Huichol Indian Identity and Adaptation. (Volumes I and II).

This is a study of the interface between Huichol subsistence activities and the annual aboriginal temple ritual cycle, investigating empirical consequences of Huichol subsistence practices and the native rationale intrinsic to performance to temple rituals. Aboriginal temple rituals and associated cosmology have persisted with relatively minor modifications but certain aboriginal subsistence practices have been eroded since Spanish conquest. Because all available ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence (in conjunction with the author's preliminary fieldwork) suggested that the Huichol residing within the Santa Catarin (Toapori) "pagan temple" (toqui) district did not trigger irreversible ecological degradation, the primary research objective was to examine how Huichol cosmology directed the aboriginal ritual cycle which in turn governed their interaction with the environment. Numerous ritual texts provided by multiple informants were recorded, translated, compared, and analyzed. Using these texts and follow-up interviews as a data base, the Huichol hierarchy of underst and ing intrinsic to their aboriginal temple ritual cycle was reconstructed. The hierarchy of underst and ing contains both their cognized model of nature and their rationale for performing rituals. For the Huichol, to perform ritual is to maintain ecological order. Good health and abundant food are granted provided the Huichol replicate in ritual the world-organizing precedents set by diverse immortal relatives (or ancestor-deities). The close alignment between Huichol liturgical order and ecological adaptation is illustrated by detailed interpretation of their harvest ritual, peyote hunt, and deer and rabbit hunting rituals. The centrality of maize in Huichol subsistence is clearly indicated in cosmology and ritual. The priority that Huichols place on maintaining their environment is evident in their identification with immortal wolves and Caoyomari (their tutelary spirit and creator of existing terrestrial order). Both wolves and Caoyomari are culture heroes who set world-organizing precedents Huichols are obliged to replicate in ritual. Abiding by such precedents, Huichols maintain existing ecological order and , by implication, guarantee good health and abundant food.Ph.D.Cultural anthropologyNative American studiesUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160509/1/8512400.pd