by Hope MacLean
CHAPTER 7
1. In addition to published works on Huichol art, I have relied on the following collections, particularly for paintings of the 1960s and 1970s: the San Diego Museum of Man, the UCLA Fowler Museum, the Ruth Gruhn–Alan Bryan collection, and the Knox collection (Knox and Maud 1980).
2. In 1993–1994, Benĺtez seemed to discover a color combination that sold particularly well. He was flooding the market with paintings made from a combination of red, cobalt blue, sage green, and orange. These paintings usually had simple designs, and many were based on a circular shape with repeating symbols.
3. Lang told me that the “masterwork” paintings have the code MW written on them.
4. All the datable paintings by Benĺtez that I have seen use the older style in the 1970s (Negrĺn, 1977, 1979; Berrin 1978; one painting in a private collection dates from the early 1970s).
5. According to a tipped-in errata note, the paintings in this book are mislabelled. The painting I refer to is on page 48 (Negrĺn 1986).
CHAPTER 8
1. The fretwork (Greek key) and stair-step motifs are ancient. They are painted on the clothing of shaft-tomb ceramic figures up to two thousand years old from the Huichol’s own region (Kan et al. 1989, 15, 83). The fretwork is woven in bags from Puebloan or even earlier Basketmaker sites in the American Southwest (Amsden 1934, plate 35), which suggests a pan-Uto-Aztecan distribution for the motif.
CHAPTER 9
1. Some women still have time to embroider their own clothing. Others are under pressure to sell their embroidery and weaving as fast as they can make it. Increasingly, women in the Sierra make their dresses with colorful cotton broadcloth, either plain or printed. The passion for color, particularly red, is seen in clothes made of vibrant prints, such as those featuring Christmas poinsettias or Thanksgiving corn and pumpkins.
CHAPTER 10
1. The radio program may have been on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation sometime between 1995 and 2000.
2. Eligio said that when a shaman lights his fire during a ceremony, it becomes the shaman’s temple. He often uses the terms “sacred temple” and “ceremonial fire” synonymously. It is customary to hold ceremonies outdoors on the family patio with participants in a circle around the fire.
3. Eligio uses the Spanish word “aigre” for “air.” This may be local Mexican or rural dialect; however, he often seems to use “aigre” specifically to refer to winds as spiritual entities, or to “magical air” as a spiritual power, rather than simply to the air (Sp.: aire) that surrounds us. Kearney 1972, 48–49, describes a similar use of “aigre” to refer to spiritually charged winds among the Zapotec.
4. The flowers I saw had many stamens and few petals. They closely resemble photographs of Pseudobombax palmeri (also known as the cuajilote or the shaving brush tree; see photographs at www.desertmuseumdigitallibrary.org). Bauml (1994, 95–96) reports that a consultant in San Andrés told him that the flowers of this tree are used on an altar or in the xiriki.
CHAPTER 11
1. For an illustration of this painting, see Furst (1968–1969, 20) or Furst and Nahmad (1972, n.p.). The paintings reproduced in the Furst and Nahmad volume are in a twenty-page color insert; the painting I refer to is on the eighth page of this insert.
CHAPTER 12
1. The Huichol word written as “iyari” is often pronounced “iyarli” (like the English name Charlie), which makes it sound even more like the Nahua “yolli.”
2. Most Huichol are familiar with electricity, since they visit the city, where even most low-income houses now have access to electricity. They are also familiar with portable tape recorders, which are quite popular, and with cars, although few can afford to own one. In our discussion, Eligio introduced the analogy of electricity and tape recorders. I introduced the idea of a car’s steering wheel and motor.
3. There are some striking similarities between Huichol aesthetic concepts and Aztec concepts, as described by Anderson (1990, 140–156). Nevertheless, the Huichol do not seem to share some of the Aztecs’ grim and pessimistic ideas, such as the belief that nothing matters except art, or that life is ephemeral and meaningless. My perception is that the Huichol have a more cheerful outlook on life.
CHAPTER 14
1. Gabriel Bautista signed his first paintings as “Gabriel Bautista C.”
2. The Tepehuane mass-produce yarn-painted items such as eclipse plaques, but few Huichol do.
CHAPTER 15
1. A retail price markup of at least double or triple the wholesale price is standard in the gift industry; for example, an item that wholesales for $1 will retail for $2–$3. Art galleries often take a commission of 50 percent of the retail price.
2. The painting illustrated in Grady’s (2004, 76) article was by Cresencio Pérez Robles. He often sells through the government store, DIF, in Nayarit, where the clerks have limited knowledge about the Huichol. It is possible that a clerk miscopied and wrote two different explanations on identical paintings.
glossary
A number of different systems have been developed to transcribe the Huichol language. The first consistent system was developed for the Summer Institute of Linguistics by John B. McIntosh and Joseph E. Grimes (1954), and published as a Huichol-Spanish dictionary. Since the 1980s, the Huichol themselves have been working on a transcription system for use in their schools, in cooperation with linguists at the University of Guadalajara (Consejo Supremo Huichol 1990). I have followed the Huichol orthography wherever possible, assuming that it contains the most accurate rendering of Huichol sounds.
According to Grimes (1964, 13), there are three main dialects of Huichol: an eastern dialect spoken in Santa Catarina and San Sebastián; a central dialect spoken in San Andrés; and a western dialect. The dialects are distinguished by a few consistently occurring sound shifts. The principal difference in the sound system is a shift from the English sound sh (written with the Mexican x) to r to rr (a hard rolled r). A second shift is from r to l to rl (pronounced as in the English name Charlie). Huichol orthography adopts the convention of writing this sound with an r, even though many speakers pronounce it as an l or rl. So, for example, the term “nierika” (Hui.: face, mirror) can be written and pronounced as “nielika,” and “hikuri” (Hui.: peyote) can be rendered as “hikuli.” These variations are commonly seen in the literature.
One sound, which Grimes (1964, 13) calls a high back vowel, is found in Huichol but not in English; this sound may be pronounced as halfway between an i and a u. In Huichol orthography, it is written with the plus (+) sign. I have chosen an alternate method, using ü, which makes it easier for English-speaking readers to understand.
Huichol
Aariwama, Aariwameta: a rain goddess whose sacred site is a cave near San Andrés (also Tatei Nüariwame [or Nüaariwama], Nealiwame [or Na’aliwaeme])
Auromanaka: a sacred site in the north, located at Cerro Gordo in Durango
haka: a bamboo-like cane, used for making prayer arrows (Lat.: Arundo donax)
hawime itari: term used by Zingg for yarn painting or a sacred, round board
Hewi: people who preceded the Huichol in the Sierra
hikuri/hikuli: the peyote cactus (Lat.: Lophophora williamsii)
Hi xrapa: the center of the Huichol world
itari/itali: a decorated board serving as a “bed” for the gods; a yarn painting; an altar, a blanket, or a mat that the mara’akame places on the ground during a ceremony
iyari: heart, soul, memory
kakauyari: gods who are ancestors of the Huichol; perhaps also, deified human ancestors
kawitero (plural: kawiterutsixi): wise elder
Kieri/Kieli: deity known as Tree of the Wind; a dangerous but powerful ally of shamans
kieri: a hallucinogenic plant identified generally as a species of Solandra; may include several species
kieri-xra: an evil form of kieri, identified as Datura inoxia
kupuri: life force, energy
mara’akame (pl
ural: mara’akate): a shaman, ceremonial leader, healer, and singer
matsuwa: bracelet, wrist guard
muwieri: a shaman’s plume; a carved stick with feathers attached to one end; also, deer’s antlers
nawa: corn beer
nierika (plural: nierikate): yarn painting; also means shamanic vision and that which is seen by using vision; related concepts include face (of a person or god), eye, mirror, any painting or depiction of deities, and face-painting designs
Otata: deity of the North
Paritsika: the scorpion god, whose sacred site is in Wirikuta
Reunar: a volcano in Wirikuta; site of the birth of the sun as well as a pilgrimage destination
Takutsi Nakawe: translated as “Grandmother Growth” by Lumholtz; possibly “Our Elder Sister Nakawe”; the goddess of creation and fertility
takwatsi: a rectangular basket used to store religious tools, such as shaman’s plumes
Tamatsi Kauyumari: “Our Elder Brother Deer”; the deer god
Ta Selieta: the deity of the South
Tatei Haramara: the Pacific Ocean and a sacred site at San Blas, Nayarit
Tateikie: the House of Our Mother; the community of San Andrés
Tatei Matinieri: a spring in the desert of Wirikuta
Tatei Niwetsika: Our Mother of Maize; the corn goddess
Tatei Nüariwama: Our Mother of Lightning and Storms
Tatei Rapawiyeme: a sacred site in the south, associated with Lake Chapala
tatei teima: “our Mothers,” a collective term for goddesses
Tatei Werika Uimari: Our Young Mother Eagle Girl, a sky goddess who holds the earth in her claws
Tatei Utuanaka: the goddess of earth and fertility
Tatei Yurianaka: Our Mother, the fertile earth
Tau, Tayau: Our Father the Sun; the sun god
Tatewari: Our Grandfather Fire; the fire god
Teekata: a sacred site near Santa Catarina; its caves considered to be the home of the gods
tepari/tepali: a god disk; a disk of solidified volcanic ash (tuff) or occasionally of wood or clay, placed on an altar, embedded in the wall of a xiriki, or put in floor of a tuki
tsikürü/sikuli: a god’s eye or thread cross; a form of nierika
Tuapurie: the community of Santa Catarina
tuki: a temple; a large building where the Huichol hold ceremonies
Tüki: a deer spirit who gives off powder in the form of small multicolored deer
Tutsipa: Tuxpan de Bolaños
uxa/urra (plural: urrari): a plant with a yellow root (Berberis trifoliolata [Moric.] Fedde var. glauca I. M. Johnson) used to make face painting; colored lights seen by shamans on people’s faces; the spiritual power carried by the pollen of a peyote flower and transferred from peyote to a person
ürü: a prayer arrow; a notched painted stick, often with miniature objects attached to represent prayers to deities
ürükate: crystals that incarnate the souls of deceased ancestors of the Huichol people; arrows with crystals attached
uweni: an elaborate armchair with a backrest; made of wood splints, it is often used by shamans in ceremony
Watakame: the Worker; a mythological character who is the ancestor of the modern Huichol
Wautüa: the community of San Sebastián; the eastern division of the Huichol
Wirikuta: a desert north of San Luis Potosĺ where the Huichol make pilgrimages to collect peyote. Huichol often refer to this area in Spanish as “Real de Catorce” and write it as “Real 14.”
Wixarika/Wirrarika: the Huichol’s name for themelves; the western division of the Huichol
Xatsitsarie: Guadalupe Ocotán
xiriki/ririki: god house; a place used to hold religious goods and offerings. A separate building in the family compound on most ranchos, it usually has an altar or a raised platform on which are placed important artifacts, such as stone disks, or tepari.
xrapa: a giant fig tree; perhaps also the world tree
xukuli/rukuri: a gourd-shell votive bowl
Yokawima: Mother of the Deer
Zitacua: the Huichol colony in Tepic
Spanish Terms as Used by the Huichol
bajito: soft, low, descending, coming down; used in relation to colors
Cambio de las Varas: a ceremony to change the civil governors in the Sierra
cantador: a singing shaman
cargo: position of responsibility or community obligation, especially in indigenous religious ceremonies or civil government
cera de Campeche: an orange beeswax considered the best adhesive for yarn paintings
colonia: settlement, urban neighborhood
copal: dried tree resin burned as incense
comunidad: a legal category of protected land held in common by an indigenous group, similar to a reservation in the United States
cuadrille: white cotton cloth with regular spaces between warp and weft threads, which can be used as a guide for cross-stitch embroidery. Cuadrille is commercially manufactured and sold in fabric stores in Mexico. The Huichol use it to make clothing and bags.
cuadro, cuadra: picture, yarn painting
cuadra de estambre: yarn painting
dibujo: design; the main element of a yarn painting
ejido: a legal category of protected land held in common by members
elote: corn on the cob
fiesta: celebration; used by the Huichol to describe ceremonies
Fiesta de Pachitas: the Ash Wednesday ceremony that begins Lent
Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanĺas (FONART): the Mexican government agency for marketing Native crafts
fondo: background; blocks of solid color behind the main designs of a yarn painting
fuerte: strong, bright; used in relation to colors
HUICOT: an acronym of Huichol, Cora, and Tepehuane; designated a plan to develop services in the Huichol Sierra during the 1970s
Instituto National Indigenista (INI): National Indian Institute; a governmental body that formulates policy and provides services to indigenous peoples
manta: cotton cloth used for making clothing; includes unbleached, loosely woven cloth, recycled flour sacking, better-quality bleached broadcloth, and cuadrille
mestizo: a mixed-race (European and Native) Mexican; used also to refer to Spanish-derived Mexican culture
metate: stone table used for grinding corn
peyote: a hallucinogenic cactus (Lophophora williamsii)
polvo: powder; used by Eligio Carrillo to translate “pollen”
primo: cousin; used generally for many kinds of relatives
rancho: an isolated farm or homestead
rellenar el fondo: to fill in the background of a yarn painting with yarn
santo: saint; a wooden statue of Christ on the cross used in Huichol ceremonies
Semana Santa: Easter Week ceremony
subedito: rising, going up, becoming more fuerte; used in relation to colors
tabla: board; yarn painting
tabla de cera: waxed board; yarn painting
tabla votiva: votive board; yarn painting
Union de Comunidades Indĺgenas Huicholes-Jalisco (UCIH): Union of Huichol Indian Communities of Jalisco
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