Huichol People - Religion and Mythology

Religion and Mythology

Their religion consists of four principal deities, the trinity of Corn, Blue Deer and Peyote, and the eagle, all descended from their Sun God, "Tao Jreeku". Most Huichols retain the traditional beliefs and are resistant to change.

• The "Huichol think that two opposed cosmic forces exist in the world : an igneous one represented by Tayaupá, "Our Father" the Sun, and an aquatic one, represented by Nacawé, the Rain Goddess". "The eagle-stars, our Father's luminous creatures, hurl themselves into the lagoons and ... Nacawé's water serpents ... rise into the skies to shape the clouds".
• "According to a Huichol myth, the Sun created earthly beings with his saliva, which appeared in the shape of red foam on the surface of the ocean's waves." "New things are born from "hearts" or essences, which the Huichol see in the red sea foam that flowed from Our Father the Sun ... . The Sun itself has a "heart" that is its forerunner. It adopts the shape of a bird, the tau kúkai. The bird came out of the underworld and placed a cross on the ocean. Father Sun was born, climbed up the cross, ... in this way killing the world's darkness with his blows".
• "Kacíwalí is ... maize goddess. The wind carried her to the top of a mountain, which was given to her as a dwelling". "Kacíwalí's rain serpents are changed into fish".
• "Komatéame is ... goddess ... of midwives. Both she and Otuanáka have tiny children in human shape, male and female". "Stuluwiákame has the responsibility to give humans children, and Na'alewáemi ... gives animals their young".
• Tatéi Kükurü 'Uimari ... Our Mother Dove Girl, who was also mother of the boy who became the Sun.
• Tatéi Wérika ... associated with the Sun and often depicted as a two-headed eagle.
• Tatéi Niwetükame ... patroness of children, who determines the sex of a child before it is born and gives it its soul (kupuri).

Quetzalcoatl is still worshiped by the Huichol