 Huichol women and children | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Mexico (Sierra of Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango, and the desert of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi), United States (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) | |
| Languages | |
| Huichol, Spanish, English | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism, Animism, Peyotism, Jehovah Witness, Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cora, Tepehuán, Tarahumara, Hopi, other Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples |
The Huichol (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈwit͡ʃo̞l]) or Wixárika (Huichol pronunciation: [wiˈraɾika])[1] 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 Wixárika 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.
- ^ "Gramática didáctica del huichol: escritura fonológica y sistema de escritura, Volumen 1". Función. XIV (19–20). 1999. Retrieved March 28, 2011.