Peyote Hunt Summary

Barbara Myeroff, of Peyote Hunt, The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians, writes of the rituals within the Huichol religion and generalizes, “Rituals occur, significantly, in dangerous situations” (239). These dangerous situations often occur as a result of a time of change and the dangers may either be a literal physical risk to well-being or it can be a perceived fear. It is interpreted that ritual can be utilized to stabilize a variety of dangerous changing environments to meet societal norms, so that the danger may be controlled. By Nadel’s definition a ritual is any behavior that has become stylized or formalized and thus made repetitive in that form (239). It can be construed to function as a rigid and precise enactment of symbols