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Huichol

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Huichol
Wixáritari
Regions with significant populations
Mexico (Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Durango)
Languages
Huichol, Spanish,
Religion
Shamanism, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Cora, Tepehuán, Yaqui, Tarahumara

The Huichol or Wixáritari are an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico, living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango. They are best known to the larger world as the Huichol, however, they refer to themselves as Wixáritari ("the people") in their native Huichol language. The adjectival form of Wixáritari and name for their own language is Wixárika.

Location

Location of th dicke Huichols in western mexico

The Huichol claim that they originated in the State of San Luis Potosí but later migrated westward to the parts of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango in which the rugged Sierra of the Huichol is found. Once yearly, some Huichol journey back to San Luís, their ancestral homeland to perform "Mitote" Peyote ceremonies. The three main Huichol communities belong to the municipality of Mezquitic, Jalisco and are called San Sebastián Teponohuastlan (Wautüa in Huichol), Santa María Cuexcomatitlán (Tuapuri in Huichol) and San Andrés Cohamiata (Tatei Kié in Huichol). Other Huichol communities include Guadalupe Ocotán (in Nayarit), and Santa Catarina and Tuxpán de Bolaños in Jalisco. However only around 7,000 Wixáritari live in their homeland while some 13,000 have migrated to other places within Mexico, and other still live in Cora communities in the Mesa del Nayar.[1]

History

The Wixárika arrived to the Bolaños Canyon region after the arrival of the Tepecanos, who until recently inhabited the same region. There are numerous theories among anthropologists and historians about the timing of the arrival of this ethnic group to the region, but according to wixárika oral history, when they arrived to the region they currently consider home, the region was already inhabited by another ethnic group. Tepecano oral history also confirms that villages currently inhabited by Wixárika, such as Santa Catarina, were Tepecano villages in the past.[2] In addition, there exists no stories of conquest or domination of the Wixárika by the Tepecanos in either of the oral histories of the respective ethnic groups.

The most commonly accepted theory regarding the origin of Wixárika is that they come from the region of San Luis Potosí and that before their migration to the Bolaños Canyon region, they considered themselves part of the Guachichil ethnic group. Central to the traditional religion of the Wixárika is the gathering of peyote (a hallucinogenic cactus) in the place that they call Wirikuta, that is located in the region of Real de Catorce in the state of Potosí San Luis. Peyote does not grow in the region of Wixárika, but he is abundant in San Luis Potosí, territory that was at the center of the dominion of the Guachichiles before the arrival of the Spaniards. The Guachichiles were known to be bellicose and fiercely defensive of their territory.[3] It is unlikely that the Guachichiles would have let the Wixárika pass peacefully through their territory to gather peyote unless they recognized them as part of their own ethnic group. This is confirmed by oral history of Wixárika,[4] as well as the similarity between the language of Wixárika, which is more like the language of the already extinct language of the Guachichiles than to that of their present neighbors, the Cora.[5]

Historical documents indicate that during the 16th century, the Wixárika had already arrived to the region that is today northern Jalisco. The writings of Alonso Ponce, that date from the year 1587, indicate that the province of Tepeque was inhabited by an ethnic group who used to unite with the Guachichiles to carry out attacks and incursions on Spanish settlements and caravans.[6] The Spaniards who explored the region that later became Jerez wrote that they were groups of Guachichiles in the region that had pushed out the Zacatecas that had previously resided there.[7] Through this historical evidence one can postulate that the Wixárika arrived to the Bolaños Canyon region around the same time as the Spaniards. The arrival of the Spaniards to territories of the Guachichiles in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí had certainly brought epidemics to the indigenous communities whose members had no resistance to the diseases of Europe. In addition, those natives who did not die of the epidemics suffered due to the concentrations and encomiendas carried out by the Spaniards in order to work the recently discovered mines of the region. These experiences are also documented in the oral history of wixaritari.[8]

The Wixárika arrived in the Bolaños Canyon region looking for refuge and settled among the Tepecano settlements that already existed there. It is likely that there was mixing among the ethnic groups, as is evidenced by the many traditions, rituals (as the one of the use of chimales, or woods of oration, and the use of peyote in their ceremonies) shared among the groups. It is clear that the two ethnic groups would unite under a single leader to defend themselves from Spanish incursions and to mount rebellions against the Spanish colonial government. There is historical evidence of a rebellion mounted jointly by the two ethnic groups in El Teúl in 1592[9] and another one in Nostic in 1702.

Language

They had small weiners with and cristian ramirez iz gay The Huichol language, Wixarika, is an Uto-Aztecan language (Corachol branch) related to Cora.

Lifestyle

Photo of Wixárika woman and child in Tuxpan de Bolaños

The Huichol are dirt farmers, using digging sticks to glean a living from land that is desert for half the year and jungle the other half. Often they must spend time working in tobacco fields, which has been ruinous to their health. Owners of these large plantations are no longer allowed to use First World pesticides too toxic to use in the countries where they are manufactured. Fortunately, the Huichol live in the mountains above Mazatlán and other coastal tourist meccas, and are able to sell their crafts. (They are also protected by their many anthropologists, as they once were by friars.) In summer, when the rains come, they live on their ranchos (farms) in tiny rancherias (hamlets) and make cheese from the milk from their cattle, which they slaughter and eat usually only during fiestas. For the most part, their diet consists of tortillas, made from the Blue, Red, Yellow or White "Sacred corn," beans, rice and pasta, with the occasional chicken or pig, from which they make "Chicharrones," chili peppers, all supplemented with goods provided by nature, like "weizz," a legume gathered from trees, or "ciruelas" wild plums and guayabas (guavas).

Photo of Huichol woman and child.

Marriages are arranged by the parents when the children are very young. Huichol usually marry between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. Extended Huichol families live together in rancho settlements. These small communities consist of individual houses which belong to a nuclear family. Each settlement has a communal kitchen and the family shrine, called a xiriki, which is dedicated to the ancestors of the rancho. The buildings surround a central patio. The individual houses are traditionally built of stone or adobe with grass-thatched roofs.

A district of related ranchos is known as a temple district. Temple districts are all members of a larger community district. Each community district is ruled by a council of kawiterutsixi, elder men who are usually also shamans.

The craftsmanship of the Huichol includes embroidery, beadwork, sombreros (hats), archery equipment, prayer arrows, and weaving, as well as "cuchuries", woven or embroidered bags.

The Huichol seek autonomy in their land, but have two governments, one native to the Huichol and one answering to the Mexican Government through "Municipal Agents" in the larger settlements. The government has established schools without much success in the Huichol Zone during the last 40 years, both church and state. A private Junior High School has led to some friction between "Town" and "Gown" among members of the tribe. Friction also exists between converts to Christianity, the scorned "aleluias," and followers of the old religion, which means the evangelicals and their missions are barely tolerated.

With the building of roads in the Huichol Zone in the last ten years, new influences are impacting the social fabric of the Huichol. Where mules, horses and burros used to be the main forms of transport, trucks are becoming more prominent, importing food, medicines and beer.

Religion and mythology

Their religion consists of four principal deities, the trinity of Corn, Blue Deer and Peyote, and the eagle, all descended from their Sun God, "Tao Jreeku". Most Huichols retain the traditional beliefs and are resistant to change.

  • The "Huichol think that two opposed cosmic forces exist in the world : an igneous one represented by Tayaupá, "Our Father" the Sun, and an aquatic one, represented by Nacawé, the Rain Goddess"[10]. "The eagle-stars, our Father's luminous creatures, hurl themselves into the lagoons and ... Nacawé's water serpents ... rise into the skies to shape the clouds"[11].
  • "According to a Huichol myth, the Sun created earthly beings with his saliva, which appeared in the shape of red foam on the surface of the ocean's waves."[12] "New things are born from "hearts" or essences, which the Huichol see in the red sea foam that flowed from Our Father the Sun ... . The Sun itself has a "heart" that is its forerunner. It adopts the shape of a bird, the tau kúkai. The bird came out of the underworld and placed a cross on the ocean. Father Sun was born, climbed up the cross, ... in this way killing the world's darkness with his blows"[13].
  • "Kacíwalí is ... maize goddess. The wind carried her to the top of a mountain, which was given to her as a dwelling"[14]. "Kacíwalí's rain serpents are changed into fish"[15].
  • "Komatéame is ... goddess ... of midwives. Both she and Otuanáka [another goddess] have tiny children in human shape, male and female"[16]. "Stuluwiákame has the responsibility to give humans children, and Na'alewáemi ... gives animals their young"[17].

Peyote

Like many indigenous American groups, Huichols have traditionally used the peyote cactus in religious rituals. Huichol practices seem to reflect pre-Columbian practices particularly accurately. These rituals involve singing, weeping, and contact with ancestor spirits. "It is Wirikúta, where the Huichol go each year to collect peyote."[18] "Before reaching Wirikúta, their final destination, they pass by the sacred springs of Tatéi Matiniéri ("Where Our Mother Lives"), the house of the eastern rain goddess. They cross steppes. The first one is the Cloud Gate; the second, Where the Clouds Open."[19]

Animism

Main article: Animism

Huichols have traditionally believed that in rituals they interact with the primal ancestor spirits of fire, deer, and other elements of the natural world. "A newborn, separated from its umbilical cord, will still have ... the agave plant where the cord was buried. When children grow up they need to obtain cuttings from their protector so that they can bury their children's umbilical cords under them"[20]. The "Huichol ... keep ... the souls of ancestors who have returned to the world in the shape of rock crystals."[21]

Art

File:Huichol yarn painting by Rojelio Beuites.jpg
The sacred trinity can be seen this Huichol yarn painting: green peyote, yellow hairs of corn and Blue Deer, or "trickster angel" who is seen here in his form as the morning star or evening star.
Huichol yarn painting

In traditional Huichol communities, an important ritual artefact is the nieli'ka: a small square or round tablet with a hole in the center covered on one or both sides with a mixture of beeswax and pine resin into which threads of yarn are pressed. Nieli'kas are found in most Huichol sacred places such as house shrines (xiriki), temples, springs and caves.

In the past thirty years, about four thousand Huichols have migrated to cities, primarily Tepic, Nayarit, Guadalajara and Mexico City. It is these urbanized Huichols who have drawn attention to their rich culture through their art. To preserve their ancient beliefs they have begun making detailed and elaborate yarn paintings, a development and modernization of the nieli'ka.

This blue beaded Huichol art bear depicts symbols of peyote, scorpion, and corn.

For the Huichol however, yarn painting is not only an aesthetic or commercial artform. The symbols in these paintings are sprung out of Huichol culture and its shamanistic traditions. From the small beaded eggs and jaguar heads to the modern detailed yarn paintings in psychedelic colours, each is related to a part of Huichol tradition and belief.

The first large yarn paintings were exhibited in Guadalajara in 1962 which were simple and traditional. At present with the availability of a larger spectrum of commercial dyed and synthetic yarn, more finely spun yarn paintings have evolved into high quality works of art.

The beaded art is a relatively new innovation and is constructed using glass, plastic or metal beads pressed onto a wooden form covered in beeswax. Common bead art forms include masks, bowls and figurines. Like all Huichol art, the bead work depicts the prominent patterns and symbols featured in the Huichol religion.

Some Huichol shaman-artists have acquired some fame and commercial success: the acclaimed Huichol yarn painter José Benítez Sánchez has had an exposition of his works in the USA.

Notes

  1. ^ Phil Weigand, quoted in: "The Huichole: Wixarika" by Juan Negrín, Wixarika Research Center (website), 2003.
  2. ^ Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T., People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 49
  3. ^ Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T., People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 43
  4. ^ Thomas, Cyrus. Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America. Washington, DC, 1911, p. 48
  5. ^ Thomas, Cyrus. Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America. Washington, DC, 1911, p. 23
  6. ^ Sauer, Carl O., The Distribution of Aboriginal Tribes and Languages in Northwest Mexico. Berkeley. CA, 1934, p. 7
  7. ^ Gerhard, Peter, The north frontier of New Spain, Princeton, New Jersey, 1982, p. 98
  8. ^ Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T., People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 45
  9. ^ Gerhard, Peter, The north frontier of New Spain, Princeton, New Jersey, 1982, p. 74
  10. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. pp. 169-170, citing Zingg 1982, 1:171
  11. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 170, citing Zingg 1982, 1:525
  12. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 170, citing Zingg 1982, 2:187
  13. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 171, citing Zingg 1982, 1:177
  14. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. pp. 174-175, citing Zingg 1982, 1:555
  15. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 176, citing Zingg 1982, 1:432
  16. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 175, citing Zingg 1982, 1:558
  17. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 175, citing Zingg 1982, 1:548, 556-557
  18. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 173, citing Furst 1972b
  19. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 174, citing Furst 1972b
  20. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. pp. 172-173, citing Zingg 1982, 1:263, n. 20
  21. ^ Alfredo López Austin : Tamoanchan, Tlalocan. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 173, citing Furst 1972a

References

  • Furst, Peter T. (1972a). "El concepto huichol del alma." In :- Mitos y arte huicholes. ed. p. T. Furst & S. Nahmad. pp. 7-113. México : SepSetentas 50.
  • Furst, Peter T. (1972b). "Para encontrar nuestra vida." In :- El peyote entre los huicholes. ed. S. Nahmad; O. Klineberg; P. T. Furst & B. G. Myerhof. pp. 109-194. México : SepSetentas 29.
  • Miller, Wick. (1983). Uto-Aztecan languages. In: A Ortiz and WC Sturtevant (eds), Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10: Southwest. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0160045797. p 113–124.
  • Schaeffer, Stacy B and Furst, Peter T (eds). (1997). People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History, Religion, and Survival. ISBN 082631905X
  • Zingg, Robert M. (1982). Los huicholes. 2 vols. transl. C. Paschero. México : Instituto Nacional Indigenista.
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