essay
Myth as history, history as myth: a new look at some old problems in Huichol origins
People of the peyote: Huichol Indian history, religion, & survival • Albuquerque • Published In 1996 • Pages: 26-60
By: Furst, Peter T..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This document revisits the centrality of peyote in Huichol origin mythology, religiosity, and identity. Drawing on a range of historical and ethnographic evidence, the author shows that peyote has been widely employed as a visionary sacrament and pathway to the realm of the ancestor deities. The hunt for peyote in the traditional homeland of the Huichol, Wirikúta, is a sacred obligation that the ancestor gods have passed along through the generations; reinforced through the oral and visual arts, in rituals and religious expressions, and in daily life. The author argues that the peyote cult persists as a process in which all aspects of existence, including myth and history, are harmonized through reformulation, reaffirmation or rejection. (For non-English terms see Schaefer [1996] "Glossary." For references cited see Schaefer and Furst [1996] "Bibliography.")
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Historical reconstruction
- Identification
- External migration
- Location
- Congregations
- Recreational and non-therapeutic drugs
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Religious experience
- Animism
- General character of religion
- Inter-ethnic relations
- Missions
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Religious experience
- Cultural identity and pride
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Huichol
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northern Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Teferi Abate Adem ; 2015
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1965-1968
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1530-1990
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southern Sierra Madre Occidental (Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango, and Zacatecas), Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- Peter T. Furst
- for bibliographical references see document 23: [Schaefer and Furst]
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 95032453
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Huichol Indians