Los rostros de nuestros antepasados. Las pinturas faciales de los jicareros (Xukurikate) huicholes de Tateikita

Abstract

The Xukurikate or Jicareros are men and women who have the important duty of taking care of a gourd bowl (xukuri in Huichol) and an arrow (+r+ in Huichol) that correspond to an specific Huichol deity. These same charges must go every year to the Wirikuta Desert, located in the state of San Luis Potosí, to take the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsi), the deer and the sacred water of the fountains of this place. In the Peyote Celebration (Hikuli Neixa), the Jicareros of Tateikita, Jalisco, paint different geometric figures in their faces that consist fundamentally in circles, points, spirals and lines. The Huichols associate these motifs with some elements of nature, certain deities and the nierika concept. In this study we explore the relation between the facial paintings of the Jicareros and the effects produced by the ingestion of the psychotropic substances of the peyote, that are conceived by Huichols as experiences of knowledge and communication with their deified ancestors.