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Huichol Indian Beaded Art - Things To Do In and Around Cancun

Julie Register, Your Guide to Spas, saw Huichol Indian beaded art demonstrated at La Isla Mall in 2000 

 


The Huichol Collection Gallery was located in La Isla Mall in 2000. Unfortunately, when I returned in 2002, it was no longer there. However, I did find some Huichol art for sale  in
Kukulcan Mall, La Casa de Las Margaritas Restaurant and the Cancun Airport.

 

 

"Deer and wolves that speak to man, arrows that carry prayers, serpents that bring rain or impart skill in embroidery, pumas that are messengers of the Gods - are all real in the Huichol belief system. "Huichol (pronounced Wettchol)", according to Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz "is a corruption of the word Vishalika or Virarika, that the Huichols call themselves, the word signifying "doctor or healer', a name they fully deserve as about one-fourth of the men are shamans."

The Huichol Indians live in virtually inaccessible areas of the states of Nayarit and Jalisco, straddling the Sierra Madre Occidental in an inhospitable region of about 15,000 square miles in scattered kinship settlements (ranchos).

In the past thirty years, about four thousand Huichols have migrated to cities, primarily Tepic, Nayarit, Guadalajara and Mexico City. It is these "citified' Huichols who, because of the need for money, have drawn attention to their rich culture through their art. The Huichols have only an oral tradition and no written language (thus the many differing spellings of Huichol words). "Through their artwork, the Huichol Indians encode and document their spiritual knowledge." notes Susana Eger Valadez in 'Huichol Indian Sacred Art'. In their artwork the Huichol express their deepest religious feelings and beliefs acquired through a lifetime of participation in ceremonies and rites."

Exerpted from
Huichol Indians, Their Art & Symbols
by Ancela Corelis

Learn more about the Huichols from these books:

• Huichol Indian Sacred Rituals
• People of the Peyote : Huichol Indian History, Religion, & Survival
• Huichol Shamanic Emblems : Sacred Origins of the Yarn Paintings
• The Tree That Rains: The Flood Myth of the Huichol Indians of Mexico
• Flowers of Wiricuta
• So Sings The Blue Deer!
• Peyote Hunt : The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians
• Watakame's Journey : The Story of the Great Flood and the New World

Learn more about the Huicols from these Web sites:

• The Huichol of Mexico: Their Culture, Symbolism, and Art
• The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival
• Learn more about Huichol Culture

 

More Things To To In and Around Cancun
Culture

Tulum*


Xcaret

Huichol Indian 
Beaded Art
Nature

Snorkel at Yal-Ku

Turtles

Interactive Aquarium
Shopping

La Isla Mall*

Kukulcan Mall

Mercado 28 in Downtown Cancún
Dining

La Casa de Las Margaritas

Bogart's*

Captain's Cove

La Destileria

The Blue Parrot in Playa del Carmen
Getting Around

Aquabus

 

Related Music


Temazcal: Ritual Ceremonies Of The Aztecs

Related Books
Spas In and Around Cancun
The Hotel Zone in Cancun
• 
Ritz-Carlton Cancun
• Le Meridien Cancun Resort & Spa
• The Royal Sands
Puerto Morelos
• Ceiba del Mar
• Thalasso Center at Paraiso de la Bonita
• Paradisus Riviera Cancun
Other
• The Salon Spa at the Cancun Airport
• Spas in Cancun
• Spas in Mexico
Cancun Resources
• Cancun.info

Photos copyright 2002, Julie Register
Licensed to About.com 
unless marked * which are courtesy Cancun Visitor's Bureau and Bogart's

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