Huichol People, Ceremonies and Art Creation
This ancient art form called Huichol continues with Huichol embarking every year on far off pilgrimages to what they call the sacred land of Wirikuta. Here they search for a desert cactus called peyote which they call “Blue Deer”, for its powerful hallucinogenic properties. All these pilgrims come in droves of young and old, families and individuals and bring offerings as they wish to enter priesthood and as a result also receive the special gift in making the divine art. Unlike other religions and believes are their forms of prayer in material form and consists of candles, masks and pictures.
The Huichol people believes in The First People, who they say are part of ancient ancestors that once many centuries ago dwelled around in the Wirikuta desert. After centuries something drove them out and they lived a mortal agrarian existence in Sierra Madre Occidental. In order to reenter the sacred land these pilgrims have to travel over 600 miles round trip led by a shaman which they call a mara’akame. All along the trip a serious amount of ceremonies and rituals are done in order to transform each one of them into deities. At several different locations and intervals they start to adopt additional divine identities while they assume the attitudes and feelings that are attributed to the First People.
It is believed and strongly so that once ceremonial actions and thoughts are performed correctly, the desert cactus will be found and the pilgrims can “kill” it with bows and arrows. After this a slice of the cactus are given to the victors and everyone who ate a slice now have their personal visions. Now they have the ability to talk to God and receive direct will and instructions after which they have the power to create art, cure, or sing. This is the highest goal of each Huichol to reach the highest form of religion and this ecstasy allows them to create artwork.
