The GuarijÃÂo () are an Indigenous people of Mexico. They primarily live in 17 villages near the West Sierra Madre Mountains in Chihuahua and the Sonoran border. Their homelands are remote and reached either on foot or horseback. Their traditional Guarijio language has about 2100 speakers.
The GuarijÃÂo people are also known as the HuarijÃÂo, Maculái, Macurái, Macurawe, VarihÃÂo, VarijÃÂo, Varohio, or VorijÃÂo people.
The GuarijÃÂo language is a Tarahumaran language of the Uto-Aztecan language family, written in the Latin script. A dictionary and grammar have been published for the language. Children primarily learn Spanish in school.
GuarijÃÂos lived between the Tarahumara to the south and east and Mayo to the west. Spanish Jesuit missionaries arrived in their territory in the 1620s. The Jesuits established a mission in ChÃÂnipas, where some GuarijÃÂo and Guazapare people rebelled against them. After the Spanish military retaliated, the GuarijÃÂo dispersed and split into two distinct communitiesâÂÂone in Sonora and the other in Chihuahua
These people enjoy seclusion in spacious villages. A festival, called tuburada, brings them together socially on momentous occasions, including the planting and harvesting of maize. A tubrada includes feasting, ceremonial smoking of Nicotiana rustica, processions with fireworks, and dancing.
GuarijÃÂo adapted farming to their dry climate and grow amaranth, beans, maize, and squash. They supplement these crops with wild plants harvested from the forest.