Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol:4, p.
348-350, 1979-80
Current Contents, #52, p.5-7, December 24-31, 1979
urwantEamm*nts
The of the Psychedelic Huichol Art Indians
Number
52
December
24-31,
1979
In a recent editorial I stated ~hat I am not much of a collector. ] At one time, all I collected was saxophone recordings. However, a few years ago I started to collect Huichol Indian yarn paintings. I now have a sizable collection, My friend Anne Geary introduced me to the craft of these Mexican Indians. It was through her that I met Olga and Bob Brooks, from whom I buy the paintings. They run a small import business in Northern California. They purchase the paintings from a merchant in Mexico who buys them from the Indians. At present my collection numbers over 40 paintings, including two that are eight-feet long. They light up my apartment and my life. My collection is so large that I needed some help in cataloging it, So Olga Brooks recently translated for me the Spanish-Indian handwritten notes on the back of each painting, which explain the paintings symbolism. For example, one large painting about the Huichol children is enhanced by this description: The children take an imaginary trip to the land of peyote at the feast of the com and squash. They sit out in the sun on the laps of their mothers while the shaman recounts the entire imaginary pilgrimage, He uses the b~t}erfly to symbolically lead them to Wmkuta. The yarn paintings are created by pressing strands of colorful yarn into sunwarmed beeswax over spread plywood. The Huichols use extremely bright, contrasting colors, A series of these paintings on a wall creates a psychedelic vision not unlike that which originally inspired the artist. I 348
The Huichols are a relati~elv small group of about 10,OOUto 15,000 _Indians living in a 1,500 square mile area of Mexicos Sierra Madre mountains, The name Huichol is a corruption of the Indians native name Vixanca. ~ Although scholars disagree on the point, most believe that the Huichols have lived in their present location at least since the arrival of the first Spaniards in Mexico in 1519.2.3 Despite the efforts of the Spaniards and their missionaries to civilize and Christianize the Indians, the Huichols remained basically unchanged until the 1960s. At that time, the Mexican government introduced major programs to aid the Indians, Especially important was the building of airstrips into the almost inaccessible Huichol territory. This made outside contact relatively easy. The Huichols remain, however, an agricultural people. They are dependent upon corn, which they plant by dropping a few kernels into a hole made with a digging stick. The planting, raising, and harvesting of com are surrounded by religious ceremony, as is all of Huichol life. Susan Eger, former field director for the Foundation for the Indians of the Sierra, explains: TO the Huichols, religion is not part of life, it is life .4 Carl Lumholtz,, a Norwegian ethnographer who was the first outsider to study the Huichols, and whose work about them is considered classic, observed, that religion in one manif estation or another permeates all of life for the traditional Huichol, including ecosocial relations, nomics, and even technology. j The Huichol religion is also the major motivation for most of
their art. Huichol life is a continuous chain of ritual and devotional exercises to the gods. The gods are everywherein trees, KIM, and lakes, Even stones have souls. Tatewan~ Our Grandfather Fire; the God Kauy~marie, the Blue Deer; and Tat~ KukurfiUim&i, the Mother of Maize, are among the most important of the Huichol gods, One of the best known of the Huichol rituals involves the use of peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that grows in the W{fikuta desert. Thk desert, which lies 300 miles northeast of the Huichol homeland, is considered by them to be their spirit ual la:~ of origin. A yearly pilgrimage to Wmkuta to gather peyote is the climax of Huichol religious life. The peyote contains, among other things, the non-addictive drug mescaIine. s It is ~a~en with great ceremony, both in Wlnkuta and year-round at home, so that one can communicate directly with the gods. In their visions, the Huichol shamans often meet the gods, who reveal their knowledge to them. Peyote visions frequently provide ideas and motifs for Huichol artwork. A significant part of the Huichol religion, in fact, centers around their art. Explains Peter T. Furst, professor of anthropology at the State University of New York and research associate in ethnobotany at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, For the Huichol, art is prayer and direct communication with and participation in the sacred realm. It is meant to assure the good and beautiful life: health and fertility of crops, animals, and people; prosperity of the individual, the kin group, and the larger society.J According to Eger, The Huichols use their artwork as a means of coding and channeling sacred knowledge, insuring the continuity and survival of the legacy left to them by their preColumbian ancestors.l As a result, says Furst, Almost every Huichol woman is skilled in the arts of weaving and embroidery, and many men and women excel at stringing tiny colored beads into beautiful earrings, bracelets, and 349
necklaces whose motifs derive from the communal inventory of sacred symholism.J Olga says these symbols are so firmly entrenched that Huichols from different areas who have never met before can produce exactly the same patterns. b In addition to weaving and embroidery, the Huichols produce much votive, or offertory, art. Among these, the rukun, or votive bowls, are considered by many to be the precursors of yarn paintings. These bowls, made from the bottom half of a calabash gourd, are decorated by pressing beads or yam into their beeswax-coated inner surfaces. They are made as offerings and prayers, with the design usually symbolizing what the maker wishes the god to provide. About 40 years ago when commercially produced yams and fiberboard became available, the Huichols developed the art of yam painting for sale to the public.7 Most of the paintings are done by men, although a few women are also involved in thk craft. Olga explains that while the paintings often symbofize religious events and objects, they have no religious significance themselves, and have no place in the traditional Huichol culture. Urdike other Huichol artwork, they are not sacred. They often, however, represent religious things, such as ceremonies, feasts, and the gods.b Paintings may also illustrate a story from Huichol mythology by showing a vision seen by the artist while taking peyote. The paintings in Figure 1 and Figure 2 (which appear in full color in the insert in this issue) each illustrate a specific observance or story. * According to Olga, Huichol yam paintings have become quite popular in the US in recent years. Some scholars lament this fact, however, explaining that, as a result, many Huichols, and even outsiders, are producing cheap versions, which are devoid of meaning. a Phd C. Weigand, associate professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, believes that most of the Huichol artwork sold today
falls into this cat~gory. Crafts of dubious quality , he says, are often produced in factory-like surroundings, with many workers-not all of them Inlet dians, alone Huicholsmassproducing bead-encrusted cigarette boxes, gods eyes, bead bracelets, woven bags, and even yarn paintings. Fortunately, the best artists have shunned this type of commercialism. q Olga adds that a trained observer can between easily tell the difference authentic, meaningful Huichol work and rapidly-made, cheap imitations. In addition, she believes that since the Huichols dislike and distrust outsiders, they are not likely to commercialize their artwork any more than necessary. Nevertheless, most of the paintings that are sold to tourists are produced by Huichols who have gone to live in the towns nearest their original villages. In many ways, they are no longer traditional Huichols. In any case, the Huichols are being exposed more and more to modern society. Olga and others are concerned that the Huichols may soon become Mexicanized as a result of that contact, and will perhaps eventually accept and adopt Christianity. While this is indeed possible, Olga believes that the Huichols strong cultural associations,
combined with their dislike of outsiders, will enable them to preserve their own way of life. Like many other primitive art forms Huichol art may become popular for a while. There are currently two exhibitions of Huichol artwork traveling across the US. I saw one of these exhibitions in Chicago several months ago. It displayed the work of two prominent HuicJsol ry-tists, Tutukila and Jose Bemtez Sanchez. While I admire the prolific work of these artists, I admire even more some of the themes and styles in my collection. Some of them have a childlike quality reminiscent of Grandma Moses. In fact, my own mother did a painting at the age of 60 which is so similar in character and color that it does not clash at all with the Huichol art that surrounds it. If you are interested in knowing more about the Huichols and their art I can the work edited by recommend Kathleen Berrin, Art of the Huichol [ndian.r, lo and In the Magic Land of Peyote, translated from the Mexican Spaqish edition of a work by Fernando Bemtez. 1I You may also wish to read Lumholtz classics Symbolism of the Huicho[ Indians, [z and Unknown Mexico. 13
0919 <s,
REFEI
;NCES
1. GarJieM E. Everything you wanted to know about sax but were afraid to ask, Current Con/en(s (25):5-11, 18 June 1979, 2. CJutfon B. Happy peep/e: [he Huicho/ lndiarw. Sante Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 1%2. .56 p, 3. Fwst P T. f%earl of being Huichol, (Berrin K, cd. ) Art of the Hu/r/to/ lndian~. New York: Abrams. 1978. p, 18-34. 4. Eger S & ColJfns P R. Huichol womens art, (Benin K, cd, ) Ar( of //te Huicho/ lndiam New York: Abrams, 1978. p. 35-53. 5, !$teber W G. Drug problems. Encyclopaedm Bntanmca. H,H. Benton, 1974. Vol. 5, p. 10WW, Chicago: 6. Brooks O. Personal communication, 10 August 1979, 7. $trekefgb F. Sacred colors of the Huichol, Porrfo/io 1(1 ):56-64, April/May 1975, 8. IYe@a J. The Huicho/ creafion of /he wor/d. Sacramento: E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, 1975.122 p. 9. We&and PC. Contempora~ social and economic structure. (Benin K, cd, ) Art of the Huicho/ [ndms Abrams, 1978, p. 101-11S. New York: 10. Be+ K, ed. Art of the Huichol Indions. New York: Abrams, 1978.212 p, 11. Rezutez F. In (he magic /and of peyofe. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975. IW p. 12. Luraholtz C. .Symbo/ism of (he Huichol Indtan$. Museum of Natural History, 1900.228 p. New York: American 13. ---------------- Unknown Me.wc-o. Glorieta, NM: Rio Grande Press, 1974.2 vol. Note: * The figures mentioned here were originally printed in color.
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