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Huichol Sacred Sites
and Landscapes,
Huichol Sierra, Mexico
    
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SACRED SITE The Huichol are an indigenous group with a population of about 20,000, who live in the Huichol Sierra in western Mexico. They are outstanding within the Americas for the remarkable degree to which their contemporary way of life holds true to their pre-Columbian heritage. This is due both to their remote location and to their steadfast resistance to pressure to give up their land and traditions. The Landmarks Foundation chose the Huichol Sacred Sites and Landscapes Project because Huichol cultural integrity depends on physical access to historic ancestral sites. This living culture could be seriously damaged if immediate action is not taken. The Huichol maintain, quite possibly, the richest largely indigenous ceremonial life in the Americas today. They celebrate a full annual cycle of religious festivals within ceremonial centers, whose architecture includes plazas and temples. Their festivals feature dance, music, and all-night chanting. Portions of their extensive mythology are recounted frequently as are the negotiated community relations with their deities. Huichol ceremonial life also involves pilgrimages to other places near and far. These pilgrimages are central to Huichol religious life. The Huichol ensure the active support of their numerous deities by making frequent visits to the sacred places where they are believed to live. There they feed the deities, and sometimes dance and make music to entertain them. The deities personify forces of nature such as rain, wind, and fire, as well as earth, deer, and corn. The Huichol believe that the deities depend on them and, in turn, the Huichol depend upon the deities for health and abundance. The longer pilgrimages are fundamental to Huichol religious and cultural education. The elders teach the deeper meanings of the Huichol tradition at the sacred places that they visit. Pilgrims are also shown how to directly access the wisdom inherent in sacred places by communicating with the personified forces of nature embedded in each location. Huichol educational theory holds that one cannot fully understand and participate in traditional religious life until one has made pilgrimages to distant sacred sites. Therefore, the protection of the pilgrimage routes is vital to Huichol life. GOALS During the lifetime of contemporary Huichol elders, barbed wire fences erected to enclose cattle ranches have cut off some of the most important pilgrimage routes. The fences prevent the Huichols from bringing pack animals, mules and burros, to carry supplies for the long journey. Consequently, few Huichols continue to make the journey on foot. Instead, most pilgrimage groups travel by a combination of rented vehicle and/or public transportation and foot. Pilgrimages are now much shorter because vehicle rental is expensive and because the roads do not directly access the sacred sites. As a result, less time is spent at sacred sites and many are skipped over due to the cost of travel. This results in a significant amount of cultural transmission being deleted. Another threat to the continuation of sacred place-based Huichol religion is that many of the important sacred places are located outside of Huichol communal lands and are therefore threatened by development of superhighways, commercial agriculture, overgrazing by cattle and goats and an influx of tourists. The Landmarks Foundation hopes to use our success with the Church of St. Catherine, in this region, as a tool to influence Government agencies to protect and preserve the pilgrimage routes that cover over 500 kilometers of specific sacred places. The Landmarks Foundation has joined the efforts of Conservacion Humana, A.C., a Mexican non-governmental organization to raise funds and awareness to keep the sacred pilgrimage routes open. Privatization of land by farmers and ranchers is beginning to inhibit freedom of travel by the pilgrims and we insist that un-lockable gates be installed to enable traveler's access to fenced areas and provide laws that protect their right to do so. ACTION Since the Huichol do not own these sites, there is always the danger that their access to the sites will be cut off by landowners all together. In response, the Landmarks Foundation and Conservacion Human A.C. are channeling funding for the outright purchase of sites by the Huichol. In some cases, the purchases of sacred sites are being negotiated. In other cases, agreements with landowners to allow continued access to pilgrimage routes are being discussed. At this time: 1. Gates are being installed in the cattle fences. 2. For a limited period, financial support for pedestrian pilgrimages has been provided. This will ensure the elders can pass on the wisdom embedded in the sacred sites to younger generations. |