The Huichol are an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico.
This tribe is considered a member of the Uto-Aztecan group, having ties to the original Aztecs, as well as the Yaquis and Hopis to the North. Approximately twenty thousand Huichol individuals occupy settlements throughout the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, and a few thousand more have migrated to further cities. Over eight thousand still live in their remote ancestral homelands in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. Due to the inaccessible nature of this geographical region, and a fierce commitment to independence, core groups of Huichol have managed to sustain their pre-Columbian life style to a large degree into modern times. Scholars consider their cultural legacy, including art, religious symbolism, music, folklore, and plant knowledge, and a unique window into the past. They are one of the last living intact pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Anthropologists consider them to be one of the best examples of an indigenous tribe in the Western Hemisphere.
Present day Huichol activities can be traced to the time of the Aztec dominance in Mexico. Exact details of their origins and original territory are uncertain. Due to the remote location of their settlements the Huichol avoided the initial Spanish invasion. Later attempts at colonization in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had minimal impacts on them, as well, since they actively resisted Mexican and Catholic attempts at assimilation, although they did lose some land in those two centuries. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century, and the Mexican revolution in the early twentieth century, that the Huichol began to suffer loss of great land and integration into the larger Mexican society. Although the 1910 Mexican Revolution legally returned lands to the Indian pueblos, politics and economics usually overrode the law. Local mestizos made encroachments into their territory for agricultural and ranching, and business interests went after mineral and forest products. Even with this movement against them, the Huichol continued as a singular culture.
The Huichol are an excellent representation of a pre-industrialized, pre-Christian society. Their religion is inseparable from everyday life. The concept of “God” is different from a western theist model. To the Huichol all of nature is sacred: animals, plants, landforms, waterways, and stones. Each one of these natural entities constitutes a god. This type of worship is often termed “animist”, although Furst argues that “ecological” is a better term, since the fundamental worldview venerates the interrelationship of all things in nature. Some things such as maize, the white-tailed deer, and the sun have significant stature in their myths and worship but the Huichol view is not dictated by any dogmatic hierarchy, and different groups can have variant primary focus. The many ancestors of the Huichol also play a significant role in their belief, as they are prayed to, and summoned, for many reasons. Every home is associated with a structure termed xiriki, an ancestor-god house that plays a critical role in their daily worship. Intense artwork is an integral part of their tradition. Colorful, symbolic embroidery and weaving decorate the people, offering a visual introduction into the religious minds of the wearers. These striking and elaborate designs are considered a prayer in their making, as well as their wearing. The Huichol also create altars, shaman sacks and wands, and other power objects to use in their ritual. Their user, of native found materials, usually makes these items. Another testament of the art-religion relationship is the intricate yarn paintings produced by Huichol artisans. These highly colorful and extremely intricate works tell tales of myths and visions. They range in size from a few inches square to a few feet square, and are a wonderfully compelling sight, a true testament to the individuality and poignancy of their worldview.
A significant aspect of the Huichol religious behavior is the peyote
ceremony. This hallucinogenic cactus plays a vital role in their spiritual practice.
This ritual has gained the Huichol wide attention, especially due to the Carlos
Castaneda books, first published in the United States in the late nineteen sixties. Although some of the focus has been negative, leading to shallow interpretations by sensational New Age adherents, most of the attention has been positive, stressing the rights of indigenous people to self-determination concerning their historical religious practices. The peyote ceremony begins with a three hundred mile pilgrimage to the northern Wirikuta desert of San Luis Potosi. This trek is the beginning of the religious experience, as the sojourners, perform prayers and dances, at the start of the trip and are required to maintain a state of semi-fasting throughout their travels, subsisting only on dried tortillas and some water. When the sacred peyote is found the Huichol dance, sing, and weep late into the night and commence the practice the next day. The actual ceremony consists of selected members of the tribe, led by a shaman, ingesting pieces of the cactus or drinking a prepared beverage. The sacred rite involves singing, chanting, and dancing, as well as individual visions. Furst discusses the singular role of this plant,
“There is no question that directly and metaphorically, the peyote is the focus of much of Huichol religious emotion, the annual cycle of communal family ceremonial and ritual activities, and the common intellectual culture.
That includes rites intended to promote the growth of maize and other useful cultivated and wild plant life, hunting, rain, human and animal fertility, and so forth, for peyote and its effects are key to their welfare.”
It can be challenging for the rational western mind to appreciate this activity in
reference to our society’s issues with mind-altering substances. One must remember that these practices are centuries old, and are continued within a cultural and religious context. It is shared ecstatic/transcendental experience, which plays an ongoing role in their shared worldview, and is expressed through unique arts and crafts, language, and song.
A significant aspect of Huichol identity is their native language. They have been quite successful resisting domination by Spanish speakers, which has diluted other indigenous languages to the point of ruination. Community activists and concerned anthropologists are making concentrated efforts to preserve their language through teaching and publishing.
The core of the Huichol society is the extended family. These family groups make up independent residential bands that are usually led by a male elder who also acts as shaman and ritualist. The groups settle into scattered farmsteads called ranchos, which are sometimes grouped into larger settlements termed Rancherias. The larger, self-governing districts are called communidades indigenas, which are the fundamental units of Huichol identity, carrying out basic beaurocratic and judicial responsibilities. Tribe members do tend to move around a lot, for reasons of visiting, gathering food, trading, and other business. Due to modern social and economic forces many Huichol travel for temporary work as migrant farmers, and some have left the mountain homelands to live in urban centers.
The Huichol economy has historically been based on slash and burn agriculture, augmented by hunting fishing, and gathering wild foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable. The primary foodstuff is maize, which has strong religious and cultural importance in their society. Other important crops are squash, beans, chilies, and amaranth. They are gifted with a long tradition of utilizing native plants for healing, ceremony, and useful material.
Even though the Huichol have maintained their individual culture as well as any North American tribe, the same political, economic, and social forces that have weakened, and destroyed, many indigenous cultures, seriously threaten them. Chief among these threats is the powerful, and far-reaching effect of the global market economy. Also, Mexican government programs to assimilate indigenous societies into the fold of the larger society have had marked negative effects. Finally, Christian religious groups, both Catholic and Protestant Evangelical have fractured the Huichols by weakening the strong bond of their native beliefs. These three threats began to seriously impact the Huichol people
in the 1950’s when access to the Sierra Madre was increased by road and airstrip construction.
Government and industry pressure to “update” corn-farming methods have hurt the Huichol. Programs maximizing yields, at the expense of all other factors, have often caused them to lease their land to large-scale farmers, and then have to work as employees on their own land. When trying to farm their own land, forced use of modern hybrid seed stock demanding application of artificial pesticides and fertilizers, decreasing cash at hand, and breaking down traditional farming practices.
In order to participate in the market economy many Huichols have to resort to migrant labor. They work in sub-human conditions, often suffering greatly just getting to the farms. Tobacco harvesting is their most frequent crop. There are serious health risks involved with this activity, primarily from the pesticides used. The Huichols work with no safety equipment, are more susceptible from heavy sweating, and usually live in the same contaminated fields they work in. The water supply is usually tainted, either bad wells or run-off irrigation ditches. Many children have to work, and they are highly susceptible to poisoning. Also, the leaves themselves can give a disorder called Green Tobacco Sickness that causes rashes, nausea, and flu-like symptoms. This is a vey high price to pay for participation in the market economy, and definitely falls under the category of exploitation.
Internal and external aid projects are being developed to free the Huichol from the destructive forces of government programs and market economy exploitation. The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts was founded in 1981. This outpost offers many programs to elevate the quality of life of their tribe. Chief among these are programs to boost childhood nutrition. A successful pilot program introducing soy into the Huichol diet is very exciting. This high protein food is being grown locally, then processed at the Center into oil, vegetable protein, and soymilk. The Center also has programs to teach sustainable agriculture, offer educational opportunities, and preserve religious and ethnographic heritage.
A major effort is underway for tribal members to create self-sufficient income streams, to foster internal independence and avoid external exploitation. The leading method is production and sale of arts and crafts items. Since the Huichol were “discovered” by popular North American culture in the 1960’s, their colorful yarn paintings and intricate beadwork has found its way into galleries, retail shops, and Internet sites. This gives fulfilling work to many people, and dovetails with their long tradition of design.
Another fascinating project highlights opportunities for modern technology to aid native people, instead of diminish their quality of life. Boston based Kennedy and Violich Architecture designed a system where flexible solar panels are embedded in clothing. The power gathered during daylight hour’s fuels LED lighting systems at night. This ingenious blend of technology allows the Huichols to participate in productive activities in the evening such as producing saleable crafts or educating themselves. Having light at night gives them more time for traditional activities during daylight. Also, this small scale system keeps the users away from the large-scale electric grid, whose development often brings many problematic issues, like land destruction form right-of-ways.
Other developments offer optimism. In 1994 the Governor of San Luis Potosi signed a decree protecting over 180,000 acres as an ecologic and cultural sanctuary. This is the region where the Huichol gather peyote. This order allows them unrestricted access, as well as right to gather and perform ceremonies. Recently, the Jalisco Indigenous Groups Support Association reclaimed over 140,000 acres of Huichol land that had been illegally taken by various business interests. These are very important victories for the tribe. Land, and the freedom to follow tradition, is fundamental needs for the survival of an indigenous culture. Also, these events indicate a change towards modern activism in favor of the Huichol’s survival, instead of historical encroachment for exploitative reasons.
The Huichol today are in a precarious position. Like an endangered species they hover at the edge of extinction. Great difficulties face them, as many indigenous peoples, like infant malnutrition, alcoholism, and poverty. Pressures from the external dominant society are strong. Fortunately, dedicated parties are working diligently, keeping hope alive that the independent Huichol will continue, ensuring that this unique Mesoamerican tribe will exist far into the future. Many positive developments suggest that this is a real possibility.
Bibliography
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De Catorce, Real. “One nation, or many?” The Economist. 20 January 2001.
Furst, Peter T., and Stacy B. Schaefer. People of the Peyote: Huichol Indian History,
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Hagler, Louise. “Return Visit to the Huichol Center Soyaria.” Plenty. Summer 2005.
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