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The Nahuas
The central highlands of Mexico are the original homelands of the Nahuas, Mexico's largest indigenous group. Even today, the Nahuas are most densely settled in the states of Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Guerrero. The Nahuas were once part of the ancient Native American civilizations which include those of the Maya, Olmec, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Toltec and flourished there for centuries before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Comprising several groups located in semi-autonomous village-towns or large city-states, the two largest Nahua tribes (the Acolhuas of Texcoco and the Tepanec) joined forces with a migrating group from the north (the Chichimecas) to become what was known as the Aztecs. For 200 years, 
beginning in the early 1300's, the Aztecs ruled most of central ancient Meso-America from the city of Tenochtitlan, located in what is now the valley of Mexico. After the conquest by the Spanish in the early 1500's, the Aztecs were enslaved, interbred and acculturated to form a mestizo or mixed culture. However, villages living on the outskirts of the valley of Mexico remained intact and continued their time-honored traditions.
Nowadays, in a number of villages in Sierra Norte de Puebla and the State of Morelos, the women continue to dress in traditional clothing, consisting of embroidered blouses, woven belts, and black wrap skirts. Many of the indigenous groups still speak their own language - Nahuatl - and maintain a number of religious and social traditions. The Nahuas traditional system is family and village-based. 
Because of the challenges of poverty and the loss of land and territory, a number of Nahua groups have become heavy assimilated into mestizo culture, losing their native language which is still spoken by 23 percent of Mexico's indigenous population. Today, most Nahua children learn both their mother tongue and Spanish, although in some villages the Nahuatl language has disappeared altogether in recent generations.
The spirituality and religion of the Nahuas are a blend of the Catholicism enforced by the Europeans and their own traditional world view. In addition to the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, this group continues to practice many traditional rituals and ceremonies, sometimes involving elaborate preparations which often follow the agricultural cycles of planting and harvest.
The Nahua believe the natural world is alive and sacred, particularly Corn, which is said to have originated in this area. They perform rituals and offerings to maintain the natural order 
and to ask for blessings and support from a variety of gods and beings manifested in different natural forms of the world experienced in daily life. They also believe that sickness can be the result of a disruption to the natural order, and are known for their use of shamans, Temazcallis (ritual sweat baths) and medicinal plants in treating a wide variety of illnesses successfully.
Today, the Nahuas are primarily farmers and tradesmen, and also do some fishing and hunting as a source of food. Largely because of population growth, environmental degradation and national policies, there are no longer enough resources to support these indigenous people. Therefore many Nahuas have left their homeland, seeking jobs in the cities and the U.S. However, daily life in the village persists with the ever present sense of the gods' effect in their lives.
