| The next loom stick,
kuikue'e , is like a lease stick which orders and
joins together the warp yarns. This stick represents
the next farthest eastern sacred place known as Rau Unar
and is associated with the birth of the sun. According
to Huichol oral tradition, a young boy was sacrificed to
the fire in the Huichol sacred place called Taupa. There
he descended into the underworld to be transformed into
the sun. The sun was born and rose in Virikuta, the
peyote desert in San Luis Potosi. This mountain today is
an inactive volcano. The description of this mythical
event recorded by Furst and Anguiano (1976) suggests,
however that the myth may contain a historical account
from a time when this volcano was active. They write that
the ancient people "hid themselves in fear when the sky turned red and the ground began to tremble, and they wondered out loud what appearance the new born Sun Father would have and what he should be named. When finally he burst from his Mother, the earth, it was in a great shower of fiery rocks and sparks." The following loom stick, hahamaü , is the rod stick which in double weave separates the sets of warp yarns which make up each of the two layers of cloth. This stick represents a hill called Kauyumarie in Virikuta. The next loom stick, also called hanamaü , is a rod stick which maintains the rod shed. The sacred place associated with this stick is Huakuri Kiteni and is the entrance, or doorway, to Virikuta. Continuing down the loom are three heddle sticks, all called zikutame . The first heddle stick represents the place known as Zuave Muyeika, a mountain located near Zacatecas and referred to as the place of the eastern star. The second heddle stick corresponds to Makaxuiya, a sacred place near Valparaiso which, as explained to me, used to be a place of many trees and deer. The third heddle stick indicated a mountain near Huejuquilla, Kierimanavi, where the god Kieri and his mother can be found. The next three sticks, tauzume , are pickup sticks. The first pickup stick represents the Huichol community of San Andres Cohimiata, named in Huichol Tatei Kiie. the second stick indicates the Huichol community of San Miguel Huastita, called Tatei Kita. The third is Tevimukatsie, a mountain near the Cora area of the Sierra, Huajimic, where Huichols go to leave offerings. |