About the Tepehuan People

The Tepehuan are an indigenous people group living in Northwest and North Central Mexico. Though their population resides in several Mexican states, the largest concentration of Tepehuan population is in the States of Chihuahua and Durango.

The Tepehuan people still follow traditional animistic practices. Their most important ceremony is the Deer Dance, which is performed to bring good rains for the region and to bring them forgiveness and cleansing from evil. Other ceremonies revolve around specific issues, such as health, fertility, and connections with dead ancestors. Like other indigenous groups who endured Spanish colonization, the Tepehuan have also incorporated Catholic practices into their ritual calendar, creating a form of folk–Catholicism that includes many animistic elements.

The Tepehuan are largely hostile to the gospel, and there are very few known Tepehuan believers. Historical experience with Spanish priests, as well as more recent experiences with Jehovah’s Witnesses, has led many Tepehuan leaders to expressly reject the gospel. Evangelical missionaries have a difficult time ministering to the Tepehuan because they are lumped together with the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another underlying barrier to the gospel is the Tepehuan’s fear that abandoning their traditional beliefs and practices will lead to their destruction as a people.

More can be learned about the Tepehuan on Wikipedia.