Abstract

SAUMADE, Frédéric. Toro, venado, maíz, peyote: El cuadrante de la cultura wixarika. Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2013, vol.3, n.5, pp.16-54. ISSN 2007-8846.

In the accounts, familiar to scholars of Native American cultures, of the ritual system and symbolism of the Huichol, most classical approaches (of an essentialistic type) are flagrantly incoherent: cattle (of Spanish origin) are less important than three other "sacred" species (of native origin) recognized in studies of this cultural zone in Mexico: deer, corn and peyote. As ethnological studies of the raising of cattle an of this species economic and ritual uses (for sacrifice and, too, for the market) show, cattle fit fully into a foursome associating its properties (as understood by natives) with the properties of the three other species considered to be emblematic in most studies of Huichol culture. Beyond discussions among specialists, this article presents a special case of the diffusion and re-appropriation of elements from Western culture by Native Americans.

Keywords : huichol; livestock; ranching deer; corn; peyote; transformation.

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