This collective work of some native peoples of Mexico can be a valuable proposal for community building, since, while achieving a common good, it stands as a form of resistance to the capitalist model, whose discourses of solidarity are entangled by merely individual interests. Engaging with a timeless form of solidarity that has endured for centuries helps us to confirm that the utopian realms we envision are not just fantasies, but realities within reach.
Mexico is the fifth most biodiverse country in the world and culturally has 68 languages. The state of Oaxaca, for its part, is the most biodiverse in the Mexican Republic and has the largest number of languages and ethnic groups in the country. We suppose that biological diversity is also related to cultural richness.Within the latter, there is an exemplary social institution with deep pre-Hispanic roots of which we will discuss its origin, characteristics and examples. This institution has allowed the cohesion of many indigenous communities in Mexico as well as their social and economic evolution up to the present day: The Tequio.
This institution or social practice can be defined according to its distinctive characteristics as “the collective practice of work or free collaboration among the members of some indigenous peoples and that has as its objective a common benefit.” The word tequio comes from the Nahuatl root tequitl meaning “work” or “tribute.”
Tequio as a form of collective participation of our peoples is a tradition prior to the arrival of the Spaniards and it is known that it was used by them for their colonization projects, since labor was required for the urbanization works and for their diverse economic activities. For this, they used the help of the tlatoanis or rulers of the pre-Hispanic towns who exercised authority over their towns. Later, the Spaniards used the tequio (which was a form of collective public work) for their private activities, which generated overexploitation and the consequent complaints of the “Indians,” as they were called by the colonizers. Faced with this, the Spaniards opted to remunerate this work, but with very meager wages. Proof of this exploitation were the encomiendas, laborers [Peonaje, in Spanish] and manufacturing [Obraje, in Spanish].
The encomienda was the first form of colonial exploitation and consisted in the provision of unpaid work to a group of people by a Spaniard called “encomendero” in exchange for receiving Catholic doctrine and the protection of his “master.” Peonaje was the salaried work in the mines, whose workers were called laborers [Peones, in Spanish]. Obraje was the work performed by the natives in small textile factories in exchange for equally paltry wages. It is not strange then that the Royal Academy defined Tequio as a personal work that was imposed as tribute to the Indians. With the abuse of Tequio, the Spaniards disrupted this social custom, which, from being a pre-Hispanic experience of free and gratifying collective work, became an activity of labor and economic exploitation.
The great pre-Hispanic cities, their agricultural systems and their admirable irrigation and drainage works in the Valley of Mexico cannot be explained without the collective and supportive collaboration of our ancestors. And despite the onslaught of exploitative systems, such as colonialism and capitalism, the tequio survives and continues to be a form of resistance, as well as a tangible demonstration of the spirit of solidarity of our native peoples.
Of all the social institutions, perhaps the tequio is the most important of our indigenous peoples, since it comprises their public life and is the most widespread in the country. However, it is not the only one, since there are other less known and some private that have several of its characteristics, mainly solidarity.
We can mention, among others, the Guelaguetza, practiced by the Zapotec people of Oaxaca, which consists of the help of the neighbors to whoever holds a party or a social event of a family nature. This help is reciprocal and proportional when each one of them has a social commitment (wedding, fifteen years—sweet sixteen—, baptisms, funerals, etc.).
The Gozona is another collective custom practiced among the Zapotec peoples of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, which is also a reciprocal support in kind when a marriage is celebrated.
The Córima or Kórima is a beautiful custom of the Rarámuri or Tarahumara ethnic group of the State of Chihuahua that basically consists of sharing everything without expecting anything in return. It is an enviable philosophy of this ethnic group that shares joy and sadness, but also poverty and wealth. It is their basic rule of survival.
THE TEQUIO IN SAN MATEO RÍO HONDO
I will speak specifically about the practice of tequio in San Mateo Río Hondo, a community located in the Sierra Sur of the State of Oaxaca, to which I belong and can testify.This town has a peculiar characteristic: it is one of the two or three towns in the State of Oaxaca where there is only a private land ownership regime. This gives it unique characteristics for the practice of tequio. Here, although there is a municipal authority that is the one that calls for its realization, its fulfillment takes place in a climate of freedom and spontaneity. There are no sanctions for those who disobey the call and there is no control of those who attend and those who do not, since there are no agreements or laws that regulate it. This gives it more authenticity, with the disadvantage that, since there is no rigorous organization, it runs the risk of disappearing.
My countrymen practice the tequio more as an ethical attitude, as an ancestral atavistic behavior, as an eagerness to preserve their traditions and for the very valid reason that the tequio is also a form of collective coexistence.
Because participating in a group activity for them is so scarce of festive moments (except for those provided by religious festivities), the tequio is an opportunity for generous coexistence.
And how satisfying and touching it is to see my fellow countrymen attend the meetings without any law, without any obligation, without any sanction and just because they feel like doing it, because they have the spirit of solidarity to not disappoint the example and legacy of their ancestors (those old men who, at the beginning of the last century in adverse conditions and at the point of pick and shovel, with calluses and blisters, did great works and, among them, their participation to open the highway that still communicates the capital of the State with the Pacific Coast).
Beyond that, it is clear to me that they also attend because they see in the tequio a possibility to rejoice and live together while they work for the benefit of all. In our tequio, in addition to the work, there is an implicit party where efforts, time, words and laughter are shared and exchanged, as well as food and drinks. It is exceptional work that requires the participation of everyone because it involves different activities that call for different skills, such as work, strength, ability, talent, creativity, sympathy, courage, and sometimes even heroism.
Among the activities that comprise the tequio in the village are: the construction of schools or public buildings, the introduction of services such as drinking water or electrification, the construction, repair or cleaning of roads, the cleaning or ornamentation of their public buildings, streets or squares and the temple or cemetery.
People contribute their tequio in heavy work, such as public works in which men generally participate. Other times activities are carried out prior to civic or religious festivities. There, everyone contributes what they can: their creativity and ingenuity in the elaboration of beautiful ornaments made from vegetable plants, leaves, bushes, moss, totomoxtle [A material made from the husks of traditional Mexican corn that’s used to create furniture and installations], paper or flowers. Some of them work in cleaning, transportation, carrying utensils or setting up the stage. There are those who, because they cannot attend, cooperate with generous or humble amounts of money or with products in kind to meet material needs (decorations, music, rockets, food, drinks, prizes, dances and shows). There are those who participate in the elaboration and offering of the banquets and act as cooks or waiters, others are in charge of transportation and the purchase of goods.
But there are some who contribute in a very different way from the majority. They are the ones who enthusiastically wear a costume or suit when they carry a marmot or a flowery basket. The most daring carry a bull or burn the rockets that are so necessary for a troupe, calenda [Gigantic puppet] or party and that are activities that not just anyone can do. They also contribute their tequio sui generis to round out the success of the activities.
In San Mateo Río Hondo, other forms of collective work are also practiced. In a family social event, such as a wedding, baptism or wake, the members of the community come to the aid of the engaged person with help, money or support in kind to soften the burden. This attitude does not require reciprocity as in the so-called Guelaguetza because it is spontaneous and free.
In case of disasters (such as the forest fires so common in the region), my fellow countrymen come to their aid. Equipped with elementary but effective tools (such as shovels, machetes, picks, axes and water containers) they all concur with a commendable attitude despite the fact that the help is not for the common good, but for the good and help of those who suffered the fire. Perhaps they are encouraged by the awareness that tomorrow they will also need everyone’s help.
You have to have lived through a catastrophe of this type to know that it takes courage, skill, endurance, experience and even a certain degree of heroism to participate in it: how complicated it is to climb hills, to feel the infernal heat of the flames, the discomfort of smoke that makes breathing difficult and the idea that, from one moment to the next, you could be surrounded by fire. It is deeply touching to see these men willingly expose themselves to help their fellow countrymen in times of need, to care for their forests with no other reward than the satisfaction of their duty fulfilled and the gratitude of the affected. Occasionally, the silent admiration of women and children is also a reward.
Other forms of collective solidarity still exist, such as the one that takes place at the time of the corn, bean and wheat harvests. In these, at the request of the harvester or by spontaneous decision, his neighbors or friends assist to help in the work of harvesting or partitioning when the land is worked in halves or in part. The work is supported without any remuneration other than a pleasant final conviviality around the pile of cobs or sacks in which a pleasant meal is improvised based on mole, beef broth or a succulent barbecue that is accompanied with tortillas and complemented with beer, mezcal or tepache. There, sweaty and satisfied, they share and thank the gods for the good harvest.
Knowing the Tequio and other forms of collective solidarity of the Mexican people makes us think that all is not lost and that our increasingly dehumanized and unconscious world has a remedy. How many teachings this humble philosophy, this elemental ethic leave us? When one naively asks them where this feeling of mutual help comes from, we realize that, in their community practice and in their millenary ethics, our people are clear that to share a sorrow is to lighten it and to share a joy is to multiply it.