The Pipil

Located in Central America, mainly in El Salvador and Guatemala, the Pipil are an indigenous Indian tribe who have migrated time and time again. Along the way they have been assimilated and transformed, losing their language and traditional ways. The struggle to remain true to their old traditions and continue their indigenous way of life, which has been problematic since their first contact with Spanish conquistadors, has been difficult. Despite their great endeavors, the Pipil continue to fight to maintain their traditional ways. Their determination, perseverance and dedication to tradition is what makes them an interesting culture of the world. The earth was a vast, cold, desolate and abandoned place. This remained true until a strong combatant named Teotl rubbed two great branches together and created a beautiful fire. From this
These systems consisted of chiefs or caciques, nobles, elders, commoners and slaves. Caciques did a lot in the Pipil society, they made warfare decisions, performed marriages, distributed crop land and made any necessary community decisions (Fowler Jr., 1985, p. 42). A cacique could enter a temple and live in solitude for a year, praying and asking for forgiveness for his people he could become a shaman. Once the year was over he would leave the temple and a grand ceremony would take place and his nose would be pierced, which is how the shaman were identified (Fowler Jr., 1989, p. 206). Cash crops became extremely vital to the Pipil when the Spanish conquistadors took over. Pipil people would trade cotton, indigo, cacao and coffee crops to the Spanish for money, which they needed to survive (Enemies of War, 2001). As the necessity of cash crops increased the Pipil population decreased, mainly due to displacement, which was very common (Fowler Jr., 1989, p. 213). The families would be separated to go work on the cash