History

Historically, the Opata inhabited an enormous area of land in the Sonora State of Mexico that included parts of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico, Arizona State in The United States of America along with the Apaches, East with the Rarámuri, to the South with the Akimel Oʼotham, Yoeme and Yoreme, and to the West with the Tohono O’odham, Akimel Oʼotham and the Comcaac. This land base was known as the Opateria and it had been home to the Opatas for thousands of years.

All life forms on earth, say the ancestors, were born out of the muddy womb of Grandmother Earth, and the first earth ancestors of humans were the fur people. The seven races of fur people lived and behaved as animals, until the star people came to Grandmother Earth in the bellies of large birds and planted their seed in the fur people through the wind and the waters, eventually creating the human race.

The star people eventually departed Grandmother Earth for other worlds and left most of their human earth children with Grandmother Earth. One of the reasons for the star people’s departure was due to many of the elements of Grandmother Earth not being compatible with their bodies, which resulted in sickness. It is because of that blood inheritance from the star people that human beings are prone to suffer more illnesses, birth defects, injuries, and other physical and mental maladies than any other creature native to this earth, and why many women are prone to have more pain and complications with child-bearing than any other of Grandmother Earth’s female creatures.