Tarahumara Indians

The dignified and reclusive Tarahumara Indians are a tribe who have chosen to live apart from modern western culture. They live primitively, subsisting on corn, beans, and their livestock. In the winter they live in caves, moving into small log cabins in the summer.

They are excellent weavers and produce fine wool blankets to provide warmth during the harsh winters of the canyon. The Tarahumara, like most native American tribes have suffered since the arrival of the conquistadors. Though they were not hit as hard as some other tribes by smallpox and other European diseases, many Tarahumara suffer from tuberculosis; and their lifespan is, on average, fairly short.. Jesuit missionaries have helped to alleviate the effects of disease and have encouraged some of the Tarahumara children to attend school in Creel.

There are tours available from Creel which take you to a Jesuit mission and into a Tarahumara cave house. The tour can give you at least a fleeting glimpse of the Tarahumara culture.