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The Mam people or Mam speakers have lived in the Guatemalan highlands. They have inhabited the southeastern Chiapas, Southwest, and western Guatemala. Since around 1524 after the southern group of Mam people were subdued and converted by Spanish authority and missionaries the Mam continued to remain relatively independent. Most Mam lived in the highlands of Guatemala where the region is seemingly remote and almost inaccessible. The Mam stripped the land in order for farming but the growth of their population caused some inhabitants of the highland to migrate to the lowland territory where they work the coffee plantations. Later the Mam groups were unable to stay independent of outside forces such organized military groups and missionaries. The Mam were again tempted by the missionaries to convert to orthodox Catholicism in the 1950’s. The Mam were resilient and used the newly introduced religion to re-establish and unite themselves and their community. The Mam people speak according to Sharer and Traxler, “A language that is a branch of Mamean language derived from the east.” The Mam language is closely related to the Awakatek, Teko, and Ixil languages. Many Mam people still live in small villages scattered around Guatemala but also have main Mam towns. The Mam people have been cultivators and farmers since before the influence of the Spanish. They would clear acres of oak and pine forests in order to farm and alternate plots so as not to de-neutralize the soil. The region these people occupy has a marked wet and dry season. April and November being the rainiest time and February to March being the dry season. The Mam people utilize these seasons by subsistence farming with crops such as the general staple maize, beans, and squash. Some Mam have entered into the economy with cultivation of coffee and/or cotton. Like many familiar traditional societies the men work in the fields and deal with finances. Women do traditional cooking, thread and basket weaving, and take care of the children. Although division of labor falls along these lines during most of the year, men and women both work the fields during harvest time. Some Mam that are unable to make wages in the highland region migrate to the lowlands and bring their families to cultivate plantations. Although Mam people are mainly subsistence farmers they also participate in trade and barter at their local main towns where they buy and sell goods to and from others. Such goods include coffee, woven baskets, cooking pots etc. The Mam people also engage in endogamy. (A customary or legally required marriage with in the tribe or other social group.) (Webster’s.) This keeps the communities united. However they do extend their social networks by “god parents”, these people are not kin. The basic family consists of two, three, or four generations living together, and are considered patrilineal. (Tracing kinship through the father and not the mother.)(Webster’s). The Mam have an established political organization. Not only are the positions administrative but they are based off of ritual positions also. The Mam partake in an organization in which younger people start from the bottom and move up to higher statuses. One would only become a town elder by completing certain extensive duties. As people may work themselves up the career pole they also participate in political elections, which have dominantly taken over the ritual positions discussed earlier. Also, the Mam have begun to take active duty in the Guatemalan legislature. In separated or more remote regions, groups of Mam serve as their own legal authorities. Except in cases considered serious enough and are sent to National court. Among some of the cases dealt by the local Mam authorities are disputes over land, religion, and politics. Since the religious conversion of Mam by missionaries, the majority of them are considered to be catholic, but only as the face value of a security. The Mam religious beliefs are a mix of Catholicism and traditional Mam cosmological conviction. Chmaan are the religious practitioners and although the Mam men know about their responsibilities in religious rituals, the Chmann are most knowledgeable. Their knowledge being directly related with cosmology and are then able to ask for protection of their crops, good health, and good futures. More recently towns that don’t have local priests use Mam catechists mainly in evangelical churches. Being Catholic, the Mam celebrate Easter and Christmas. They also celebrate All Saint’s Day, and feast days for the local Saints. All Saint’s day is a ceremony in which the Mam people go to the cemetery and decorate the graves and give offerings of food and drink to the deceased. The language of the Mam is also very interesting. According to Sharer and Traxler the “Original proto-Mayan language first diverged into Waxtekan, the most remote subgroup of ancestor of the other Mayan languages, which in turn diverged into Yukatekan and the remaining four subgroups; Greater K’ichean, Mamean, Greater Q’anjob’alan, and Tzeltan-Ch’olan. In these subgroups differentiated through migration or other social processes until the present day variety of Mayan languages evolved.”

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Hawkins, John (1984). Inverse Images: The Meaning of Culture, Ethnicity, and Family in Postcolonial Guatemala. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

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