Huichol: Difference between revisions

[[File:The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Nayarit tomb figure.jpg|thumb|Right|A Nayarit tomb figure in the permanent collection of [[The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis]].]]

The Wixárika arrived in the Bolaños Canyon region after the arrival of the [[Tepehuan]]es. There are numerous theories among anthropologists and historians about the timing of the arrival of this ethnic group in the region, but according to Wixárika oral history, when they arrived in 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.<ref>Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T.,People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 49</ref> In addition, there exist no stories of conquest or domination of the Wixárika by the Tepecanos in 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|hikuri]] (a hallucinogenic cactus) in the place that they call [[Wirikuta]], that is located in the region of [[Real de Catorce]] in the state of San Luis Potosí. Hikuri does not grow in the region of Wixárika, but it 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.<ref>Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T., People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 43</ref> 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,<ref>Thomas, Cyrus. Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America. Washington, DC, 1911, p. 48</ref> as well as the similarity between the language of Wixárika and the extinct language of the Guachichiles compared to their present neighbors, the Cora.<ref>Thomas, Cyrus. Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America. Washington, DC, 1911, p. 23</ref>

Historical documents indicate that during the 16th century, the Wixárika had already arrived in the region that is today northern Jalisco.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.<ref>Sauer, Carl O., The Distribution of Aboriginal Tribes and Languages in Northwest Mexico. Berkeley. CA, 1934, p. 7</ref> The Spaniards who explored the region that later became [[Jerez, Zacatecas|Jerez]] wrote that they were groups of Guachichiles in the region that had pushed out the Zacatecas that had previously resided there.<ref>Gerhard, Peter, The north frontier of New Spain, Princeton, New Jersey, 1982, p. 98</ref> Through this historical evidence one can postulate that the Wixárika arrived in the Bolaños Canyon region around the same time as the Spaniards. The arrival of the Spaniards in 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.<ref>Schaefer, Stacy B. y Furst, Peter T., People of the Peyote. Albuquerque, Nuevo México, 1996, p. 45</ref>

 

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".<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. pp. 169–170, citing Zingg 1982, 1:171</ref> "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".<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 170, citing Zingg 1982, 1:525</ref>

*"According to Huichol [belief], the Sun created earthly beings with his saliva, which appeared in the shape of red foam on the surface of the ocean's waves."<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 170, citing Zingg 1982, 2:187</ref> "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".<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 171, citing Zingg 1982, 1:177</ref>

*"Kacíwalí is ... maize goddess. The wind carried her to the top of a mountain, which was given to her as a dwelling".<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. pp. 174–175, citing Zingg 1982, 1:555</ref> "Kacíwalí's rain serpents are changed into fish".<ref>Alfredo López Austin : ''Tamoanchan, Tlalocan''. U Pr of Co, 1997. p. 176, citing Zingg 1982, 1:432</ref>