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Clandestine Sawmill on the Outskirts of the Huichol Sierra ©Juan Negrín 1981 2025

Notes on Wixárika History: Recent History

Juan Negrín
| January 2003
After independence was achieved from Spain in 1810, the laws of the reform passed under Benito Juárez during the 1850’s, restrained the power of the Catholic Church, but they also stopped recognizing Indian colonial land rights. Soon the Huichol, Cora, Tepehuano and Mexicanero Indian groups of the Western Sierra Madre were further dispossessed of their territory by their mixed blood neighbors. They rebelled, eventually uniting under Manuel Lozada, who joined French invading forces until they were stopped at Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 1873.
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Nierika Offering ~ Photograph ©Juan Negrín 1979 - 2023

Nierika by Juan Negrín

| January 2003
The nierika is represented among the Huichol Indians of northwestern Mexico as a focal point on which powerful beings concentrate their energy. This may be as primordial as a well-crafted deer snare that induces the sacred animal’s willing self-immolation. It can be a symbolic spider’s web or threads attached to a wooden loop.
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La serpiente emplumada entre coras y huicholes

The Feathered Serpent Amongst the Cora and Huichol

Jesús Jáuregui
| January 2002

Article written by Nayarit-born anthropologist and specialist in Naayeri culture, Jesús Jáuregui, for the magazine, Arqueología Mexicana.

Read full Spanish-language essay here.

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The man who drank honey

The Man Who Ate Honey--Kieri and the Calling of a Huichol Shaman

Jay C. Fikes
| December 2001
Article written by anthropologist Jay Courtney Fikes in conversation with Wixárika mara’akame, Catarino Carrillo. "In 1996 I made my first visit to the Huichol community of Tuxpan de Bolaños. There I began developing rapport with an eighty year old shaman who we will call Catarino. Catarino has been kind enough to share many details about his life, including the explanation (below) of how he became a shaman."
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American Indian Art Magazine

The Origins of Huichol Yarn Painting

Hope MacLean
| January 2001
This article was written by U.S. scholar Hope Mac Lean in the summer 2001 for American Indian Art Magazine.
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Photograph ©Peter Collings 2000

The Huichol of Mexico

Peter R. Collings
| January 2000
Bilingual (English and Spanish) and illustrated publication by U.S. anthropologist, Peter Collings, about Wixarika culture and history. "The Huichol are best known for their strikingly vivid, and colorful, yarn paintings and beadwork. However, few people know or understand the depth of this pre-Colombian culture. This book is just a brief overview of some answers to some of the questions I am asked of these interesting people." Peter Collings
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The Shamanic Vision of the Huichol, Free Spirit May 1998, Juan Negrín y William Meyers

The Shamanic Vision of the Huichol

Juan Negrín and William Meyers
| May 1998

This article was co-written by longtime intellectual collaborators, Juan Negrín and William Meyers, based on a journey they took together to Wixarika territory and ongoing conversations they shared about comparative spirituality, religion, and studies on shamanism. The article is illustrated with photographs taken by Juan Negrín and was published in New York City's long running Free Spirit magazine that Meyers served on.

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México Desconocido

Ritual Pilgrimage to Wirikuta, land of the peyote, home of all the Ancestors

Nicolás Triedo
| July 1996
Article written by Nicolás Triedo for Mexico Desconocido in July 1996. It recounts how the Wixárika prepare to pilgrimage to the sacred place of Wirikuta and the series of actions necessary to arrive clean to communicate and dialog with the gods."It all starts in the town of La Tristeza, Nayarit. The maráakame is Don Francisco, a man of great wisdom and simplicity. He is the spiritual guide of the community. Only he can see the blue deer, Kauyumari, the elder brother of the Huicholes, and representative of the gods. He is the teacher of the tradition, 'the custom,' who, along with his faithful companion Tatewari, Our Grandfather Fire, know the destiny of the Huicholes." Article is in Spanish
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Un peyote, e poi perdersi tra mille colori

Un peyote, e poi perdersi tra mille colori / A peyote, and then losing oneself amidst a thousand colors.

Duccio Canestrini
| April 1993
Article from Italian magazine detailing Wixarika cultural practices and use of peyote. "For two thousand years, the Huichol people of the Sierra Madre Occidental have consumed the flesh of a small, hallucinogenic cactus during their rituals. The phantasmagorical visions it induces help shamans commune with the gods and inspire artists to create astonishing paintings." "It is both endearing and startling to stumble upon it—suddenly, right underfoot—while walking through the Mexican desert. Endearing because this small, spineless cactus, with its succulent, vibrant flesh, takes about twenty years to grow to the size of a fist. Startling because its fifty active compounds—including the potent mescaline—can truly deliver a punch: an uppercut to the brain that makes you see stars in Technicolor."
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Ruz Buenfil for High Times

On the Peyote Trail in Mexico

Alberto Ruz Buenfil
| December 1990

This article was written by Alberto Ruz Buenfil (11 September 1945– 7 December 2023) was a Mexican writer and activist whose work is dedicated to environmental sustainability, and the performing arts. He co-founded two international  theater groups as well as Mexico's first  ecovillage, known as Huehuecoyotl. This article was written for the U.S. based High Times magazine after Ruz Buenfil accompanied a camera crew from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation that was documenting a Wixarika pilgrimage to Wirikuta from the community of Tateikié.

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