Huichol

The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. They are best known to the larger world as the Huichol, although they refer to themselves as Wixáritari ("the people") in their native Huichol language. The adjectival form of Wixáritari and name for their own language is Wixárika. The ethnonym huichol comes from the adaptation to the language Nahuatl from the ethnonym wixarika, due to that in the language wixarika the a can be spoken like o; r and l are allophones, and the pronunciation of x, that was a sibilant, was read as an affricate, tz, between the 17th and 18th centuries (time period in which the word could have been borrowed), but the loss of the syllable -ka resulted in huitzol en náhuatl, and its, wirraricas. The Wixáricas speak a language of the Wixarikan group that is closely related to the Nahuatl group. Furthermore, they have received Mesoamerican influences, which is reflected by the fact that Wixarika has features typical to the Mesoamerican language area. Their spirituality traditionally involves collecting and consuming peyote (Lophophora williamsii), a cactus that possesses hallucinogenic effects due to its psychoactive alkaloids, such as mescaline. The Huichol say that, for the most part, they originated in the state of San Luis Potosí, as well as in other parts of Mexico and the United States. Once yearly, some Huichol journey back to San Luís, their ancestral homeland to perform "Mitote" Peyote (Hikuri, in Wixarika) ceremonies. The three main Huichol communities belong to the municipality of Mezquitic, Jalisco and are called San Sebastián Teponohuastlan (Wautüa in Huichol), Santa María Cuexcomatitlán (Tuapuri in Huichol) and San Andrés Cohamiata (Tatei Kié in Huichol). Other Wixarika communities include Guadalupe Ocotán (in Nayarit), and Santa Catarina and Tuxpán de Bolaños (Kuruxi Manúwe in Huichol) in Jalisco.