QUICH

also called Quich Maya, Mayan Indians living in the midwestern highlands of Guatemala. The Quich Maya had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times, with a high level of political and social organization. Archaeological remains show large population centres and a complex class structure. Written records of Quich history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh, written down in the Quich language (using the Latin alphabet) shortly after conquest by the Spaniards in 1524. The modern Quich number 700,000 speakers, the largest of all Mayan linguistic groups, though no sense of ethnic unity derives from this common language. Their language is closely related to Tzutujil and Cakchiquel (qq.v.), which are spoken by neighbouring peoples. They share an essentially uniform culture with the Tzutujil and Cakchiquel as well as with other peoples to the north. The Quich and their neighbours are agricultural, practicing the hand-tilled farming of corn (maize), beans, and squash that is characteristic in Middle America. They also plant cash crops such as strawberries and peaches. Homes are thatched huts, maintained generally by each family on its own land. Weaving and pottery are widely practiced crafts, and clothing is often traditional. The people identify themselves with their community (municipio), oriented around a central village, which in this region often has no permanent inhabitants. Village officials are elected annually. Nominally Roman Catholic, the Quich are organized into village cofradas, religious societies that maintain the church and organize fiestas for the local patron saints. Pagan myths and rituals are widely practiced, however, and the saints, the Virgin Mary, and the devil are often identified with Mayan divinities. See also Maya. department, northwestern Guatemala, bounded on the north by Mexico. The 3,235 sq mi (8,378 sq km) of the department extend from the valley of the upper Ro Motagua across the Sierra de Chuacs and the Altos (mountains) Cuchumatanes to the lowlands of the Ro Lacantum, at the Mexican border. Most of the inhabitants, many of whom are Maya Indians, are farmers, raising livestock, corn (maize), beans, and potatoes in the higher elevations and sugarcane, coffee, and tobacco in the lowlands. There is lumbering in the north. Santa Cruz del Quich (q.v.) is the departmental capital, but the best known town is the Indian market and religious centre of Chichicastenango. There are few first-class highways in Quich. The earthquake of 1976 caused damage to many of the structures and killed about 1,000 persons. Government oppression of the Indians caused many to seek refuge in southern Mexico in the early 1980s. Pop. (1982 est.) 430,003.