The Tohono O'odham, the people of the desert

In the region of Pinacate and the Gran Desierto de Altar (Great Desert of Altar), in Sonora , where temperatures reach the 57°C in the Summer, the O'odham people continue walking hundreds of kilometers to obtain salt, in a thousand-year-old ritual.

The walk, between 400km to 500km , requires them to have a mastery of the desert, according to a statement published by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

The words Tohono O'odham mean “people from the desert” and it's in this place that for, thousands of years, this ethnic group has learned to adapt to the extreme weather conditions of the region.

Once, the O'odham inhabited regions both, in Mexico and in the United States but in the 19th century, when the border between both countries was set, the O'odham were separated.

The Treaty which ended the Mexican-American War

Currently, their population in Mexico reaches the 600 people while in the United States they exceed the 10,000.

The O'odham on this side of the border live in small communities spread all over the northern state of Sonora.

“To the West of the O'odham territory lies the Gulf of California. Before, the dunes, the ancestral wells, the wetlands, and the places of salt which contributed to the development of a very important route in the indigenous cosmovision: the journey for salt. A rite of passage into adulthood for the young ones,” claims the statement.

Young O'odhams need to prepare physically and spiritually for this journey, during which they perform rituals to obtain salt , considered a sacred element due to its benefits, such as the possibility to preserve food despite high temperatures.

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