪ people

      Mayan Indians living in a territory on the Mexico-Guatemala border. Some Lacandón probably live in Belize, across the eastern border of Guatemala. Currently divisible into two major groups, the total number of Lacandón is less than 600 and decreasing. They inhabit a rich tropical rain forest, well supplied with water, fish, game, and fertile soil. The Lacandón have preserved until recently a quite isolated and primitive way of life. They are farmers, growing corn, beans, squash, and tomatoes together in mixed plots. Other vegetables and fruits may also be grown in separate gardens. They also gather wild fruit, hunt game, and fish.

      Lacandón settlements may consist of single households or clusters of several households, known as caribales. The houses are thatched huts that may or may not have walls, supported on pole frameworks. Possessions are stored in the thatch, and food is hung from the roof in baskets. Crafts include the construction of dugout canoes, the spinning and weaving of cloth, leather tanning, and the making of bark cloth, nets, hammocks, pottery, flutes, bows, and stone-tipped arrows. Clothing usually consists of a long, loose tunic reaching almost to the ground, worn by both sexes. The hair is customarily worn long and loose by both sexes. There is still little trade or contact with the outside world.

      The Lacandón are among the few Middle American Indian groups that successfully resisted the introduction of Roman Catholicism, and most have preserved their traditional beliefs. Unfortunately, disease and waning population have resulted in the loss of some elements of their traditional culture and religion, but prayer and several rituals are commonly practiced.

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