The Highland Totonac of Mexico

The Highland Totonac of Mexico, numbering approximately 227,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are associated with El Tajin's Pyramid of the Niches, a 7th-to-12th-century ceremonial center, a people of Mexico's Veracruz and Puebla highlands known for the Danza de los Voladores, an ancient pole-flying ritual now recognized by UNESCO. They mostly adhere to Folk Catholicism and Highland Totonac is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Totonac, Highland

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Mexico
People Cluster: Central American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Highland Totonac (tos)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Catholicism
Population: 227,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG039251
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Highland Totonac of Mexico

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

78%
%
Folk Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Highland Totonac
Language Family: Totonacan

87%
%
Totonac, Highland Speakers

Media Resources in Highland Totonac:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Highland Totonac:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1999 Bible League International✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Highland Totonac bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Highland Totonac are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Highland Totonac:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Highland Totonac of Mexico

"...And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
readLuke 8:8

Pray that the seeds of truth will take root in the hearts of those who are far from Jesus and that He will lead them from darkness to light.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
readPsalm 3:5-6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience isolation or other persecution, God will sustain them and give them confidence and rest in Him.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
readLuke 10:1

Ask God to raise up, send out, and sustain Christians who can go together to share the good news of Jesus with those who need it.

Totonac, Highland Across Countries (ROP3 - 103774) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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