There is something that is often heard in Paracho: the phrase “No one is a prophet in their own land.” It seems that here they take it so seriously that they push you to fulfill it.

There is a popular belief that foreign things are better. We see this in people who always seek American clothes, the luthiers who look for imported wood, those who prefer listening to Sinaloan music over Michoacan music, those who always seek English words instead of their regional equivalents. In short, the pop culture presented to us by cinema and television has swept away what once identified us as members of the P’urhépecha society. Women no longer wear naguas and rebozos as before, nor do men wear hats and sandals. In fact, it’s very likely that few people even know what the traditional attire in Paracho was, let alone ask for it to be used again. Our native language is no longer spoken, and even worse, there are many who deny their origins—those who proclaim that their birth certificate says they were born in Uruapan, Morelia, or Zamora, and despise their homeland.

So, it’s not surprising that we don’t know where we come from, and because of that, we can’t complain about not knowing where we are going.