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Discover the Wixarica in Puerto Vallarta |
Do you know what we are talking about if we mention the amazing Huichol or Wixarica art? Do you know the history and origin of this wonderful culture that has struggled to keep their customs, language and beliefs intact? Take the opportunity while you visit Puerto Vallarta where you can learn a lot about these amazing Huichol or Wixarica and their beautiful and world-renowned art.
The name “Huichol” when talking about the Wixarica ethnic group is actually a derogatory ethnonym the Mexica people used when talking about them, long before the Spanish arrived. But over the years we have adopted this as their real name.
The Wixarica, term which actually means "seer", have remained totally faithful to their beliefs even in the midst of this modern technological era in which they are immersed. They struggle every day against adversities trying to preserve their clothing, their rituals and history, language and art.
The Wixarica inhabit west-central Mexico, in the northern part of the state of Jalisco, on the backbone of the Sierra Madre Occidental where you can find the villages of Mezquitic and Bolaños. They also inhabit parts of Nayarit, Durango and Zacatecas. It is this distance from the urban areas, the isolation from the masses, that’s one of the reasons that has helped them to maintain the purity of their race, their customs and festivals, their own social organization and their characteristic and peculiar art.
The Wixarica art uses decorative elements that are already very representative and recognized around the world, as much as the art itself. We are talking about the tiny glass beads called “chakira”. No one really knows when these decorative beads appeared in Mexico. They are used in Huichol art, such as jewelry, apparel decoration and some ceremonial objects and by other indigenous Mexican cultures such as the Tarahumara, Cucapás, Nahua, Otomi, Purepecha, Kicapus and others.
These tiny beads are stuck to a pre-carved wooden figure, using Campeche wax as "glue." This wax is mixed and spread on the carved piece of wood surface and then they stick by hand, one by one, all the beads that will give form and color to the final design. With these same beads they also create colorful and unqiue jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
In general, the Huichol wood figures include deer, coyotes, flowers, lizards and many others, combined to recreate the sacred symbols of their worldview, covered with chakira designs of peyote, scorpions, corn, deer, geometric figures and many others.
Another very popular type of art because of their "psychedelic" designs, are the nierikas or thread boards (yarn paintings). These nierikas mostly contain images representing the visions that peyote will produce when consumed, and in some other cases even contain mythological or quite complex esoteric designs. Peyote is a cactus plant widely used in the sacred indigenous rituals as well as for its medicinal effects.
As with the figures made with beads, to make a nierika you extend Campeche wax on a flat piece of wood or some other material, you outline the design and you start sticking the thread little by little until finish the design. Of course even their clothing is covered with colorful embroideries that are also part of the Wixarica artistic expression.
As you can see, the Huichol or Wixarica culture is, without a doubt, a gem in Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco and Mexico as a country, worthy of our admiration and respect, not only for their lifestyle, their ideologies, their veneration of nature, but also for their respect of their roots and how they still keep alive this wonderful culture so filled with magic and color.
So if you are visiting Puerto Vallarta, do not miss the opportunity to know and marvel over the art and culture of the Wixarica. There are several galleries in town and in other surrounding areas where you can find their artwork in display.
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