The Yoemem Yaqui flower world, sea ania, and deer dance

Yaqui

For the Yoemem, the Flower is "an empowering presence, an image perhaps, that while apparently objective, embodies personal or collective sacrifice which makes ritual efficacious," (Shorter). As an outward reminder of the sublime Sea Ania, the physical flower symbolizes the eternal soul. After death, a Yoemem soul ascends to the Sea Ania, the flower world. A blossom represents the divinity of the soul. Moreover, for the Yoemem flowers also blossom from Christ's sacrificial blood. As such the flower represents eternal life and in a more Christian context, the miracle of resurrection. Flowers can also embody grace in the Christian sense.

Flowers can also be used as protective amulets against evil because they represent the sublime beauty and purity of the Sea Ania. In contrast to the Yo Ania, the Sea Ania (also spelled Seyewailo) is a realm of "complete beauty and harmony," ("Seyewailo"). Yoemem imagery of Sea Ania is not unlike the Christian heaven. Sea Ania is also the home of the little brother of the Deer: Saila Maso. Thus, the Flower World permeates all realms of the Yoemem cosmos.

2. The central emblem of Yoemem culture, the Deer Dance reflects multiple meanings. For instance, the Deer Dance dramatizes the spirit of the Yoemem. Deer speaks for the people, especially in the face of struggle, oppression, and opposition. The Deer Dance symbolizes struggle and opposition through encounters with predators. Deer not only survives but remains pure and connected to the spirit world and the Sea Ania. The Deer triumphs over adversity without falling pray to evil.

However, the Deer is also a wild and untamed spirit. Deer is in this world but not of it. The Deer shows how the Yoemem can walk between worlds: how the soul can manifest in the physical universe but not be entirely defined by it. The soul remains rooted in the Sea Ania. The Deer Dance is a dynamic manifestation of the connection between the mundane and spiritual realms. Finally, the Deer Dance is the "central symbol of Yaqui identity," ("Seyewailo").

3. Catholic beliefs, rituals, and symbols are inextricably woven into the Yoemem religion. The central prophesy of the Surem ancestors of the Yoemem incorporates Catholicism. In the story of Yomumuli, a world tree speaks to the great Mother. Not unlike the burning bush anecdote of the Old Testament, the story reveals the symbolic connection between the Surem/Yoemem and Christian beliefs. Moreover, the prophesy itself foretold of the coming of the conquistadors and of their religion. Those Surem who were willing to convert, accept Jesus as savior, and move into modernity would become the Yaqui. Those who chose to retain the Surem traditions would live wild and free in the hills and sea.

Interestingly, the Yoemem did not draw value judgments from their ancestor's decisions. The Surem who live as pagans are viewed as helpers and as being close to the spirit world. The Surem are not perceived of as heathen or evil as many pagans have been labeled by the People of the Book. Yoemem ritual and myth incorporates the story of Jesus. For instance, flowers spring from Christ's blood.