Characteristics Of Huicholes

General Description Huicholes are a Native American indigenous group who reside in the Sierra Madre mountains of Jalisco, Durango, Nayarit, and Zacatecas in the country of Mexico. Current census report that, “the Huichol or Wixarika, are a little-known group of some 7,000-9,000 individuals whose traditional homeland is the Sierra Madre Occidental, in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit” (Myerhoff, 1974). Furthermore, this article informs that although almost half of the Huichol group is spread throughout the nearby towns and cities of Mexico, and are ethnically mixed, the remaining Huicholes still maintain a high degree of their cultural autonomy while being isolated in the high mountains that they call “ranchos” (Myerhoff, 1974).
Stephen’s states that, “many Huichols may relate with their neighbors only during certain times of the year to practice their religion” (Stephen’s, 2011). Being secluded from contacts between neighbors caused for there to be differences in the customs as well as making changes to their language between districts. Due to this, the Huichol culture evolved from one group to multiple groups such as; Poblanos and Tepehuanos. For the Huichol’s who are family oriented this means that they work together to cultivate food. Stephens states that, “women and men worked side-by-side, with their children, in the fields and in the home and often accompanied men on business away from the community” (Stephens,
“For the hunt, Huichol travel 300 miles to their paradise, Hirakata where the ceremony begins in front of the community as the pilgrims declare the names of all illicit sexual partners they ever had” (Cultural, 1992). The peyote hunt ends with arriving at Wirikuta where the individual has to hunt for deer and gather peyote plant to last them a year so that they can have visions where the shaman will ensure their regeneration and cleanse of their soul. Myerhoff includes that “the peyote hunt is a unifying theme in Huichol existence which serves both as a source of ritualized catharsis and as the focus of three dominant symbols in Huichol thought: the deer, maize, and peyote” (Myerfhoff, 1992). These three symbols can be interpreted as interdependent, forming a single interpretive order because each symbol depends on each other for the Huichol to have a fulfilling spiritual