Wondefurl Hand Huichol Mexican Mask Offerings By Luis Ruiz

 Welcome to Peyote People

Over the last 10 years we have developed very close relationships with a number of Huichol families. Unlike most who buy their art in the city, we like to actually fly up into the Sierra to observe their ceremonies and rituals and take them supplies like the carvings that they use and new glass beads with irridescent colors that we import for our artists to work with. We believe that the artist is just as valuble as the art; every piece that we sell is marked with the artist name and has a stamp that states their tribal affiliation which adheres to the 1991 Indian Arts and Crafts Act. Huichol art abounds today in places like ebay, as well as tourist towns like Puerto Vallarta. A simple google search will bring up more web sites than there are Huichol!! The true art however is very difficult to find. It does not come from Huichol that live in the city, but rather those who actually live in the sierra, those who are involved in doing the ceremonies and rituals that make up what it means to be Huichol. Luis Ruiz the Huichol who made the 'ofrenda'. Luis is from Las Guyabas a ceremonial center located deep in the canyon below San Andres Cohamiata the principal ceremonial Center on the Western side of the Chapalagana river. The Huichol from Las Guyabas are extraordinarily traditional and prefer to follow their ancient customs unlike others who have adopted more modern ways on the plateau in San Andres. In 1890 the American Museum of Natural History in New York sent Carl Lumholtz a Norweigen explorer into Mexico to explor the Sierra Madre Mountains and look for the Anazazi. Lumholtz spent 8 years in two excursions traveling from Bizbee, Arizona to Morelia, Michoacan. In 1898 Lumholtz was the first to document the Huichol and in 1900 published a book on Huichol Symbolim that described the jicaras to be an essential part of the Huichol ceremony and ritual. It is a feminin object, women are responsible for creating and carrying them to sarced sancturaries. The paper flowers represent nature, the coins are offerings to the god's, the sheeps wool represents the clouds that bring the rain, the deer hair is for abundance and the quartz rocks reprent their ancestors who taught the Huichol the traditions and ceremonies they do today to appease the god's. After ceremony, the bowls are divided into the 4 cardnal directions and deposited in their respective sancturaries. For the Huichol this ensures that the wind will bring the clouds that hold the rain that makes the corn grow.

Please feel free to write us if you have any questions regarding any of the pieces in our collection