The region borders the Valley of Oaxaca to the southwest, the lowlands of Tehuantepec to the east, and the highlands of Choapam and the state of Veracruz to the north.

[4] In the Mixe migration oral history they came to settle at the holy mountain Cempoaltepetl—where led by the legendary king Condoy (also known as Ëy Konk, or Ko’ong Oy[5]) they built a successful kingdom.

Hernán Cortés even mentions in his letters to the King of Spain that the provinces of the Zapotecs and the Mixes were the only ones to remain unconquered.

The Mixe largely live from subsistence agriculture of corn, beans, squash, and potatoes, complemented by hunting small game and fishing on the smaller rivers and streams.

Best documented are the dialects of Totontepec,[8] Ayutla and Coatlán[9] for which dictionaries and small grammars have been published by SIL international.

With the conversion of many Mixes to different Protestant branches the functionality of the cargo system has been challenged in many towns resulting in social tension.

[10] Ritual practices include prayers and sacrifice to a non-human entity called ‘The One Who Makes Being Alive (yë’ yïkjujykypyëjkp),’ which gives vitality.

Ritualistic ceremonies of the Mixe people involved primarily female shamans practicing diverse rituals involving but not limited to 'protection, divination, childbirth, travel, and hunting,' reflecting their connection to and evolution from ceremonial traditions of their Mesoamerican ancestors, the Olmec people.

[11] In Life as a Making, Perig Pitrou asserts that humans use technological activities to understand vital processes such as growth, reproduction, aging, and death.

Mixe newborns are given ritual baths to make them strong and hard, similar to the hardening of pottery in a kiln.

[12] The creation myth of the Mixe people involves how ‘The One Whose Activity is to Have Ideas’  (täätyunpï) molds and shapes the world’s beings.