In Mexico, the task or collective work that each person owes to their indigenous community is known as tequio. Since it is done for the benefit of the community itself, it is not paid work. Tequio is a custom which various indigenous communities throughout Mexico continue to practice to varying degrees and in different ways. Similar concepts to tequio are minka in several South America countries and hacendera in Spain.
Etymology and Synonyms In his work "Aquí comienca (sic) un vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana" (Vocabulary in Castilian and Mexican language)Hernández, 1996; 162-163 Friar Alonso de Molina translated the Nahuatl words tequitl as tribute and tequitiliztli as work. He documented two variants of tequio, which does not require phonetic adaptation to Castilian: tequiutl which has been adapted as tequiuh by losing its final consonantal tl. It is defined as a work or tribute. Father Ángel María Garibay in his Llave del NáhuatlGarcía Escamilla, Enrique, et al. 2007 Diccionario del Náhuatl en el Español de México. Montemayor, Carlos, coordinador. Ed. UNAM - Ciudad de México, México, p. 257 tells us that the verb tequi or tequiotl means "work" or "feeling tired". "Dictionary of nahuatl in the Spanish of Mexico" defines the word tequitl as "work" or "tribute", the same definition is given in Diccionario de la Lengua Española online.Zolla, 2004; 76
This form of contribution or contribution of work for the community also receives the names of tequil, mano vuelta (hand turned), fajina, task, corima (from the Rarámuri language, to give away or share) or trabajo de en medio (work in the middle). Due to the fact that the Nahuatl language was used as the lingua franca during the colonial era in New Spain, tequio is the term that has been generalized in various areas to refer to this activity.
The expression in Spanish prestar el servicio (to provide the service) means "providing tequio". Providing the service is honorable for members of the indigenous community and is understood as a moral obligation that they cannot refuse. It is one an occasion to meet, partake in collective work, and identify as a community. Members of communities that practice tequio will periodically take a day off of work to provide service in a task required by the community. Tasks accomplished during tequio usually fall under a category of honorable and prestigious work that, according to the ancient purely indigenous custom, should not be charged for or compensated. The indigenous person is called to carry the topilli, the baton of command, to preserve and resolve common affairs according to custom, she is appointed by her community to direct it and represent it as an indigenous council supported by the topiles,Indigenas con funciones de alguaciles, mensajeros con autoridad y policías comunitarios, v. García Escamilla, Enrique et al. Diccionario del Nahuatl en el Español de México, México, ed. CDMX-UNAM, 2009, p. 137 even at the cost of the personal sacrifice that it meant in all of them and still means in various indigenous communities, especially in some of the Oaxacan ones where they survive.
In some communities, members who have since moved elsewhere in Mexico or the United States of America are appointed in absentia to provide community service. No matter where they now reside, they will receive notice of their appointment asking them to return to perform community services. The custom is so respected that people will leave jobs and places of residence to return to the community to provide the service.
Custom and social organization In the Mexica society tequio was part of the society and economy, frequently used to accomplish community projects that were useful to the neighborhood or city such as canals, canales, roads, and temple reparations. After the conquest of Mexico, these community works continued under the name cuadrilleros and were considered as part of the obligatory tribute that the indigenous people had to pay to the king, nobles, officials, lords or encomenderos.Rojas Rabiela, 1986; 136-137 Around 1605 Viceroy Juan de Mendoza y Luna issued the Ordenanzas sobre el tequio y la tarea que han de tener los indios (Ordinances on tequio and the task that the [sic] indians must have) as a supposedly better substitute to the harsh repartimiento labor system.
In the Triqui community, although tequio is obligatory and unpaid, participating in these collective works gives one prestige in the eyes of the community. History of performing tequio is an element that is considered for those who aspire to have a position as an authority in it.Zolla, 2004; 78 The Mixe communities have created infrastructure for the supply of drinking water, electricity, roads, and other needs through tequio.Zolla, 2004; 79
The required number of days that men must contribute to collective municipal works through tequio varies greatly from one municipality to another.Kraemer, 2003; 47 The state government of Oaxaca sends more resources to the municipalities to try to carry out the works without resorting to the free work that tequio represents, however the communities defend this tradition because they consider not only the material results of these works to be important, but also their social value in strengthening the coexistence and integration of the members of the communities.Kraemer, 2003; 88-89 Tequio is also used as a form of annual cooperation to carry out the festivities of the patron saint of the communities.Kraemer, 2003; 106
Due to the fact that some members of indigenous communities have abandoned the Catholic religion in favor of other Christian religions, these members refuse to cooperate in tequio, giving rise to tension and confrontations.
For example, in Santa María Yosocuno, Teposcolula, five families from the religious organization Jehovah's Witness were forced to abandon their homes and their lands for refusing to comply with the community tequio and sing the National Anthem during the patriotic celebrations from September 15-16, 2005. The provisions stated that their return would not be accepted as long as they did not renounce their religious beliefs. Since the 19th century Mexican law guarantees and protects every person's right to freedom of ethical convictions, conscience, and religion.Artículo 24 de la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanosv. Artículo 18 del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Civiles y Políticos ratificado por México en vigor desde 1981. Igualmente la Convención Americana de Derechos Humanos, establece que toda persona tiene derecho a la libertad de conciencia y de religión y a conservar o cambiar las mismas, y que nadie puede ser objeto de medidas restrictivas que puedan menoscabar la libertad de conservar o cambiar de religión o creencias, conforme a las fracciones 1 y 2 del artículo 12 de dicha Convención, de la cual es parte México, y por lo tanto, todo mexicano goza de esos derechos However communities and individuals must consider that tequio, work for the indigenous community for their own well-being, does not have any content that harms, questions or confronts the faith of any person because it is not an ideology or a religious manifestation or anti-religious. As organized work, the custom of tequio faces various dilemmas, both for the communities that persevere in their uses and customs, and for those who freely adopt other ethical, cultural, or religious traditions.[no reference]
Works Accomplished Through Tequio Thanks to tequio, roads, streets, schools, squares, markets, drinking water and drainage networks, clinics, spaces, and sports and cultural facilities have all been built and rebuilt or maintained; municipal and communal offices, and in the past, when they were used or needed, telephone and post offices; pipes and irrigation canals, pantheons and many other public works or services are built and maintained. Tequio can be fulfilled even through dancing in festivities, as in Tehuantepec;http://www.jornada.com.mx/2014/03/24/cultura/a10n1cul última visita 20 de julio de 2018 or in restoration work of cultural heritage, as in the case of the organ of the former convent of Tlacochahuaya, in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in 2001;http://www.jornada.com.mx/2001/11/29/06an1cul.html última visita 20 de julio de 2018 or operating indigenous community radios, which, at least until 2011, operated through tequio, which accentuates its character and social purpose.http://www.jornada.com.mx/2011/07/11/politica/008n1pol última visita 22/julio/2018 Tequio is a practice of union and cooperation that should not be lost.http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/sesenta-anos-de-dar-clases-en-oaxaca-por-labor-humana última visita 20 de julio de 2018
In the municipalities of Oaxaca, the Communal Assets Commissariat organizes tequio of the same name, communal assets tequio works in which, for example, lanes are cleaned along the borders of neighboring municipalities to keep clear their boundaries, avoid conflicts, and maintain good and friendly coexistence. It also organizes reforestation.
Tequio organized by the municipality organizes it is usually cleaning and maintenance of streets, squares, markets, irrigation pipes, drainage, schools or patching and laying gravel on unpaved neighborhood roads to keep them passable, or removal of materials such as stones, and trees dragged by stormwater avenues that have invaded public roads or properties.
Tequio can also be community-organized in response to natural disasters. Some examples include the earthquakes in Asunción Ixtaltepec,http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/comienza-demolicion-del-palacio-municipal-de-asuncion-ixtaltepec última visita 20 de julio de 2018 Unión Hidalgo,Tequio en Unión Hidalgo Oaxaca para ayudar a damnificados del sismo del 7/09/2017 http://www.jornada.com.mx/2017/10/16/estados/031n3est última visita 20 de julio de 2018 and Juchitán de Zaragoza, where, summoned by Francisco Toledo, the community created around 100 tequio-based kitchens to feed those affected by the earthquake of 2017.http://www.jornada.com.mx/2018/01/16/estados/027n1est última visita 21/julio/2018 In San Marcial Ozoltepec when Hurricane Pauline completely destroyed a local road (which had originally been built through tequio) in 1997 the community came together to rebuild despite the difficult conditions.http://www.jornada.com.mx/1997/11/06/luz.html última visita 20 de julio de 2018
In Yalalag, Sierra Norte de Oaxaca (and other municipalities in that region), as of the year 2000 the work of assistant to the municipality or "topil", that of alderman, trustee or municipal president was considered community service, unpaid volunteer work, or tequio. Although this represented economic difficulties for those who took the position, they knowingly assumed it to act and comply according to custom, considering it an act of dignity to accept and serve, receiving in return the respect of the community. Paying a salary to perform these positions is culturally considered a form of corruption. Thus, conflict arose among members of that community who were in favor of exercising the budget items destined to pay the salaries of the members of the city council.http://www.jornada.com.mx/2000/03/14/tradicion.html última visita 20 de julio de 2018Qué pasa en Yalalag. El consejo de ancianos tras las rejas. Hernández, Olga y Bermejillo, Eugenio http://www.jornada.com.mx/2000/04/12/oja36-yalalag.html última visita 20 de julio de 2018