Huichol Art and Culture: Vanishing Treasures of the Sierra Madre

Current Comments@ EUGENE GARFIELD iNSTITUTE FOR SC IENTHC wFORMATIOM =o~ MARK= ST PfiIbiOELPHIA, pA 19104 Huichol Art and Culture: Vanishing Treasures of the Sierra Madre Number 13 March 29, 1993 Introduction Preserving an Endangered Species Cw-ren~ Conterrts@ (C@) readers are fa- In a literal sense, Huichol yam paintings miliar with my long fascination with and other arts and crafts are the last Huichol art, the brightly colored “paintings” flowerings of an ancient culture that traces made by pressing strands of yam onto ply- its ongins to the Toltec and Aztec refugees wood covered with beeswax. This psyche- from the Spanish conquests Others have delic art, inspired by religious pilgrimages suggested even older links with the Nayarit to the Wirikuta desert during which the tribes which settled in the Sierra Madre Huichol Indians partake in a peyote ritual, long before the Aztecs entered the valley was first described in CC in 1979. I Other of Mexico.6 Consequently, it became even essays have described Huichol mythology,~ more important to me to commission my visit to a Huichol settlement in San Emeteria’s yarn paintings as a way to pre- Andres in the Sierra Madre mountain range serve the memory of a vanishing way of in Mexico,~ and the symbolism of “Pilgrim- life. age to Wirikuta,” a yarn painting by the The gradual extinction of the Huichol Huichol artist, Emeteria Rios Martinez.4 culture was brought home in a very direct What first attracted me to this exciting and personal way when Emeteria found that art form was its bold use of bright primary she suffered from uterine cancer. With our colors and the primitive, almost childlike help she was treated by specialists and ber compositions, As my collection grew cancer appeared to be in remission. How- through the help of Olga Vasquez, now at ever, she recently had a relapse and is rest- the University of California at San Diego, I ing under doctor’s orders. But she still finds learned more about the Huichol Indian cul- the time and strength to continue creating ture and religion. By taking with Emeteria yarn paintings which, no doubt, nurtures and visiting San Andres, I became aware her spirit. of the bleak hardships under which the Hui- Recently, donations from my collection chols live in their remote communities in of Huichol yam paintings were made to the rugged Sierra Ma&e. Perhaps of even various institutions in Philadelphia to share greater concern was the fact that the Hui- their beauty with a larger audience, These chol people, and their unique way of life, include the University of Pennsylvania Mu- were dwindling under the relentless en- seum of Archaeology and Anthropology croachment of modernization in the form as well as the Caring Center, a West Phila- of new roads, airstrips, and economic pres- delphia child care facility that evolved from sures that encourage ever greater numbers the 1S1Caring Center for Children and Par- to migrate away from their rural homelands ents.T The mural in the museum can be to the cities. seen at the entrance to the Kress Gallery. 270 In addition, we have presented countless tion of Huichol culture today as their small yarn paintings to 1S1visitors from all shamanic tradition is disintegrating under over the world. the pressures of Mexico’s modernization. Revisiting the Huichol Culture: About the Author Maria von Bolschwing Von Bolschwing, a native of South Af- The opportunity to discuss Huichol art rica, emigrated to San Francisco in 1959 and culture again arose when I recently and later became a US citizen. She received met Maria von Bolschwing. I had read her a bachelor’s degree in librarianship from recent article on the Huichols in Whole the University of Cape Town before study- Earth Reviews She founded the Huichol ing at San Francisco State University, where Art Center in Sausalito, California, in 1983. she earned a bacheior”s degree in history While discussing our mutuai interests in and art history as well as a master’s degree the Huichols, Maria described her activi- in English literature. ties in Yelapa, Mexico, a small isIand fish- While an English literature teacher at ing village and artist colony south of Puerto Santa Rosa Junior College, she became in- Vallarta where she now lives. After invit- terested in tribal art on a visit to Guate- ing her to contribute an essay for C@’ she mala. She discovered Huichol art at a sent several ~rs for consideration. Her 1992 Guadalajara museum and, for the past 20 article from Hola Amigos! entitled “Dancing years, has frequently traveled to the Sierra Through the God’s Eye” is reprinted here.’J Madre. After resettling in Yelapa, Maria The paper describes Huichol sacred art, founded the Huichol Art Center to preserve including not only yarn paintings but also thk vanishing art form and help Huichol art- music and dance, ritual ceremonies, bead- ists to create and market their works. The work crafts, prayer bowls, and embroidered center also supported needy Huichols with clothing. However, it mainly focuses on food, shelter, and alternatives to migrant the shamanistic religion and worldview of work. For more information, contact Maria the Huichols as well as their life on the von Bolschwing at P.O. Box 637, Sausalito, “ranchos,” loose-knit communities orga- California, 94965. She cart be reached at nized around ceremonial centers. She also (415) 332-3415 or by fax at 415-331-6334. poignantly describes her visit to Rancho ***** Matatita, a four-hour hike from San Andres. My thanks to Al Welljams-Dorof for his Finally, she discusses the precarious posi- help in the preparation of this essay. o1s[1993 REFERENCES 1. Garneld E. The psychedelic art of the Huichol Indians. Current Comerm (52):5-7, 24-31 Decemtxr 1979. (Reprinted in: Garffeld E. Essays ofcrn irrformution scienris(. Philadelphia 1S1Press, 1981. Vol. 4. p, 348-50.) 2------------ Huichol mythology arrd culture. Part 1, World’s largest yarn painting is latest in series of ISI- commissioned artworks. Current Comerm (28):5- 11, 13 July 1981. (Reprinted irr {bid., 1983. Vol. 5. p. 164-70.) 3------------ Huichol mythology and culture. Part 2. Crm the Huichols absorb mndem technology and retain their tmd~rions? Current Conrerm (29):5-11, 20 Jul y 1981. (Reprinted in: /bid., 1983. Vol. 5. p. 171-7.) 4------------ Huichol srl at 1S1: “Pilgrimage to Wirikuta” by Emeteria RIOSMartinez and “Nifios huicholes” by Lark Lucas. Current Corwerm (22):3-8, 2 June 1986. (Reprinted in: Ibid., 1988. Vol. 9. p, 176-81.) 5. Berrirt K, ed. Ari of the Huichol Irrdiarr.r.New York Abrams, 1978.212 p. 6. Negrin J. The Huichol Indians. UNESCO Courier (2): 16-7; 23-7, Febnmry 1979. 7. Gatileld E. Child care: an investment in the future. Part 2. ‘llre 1S1Caring Center for Children and Parents. Current Coritenrs (7):5-13, 14 February 19S3. (Reprinted in: Op cit., 1984. Vol. 6. p. 38-46.) 8, von Bnlschwing M. Dancing through the grid’s eye: Huichol aft and culture. Whole Earth Rev, 75:48-51, Summer 1992. 9. von Bolschwing M. Dmrcing through the grid’s eye. HohI Amigos! 2( I):11-3, 1992. 271 Reprinted with permission from Hola Amigos? 2( 1): 1I-3, 1992. Dancing Through The God’s Eye by Maria von Bolschwing . ......... L---l ,, Maria von Bdschwing High in the mountains of Western Mex- One can only marvel at the tenacity with ico, approximately 10,000 Huichol Indians which these remarkable people have re- continue to live a lifestyle that is closer to tained their own cultural and religious au- Pre-Columbian times than that of any other tonomy. indigenous people on this continent, Pro- How exactly has this aboriginal group tected by their wild terrain, they never fell survived with their original tribal structure, subject to invading Spaniards, and even religion and art intact? What has kept the long after the signing of a treaty with the Huichols-despite poor soil, lack of rain Mexican Government, they continued to re- and Mestizo land encroachment-dancing sist acculturation, Only recent] y have air- so enduringly through the Eye of God? strips and roads given access to a tribe still The Huichols are, in a sense, a tribe of strikingly similar to that described in 1898 shamans; it is said that over half of them by one of the first anthropologists in the take up this way of life. Religion for the Sierra Madre, Norwegian, Cad Lumholtz. Huichols is prsonal rather than institution- rdized, yet communrd too, in that all under- telling to pilgrimage. Thirdly, the Huichols stand that they comprise the whole of it. concern themselves with the wider concept Because so much of Huichol art stems from of healing the Earth Mother. In all three this strong shamanic tradition, it would stages, it is the shaman who experientially seem important to place it in a wider leads the way. panhuman perspective. This art is prayen Feathers, which are the heart of God, are not art for art’s sake, it is Art for All’s the shaman’s power and his instrument of sake. communication with the Gods. They act as In this society, shamans are the consum- the shaman’s telephone. When the shaman mate artist-the specialists in their tradi- points his prayer feathers to the sun, it is tional religious system. They know how to seen as touch-tone dialing, with God on tap the metaphysical world, seeing it as a the other end of the line. Shamans all have reservoir of power from which the artist their own sacred basket containing feath- can envision, translate and create designs.

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