Quiche ( Spanish: Quiché ) - the indigenous people of America , who lived in the mountains of Guatemala , one of the representatives of the Maya ethnic group. Synonyms: Keche, Kechel (self-name: "people of a forest country").
Quiche belongs to the authorship of the epic “ Popol-Vuh ” and the play “ Rabinal Achi ”. The population is 250 thousand people. The language - quiche , is represented by a number of dialects, belongs to the Quiche group of the Quiche-Mama branch of the Mayan languages . They also speak Spanish . Believers are Catholics and Protestants .
Content
Origin
Ethnographic legends raise the Quiche to the Toltecs : they came to Guatemala from Tabasco in the X - XI centuries. and conquered the central highlands with the capital Kumarkah (Utatlan). By the end of the 14th century , many peoples of Guatemala were subordinate to Quiche. In the XV century , the Kakchikeli nationality separated from them, forming its own state.
Household and traditions
Traditional occupations: manual slash-and-burn agriculture (the main culture is maize ( corn ). Ancillary industries are hunting, fishing , beekeeping . After the Spanish conquest, they cultivated arable farming, gardening , and gardening .
Traditional crafts: jewelry , ceramics , patterned weaving , weaving, the manufacture of masks, musical instruments.
Housing and food - like Maya.
Clothing for women - white shirts with embroidery on the collar, wipil with ornament, stocking skirts to the knees or to the ankles. For men, a Creole type costume. On holidays, national clothes are used - black pants to the knees, a black jacket (bolero), with red embroidery, a red belt, shoulder bags, sandals , a cape (serape), a hat , under which is a red scarf .
Social Organization
The family is mainly small, there are also large patrilocal.
Famous Representatives
- Tekun Uman - leader, organizer of resistance to the Spanish conquistadors in the first quarter of the XVI century.
- Rigoberta Menchu , a Guatemalan politician and human rights activist, activist in the struggle for the rights of the country's indigenous people, is a native of the Quiche people.
Literature
- Encyclopedia " Peoples and Religions of the World ", M.-1989.
- Popol-Vuh. Family tree of the lords of Totonicapana.
- drama Rabinale-Achi
- Encyclopedia "Latin America", Volume 1, p. 573, M.-1979.
- Francisco Hernandez Arana Shahil. “Memorial note from Solol or Tekpan-Atitlan, also called the Chakchikely Chronicle” (per. V. Talakh). - Kiev, 2009. . Archived December 9, 2012.