HUICHOL BECOMING A GODMOTHER - Pearson Educationwps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/12330/12626747/myanthropology... · Huichol Indians of Mexico. Sprouting Corn’s mother, Swift

HUICHOL:BECOMING

A GODMOTHER

Stacy B. Schaefer

Portraits TOC

MY INTRODUCTION

TO SPROUTING CORN

Nauxé, á ítsari, éna pu ta, éna pu ta.Look, your loom, put this here, put this here.

Mükü pu ta, éna pu ta. Aixru pu áne.Put that there, put this here. That’s good.

Pe ti kwa’á? Teté kwaní.Are you hungry? It’s time to eat.

These were the first words spoken to me by a little four-year-oldHuichol girl named Sprouting Corn, who was later to becomemy godchild. Together, as godmother and goddaughter, we

would develop an extraordinary relationship that would transcendthe traditional role of anthropologist and young native informant.

It was midday and we were sitting in the dirt patio ofSprouting Corn’s family rancho in the Huichol Indian Sierra com-munity of San Andres Cohamiata, located on the pine-coveredmesa of the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in the state ofJalisco. I was just beginning my long-term fieldwork researchingbackstrap loom weaving and the role of women among theHuichol Indians of Mexico. Sprouting Corn’s mother, Swift Rabbit,a master weaver, had agreed to teach me the ancient art of Huicholweaving. Although I was fluent in Spanish, I knew very little of theHuichol language—a language related to Nahuatl (spoken byAztecs) and Hopi—which derives from the Uto-Aztecan languagefamily. Thousands of years of separation have made it difficult forthe speakers of these related languages to understand one another.So when this little girl, dressed in a bright print gathered skirt andshocking pink blouse with ribbons sewn on, with strands of blue,orange, and yellow beads circling her neck, started chattering tome as if I understood completely what she was saying, I nodded inconfusion. She helped me tie up and put away my loom before wewent into the adobe brick kitchen to eat the midday meal.

Sprouting Corn’s father, White Star, had an axe in hand andwas cutting the last piece of firewood from an oak tree he had cutdown several months ago. In his white cotton pants and shirt elab-orately embroidered with dancing and sitting deer, rabbits, birds inflight, chickens, flowers, intertwining vines, and mandalalike geo-metric designs, he stood with a look of amusement on his face,watching his daughter help me put away my things. Grinningwidely, he said in broken Spanish that it looked like I understood

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everything Sprouting Corn had told me to do because I followedher instructions perfectly. I sighed with relief, glad that I hadpassed that little trial.

Smoke was billowing from the grass-thatched roof of thekitchen, and Swift Rabbit stuck her head out the doorway, tellingme in Spanish to come in and sit down. Inside she stood behind themud brick hearth where a blazing fire was going. On top of the firewas a large flat clay disk, a comal, upon which she was cookinghandmade blue tortillas. I commented that I had never seen bluecorn tortillas. She replied: “We have blue, red, yellow, white, andspeckled tortillas, depending upon what color of corn we use. Thislast year the gods brought much rain. Now we have lots of corn. Iespecially like the blue corn, which we call yuave.” I sat down onthe freshly swept and watered-down dirt kitchen floor and ate atortilla. The family cat, which they simply call mitsu (meaning“cat” in Huichol), climbed into my lap and sneakily batted at mytortilla with its paws, trying to grasp a piece to eat.

In addition to the tortillas there were mesquite seed pods,squirrel stew, chile salsa, and pieces of deer meat. White Star hadgone deer hunting last week with the men from their templegroup. He and Swift Rabbit and their family had temple responsi-bilities, known as cargo, which they were obligated to fulfill overthe next five years. There are five ancient temple compounds scat-tered through the countryside, where Huichol families for genera-tions have performed ceremonies to ensure that the many godswere pleased and answered their prayers. Now, in February, it wasthe dry season, the time for deer hunting and pilgrimages to sacredplaces within and outside the Sierra, to Lake Chapala, where thegoddess Rapauwiyeme lives, and to the Pacific Ocean, home of thegoddess Haramara. The most important pilgrimage of the dry sea-son is to the San Luis Potosí Desert, where Huichols go to recreatetheir origin myths, commune with the gods, and gather peyote, thesacred hallucinogenic cactus used in ceremonies.

In the past, White Star told me, the men used to hunt the deerwith deer snares and bows and arrows. Now they use rifles, butthe rifles have to be blessed by the leading shaman, mara’akame, inorder to sanctify the hunt. The shaman sings all night in front ofthe fire, calling upon Tatewari, Grandfather Fire, and Kauyumari,the great deer god, to help him find the deer so that the hunterswill be successful the following day. In the meantime, the womenhave dream visions, and through their dreams ask the deer togive their lives. In return the women will care for the souls of thedeer and make sure that they make it safely to the upper world.

4 PORTRAITS OF CULTURE

The deer meat we were eating came from a large buck WhiteStar had cooked in a covered pit under the earth in order to drythe meat for later consumption. Huichols do not have electricity,refrigerators, stoves, or running water, so they have learned tohunt, gather, and store their food accordingly.

As we sat and ate, Sprouting Corn started to whimper andcry. I asked her mother what was wrong. Swift Rabbit said, “Sheis upset because according to our custom children cannot eat deermeat until they have reached five years of age. Before that timethey are very vulnerable and do not have a complete soul. If theyeat deer meat, the deer might make them sick; they might evendie. When they are five years old their soul is complete; they are acomplete person and can eat the meat.” I thought about this anddecided that it made sense. The infant mortality rate for Huicholchildren is extremely high, at least fifty percent. Many die of dis-eases such as measles, mumps, whooping cough, pneumonia,tuberculosis, parasites, and debilitating diarrhea. If children liveto the age of five, they have a greater chance of living to adultage. I called Sprouting Corn to come over and sit with me. Shepushed the cat away and cuddled into my lap. Swift Rabbit andWhite Star glanced at each other and exchanged some words inHuichol. Then Swift Rabbit said to me, “Sprouting Corn reallycares about you. I have never seen her take a liking to anyone theway she has to you. Would you like to be her godmother?”

I was surprised by the question and thought about whatbeing a godmother in Huichol tradition involved. I didn’t knowwhat kind of obligations and ritual ties were established bybecoming a godmother. I looked into the face of this little girlalmost asleep on my lap, this little one who had been my constantshadow and helper ever since I arrived, and replied, “Yes, I wantSprouting Corn to be my goddaughter.”

SPROUTING CORN’SFAMILY, COMMUNITY,

AND CULTURAL HISTORY

The light of the afternoon sun was beginning to fade as it creptdown the mesa, leaving in its wake a brilliant hue of reds, pinks,purples, and then a deep, dark blue. Since it was the dry season,

5HUICHOL

the clouds were wispy white strands floating across the sky,reflecting the final colors of dusk. I sat with my back against thestone wall of the house that was also the family shrine. Inside wasan altar where the family kept all of their sacred offerings—gourdbowls decorated with beads pressed into beeswax, prayer arrows,the sacred ears of corn, candles, and bottles of holy water from var-ious springs, lakes, and the Pacific ocean. Also on the altar werethe urukame, the arrowbundles containing rock crystals of the fam-ily’s deceased ancestors. All of these sacred objects rested safelywithin this little house with the doorway facing east to greet themorning sun. During the ceremonies the offerings were broughtout as prayers to the gods for good health, rain, abundant crops,cattle, and success in the deer hunt. The ancestors, in their crystalform, were important participants in the ceremonies, and were fedwith the blood from sacrificed cattle.

I thought about what a privilege it was for me to be here withSprouting Corn, her family, and the Huichols from this Sierra com-munity. I reflected upon what I had read about Huichol culture andwhat I had been learning firsthand during my fieldwork. TheHuichols number about twenty thousand, but, unlike most indige-nous groups in North America, they have maintained the core oftheir old beliefs and practices dating back to pre-Columbian times.Living as they do in widely scattered small communities made up ofranchos in the remote mountains and valleys of this mountainousregion in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango, and Zacatecas, theHuichols have been able to fend off the pressures of change betterthan many native peoples closer to the dominant Mexican culture.

Little is known of Huichol origins. Some scholars have sug-gested that the Huichols have inhabited the Sierras for thousands ofyears; others propose that the ancestors of the Huichols once lived inthe desert around San Luis Potosí and were a hunting and gatheringtribe related to the desert dwelling Chichimec Indians.1 It is believedthat sometime shortly before or after the arrival of the Spaniards, theHuichols migrated to the isolated Sierras, where natural barriers ofcliffs as high as six thousand feet above sea level with sheer dropsinto river valleys as low as two thousand feet helped insulate themfrom the outside world. Based on my travels with Sprouting Corn’sfamily on the footpaths through this terrain, I could understand whyit took so long for the Spaniards to penetrate these homelands,which are similar to the Grand Canyon in the United States.

Until recently the natural fortress created by the mountainousenvironment has enabled the Huichols to carry on the traditionsof their ancestors. In addition to hunting deer, wild pigs, rabbits,


birds, and iguanas, the men fish in the rivers for fish and crayfish.The women and children gather wild fruits and vegetables such asthe leaves of the nopal cactus and its fruit, wild avocados, greens,roots, bromeliads, berries, and seeds. Huichol life revolves aroundthe annual cycle that is divided into the dry season from Decemberto May and the wet season starting in May and continuing throughNovember. The wet season is the time for planting and harvestingcrops of corn, beans, squash, and chile. I learned that the Huicholscultivate their fields by first cutting and slashing down all the oldgrowth and burning it. (They need to watch the winds when theyburn the weeds; otherwise forest fires can be started, one of which Iwitnessed later on.) Then the men plow the fields with a woodenplow pulled by horses, mules, or burros. The women followbehind scattering the seeds in the furrows, which are buried withthe passing of the plow as it makes the next furrow. In steep areas,a long digging stick is used and both men and women plant seedsin the holes made by the stick and cover them over with their feetas they move along the clifftops.

In Sprouting Corn’s rancho lived her parents, her brother, hersisters and their husbands and children. Members of her extendedfamily included her mother’s brother and his two wives and chil-dren, her mother’s younger sister, and her grandmother. They alsohad houses in the rancho and lived there during certain times ofthe year. I was a little surprised to learn that some Huichols, suchas Sprouting Corn’s uncle, practiced polygyny, and had anywherefrom two to five wives. Both of her uncle’s two wives shared inrancho duties—taking turns cooking, cleaning, carrying water tothe house, and doing other chores. All of their children playedtogether, but each mother was responsible for her own children.

Sprouting Corn’s grandmother, Beaded Skirt, was a shamanand specialized in fertility, pregnancy, and delivering babies.Even though there is a health clinic in San Andres, and more andmore Huichols have accepted western doctors and medicine,Huichols still rely heavily on their traditional healers, theshamans, to cure illnesses that afflict both the body and the spiritof an individual. Occasionally Huichols would come to the ran-cho and consult with Beaded Skirt about their problems and ail-ments. To treat her patients, she would bring out her wovenshaman’s basket, take out her feathered wands that she used forhealing, and pass them over the patients. Then she had them laydown on their backs and lift up their shirts, and she would suckforeign objects, such as small pebbles, pieces of corn, or charcoalfrom an extinguished fire, from their abdomens. (She said the

7HUICHOL

gods or an evil sorcerer had placed the objects there to cause illnessor disease.) She then would spray their bodies with holy waterfrom her mouth, and pass her power feather wands over themagain. Afterwards she would dream with the gods to learn thecause of the illness and what had to be done to balance the energiesand health of the patients. I found it fascinating to watch BeadedSkirt at work. Who would think that even as the twenty-first cen-tury draws near there are people like the Huichols who still live alifestyle rooted in the Mesoamerican past?

The temple ceremonies and pilgrimages were other ancient tra-ditions kept alive year after year by the selected cargo holders,who were chosen through the dreams and consensus of theshamans of the community. The ceremonies were performed to askthe gods, most of whom personify all aspects of nature, for theirhelp. Through prayers, offerings, and the shaman’s song, theshamans and cargo holders call upon Father Sun and the rain god-desses, prepare the earth and corn goddesses for planting and har-vesting, and ask Grandfather Fire and Grandmother Growth, whocreated the world and all living things, for their guidance.

Sprouting Corn’s father was an important man in the commu-nity. When he finished his cargo as caretaker of the temple he wouldbe eligible to become the next governor of the community. Everyyear the shamans have visions of who will fill tribal positions suchas governor, second-in-command, mayor, treasurer, secretary, andpolice. All community members are potentially eligible to fill thesepositions; however, the more experience, community participation,and religious training people have, the more likely they will beselected. When a man becomes governor he and his wife are highlyesteemed and are seen as sacred representations of power andauthority, as symbolized by the staff of power the governor carries,his and his wife’s role in decision making in community and familyaffairs, and the importance of their presence in the ceremonies.

In addition to temple and government roles, there are churchcargos in the old adobe church that was built by Franciscan mis-sionaries and is located in the center of the community. When theSpanish arrived in Mexico in the early 1500s they brutally con-quered and colonized the majority of the Native Indian cultures.Hundreds of thousands of Indians died, some in battle, othersfrom famine, and even more from the devastating diseasesbrought by the Spaniards, against which the Indians had no nat-ural defenses. Catholic missionaries accompanied the Spaniardsto help pacify the indigenous population, convert them toChristianity, teach them the Spanish language and culture, and


turn them into laborers who would build the foundation for thisnew Spanish empire in its Golden Era. Various Indian groupsrebelled against these newly arrived foreigners. The Huicholswere among the tribes that resisted Spanish domination. Theywithdrew even deeper into their Sierra homelands, where theyfought to maintain their autonomy until the 1720s (about twohundred years after the conquest of Mexico), when they finallysuccumbed to the encroachment of the Spaniards. Franciscan mis-sionaries established churches in the region but were never ableto completely convert the Huichols to Catholicism. Documentswritten by missionaries speak of the anger and frustration theclergymen felt toward the Huichols because of the continuedalliance these indigenous people held to their old gods and reli-gion. Some priests wrote of finding traditional shrines and godhouses throughout the countryside, with idols made to representthe Huichol gods. Many of these structures were destroyed by theSpanish missionaries, but new ones were discovered regularly inremote caves, valleys, and mountain tops.2

When the war of Mexican Independence from Spain wasfought in the mid-1800s, the missionaries were forced to flee theSierras. Until the 1950s virtually no clergymen resided in theSierra; even today only a few reside there. Near San Andres thereis a Franciscan mission and boarding school. Few Huichols gothere or send their children to school there, and priests are pro-hibited from living in or near the Huichol community. What isleft from the era of missionary occupation is the old church, theHuichol version of a few Catholic ceremonies such as Easter,some carved wooden saints, and two figures of Jesus Christ,which are cared for by the Huichol families who are given thisritual cargo by the shamans. The church is abandoned most of thetime. Only during the changing of the government and churchcargo holders in January and the Huichols’ observation of Lentand Easter week does the church come to life.

HOLY WEEK: THE PRELUDE

TO THE BAPTISMAL CEREMONY

Easter week, known throughout Mexico as Holy Week, SemanaSanta, is the time when the greatest number of Huichols and for-eign visitors come together in the community. Ever since the

9HUICHOL

1960s, when the Mexican government built a dirt runway and aroad linking San Andres to the nearest Mexican town, more andmore outsiders descend upon this remote Indian center to watchthe Easter ceremony.3 People come from Mexico City, Guadalajara,and other Mexican cities; the United States; Canada; Europe; LatinAmerica; Russia; Israel; and even as far away as Japan. All the out-siders must first ask the Huichol governor and tribal authorities forpermission to stay for the ceremony. Some years members of thegoverning body are opposed to the intrusion of outsiders; otheryears they are more open to their presence. If the visitors aregranted permission, they must pay a fee that will go toward thecommunity fund, and they must obey the ceremonial rules.

The Huichols celebrate Easter week as an unfolding drama inwhich they symbolically reenact the death and resurrection ofChrist. Sprouting Corn’s mother explained to me that the ancestorsused to have a ceremony around this time of the year in honor ofthe Sun God. Even now the Huichols pay special tribute to the sun.I remembered that in pre-Columbian times the MesoamericanIndian cultures also had ceremonies to celebrate the springequinox, the day when the hours of daylight equal the hours ofnight. From that time on until the summer solstice in June, the daysare longer. The ancient Mayas and Aztecs built special architec-tural structures to measure this passing, an astronomical feat foundin the layout of Huichol temples.

The Holy Week ceremony officially begins when the Christ fig-ures and saints are laid to rest on the dirt floor of the church. Theyare covered with yards of fabric, and the cargo holders watch overthem with candles and copal incense burning throughout the daysand nights. The symbolic death of Christ signals a time of chaos,when the devils, played by boys and young men, come out andwreak havoc on the community. These devillike characters arecalled Judios, meaning Jews. Although Huichols know virtuallynothing about Jewish culture and religion, this tradition is carriedover from the time of Spanish colonization. During this periodthere was an inquisition that sought out people who were notCatholics—the targets were Jews and Muslims. If these people didnot convert they were imprisoned and burned at the stake. What Iwas watching, with Sprouting Corn by my side, was how theHuichols centuries ago had interpreted these teachings of theFranciscan missionaries and had turned these characters intomythical beings. And during the Holy Week ceremony, the boysplaying the role of the Judios had great fun with all their antics.Sprouting Corn, like many Huichol children, believed these devilswere real, and was terribly frightened of them. Every time one of


them passed by she hid in my skirt until she felt it was safe tocome out. Aside from the antics of the Judios, no music, laughing,or loud behavior is allowed. It is a sacred time, and any person,Huichol or foreigner, who violates the rules will be put in jail.Beginning at dusk, for two nights, a candlelight processional cir-cles the community, carrying the Christ and saint figures, andreturns back to the church. On the second night the shamans andmembers from the temple groups initiate a ceremony thatrevolves around their pilgrimage to the peyote desert.

The shamans sing all night long, and in the morning, with thefirst rays of light, everyone enters the church to inaugurate the res-urrection of Christ. I remember crowding into the church witheveryone. Candles were lit and billows of clouds from muskysmelling copal incense filled the church. Sprouting Corn stood tooclose to a candle, her hair was singed and wax melted onto some ofher locks. I picked her up so that she could see the activities.

The Christ figure and all the saint figures are uncovered and putback in their places. From this point onward cows, bulls, and calvesare dragged into the church and ritually sacrificed. Feet tiedtogether, each one is taken to the center of the dirt floor, where lies ahole that is the opening to the other world where the gods live. Theanimal’s neck is placed above the hole, and with the quick, deft slashof a knife, blood spurts from its neck and is collected to anoint all theofferings that have been made. Some of the offerings are votivegourd bowls, arrows, candles, and the shamans’ feathered powerwands. The Huichols believe that blood holds a life force, and inorder for the gods to hear their prayers they must “energize” theirofferings with animal blood. Afterwards the animal is taken out tobe butchered for food and another live one is dragged in.

The festivities continue through the night with the shamans’chants and into the next day, at which point the Huichols baptizechildren. At this time I would have an active part in the ceremonialevents; it would be a time that would spiritually unite SproutingCorn, her family, me, and my family for the rest of our lives.

BECOMING SPROUTING

CORN’S GODMOTHER

The practice of uniting adults and children as godparents andgodchildren is known as compadrazco. It was introduced to theIndians by the missionaries as a way to integrate generations of

11HUICHOL

families under the Christian faith. Compadrazco was quicklyaccepted by many Indian communities because of the drasticdecline of the native population. Before the Spaniards arrived thesocial structure of all native cultures revolved around family andkin groups. This intricate form of networking was all butdestroyed with the decimation of family lineages and kin groups.The system of compadrazco enabled Indian communities to formnew social and economic ties with individuals who were not fam-ily members, but were so intimately bonded that they could becalled upon to help each other in whatever capacity they wereneeded.

Swift Rabbit explained to me that Huichols still have tradi-tional ways of establishing special ties between children andadults who are related. One example is the practice of namingchildren. Whoever names a child has a unique, lifelong relation-ship with that child. Sprouting Corn’s grandmother gave her thename of Sprouting Corn because she was born around the time ofyear when corn plants begin to grow. Special relations are alsoformed if an adult and child become ritual partners in the templeceremonies and go on the sacred pilgrimage to the peyote deserttogether. Nevertheless, the practice of compadrazco has animportant place in the structure of family and community rela-tionships. Sprouting Corn’s mother and father were godparentsto numerous children, and all of her older sisters and her olderbrother had godmothers and godfathers. Sprouting Corn did nothave a godparent; at least not until this day.

Before Holy Week Sprouting Corn’s mother told me every-thing I needed to do to prepare for the compadrazco ceremony.First, I had to buy two meters of fabric and a handkerchief. Then Ibought two candles, soap, a bowl, salt, candy, cigarettes, andbeer. In addition, I bought extra fabric and handkerchiefs so thatSprouting Corn could have a new outfit to wear on this specialday. She was thrilled when I unwrapped the goods and handedthem to one of her older sisters to sew. Sprouting Corn’s sistermeasured her, meticulously tore the material to the correct pro-portions with her teeth and hands, and neatly sewed by hand askirt with blue flowers on a red background and a matchingbright red blouse with yellow and blue ribbons and rickrack trim.The two blue handkerchiefs were sewn together and trimmedwith red ribbon. A space was left for Sprouting Corn’s head to fitthrough so she could wear the handkerchiefs as a poncho orheadcovering.4 I, too, had a new Huichol outfit made to wear forthe occasion.


In the center of town the Easter festivities were coming to aclose, and it was time to go to the church to have our little cere-mony. This was it, I thought with great excitement, while I,Sprouting Corn, and her mother waited for her father to bring hergreat uncle, Young Arrow, to act as officiating shaman over therites. I was told that either a visiting Catholic priest or a Huicholshaman could perform the ritual. We all decided it would be bet-ter to have a shaman who was a specialist in Huichol religion andcustoms. Finally her father arrived with her great uncle. YoungArrow, a dignified man of medium build, was an impressivesight. He was dressed in a brilliantly embroidered outfit and hadsquirrel tails and parrot and eagle feathers attached to his hat,which wafted in the slight breeze. He had been on the peyote pil-grimage and for this reason wore yellow face paint made fromthe ground root of a plant that grows in the desert. Young Arrowhad spirallike mandalas painted on each cheek. I later learnedthat not only does the yellow face paint indicate that someone hasgone on the pilgrimage, but it also is a way for a person to greetand communicate with the Sun God.

Young Arrow told me to wrap Sprouting Corn up in the twometers of cloth and carry her into the church. I followed behindhim, Swift Rabbit and White Star at my side. The church wassomewhat dark inside because it had no windows; the only lightcame from the open doorway. As we approached the altar Inoticed that there still was blood all over the dirt floor from theanimal sacrifices the day before.

At that moment a foreigner entered the church with a tele-photo-lens camera mounted on a large tripod. He had arrived atSan Andres earlier, and from the moment he arrived he had beentaking pictures of everyone and everything. He had not askedpermission from the authorities to be there, nor to use his camera.And now, in the church, he did not speak to us; he just flashedthe camera around the church, shooting photographs as quicklyas the automatic advance on his camera allowed. Then he packedup his gear and walked out to continue his photo-taking session.

After this disturbance it took us a few moments to get ourbearings before we commenced with the ritual. We climbed uponto the platform where the Christ figures were mounted. Theyhad been covered with blood by Huichols who had anointedthem with their candles and feathered power wands. Somewomen had stuck miniature bead-covered wax figures represent-ing children onto the large Christ figure as prayers to protecttheir children from illnesses and death. The shaman asked me for

13HUICHOL

some coins—Mexican pesos. I searched my purse and pulled sev-eral out and gave them to him. He prayed, and placed the coinsin a cavity carved into the upper right rib of one of the Christ fig-ures. Swift Rabbit had told me earlier that Huichols used moneyfor offerings because the design on one side of all the coinsdepicts an eagle with a snake in its mouth. This, she said, symbol-ized an important myth about the eagle and the creation of theworld.5

While holding Sprouting Corn wrapped in her cloth like alarge bundled baby, the shaman pulled out his feathered wandand began to pray out loud. He passed the feathers of his wandover Sprouting Corn’s head, then mine. After that he circled abowl of salt above our heads. Salt, something essential for allhuman beings, is a very precious resource for Huichols. Inancient times they had to travel far away to the desert or thePacific Coast to get salt, and may in fact have been salt mer-chants, who traveled the trade routes bartering salt from one tribeto the next.6 The shaman put the bowl down and picked up a bot-tle that contained holy water. He dipped a large flower into thewater and sprinkled the top of my head with the water. Then hegave the flower and sacred water to me so I could anointSprouting Corn’s head. Throughout the ritual she was very quietand wide-eyed, but did not cry or fear what was being done toher. It was obvious that despite her shyness she felt secure in herelement with her parents, her shaman uncle, and me. Then it wasdone and Young Arrow led us outside.

We stood in front of the church, and the shaman instructedme to open the bags of candy and packages of cigarettes I hadbought and throw them to the eager children who were gatheredthere. I threw handfuls to the waiting crowd of youngsters. Thecandies were quickly unwrapped and eaten; the cigarettes weresaved for parents. Tobacco smoking among Huichols has ritualsignificance. Huichols grow a special tobacco extremely high innicotine content that is used in deer and peyote hunt ceremonies.Commercial tobacco cigarettes complement this tradition and areused as ceremonial gifts. Young Arrow opened a Coca-Cola bottlefilled with strong distilled alcohol and emptied a small amountinto a bottle cap. He anointed his feathered wand with these“spirits” and waved his wand in the cardinal directions. Heinstructed me to place the handkerchief I had bought for the occa-sion on a flat rock. On top I put the two candles and bar of soap.These would be kept by Sprouting Corn. Another thing I gaveSprouting Corn was a new name. Her mother had told me that I


must choose a name to baptize my goddaughter. For this occasionmost Huichols chose Spanish names. I thought long and hardabout this and came up with the name Cristalina, meaning crys-talline, like cool, clear, fresh water. Everyone was pleased withthe name, especially Sprouting Corn. Young Arrow told me thatfrom now on there would be a special handshake between meand Sprouting Corn’s parents, in which we would touch our righthand to each other’s right shoulder and then shake hands.

We practiced our new handshake and sat down on the side ofthe church so that others who were baptizing children couldenter. Young Arrow instructed me to put one of the beers I hadbought on the handkerchief. I was to open it, and move my handin the air above it in the four directions. Swift Rabbit did the samewith one she had bought. Then I was given her beer and shemine, and we drank. We both put packs of cigarettes on the hand-kerchief for whoever wanted one. We repeated the ritual beerexchange five times. I was relieved to learn that if one cannotdrink all the alcohol offered he or she can give it to one of thefamily members or friends waiting around to be invited to join inthe celebration.

Suddenly the head nun of the Franciscan mission marched upto us. She and several other nuns had recently been given permis-sion to live near the church because they provided medicines andmedical treatment when the doctor from the government-runclinic was not around. She began a heated monologue, repri-manding all of us for not having one of the visiting priests per-form the baptism ceremony in the church. She said in an angrytone, “This child is not baptized; only a priest can do it properly.The real reason for baptizing is because before one is baptized heor she is ‘black,’ but after this holy ceremony the person becomes‘white’ and pure. You are not pure.” When she finished her long-winded speech, there was silence. No one said anything; all of ushad our eyes to the ground. When she walked away, we looked ateach other, smiled, and began the celebration in earnest.

Later that afternoon we started back to the rancho. On theoutskirts of town, sitting on the dirt runway, was the foreign pho-tographer who had taken our pictures in the church. I spokebriefly with him. He was sullen and downcast because the tribalauthorities had arrested him for not having asked permission tobe there and demanded he pay a fine. Then they banished himfrom the community, so now he was waiting for any mode oftransportation to take him away. I thought to myself, “This guydid not receive such bad treatment.” In some cases people—

15HUICHOL

Huichols and foreigners alike—who break the tribal laws are putin the flea-infested jail. On some occasions, they are even forcedto put their feet in the heavy wooden stocks. This form of crimi-nal punishment was introduced to the Huichols by the Spaniardsover two hundred years ago, yet Huichols still find it quite aneffective device for law enforcement. I gave the photographer myaddress and asked him to send me photos of the baptism cere-mony. I didn’t think I would hear from him again, but six monthslater I received the photographs, and gave copies to my Huicholfamily.

That night Cristalina slept with me in the bamboo house onstilts in the rancho. The full moon shone in through the slats inthe wall and made designs across our bodies in the wee hours ofthe morning. I do not have any children, and don’t know if I everwill, but I felt overjoyed at seeing my little goddaughter fastasleep by my side. I would hold her dear to me, like a daughter,for years to come.

In the morning, while we were all drinking a special nutri-tional breakfast gruel made from blue corn and smut, a mush-roomlike fungus that grows on the ears of corn, Swift Rabbit toldme that Cristalina and I were now united until death. She said itis important to have godchildren because when it is your time topass on, they will help you with your journey to the other world.The soap I had given Cristalina would be reciprocated when Idied. She would buy a bar of soap and wash my face, hands, andfeet to prepare me for burial. The same applied to the two metersof cloth I wrapped her in for the ceremony. But the cloth shewould buy for me would be used as a shroud. As for the two can-dles, Cristalina would light one of them to see my soul off duringthe funeral ceremony. Huichols believe that when a person dies,his or her soul retraces its life and follows the journey of the sun.Along the way it stops in sacred places where Huichols havegone to leave offerings. Before the soul reaches the ocean and isswallowed up by the Goddess of the Sea, the shaman calls thesoul to come be with its loved ones, so that final farewells can besaid. Swift Rabbit said that the soul returns for a short while inthe form of a fly, is caught by the shaman, and then is sent off totake its place among the gods in the sky.7

I hated to think of the time when any of us would leave thisworld and pass on to another. One really does not like to contem-plate human mortality. So instead I put my arms aroundCristalina and just felt glad to be there, sitting around the break-fast fire, alive, and sharing the present and whatever the futurewould bring.


CRISTALINA LEARNS

THE HUICHOL WOMAN’S PATH

Over the past eight years I have watched Cristalina learn the val-ues and skills that Huichol girls need to know. I became, in manyways, her shadow, as she showed me the basic skills necessary tosurvive in this rugged environment. Every morning at sunrise wehelped her mother and the other women prepare the morningmeal. She and I went down to the stream with buckets and largehollowed plant gourds to get the water. On the bank of thestream a deep hole was carved out and lined with stones, andwater seeped from under the earth to fill the hole. This was thebest water for drinking because it was not likely to be contami-nated by animals passing through. However, it did containmicroscopic parasites that occur naturally in still water. Drinkinguntreated water like this is just asking for a bout of“Montezuma’s revenge.” No matter how much I explained toCristalina, her mother, and the others the importance of boilingthe water before drinking it, I was never successful in convincingthem to do so. They said they couldn’t see any “little animals,”and besides, with the elevation so high—six thousand feet abovesea level—it takes longer for water to boil; they would be at it allday, and it was not worth the time and energy it would take. Igave up on convincing them, but tried to boil all of my owndrinking water. Needless to say, Cristalina, like all the children,and some of the adults, had stomach problems often.

At the water hole we scooped the water up with a cup andfilled the buckets and drinking gourds, pulled some large leavesfrom plants nearby to use as stoppers in the gourds, and then car-ried the water back on our heads. Back at the ranch I helpedCristalina grind the corn for tortillas. Almost every night hermother instructed her to get the corn ready for the morning tor-tillas. Cristalina shelled the corn kernels from the cobs, put thekernels in a bucket of water, added lime—a powdery mineralsubstance—and placed the bucket on the fire to boil—just longenough for the outer surface of the corn to soften with the help ofthe lime. Then, in the morning, Cristalina and I took turns puttingthe softened corn kernels in the metal grinder her mother hadpurchased in town, and turned the handle around and arounduntil the corn became a coarsely textured dough. Both she and Ideveloped strong arms from doing this two, sometimes three,times a day.

17HUICHOL

It was not until Cristalina was seven years old that hermother taught her to make tortillas. Swift Rabbit showedCristalina how to grind the dough finer on a grinding stone, put adough ball into the metal tortilla press, flatten it, and slap it onthe hot comal to cook. The first time Cristalina made tortillas Iwatched her intently, and smiled to myself when her tortillasstuck and burned, causing her to cry from shame and embarrass-ment. Within a year she was expertly making tortillas for every-one in the family. With her mother’s encouragement Cristalinamade tortillas for me at mealtimes, and always wrapped somefreshly made ones in a handkerchief for me to take along when Iflew back home.

As my little goddaughter learned more about the surround-ing environment, she taught me. She took me into the woods togather sour berries, called upapari, and a variety of edible wildmushrooms. The adults in the rancho had taught her to distin-guish the edible mushrooms from the poisonous ones. Somemushrooms are so toxic that eating just a few of them could killyou. Cristalina taught me how to watch for snakes, such as rat-tlesnakes, and scorpions, whose sting is so venomous that it cankill children and temporarily—and sometimes permanently—paralyze adults. I was so glad to have Cristalina to teach me thesevaluable survival skills. We also sang songs together. She taughtme various Huichol songs, and never tired of repeating a lineover and over—something the adults had little patience for—until I got it right. One of my favorite Huichol songs is a simplesong about the morning dove. The words are as follows:

kukuru patsuaka kálili pe hekua dove cries dawn arises

“The morning dove calls because dawn is upon us.” The tuneimitates the haunting tone of the morning dove’s call.

When Cristalina turned seven years old, her mother insistedthat she spend more time helping take care of her youngerbrother and sister. Swift Rabbit would tie a sling holdingCristalina’s baby sister around Cristalina’s back, and Cristalinacarried her sister around in this manner wherever she went. Herlittle brother was always near her side, too. Cristalina quicklylearned to care for her younger siblings and tend to their needs.Otherwise they cried and her mother scolded her. I wasimpressed by how adept she became at being a “little mother”;she seemed to know more about taking care of babies than I did!


Because I spent much of my time at the rancho learning toweave on the backstrap loom, Cristalina became very curiousabout this ancient craft and insisted that her mother set up a littlemakeshift loom for her. Swift Rabbit did just that, and by my sideCristalina watched and imitated me weaving. Although she wastoo young to actually be able to weave, her motivation to learnwas a good sign that she was on the right path to learning thewomen’s ways, according to her mother. Learning to weave is animportant part of becoming a woman in Huichol society. SwiftRabbit also taught Cristalina to embroider and make gourd bowlsand wood-carved snakes decorated with beads pressed intobeeswax. All of Cristalina’s family members were excellentartists, and when time permitted they took their artwork toMexican cities to sell to tourists and store owners. With themoney earned her mother bought goats, sheep, and if especiallylucky in sales, cows, which provided milk, calves, and, eventu-ally, blood and meat for a ceremony.

I remember well the ceremonies in which we participated ather parents’ temple, seven hours away by foot. Swift Rabbit andWhite Star had the important five-year cargo of caretaker of thetemple. It was a beautiful walk to the temple, through a densepine forest and river valleys. Pack horses and mules carried ourbelongings; sometimes we had to take many supplies because westayed at the temple up to a month at a time. Cristalina usuallyrode one of the horses, holding on to her little brother, who sat onthe front part of the saddle. She liked this arrangement becauseshe didn’t tire from traveling, and did not have to brave the tripbarefoot. I always made a point of providing her with huaraches,leather sandals, but inevitably they broke or got lost, or she grewout of them quickly. There were times that her feet were so cutup, raw and bloodied from not wearing shoes, that it wasextremely painful for her to walk long distances. As she grewolder her feet got much tougher, and she made a greater effortnot to lose her shoes and to repair them when necessary.

The temple compound was made up of a large circular tem-ple of adobe brick with a grass-thatched roof and five small stonegodhouses circling the front of the temple, which faced east. Thefirst time I accompanied Cristalina and her family to the temple Iwas astounded by how ancient this sacred building was. We tookour belongings inside, where we would live and sleep for theduration of the ceremony. Inside the temple were two large woodpoles and a frame supporting a very high ceiling, a crackling fireon a raised dirt mound, and a wood and bamboo altar in the

19HUICHOL

back, with a multitude of bags containing the temple members’offerings. Sacrificial deer masks hung from the two wood posts,and deer antlers lined the walls of the interior. White Star indi-cated which antler marked our place, and we settled down towait for the ritual events. Cristalina, knowing that I liked todraw, pointed at the mud wall behind us. It was smoothly plas-tered and designed with incised drawings of simple sticklikehuman figures carrying bows and arrows, hunting large antlereddeer. The drawings reminded me of prehistoric cave paintingsthat I had seen in books.8

The ceremony for which we had come was the last in a seriesof ceremonies to celebrate the return of the temple members whohad gone on the peyote pilgrimage. The ceremony was alsointended to appease the gods, so that there would be a lot of rainand abundant crops in the months ahead. The leading shaman,called Venus, the Morning Star, began the ceremony at about10:00 P.M. and sang throughout the night. He sat in a special bam-boo and deer-hide chair, with his power wand in hand. Two men,one sitting on either side of the shaman, helped him during thenight vigil. White Star was one of these assistants. Cristalina, heryounger siblings, and I lay on our blankets and listened for aslong as we were able to stay awake. The shaman’s song had aneerie, mesmerizing tone. Cristalina, who was sleeping by my side,would stir occasionally, usually when the shaman sang a deep,resonating melody that seemed to make the air vibrate. After hesang a phrase his assistants repeated what he had sung. It wassuch a powerful, repetitive tune that even when I dozed, in theearly morning hours, the shaman’s song was with me in mydreams. At dawn everyone stirred. Cristalina helped me light mycandle. People gathered their offerings, and with the rising sunthe men and a few women left, taking a bull with them to sacri-fice deep in the ravine. They went to a sacred place called Taupa,where Huichols say the sun was born. There they sacrificed thebull, to calm the sun so the rain goddesses would be able to come.Afterwards the people went high up on a mountain top and sacri-ficed a black ewe so the wind god would bring the wind.Cristalina told me that black sheep are used in this ceremonybecause they represent the color of dark rain clouds.

When the temple members returned, the shaman and otherssang for two more nights. The morning of the third day there wasone final animal sacrifice. This one was a five-month-old calf. Itwas deep chocolate brown with a splotch of white on its fore-head, and it belonged to Swift Rabbit. The officiating shaman had


said that the gods had visited him in the night and told him thatCristalina’s family had to sacrifice this particular calf. Cristalina’slittle brother had become gravely ill several months ago. Hislungs had been so congested with fluid, and his body so dehy-drated from fever and diarrhea, that few people thought hewould survive. The shaman had sung for him, and had toldWhite Star to fast for a week so that the little boy would recover.In addition, the shaman told White Star to go to the PacificOcean, to the Sea Goddess Haramara, and leave offerings of acandle, a decorated gourd bowl, and an arrow with a miniaturebow and sandals attached to ensure that his son would be astrong, swift hunter. Cristalina’s little brother miraculouslyrecovered. Now her family was indebted to the gods for therecovery, and this calf was to repay the debt. The shamanselected Cristalina to take the role of Ha’Keli, the angellike mes-senger who would help with the animal sacrifice. A woven beltwith a plumed arrow was tied around her head, and she followedthe singing shaman to the calf. It was tied to the post of one of thegodhouses in the temple compound. Around its head was a rib-bon with tissue-paper flowers. The shaman, with his powerwand, sang to the calf. Several men crept around, and at theshaman’s cue they threw the calf to the ground, tied its feettogether, and carried it to the hole that was situated in the freshlyplowed cornfield in front of the temple. The hole was supposedto lead to the moist earth goddess, Yurianaka.

When the calf was laid on the ground with its neck above thehole, the shaman instructed Cristalina to put a piece of chocolatein its mouth so it would be happy and make it safely to the otherworld. She did so, and could not resist giving her mother’s calfone last pat on the head. Her father gave her the sacrificial knife,which she held while the shaman blessed it, her, and the calf.Then she gave the knife to her father’s cousin, who plunged theknife into the calf’s throat. The calf jerked, twisted, turned, andlooked around, moaning and calling for its mother. Tears came toCristalina’s eyes, and to mine, too. Two Huichol musiciansplayed the violin and guitar to sing the soul of the calf up to thesky. It was a sad but important occasion—the life of a young calfwas given to the gods in exchange for the life of her youngerbrother.

Everyone was pleased with the ceremony. Swift Rabbit andWhite Star told me that Cristalina was a good Ha’ Keli and thateveryone would be healthy and there would be abundant rain forthe crops. All was as it should be; the forces of nature were in bal-

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ance. Cristalina sighed with happiness and satisfaction, and tookmy hand to lead me to a choice spot where she had seen greenclover growing. She wanted to pick some so we could eat it sprin-kled with a little bit of salt that she had brought along. At thatmoment dark, ominous clouds rushed in around us. Thundercould be heard in the distance and flashes of lightning illumi-nated the sky. Cristalina grabbed my arm and led me to shelter inone of the godhouses. She said with a mischievous look on herface, “I have a new song to teach you. It’s called haxu uyaya, andis about the crocodile’s wife.”

MY GODDAUGHTER’S FUTURE

Cristalina is now twelve years old. It is hard to imagine that eightyears have passed since I became her godmother, and it is evenmore difficult for me to imagine my life without her. She stilltakes care of her younger siblings, at present count they total five.She has gone on the peyote pilgrimage with her mother, father,little brother, and baby sister, and has eaten the sacred hallucino-genic cactus. Peyote is considered a sacrament and is used to getclose to and communicate with the Huichol gods. It is used in aceremonial context which serves to unite family and community,and is an integral part of Huichol culture.9 Children are intro-duced to peyote at a young age, first through their mothers’ milk,then in small amounts taken orally. No child is forced to takepeyote, but most want to so that they can share in the religiousexperience. When I spoke to Cristalina about her experienceswith the peyote, she told me that the gods came to talk to her.They brought many beautiful designs in bright colors and geo-metric shapes, constantly in motion. With felt-tip pens that I hadgiven her, she drew some of these mandalalike designs, and toldme that they were gifts that the gods had given her and shewould always treasure them.

The peyote has contributed to her learning about nature andHuichol religion, and has influenced her sense of style in thebeaded and embroidered art she makes. The designs and colorcombinations she chooses are vibrant, and make the objects shecrafts come alive. Cristalina is on her way to becoming an excep-tional artist, and even sells her artwork when the family goes tothe Mexican cities. I am teaching her some words in English so


she can help her family communicate with the foreign touristswhen making sales.

Cristalina attends the elementary school in San Andres. It is abilingual school, and the teachers are all Huichols. In kinder-garten Cristalina learned to write down language sounds and toform words and sentences in Huichol. When she understoodthose concepts, she was taught Spanish, the primary languageused for most subjects. Her mother still needs help around therancho, so Cristalina is not able to attend school on a regularbasis. Nevertheless, I have encouraged her to keep learning. Ibring her notebooks, pencils, and pens, and we spend some after-noons working on reading, writing, and arithmetic. She loves tolearn, and thoroughly enjoys these hours spent together.

The last time I visited Cristalina, she was waiting for myplane on the runway, and she helped carry my things back to thehouse. Her entire family had gone off to a ceremony, but she hadstayed behind to await my arrival. We sat on the bed joking andcatching up on things, and I complimented her on how much shehad improved in speaking Spanish. When I leaned back andclosed my eyes for a few moments, she slyly pulled out the lastletter I had written the family and began to read it out loud inSpanish. I opened my eyes and sat up abruptly. I couldn’t believewhat I was hearing and seeing. My little goddaughter, SproutingCorn, whom I had named Cristalina, was actually reading, andshe was doing it extremely well. I hugged her tight and thoughtback to that day years ago when she could not speak any Spanish,but insisted on communicating with me in Huichol as she helpedme put my loom away. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

For me Cristalina is a mirror that reflects the life of all SierraHuichols, a life in which the Huichol culture is challenged morethan ever by the encroachment of the outside world. I see greathope in Cristalina. She has been raised within the context ofHuichol traditional beliefs and practices, yet she is learning to bebilingual, bicultural, and, with my influence, tricultural. She hasbeen teaching me, too, about life, survival, and kinship. We havelearned so much from each other; we have transcended geo-graphical and cultural barriers. I wonder how our relationshipwill influence the future of her family and community. I hope wecan work together to foster greater cultural understanding, whichin turn would help Huichols direct the path of their own lives,and if they so desire, maintain the autonomy they have had sinceancient times.

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NOTES

1. Phil Weigand suggests that Huichols have inhabited the SierraMountains for thousands of years. See Phil C. Weigand,“Differential Acculturation among the Huichol Indians,” inThomas B. Hinton and Phil C. Weigand, eds., Themes ofIndigenous Acculturation in Northwest Mexico (Tucson: TheUniversity of Arizona Press, 1981), pp. 9–13.

Peter T. Furst proposes that the ancestors of the Huicholswere originally related to Chichimec Indians in the San LuisPotosi Desert. See Peter T. Furst, “Myth as History, History asMyth: A New Look at Old Problems in Huichol Origins,” inStacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, eds., People of the Peyote:Huichol History, Religion, and Survival (Albuquerque: Universityof New Mexico Press, 1995).

2. This was the general policy among the early Christian missionar-ies. A few, however, documented the traditional Indian culturesand their religions before they destroyed them. See Bernardinode Sahagun, Florentine Codex: A General History of the Things ofNew Spain, rev. ed, trans. Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J.O.Anderson (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1969).

3. For more information on Huichols and the changes broughtabout by the Mexican Bureau of Indian Affairs, Instituto NacionalIndigenista (INI), see Karen Reed, El INI y los Huicholes (Mexico:Instituto Nacional Indigenista); and Salomon Nahmad Sitton,“Some Considerations of the Indirect and ControlledAcculturation in the Cora-Huichol Area,” in Thomas B. Hintonand Phil C. Weigand, eds., Themes of Indigenous Acculturation inNorthwest Mexico (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981), pp.7–8.

4. This poncholike garment is known as a xikuri, and is a traditionalform of clothing worn by many indigenous women before con-quest times. See Stacy B. Schaefer, “Huichol Indian Costumes: ATransforming Tradition,” Latin American Art Magazine 5 (1993):70–73.

5. The eagle and snake were important symbols for the AztecIndians, whose origin myths tell of finding an eagle perched ontop of a cactus devouring a snake. There they founded theancient city of Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City.

6. See Phil C. Weigand, “Differential Acculturation among theHuichol Indians,” in Thomas B. Hinton and Phil C. Weigand,eds., Themes of Indigenous Acculturation in Northwest Mexico(Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981), pp. 11–12.


7. For more description of Huichol funerary practices and beliefsabout the soul, see Peter T. Furst, “Huichol Conception of theSoul,” Folklore Americas 27 (1967): 39–106; and Michel Perrin,“The Urukáme, a Christallization of the Soul: ‘Tradition,’ Death,and Memory,” in Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, eds.,People of the Peyote: Huichol History, Religion, and Survival(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995).

8. For further information on Huichol temples, see Stacy B.Schaefer, “The Cosmos Contained: The Temple Where Sun andMoon Meet,” in Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, eds., Peopleof the Peyote: Huichol History, Religion, and Survival (Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press, 1995).

9. Additional literature on the importance of peyote in the Huicholculture includes Peter T. Furst, “To Find Our Life: Peyote amongthe Huichol Indians of Mexico,” in Peter T. Furst, ed., Flesh of theGods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens (New York: Praeger, 1972),pp.136–184; Barbara G. Myerhoff, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journeyof the Huichol Indians (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974); andStacy B. Schaefer, “The Crossing of the Souls: Peyote Perceptionand Meaning,” in Stacy B. Schaefer and Peter T. Furst, eds.,People of the Peyote: Huichol History, Religion, and Survival(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995).

SUGGESTED READINGS

Berrin, Kathleen, ed. Art of the Huichol Indians. New York: The FineArts Museums of San Francisco/Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1978. Abeautifully illustrated volume with articles on Huichol cultureand art.

Furst, Peter T. “To Find Our Life: Peyote among the Indians ofMexico,” in Peter T. Furst, ed., Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use ofHallucinogens. New York: Praeger, 1972, pp. 136–184.

Lumholtz, Carl. Unknown Mexico , vol. 2. New York: CharlesScribner’s Sons, 1902. A fascinating and classic account ofLumholtz’s explorations in the Huichol area in the 1880s.

Myerhoff, Barbara. Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the HuicholIndians. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974.

Schaefer, Stacy B., and Peter T. Furst, eds. People of the Peyote: HuicholHistory, Religion, and Survival. Albuquerque: University of NewMexico Press, 1995. An extensive anthology on all aspects ofHuichol culture with contributions by an international group ofanthropologists.

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Zingg, Robert M. The Huichols: Primitive Artists. New York: G.E.Stechert and Company, 1938. This monograph is a detailedethnography on Huichol Indian culture in the 1930s, with specialemphasis placed on their myths and rituals.


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