Huichol Wixárika
Josephine Camacho
Aedo, Á., & Faba, P. (2017). Campos Relacionales de las Experiencias de Conocimiento Ritual Entre Los Huicholes de México / Relational Fields of the Experiences of Ritual Knowledge Among The Huichol of Mexico. Chungara: Revista de Antropología Chilena, 49(2), 265–278.
While visiting Huichol communities in Mexico, Anthologists Ángel Aedo and Paulina Faba analyze the development of knowledge through transformational experiences. Younger community members will engage in Huichol sacred practices and inherit knowledge to carry their legacy and inform future generations. The Huichol heavily rely on elders as storytellers and performers to provide cultural, religious, and medical practices to their community. As Shamans and elder populations diminish, children are expected to learn elaborate healing rituals, dances and prayers to maintain their values and knowledge practices.
Huichol children witness illustrious rituals such as Tatei Neixa (the dance of our Mother), occurring at the end of each rainy season, focusing on the relationship between humans and nonhumans interlacing them as one (p. 266). The peyote, a cactus with psychedelic properties, plays a fundamental role in this ritual as not only the Shaman’s tool but a Saman itself (p. 269). The peyote is manifested through two distinct modes in indigenous methodologies; the spirit of the peyote combats against the agents causing illness, and as a performer that guides the Shaman into enlightenment permitting communication between their ancestors and the gods. Shamans are knowledge carriers who orally and performatively transmit their information. Shamans lead a pilgrimage annually to Wirikuta, a sacred paradise where peyote grows, and narrate the story of the blue deer that led them to the first peyote (p. 272). Children experience the journey to Wirikuta, engage in rituals and are retold these stories until the knowledge is memorized. They are apprenticed to become Shamans themselves and experience the transformation of becoming an illustrious knowledge carrier through the participation and engagement of significant rituals like Tatei Neixa. Aedo and Faba’s analysis on transformational experience focuses on the relations between the peyote, Shamans and witnessing community members. Their cosmological experiences are sacred and are heavily guarded by their community to pay respects to their gods and to maintain traditions dating back to 800 AD. Huichol children are appointed to engage with these experiences until they undergo the transition from children to vessels of sacred values and information as qualified knowledge carriers and Shamans.
Jacobo, P. (2021, November 5). Transmission of Huichol Knowledge (J. Camacho, Interviewer) [Personal communication].
Petra Jacobo, a Huichol community member, outlines the values of the Huichol and the mechanisms by which they receive and experience knowledge. Petra depicts information practices as embodied experiences founded upon the connectivity between humans and nonhumans. The reciprocal relationship between the Huichol community and the land is the foundation of their polytheistic religion, idolizing landscapes reflective of the land they inhabit. The transmitters of sacred information are the elder community members, yet they rely on the youth to maintain traditional Huichol values and practices to ensure cultural survival. The entire Huichol community must have agency in sustaining their traditions and preserving ancient knowledge practices.
The ecosystem is reflective of Huichol religious practices, and based on their geographic locations Huichol communities tailor their rituals to align with their surrounding landscapes. Petra’s community utilizes the beaches of Puerto Vallarta as a “sacred landmark” paying respect to their goddess the ocean, “La Mara”, and leaving offerings as prayers and gifts throughout the year as a mutual exchange between the individual and the ocean (see Appendix). This reinforces their values based on reciprocity, while strengthening and nurturing their relationships with the gods, and evoking impactful revelations through their spiritual exchanges. Spirituality and connectivity are fundamental core components of Huichol religious ceremonies. Petra recounts a pilgrimage to the beach stating, “(Huichols) are synchronized with the ocean and land. One can truly feel the profound connection between our own spirit and that of the ocean” (see Appendix). The deep spiritual relationship between the Huichol and ocean symbolizes the openness, chaos and serenity that the ocean represents, which is applied to the prosperity and tumultuous experiences the Huichol face in their daily lives. They are synchronized through oceanic qualities like calm and depth, expressed in their rituals and then integrated into their values, mirroring the ocean to oneself to harmoniously act as one. The relationships between humans and nonhuman agents are modeled after Shamans and elders convey their connectivity through rituals, which are then perpetrated by witnessing community members.
In order to maintain their core values and knowledge practices, elders encourage its community members to uphold sacred practices and continue oral teachings for future generations. The desire to move to neighboring urban cities has threatened cultural and spiritual survival for Huichol communities, as recent generations move out of the isolated mountains and rely on technology rather than intuition. However, their agency to preserve their identity, information and values leverage their existence as a community practicing ancient traditions and their mechanisms of knowledge transmission.
Appendix: Interview Questions and Responses
This interview was conducted in Spanish. Therefore, the questions and responses are translations of the original questions and answers.
Please introduce yourself and your relationship to the Huichol community.
My name is Petra Jacobo. I lived in a small town on the outskirts of Rincon De Guayabitos, Nayarit among a Huichol community.
Can you describe how one acquires Huichol values and information? By which mechanisms are values and knowledge organized, taught and transmitted?
The community gathers together for ceremonies. During these gatherings, they dance and orally teach the community members core values and pass on traditions. Some ceremonies focus on worshiping the sun, moon and ocean, which the community views as their gods. The ocean is particularly important to the community I lived in because of the close proximity to the beach, and all members are taught to leave offerings at the beach. Most of the knowledge I have in relation to the community is based on experiences.
Please elaborate on which impactful experiences have helped you gain a deeper understanding of Huichol knowledge.
The frequent visits to the beach were some of the most spiritual and beautiful experiences. They (Huichol community) are synchronized with the ocean and land. One can truly feel the profound connection between our own spirit and that of the ocean. These locations are sacred landmarks where the community prays and performs rituals. They call the ocean “La Mara” instead of “el mar” because they consider the ocean a goddess. I am sure it is different for the Huichols who live in the mountains, but the ocean is the most worshiped God in the community I lived in. We would go to Puerto Vallarta on a bus and the leaders would build a fire during sunset. They would dance around the fire. Each dance would be interpreted as a prayer, but only leaders would perform while everyone else witnessed. It brings one to tears because one is so overwhelmed with the connectivity between the leader and La Mara.
Which members of the community have a profound understanding of Huichol information practices?
It is difficult to say because Huichols are educated and go to school. Some, like my son, have gone to a university in neighboring cities. There are members of the community who have become professors and professionals in various disciplines. They are a civilized population, but they maintain their values. The older community members who did not grow up with technology are the voices that understand the true meaning of Huichol culture and information. Before technology, one knew how to get around the region by memory, cook recipes by memory, and understand the ins and out of their identity and traditions by memory. Nowadays, Huichol youth go to urban schools and lose the memory of their identity and values. However, it is always reinforced when they come home so they can carry the legacy of Huichols and maintain the practices that were taught to them as children. Parents hold a great responsibility to ensure their children participate in community rituals so they can learn the deep history of our people from knowledgeable leaders.
Maclean, H. (2005). Yarn Paintings of the Huichol. Singing Deer Press.
Hope MacLean, Anthropologist and Professor at the University of Ottawa, provides a comprehensive overview on early documentation of Huichol mythology by examining yarn paintings and its evolution by comparatively analyzing traditional 19th century and contemporary yarn paintings. MacLean visited the Sierra Madre Mountains to interview Huichol Shamans and artists and photograph their yarn paintings, providing a greater understanding of the storytelling inscribed into their creations.Their isolation has allowed the community to preserve their documenting traditions, as yarn paintings remain as the most prominent epistemological recording method present day.
God-disks made out of volcanic stone are the earliest known form of documentation of Huichol religion and mythology which later incorporated yarn into its designs. The God-disk below represents a telescope and was created in 1930 for anthropologist Robert Zingg, one of the first individuals to perform ethnographic research on the Huichol tribes in Mexico (p. 22). The telescope is representative of the Huichol’s aspirations towards their future and depicts the grand scope they wish to gain from their gods. The tints of blue represents water and brown represents the Earth which allude that the God-disk is requesting rainfall for their land and animals. God-disks are made as offerings and have been replaced for yarn paintings which are the contemporary offering method used by the Huichol.
In the Huichol language, yarn means eye and vision which is reflective of the cosmological shamanic experiences seen by the consumption of peyote. Renowned Huichol yarn painter Alejandro Lopez stated (2005), “the original yarn paintings were round like a mirror or a telescope...looking from great distance into the world of the gods” (p. 20). Huichol artists created yarn paintings as visual representations of their visions to present them as offerings to their deities, utilizing the painting as a device to communicate their prayers. As yarn paintings became increasingly elaborate the geometric shapes depicting a telescope were situated around the border, and Huichol Shamans and artists would utilize the interior to focus on the prayer. Takutsi Nakawe Brings Rain by Santos Daniel Carrillo Jimenez (2005), seen below, depicts two Shamans performing a ritual calling for Takutsi Nakawe, the Goddess of the rain, to provide their land with sufficient rainfall for their corn fields presented in the top left corner (43). The peyote is vital in most artwork centered in the middle of the painting, and surrounded by blue deer. The deer is a sacred animal and is said to have led the Huichol to the first peyote. The top right depicts the bull that was sacrificed as an offering to Takutsi Nakawe, which is reflective of Huichol ideology of maintaining a relationship of reciprocity with the land and their gods in order to flourish.
MacLean provides examples of various yarn paintings and traditional paintings to provide the history of epistemology and ontological practices of the Huichol community. Contemporary painting depicts various dimensions of the Huichol polytheistic religion, their medicinal practices, and cultural values inscribed through the use of yarn providing the individual artist autonomy on documenting practices of prayer, knowledge and sacred Huichol information.
Schaefer, S. B. (2015). Huichol Women, Weavers, and Shamans. University of New Mexico Press.
Anthropologist Stacy B. Schaefer explores the women in Huichol communities in Jalisco, Mexico to record the technologies of weaving and follow master weavers who capture their culturally-specific values and rituals within the products they create. Schaefer analyzes how practical items such as baskets, clothing, and yarn paintings are the embodiment of their religious practices and act as vessels that transmit their knowledge. The Huichol believe in manifestation, in that master weavers’ agency to create vegetation, rain and animals within their textiles will come to fruition in their lives. Women hold great responsibility in creating tools used during prayer and rituals, understanding each element required for the tools used for healing and prayer. Their understanding of botany and healing rituals transforms into herbal remedies used in ceremonies serving ill community members. Huichol women uphold traditional knowledge transmission through their creations which maintain the community’s health through medicine, ceremonial practices through sacred tools and the practical functions of clothing, bowls and baskets.
Master weavers play a significant role in the Huichol government and hold similar societal status as Shamans of their communities. Huichols goddesses, women, and spiders are revered for their magical, shaman-like ability to weave the gods, humans, plants, and animals into existence (258). The tools are said to manipulate the invisible, bringing the cosmological realm into something tangible. Schaefer emphasizes the essence of transformation, as Huichol women believe their weaving will manifest plentiful resources onto the land they inhabit. Their belief systems are recorded into textiles which are commonly seen on clothing and yarn paintings. Master weavers are highly regarded in Huichol communities for their independence and abilities to generate income for their families through selling their clothing and artwork. Women have established their importance reinforcing their agency as knowledge carriers, entrepreneurs, and creators of a world that will manifest for their community.
Although there are no scriptures on their creations themselves, each tool is associated with a distinct Huichol myth and prayer which is taught from generation to generation. Huichol women inscribe their medicinal knowledge into woven creations such as muwieri, or feathered power wand, made from brazilwood (253). Muwieri have short phrases which hold transformational power and essence of their gods. The brazilwood captures medicinal benefits and holds significant holistic healing for the Huichol community, reinforcing that the materials that go into these creations are international. Huichol women carefully gather resources with medicinal properties, sing or cite healing rituals during its construction, and finally the Shaman utilize them to perform indigenous medical practices. Although Shamans who are predominantly men are highly regarded as knowledge carriers, Huichol women create the foundation that precedes and allows for their ceremonial rituals.
During her apprenticeship with master weavers, Schaefer unpacks Huichol community’s oral practices and its associated spiritual woven creations into an analytical narrative of Huichol women and their significant role in the community providing a foundation for Shamans to perform rituals, creating medicine, and building products that contribute to the transmission of Huichol information.
The Huichol Center. (2021). Ethnographic Archiving. The Huichol Center. https://www.thehuicholcenter.org/ethnographic-archiving.html
Susana Valadez, founder and curator of The Huichol Center, has dedicated 40 years to the indigenous community to preserve their spiritual, cultural and religious practices and assist them in combating government intervention that endangers their cultural survival. The website presents the various strategic community-based projects Valades leads, providing employment, primary education, a birthing room, food and farming techniques to combat malnourishment. Upon discovering the powerful significance art plays for the Huichol, Valades initiated ethnographic archiving for the community to implement another form of knowledge record keeping that coexists with traditional Huichol record, document and archiving practices.
The Huichol Center’s ethnographic archiving project empowers women to learn computing and archiving skills that allows them to build a database that digitally records Huichol information. The women are allowed to bring their children while they work to make the position accessible to mothers, and reinforcing their sovereignty as essential contributors of their community. Over the past three decades the community members have worked towards cataloging artwork, language, important artifacts, and a variety of culturally significant objects to maintain their spiritual artistic heritage and bridge a cultural divide. The database serves as a the curriculum for The Huichol Center’s school and prepares young children for urban school systems while incorporating their identity, cultural and religious values into their learning material. The database is considered a “living archive” as Shamans, elders and well-versed individuals can contribute any new information to the repositories.“This interactive archive is helping to culturally re-assimilate a "lost generation"... an expansive encyclopedic database that may be held in trust for future generations of Huichols wishing to validate and reclaim their cultural identity” (Valadez, 2021). The elders and Shamans’ involvement is essential to creating a repository for the Huichol by the Huichol, to validate the information and ensure it has not been distorted by outsider interpretations. The archive allows for the survival of ancient traditions to be maintained and active in the contemporary Huichol practices. Future generations will benefit from these archives because it will provide information that may have otherwise been lost, as there are only a few elders who act as vessels of knowledge.
The ethnographic archiving project provides one of the largest Huichol resources to preserve the community’s cultural, religious, medical, and artistic material and information. The project empowers individuals to gain computing skills, digital archival methods, and employment opportunities that will reinforce the community’s autonomy and sovereignty. The archive will benefit the community directly by providing a space where Shamans and elders share their wisdom which will be implemented into the course work of the Huichol youth. The Huichol Center demonstrates the success of coexisting knowledge systems that allows for traditional knowledge systems and digital archives to interact without contaminating sacred Huichol information and bolstering their cultural survival.