The Shaman's Mirror

by Hope MacLean

  The geographic origins of the Huichol are bound up in the larger question of the origin of Uto-Aztecans generally. There is a long-standing scholarly debate whether the Uto-Aztecans originated in the north or the south, that is, in the American West or in Mesoamerica (Hill 2001). One theory proposes that Proto-Uto-Aztecans originated in the north as food foragers. After maize was domesticated in the Valley of Mexico about 3600 BC, the knowledge of maize cultivation diffused northward, reaching New Mexico by 1740 BC. Maize cultivation was adopted by some Uto-Aztecans, but not all, since the northernmost groups still foraged. According to the northern-origin theory, the Huichol may have been a fringe group, far from the northern heartland of Uto-Aztecan culture.

  Fig. 2.1. The pine-clad mountains of the Sierra Madre descending into deep canyons. Photo credit: Hope MacLean.

  The other theory proposes a southern origin for Uto-Aztecans. While the debate has gone on for years, the linguist Jane Hill synthesized recent research on Uto-Aztecans and concluded that a southern origin seems most probable. She relates the domestication of maize to a population expansion that occurred first in the Valley of Mexico and then in daughter groups. The resulting population pressures may then have led to unusually rapid expansion northward. Between 2500 and 1000 BC, the maize cultivators leap-frogged over desert regions along the Pacific Coast, seeking arable river systems suitable for maize planting. An unusually rapid expansion would account for the similarities in Uto-Aztecan culture and languages over a wide area. According to this theory, the Huichol were not a fringe group but were close to the center of Proto-Uto-Aztecan culture.

  Huichol oral history states that they “originated in the south; as they wandered northward, they got lost under the earth, but reappeared in the country of the hikuli; that is, the central mesa of Mexico, to the east of their present home (Lumholtz 1902, 2:23).” This oral history, which links the Huichol with a southern Uto-Aztecan origin, is similar to stories of emergence from underground told by other Uto-Aztecans, such as the Hopi.

  The Huichol’s present homeland lies astride the Sierra Madre Occidental, which runs down the Pacific coast of Mexico. At their highest, the mountains soar to 10,000 feet (3,280 meters). To the east lies the high central Mexican plateau. In the west, the mountains gradually descend toward the Pacific Ocean and the tourist beach resorts of Puerto Vallarta and San Blas.

  The Rĺo Grande de Santiago (also known as the Rĺo Lerma) flows north out of Lake Chapala and cuts through the heart of the mountains. Just north of Tepic, the river makes a sharp turn to the west, flows through the fertile coastal plains around Santiago Ixcuintla, and empties into the Pacific Ocean. According to the Huichol artist Eligio Carrillo, the Huichol call the Santiago River the Rĺo Wirrarika, indicating its role as the center of their homeland.

  The 2000 census counted more than 43,000 Huichol. Contrary to rumors on the Internet, the Huichol are not a dying people.1 In fact, with a high birthrate and an improved infant mortality rate due partly to better access to food and health care, the number of Huichol can be expected to grow quickly over the coming years.

  Most Huichol live in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit. A few have settled in neighboring states such as Zacatecas, Durango, and Aguascalientes. One group, mainly from Santa Catarina, live in far-off Mexico City. A few Huichol have even immigrated to the United States.

  A large part of the Huichol nation lives in northern Jalisco, west of the towns of Mezquitic and Huejuquilla el Alto. There are three communities, named Tateikie, or San Andrés; Tuapurie, or Santa Catarina; and Wautüa, or San Sebastián. These are on protected lands called “comunidades” in Spanish, a legal category somewhat like reservations in the United States. The original comunidades had land titles granted by the Spanish crown (Grimes and Hinton 1969, 795). The deeds subsequently disappeared from the archives in Mexico City and have been in dispute since then. The Huichol comunidades are surrounded by land owned by mestizo cattle ranchers, who contest the boundaries in order to gain access to more pastureland. Nonetheless, the status of comunidad provides a degree of protection and security as well as formal recognition of the tribe as an indigenous community.

  The three comunidades are subdivided into five governing districts: San Andrés and Guadalupe Ocotán (Xatsitsarie), San Sebastián and Tuxpan (Tutsipa), and Santa Catarina. Phil Weigand (1981, 20) estimates that these five districts are further subdivided into about twenty temple districts. The temples (Hui.: tuki) are centers of ceremonial activity. Weigand (1972, 7–8) refers to the three Sierra communities as the Chapalagana Huichol after the Chapalagana River, which divides the western plateau of San Andrés from the eastern plateaus of Santa Catarina and San Sebastián. The Chapalagana River (also known as the Atenco River) flows into the Huaynamota River, then to the Santiago River.

  There are also a number of Huichol communities in Nayarit along the western edge of the Sierra and in the foothills leading down to the city of Tepic, particularly along the Santiago River. In addition, there are old Huichol settlements to the south, such as Amatlán de Jora, which at one time had temples and large Huichol populations. Remnant populations of Huichol live in the hills east of the Pan-American Highway, near such towns as Ixtlán del Rĺo and Magdalena.

  Huichol may have always lived in the foothill regions, since archival sources show that these communities were probably populated with Huichol during the Spanish colonial era (Rojas 1992, 12–15, 22). In the early 1900s, many Huichol fled the Sierra and traveled down the Santiago River to escape violent fighting during the Mexican Revolution. These refugee families settled in the foothills, and many never returned to the Sierra communities. By the 1950s, Fabila (1959, 74–75) had found that about one-quarter of the Huichol population was living outside the official Sierra comunidades. I refer to the foothill communities as the Santiago Huichol, to distinguish them from the Chapalagana Huichol. The Santiago Huichol speak Huichol and practice their own ceremonies, and their histories differ somewhat from those of the Chapalagana Huichol.

  The Santiago Huichol do not have the legal recognition or protected lands of a comunidad. Some foothill communities, such as Caracól, Salvador Allende, and Colorĺn, are ejidos, which are another legal category of protected communal land. Others are simply groups of families or villages living together wherever they can, on land that is privately owned or not officially occupied.

  Increasing numbers of Huichol now live in cities such as Guadalajara and Tepic. In the 1990s, Celso Delgado, the governor of Nayarit, set aside a section of land on the outskirts of Tepic to form a Huichol colonia (Sp.: settlement, urban neighborhood) called Zitacua (pronounced “Si-tá-kwa”).2 This colony has a Huichol governor and a temple for ceremonies. However, many Huichol prefer to live elsewhere; for example, a number of Huichol from San Andrés live around the former municipal airport at the opposite end of town.

  Map 2.1. Map of Huichol territory and some sacred sites.

  Credit: Original map from Carl Lumholtz, Symbolism of the Huichol Indians (New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1900), 4; additional text added by Designmatters.

  The rural Huichol prefer to live well separated in extended family compounds called ranchos. Rural Huichol still farm corn, beans, and squash by using traditional slash-and-burn horticulture, but agricultural chemicals are becoming increasingly common. They also keep cattle, goats, and sheep as well as donkeys, mules, and horses.

  As the Huichol population grows, there is increasing pressure on the limited arable land available in the Sierra. According to Liffman (2002, 63), their population of about 4,000 families would require about 118,613 acres (48,000 hectares) of cultivable land, which is more than is now available. Clearly, a subsistence economy cannot support everyone. Moreover, the Huichol want cash so that they can buy popular consumer goods, such as portable radio–tape decks (boom boxes), plastic dishes, cotton fabric, glass beads, and yarn. Some affluent families now have propane stoves and buy bottled gas. To earn cash, many Huichol commute to the Pacific co
ast to plant tobacco and pick fruit. Selling arts and crafts is an increasingly important source of cash income.

  3

  kakauyari

  the gods and the land are alive

  Lupe dipped the tips of her shaman’s plumes into a jar of water taken from a sacred spring. Then she lifted her muwieri in the air and offered a drop of water in each of the four directions.

  “Wirikuta, Haramara, Otata, Ta Selieta.” She pronounced the names with reverence.

  “Hi xrapa,” she called out, raising her plumes above her head. (She pronounced it “hee shrapa.”)

  Then she sprinkled a final drop of water into the fire burning beside her.

  With her words and her offering, Lupe woke up the beings that live in each direction and called them in to hear her words. The ceremony had begun, and the doors were now open to the spirit world.

  Lupe’s invocation tied her ceremony into the heart of the sacred map that the Huichol call home. Each direction has a divine guardian living in a specific place. Wirikuta, the sacred desert in the east where the peyote cactus grows; Haramara, the goddess of the Pacific Ocean; Otata, the North, located on a mountain called Auromanaka, or Cerro Gordo, in Durango; Ta Selieta, the South, located in Rapawiyeme, or Lake Chapala, in Jalisco; Hi xrapa—the Center.1

  Years later, Eligio and I were driving through the green fields of sugarcane outside Tepic. Ahead of us loomed the extinct volcano called Sanganguey, or Cerro de Abeja—the Hill of the Bee. The lava core jutted out of the surrounding green slopes like the stinger of a giant bee. I asked Eligio whether the Huichol knew any stories about the mountain.

  “The earth is alive,” he began. “It is a living person. We call that person Nakawe. The volcanoes are her breath. Every time she breathes, steam comes out of the mountain.”

  · · · ·

  Let us look for a moment at how the world works from a Huichol point of view.

  The Huichol world is made up of living, breathing beings that are other than human. We live on the skin of one of those beings, whom the Huichol call Takutsi Nakawe. Our food grows because of other beings. Rain mothers, in the form of serpents, live in the springs, lakes, and oceans. When properly fed and encouraged with prayers and offerings, the rain mothers rise up in the form of clouds and bring life-giving rains to the crops.

  The earth is flat and square, and surrounded by oceans. It is supported at the four corners—by candles, says Eligio. Others say by trees. If the candles burn down and are not renewed, the earth will die. The earth is like a person; it needs to eat to be strong. If it is not fed and well nourished with the right kind of food, it will become weak. It is our job, the job of the Huichol, to renew the candles and strengthen the world.

  We feed the gods with our prayers and offerings. We hunt the deer, we catch a fish, or we sacrifice our cattle, and then feed the gods with their blood. We smear the blood on our arrows and our candles, and then take the offerings to the sacred places where the gods live. We sacrifice ourselves as well. We fast. We fast from salt so that our food will have no flavor. We give up sleep. We refrain from sexual relations so that we will be limpiecita (Sp.: totally clean and pure).

  The gods are our ancestors—the kakauyari. The earth and the waters are our mothers, our elder sisters. The fire is our grandfather. We call him Tatewari. The sun is our father. We call him Tayau. They are all our relatives.

  The deer are our relatives as well. The deer is our elder brother; we call him Tamatsi Kauyumari. He is the interpreter, the translator for the gods. It is very hard to hear and understand the gods. Tamatsi Kauyumari tells us their messages.

  Tatei Niwetsika is the mother of corn. Her daughters are the spirits of the different colors of corn. She was once our mother-in-law. One of her daughters married a Huichol man and freely gave him endless quantities of corn, without his having to do any planting. Unfortunately, the man’s mother did not appreciate the gift, so she demanded that the corn girl start to work hard, grinding corn to make tortillas. Blood poured from the girl’s hands because she was grinding her own flesh—made of corn—on the metate (Sp.: stone grinding table). A great wind sprang up, all the corn vanished from the granaries, and now the marriage between humans and corn requires unremitting toil.

  · · · ·

  The Huichol view of the world is a magnificent dance between humans and other-than-human beings. There is nothing small about it. The gods and goddesses are the very stuff of the earth and sky, the powers and forces of nature. Humans are essential to their survival. Without the ongoing sacrifice and commitment of humans, the world as we know it would cease to exist.

  Lupe once said to me, in some indignation, “The mestizos here don’t know what we do for them. It is our prayers, our fasting, our pilgrimages that make the rains come. If the Huichol were not doing that for them, they would not be able to grow their crops. They don’t appreciate everything we Huichol are doing for them.”

  Lupe was not speaking metaphorically. She meant every word quite literally. It is very difficult for Westerners, even as trained anthropologists, to encompass what it means to see the world from this perspective. Westerners use the term “Mother Nature” or talk romantically about Native American conceptions of nature as sacred. But it is difficult for a Westerner to shift fully and see the world as the Huichol do. It is a big leap to feel oneself personally responsible for the ongoing survival and strength of the world.

  Huichol Religion

  Despite the Spanish conquest, the Huichol managed to retain their religion, including a shamanic curing complex. While the Chapalagana Huichol adopted some Christian practices, such as Semana Santa (Easter Week) celebrations and the worship of wooden santos (Sp.: saints), in general their ceremonies remained aboriginal. The Santiago Huichol may have not even adopted the outward forms of Christianity found in the Sierra comunidades; for example, my Huichol consultants have no tradition of practicing Semana Santa ceremonies or worshipping the wooden saints.2

  Huichol deities represent the spirits of animals, plants, and natural phenomena such as the sun, the earth, mountains, lakes, springs, and rain. Deities may be male or female, and they are considered relatives or members of the Huichol family. For example, important male deities are Tatewari, Our Grandfather Fire; Tau (or Tayau), Our Father the Sun; and Tamatsi Kauyumari, Our Elder Brother the Deer, a messenger of the gods. Female deities include Takutsi Nakawe, Grandmother Growth (literally “Our Elder Sister” Nakawe),3 goddess of the earth and creation, as well as Our Mothers (Hui.: Tatei teima), who include Tatei Werika Uimari, Our Young Mother Eagle Girl, who holds the world in her claws; Tatei Yurianaka, goddess of fertility and crops (sometimes called Tatei Utuanaka); Tatei Niwetsika, the Mother of Maize; Tatei Nüaariwama, goddess of lightning and storms; and a host of goddesses of rain and water. Many goddesses are associated with particular springs or bodies of water, such as Tatei Matinieri, a spring in the desert north of San Luis Potosĺ; Tatei Rapawiyeme, located in Lake Chapala, south of Guadalajara;4 and Tatei Haramara, the Pacific Ocean at the town of San Blas, Nayarit.

  Fig. 3.1. Eligio Carrillo’s family preparing to sacrifice a bull calf during a nighttime ceremony. The presiding mara’akame, left, is holding his shaman’s plumes (muwieri). Two men have been dancing with corn bundles sacred to the corn goddess. Photo credit: Hope MacLean.

  Indeed, most deities have shrines at particular sacred sites. Many ceremonies include making a pilgrimage to a sacred site in order to leave offerings. If there is a spring or water at the site, the pilgrims bathe in it, drink it, and bring the water home to use in ceremonies.

  Perhaps the best-known Huichol ceremony is the pilgrimage to Wirikuta, also known as the “peyote hunt.” The pilgrims leave their homeland in the Sierra and travel 400 miles (650 kilometers) northeast to the desert north of San Luis Potosĺ. In the past, when the pilgrims walked, the journey took about forty-three days (Lumholtz 1902, 2:126). Now, most pilgrims travel by bus or truck, and the journey takes just a few days.

  Part
of the pilgrimage ceremony includes collecting and eating hikuri—peyote—a hallucinogenic cactus that grows in the desert of Wirikuta. Peyote has the power to transform into deer and corn. The pilgrims may leave offerings at Reunar, the volcano that is the birthplace of the sun, and bring peyote and sacred water back with them for use in ceremonies that bring life to the people in their communities. Peyote is eaten by participants in ceremonies and even given to young children if they want to try it. It is not addictive or harmful when consumed occasionally in ceremonies, as the Huichol use it.

  The pilgrimage to Wirikuta is undertaken to re-create the world. It ensures that the sun continues to rise, and the rain to fall, and guarantees that people, animals, and crops enjoy good health. According to Eligio, the original pilgrimage was made by the kakauyari, who are the ancestor-gods of the Huichol. The gods started at the Pacific Ocean and travelled east on their way to a fiesta in Wirikuta. Some gods were lazy (Sp.: vagón) and stopped along the way; they transformed into mountains or other sacred sites. For example, a mountain in Nayarit now known as Picachos was originally a group of gods who became tired on the journey and sat down to rest. Other gods reached Wirikuta, and still live there. The modern pilgrims re-create the original journey made by the kakauyari and visit the sacred sites where the gods stopped.