Balancing The World: Huichol Art And Culture

Balancing the World: Huichol Art and Culture Melissa S. Powell For the first time, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, presents a significant collection of Huichol art from the early part of the last century collected by anthropologist Robert M. Zingg (1900–1957) for the Laboratory of Anthropology. These unique works represent important ties to Native American, prehispanic, and Hispanic art histories and cultures. Known today for colorful, decorative yarn paintings, which are renowned in the global art market, the origins of modern Huichol art are found in the earlier Huichol religious arts of the Zingg ethnographic collection. The Huichol are a Native American people of western Mexico who for many centuries have retained their unique culture and prehispanic religious beliefs. Their remote location in the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, primarily in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit has allowed for greater resistance than any other indigenous group to the forces of Christianization and acculturation. The Huichol people today continue to create traditional art and practice ancient rituals that predate the time of Spanish contact. The Uto-Aztecan language of the Huichol is related to the language of the ancient Aztecs of central Mexico, to the Cora, to the Tohono O’odham and Hopi of Arizona, and to the Tanoan languages of the Northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico. The word Huichol (pronounced wee-chol) was a name given by the Spanish explorers, while Wixarika (pl. Wixaritari) is the Huichols’ name for themselves.

The Huichol live with extended families in widely-spaced rancherías, which are smaller than villages and pueblos. It may take a walk of several hours to reach the nearest neighbors. The large circular or oval Huichol temple, tuki, is the location of community ceremonies. Officials of the temple are known as “keepers of the votive bowls” and serve five-year terms, fulfilling religious cargos (obligations). God houses with thatched, gabled roofs, xiriki, are smaller family shrines dedicated to particular ancestor gods.

Robert M. Zingg From 1934–1935, Dr. Robert Mowry Zingg was the first American anthropologist to conduct extended ethnographic fieldwork among the Huichol in the community of Tuxpan de Bolaños. Zingg lived with Huichol families and participated in everyday life, although he was most interested in mythology and ceremonialism. Among the highlights of the Zingg collection are outstanding examples of textiles that were intricately woven on backstrap looms by Huichol women. Some of the ancient designs which have endured over the centuries are even seen in the Mesoamerican codices. The Zingg collection also features richly decorated votive gourd bowls, prayer arrows, and other offerings to the gods. Oversized shamans’ chairs and diminutive gods’ chairs are unique to Huichol ceremonies. Featherwork is made by Huichol artists to summon the gods. Colorful macaw feathers, beaded jewelry, deerskin quivers, embroidered clothing, and hats adorned with squirrel tails all attest to a time and a culture where art objects were made for everyday and ceremonial use, not tourist consumption.

When he first arrived in Tuxpan in 1934, Zingg set up a small trading post in the god house appointed to him as living quarters. In this way it took him four months to win the goodwill of the community and to become “part of the scenery.” While the voluminous ethnography he eventually produced was intended for an academic audience, he was not always an impartial observer of Huichol culture, and he interjects numerous human touches throughout. For instance, Zingg marvels at the height of a seven-foot Huichol man and recounts small personal incidents such as providing a salve for a woman who burned her foot while stirring a pot of corn beer. During his stay Zingg also vaccinated hundreds in the community against smallpox. Music is an important part of Huichol culture, and Zingg delighted in the pleasure the Huichol took in the strange music he played for them on the phonograph he had packed in to Tuxpan by mule, tunes with boisterous college cheers and Southern spirituals being among their favorites. Zingg observed many elaborate ceremonies of “extraordinary beauty” that were given nearly weekly within each community, as much of Huichol life revolves around an annual ceremonial and agricultural cycle. The ceremonies that Zingg documented, some of which lasted for days, included rain ceremonies, ceremonies to prepare the soil for seed, the First Fruits Ceremony, and the Ceremony of the Parched Maize. In describing one such occasion he stepped out of the role of anthropologist and remarked, “[T]here were at least fifty thousand dollars worth of orchids used in this feast—at New York prices”. Among Zingg’s accomplishments, he recorded an extensive cycle of myths, the sacred oral history of the Huichol. The mythology is sung for twelve hours at a time and

recounts Huichol histories and creation stories. As Zingg noted, again and again the plot is framed as a contest between the Sun God and the rain gods.

Balancing the World The annual ceremonial cycle of the Huichol is divided into dry and wet season observances. The purpose of the ceremonies is to keep the sun and rain in proper balance for the success of agriculture. The dry season gods are male and the wet season goddesses are female. Accordingly, dry season ceremonies pertain to deer and peyote, while wet season ceremonies focus on abundant rain and fertile crops. As Zingg learned, the cycle of wet and dry seasons is viewed as a contest between the gods of the dry season and the goddesses of the wet season, and “the outcome of this epic battle is the very procession of the seasons.” Zingg explains, “By prayer, offering, and ceremony, the Huichols think that they cast the balance each year, in favor of one or the other, and thus themselves participate in the swing of the seasons so necessary for their happiness, health, and prosperity.” The concept of balance is thus central to Huichol art and culture. The balancing of opposites, such as the wet and dry seasons, or darkness and light, is a prevalent theme in Huichol art. Huichol ceremonies are performed and offerings are made to keep the world in harmony and balance, ensuring successful crops and hunting, fertility, health, and wellbeing. Today, the Huichol say that they continue to make art and perform the centuriesold rituals not just for their own people, but for the benefit of everyone in the world. Huichol shamans, mara’akate, are religious practitioners who balance between the mundane and supernatural worlds. The shamans preside over ceremonies and serve

the community by singing the sacred mythology and communicating with the gods and spirits. They are also diviners of illness and healers. This mediating role of shamans is sometimes played out in public demonstrations of physical balance. For instance, shaman Ramón Medina Silva executed dangerous leaps on a cliff overlooking a waterfall to demonstrate his abilities.

Art for the Gods Huichols recognize a pantheon of deities and ancestors, all addressed by kinship terms. The gods personify elements of the natural world including rain, sun, fire, clouds, water, plants, deer, and other animals. Some of the principal deities are the Sun Father, Tau; Grandfather Fire, Tatewari; and Elder Brother Deer, Kauyumari, who is the Huichol culture hero, a trickster, and a messenger between the human and divine. The mother of all the gods is Great Grandmother Growth, Takutsi Nakawe, the goddess of creation, fertility, and the underworld. Other female goddesses, including the Corn Mother, Tatei Niwetzika, are associated with the earth and water. When Zingg arrived in Tuxpan, he found that most Huichol adults were occupied with making art. As he observed, the Huichol constantly create offerings which serve as visual prayers to the gods. As part of the ceremonial cycle, the Huichol make pilgrimages to leave offerings at sacred sites. In the past and today, Huichol art is made to communicate with the gods and ancestors. As Zingg noted, “By far the greater part of the symbolic art of the Huichols adorns the gods . . . the gods live in the best houses, are offered the rarest and most expensive food, so also for their exclusive use and pleasure is almost all of the elaborate

symbolic art.” Prayers to the gods for rain, health, and successful crops are encoded in Huichol art and symbols on votive offerings, beadwork, and clothing. Ceremonial offerings to the gods are the precursors to the art of modern Huichol yarn painting. Early Huichol votive art evolved into art produced for sale beginning in the 1950s, when artists adapted traditional techniques, designs, and materials to “paint” in yarn. Sophisticated and vibrant Huichol yarn paintings have now become renowned in the global art market.

The Peyote Pilgrimage Each year the Huichol make a pilgrimage to the desert of Wirikuta in the state of San Luis Potosí to re-enact an annual ritual hunt for the sacred peyote cactus. Lophophora williamsii is a hallucinogenic cactus that produces visions when eaten, and prevents exhaustion and thirst. The use of peyote, hikuri, is central to Huichol religion and considered a divine sacrament used to communicate with the gods. The peyote collected during the annual ritual hunt is brought home to be used in ceremonies throughout the year. Peyote is found in the Chihuahuan Desert and the lower Rio Grande Valley, but it is not native to today’s Huichol Sierra territory. Each year groups of Huichol make the long pilgrimage to Wirikuta by walking for 40 days, a difficult three hundred-mile journey to the east, perhaps retracing a route to the home of their ancestors. In recent decades, driving part of the way has become more common, as fences, towns, and highways block the way.

In Huichol cosmology, peyote is associated with sustenance and fertility. Peyote represents, and is said to be, corn and deer, part of a sacred trinity. Peyote is considered the footprint of the deer and so is ritually tracked and hunted with a bow and arrow. Deer are scarce today, although they were still trapped in nets in Zingg’s time. As anthropologist Peter T. Furst writes, “It is impossible to overstate the importance and symbolic role of the deer hunt in Huichol religion. Deer is peyote and vice versa, and both are maize, the sacred food”.

Comparisons to the Pueblo Southwest In addition to a common Uto-Aztecan language family, the Huichol culture area and the Pueblo Southwest share a tradition of maize agriculture that originated in Mesoamerica and was adopted by the native peoples of the Southwest. Use of the backstrap loom by both the Huichols and Puebloans is also part of a widespread Middle and South American loom-weaving tradition that extended into the US Southwest.1 The Huichol and the Southwest Pueblo cultures were influenced by the precolumbian cultures of Mesoamerica, although neither is part of the pattern of large, urban centers and social class differences characteristic of state-level society. There was certainly prehistoric trade and interaction with the cultures of Mesoamerica, however, in addition to the exchange of ideas and beliefs. Zingg, who spent his youth in northern New Mexico, noted a similarity in “the richness of the ceremonial life of both the Huichols and the Pueblos.” He and other scholars have drawn parallels between the two cultures, including the importance of cardinal-point directions and elaborate religious symbolism in art and decoration

involving the deer, fire, rain, corn, and concepts of growth and fertility. Huichol pilgrimages have also been compared to the ceremonial salt journeys of the Hopi and Zuni. Other practices and beliefs are common to both cultures. The rite of presenting newborn children to the sun is known from both the Huichol and the Pueblos. Although deer veneration is more central to the Huichols, it also holds great significance to the Keresan-speaking Pueblos. The Hispanic communal organization of ecclesiastical-civil officers first imposed by the Franciscans in the eighteenth century and the use of canes of office are found in both Huichol and Pueblo society. Masked clowns are present during Huichol rain ceremonies, mocking participants and guests. One Huichol clown comically fell down “dead” when Zingg “shot” him with his camera. Despite the hilarity of their antics, ceremonial clowns are highly sacred religious figures to Huichol and Pueblo people alike. In addition, the concept of balancing opposites, so central to Huichol culture, is also basic to the Pueblo worldview and is seen in Pueblo architecture, government, and ceremony. Some items of Huichol material culture are intriguingly similar to Pueblo examples, including prayer sticks and feathers. Huichol ceremonial sandals resemble woven sandals found in Basketmaker and Ancestral Pueblo sites of the Southwest; both are unlike the footwear of the Aztecs which covered the foot and heel. Several researchers have noted the similarity between Huichol temples and Southwest Pueblo kivas (ceremonial rooms). The sacred hole in the Huichol temple, which is covered with a volcanic-stone disk, tepari, is similar to the Pueblo sipapu, the place of emergence in kivas. Like kivas, Huichol temples contain architectural features

such as fireplaces, low benches, niches, and foot drums. As anthropologist Stacy Schaefer has noted, “[T]he tuki is the center of the universe, the navel from which life enters the world. Much like the kiva in the Pueblo Southwest, the tuki, then, becomes a kind of terrestrial/celestial stage where the ancient customs and beliefs are constantly rekindled.” Zingg also noticed the resemblance, but he concluded that the relationship between the Huichol temple and the Pueblo kiva was too general for positing historical contact, pointing out that clan ancestors do not emerge from the hole in the tuki. He argued that a stronger connection between the tuki and kiva could be demonstrated if similar ceremonial structures were seen in the intermediate area, which is not the case in the archaeological record of Southern Chihuahua. Contrasting the Huichols and Pueblos, Zingg observed that the Huichol lack clans and moieties that are fundamental to the social organization of Pueblo society. The Huichol live in isolated rancherías, a very different settlement pattern than the communal pueblos of the Southwest. Origins Today there is no consensus among scholars on Huichol origins. No archaeology has been done within Huichol communities in the Sierra, only in surrounding areas, making a full assessment of Huichol origins problematic. Some scholars believe that the Huichol are related to the socially-complex ancient West Mexican culture of the Pacific Coast (400 BC–AD 500), noting a similarity in shape of prehistoric West Mexican circular ceremonial structures to today’s Huichol temple. This version of Huichol origins holds that Huichol culture has existed where it is today in the Chapalagana region of the Sierra Madre Occidental since AD 200. However, Peter T. Furst and others find that such a

proposed West Mexican origin for the Huichol does not appear to be supported by early Spanish accounts or by the available linguistic evidence. Furst and other scholars instead argue that the Huichol are relatively recent arrivals to their Sierra homeland. They believe that the ancestors of the Huichol were the Chichimec Guachichil, a hunting and gathering culture of arid northern Mexico, with a similar name to the Huichol. They maintain that at least a portion of Huichol ancestry, and the Huichol language, is derived from the ancient Guachichiles, who are thought to have migrated to the Sierra Madre Occidental around the time of Spanish contact. Significantly, the original homeland of the semi-nomadic Guachichiles was in northcentral Mexico near San Luis Potosí, the desert where the Huichols return each year on pilgrimages to gather peyote. Given the similarities to other prehispanic cultures, as well as shared elements with Southwest Pueblo culture, it seems that Huichol ancestors were involved in the diffusion of ideas and the exchange of goods and raw materials between northwest and north-central Mexico and the Pueblo Southwest. Ancestors of the Huichols may have been traders who specialized in the exchange of items such as salt, feathers, seashells, and peyote cactus. Ancient migrations, culture contact, and the exchange of goods and ideas in the distant past all likely account for the blending of cultural traits we see in Huichol culture today. Clearly, more research on Huichol origins is needed. As Furst notes, however, “There is little question that some traits Huichols, Coras, and Tepecanos share with the Pueblos predate the Spanish invasion.”2

Spanish History

After the arrival of the Spanish, most Huichol took refuge in the highlands. The Cora and Huichol were not defeated by the Spanish until 1722. Franciscan missionaries made inroads in the eighteenth century when three missions were established in northern Huichol territory. The Huichol lost much of their traditional land base during a series of wars and rebellions, including the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821) and the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). Following the government’s confiscation of the Church’s land holdings, the violent Cristero Revolt (1926–1935)—which took place shortly before Zingg’s arrival in the Sierra—created further turmoil and led to the forced temporary resettlement of the Huichols of Tuxpan to the lowlands. Furst has argued that the Huichol were never fully conquered or Christianized. He notes, “[T]he Spanish built churches and established governmental and ceremonial centers in the Huichol country, as they did among the nearby Cora. But the Huichol settlement pattern of widely scattered, independent nuclear and extended family ranchos and rancherías . . . favored resistance to Catholic intrusion and conversion.”3 Indeed, there has been relatively little blending of native and Catholic practices in Huichol culture. Religious observances such as Holy Week have been added, but they have not replaced the traditional Huichol ceremonial cycle. Zingg noted that traditional ceremonies were performed in the rancherías or temples, while Catholic ceremonies were centered around the church or community house only from New Years to Holy Week. In this respect, Huichol culture exhibits much less assimilation to Catholicism than other Mexican indigenous communities.

The Huichol Today

The most current population figures indicate that today there are approximately forty thousand Huichol people. It is estimated that about half of the Huichol population lives in cities outside the Sierra, including Guadalajara, Tepic, Zacatecas, and Mexico City. The population has grown since the time of Zingg, who in 1938 estimated that there were four thousand Huichol. This dramatic increase is due in part to better nutrition, health care, and antibiotics. While population is expanding, the Huichol have less land than they did at the turn of the last century, due to land encroachment—a major threat still facing the Huichol today. In many ways, the Huichol have resisted outside influences and much of their traditional culture and religion has endured for centuries. Culture change is a constant process, however, and the Huichol have made adaptations to the modern world and chosen to engage on their own terms. As Huichol yarn paintings have become highly sought after and collected internationally, more Huichol people have become involved in the market economy. Despite these changes, and greater interaction with the world beyond the Sierra, the traditional Huichol rituals and arts continue and many Huichol keep to the old ways.

1

Teague 1998. Furst 1996:50. 3 Furst 2006:276-277; Furst 2003. 2