Huichol Religion
HUICHOL RELIGION. The twenty to twenty-five thousand Huichol-speakers of the Sierra Madre Occidental are the only sizable indigenous population in Mexico whose aboriginal religion survives with only minor Spanish additions, and almost none of the syncretistic adaptations to Christianity typical of the rest of Mesoamerican Indian cultures. The first missions in Huichol country were established in 1722. More than two and a half centuries later Spanish Roman Catholicism is evident only in the addition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Jesucristo, and some saints to the extensive native pantheon of male and female nature deities. The Huichol have also added nominal baptism practices; feast day celebrations of the respective patron saints of the five independent, self-governing comunidades that make up the mountainous Huichol homeland; and observance of portions of the Christian ritual calendar to their ritual life. The celebration of these holy days is accompanied by recitations and dramatic enactments of a Christian myth cycle so drastically altered to conform to the native worldview that it resembles the New Testament only in broad outlines.
Deities
In contrast, in the native ceremonial round and in prayers, the Huichol deities have retained their ancient names, personalities, and associations, rather than having become identified with Christian supernatural beings.
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