Mazatec girl preparing Salvia divinorum leaves on a metate (Photo taken in 1962 by R. Gordon Wasson)
The Mazatec are an indigenous people hailing from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
Their name comes from the relative closeness to the city Mazatlan and the early Spanish explorers' naming them accordingly.
They are a "humble" people, and often refer to themselves as such.
Mazatecs are most known for their cultivation, and spiritual/traditional use, of the sage salvia divinorum (diviners' sage).
The Mazatecs' religion is a synthesis of both traditional beliefs and Christian beliefs brought by the Spanish conquistadors. This accounts for their naming of such entheogens as salvia divinorum Ska Maria Pastora, "Maria" being a reference to the Christian Virgin Mary.
The Mazatecs still employ traditional shamans for their spiritual needs.
