The exact boundaries of Xapawiyemeta, a sacred indigenous ceremonial site located on Lake Chapala’s Isla de los Alacranes (Scorpion Island), were officially defined during two days of activities undertaken by traditional governors and representatives of the Wixárika, Náayeri, O’dam or Au’dam and Mexikan people, in conjunction with officials from the Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (INPI) and the Presidential Commission on Sacred Places (CPLS).
The June 13 and 14 agenda kicked off with a twilight ceremony requesting permission from the Tatewari (Grandfather Fire) to install permanent markers corresponding to the delimitation of the polygon comprising Xapawiyemeta. The project was carried out per a national decree to recognize, protect, preserve and safeguard the sacred places and pilgrimage routes of indigenous tribes.
In the Wixárika language, “Xapawiyemeta” means Abode of Mother Rain, a place associated with blue corn, and considered the location where Watakame, the envoy of the Mother of the Universe Takutsi Naakawe, touched land in the aftermath of the mythical universal flood.
CPLS personnel placed eight concrete mojoneras (boundary markers), each bearing a metal plaque inscribed with the name of the sacred site and the corresponding coordinates of the vertex that forms its polygon. Attached to the top of each marker is metal tsíkuri, popularly known as the God’s Eye, representing the cosmogram of these indigenous pueblos. They are oriented towards the Sacred Place of Wirikuta, points of sunrise and sunset, and a circular repository for placing ritual offerings.
Other points were named in the Wixárika language referring to its four communities: Tatei Kie, (San Andrés Cohamiata); Tuapurie, (Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlán); Wuatia, (San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlan; and Kuruxi’Manuwe, (Tuxpan de Bolaños). Another three mojoneras were named to refer to the terms for Mother Rain in the O’dam or Au’dam, Mexikan and Náayeri tongues.
Last month, representatives of Wixárica communities gathered on the island for the renovation of the thatched roof that covers the Xiriki shrine where offerings are placed whenever ritual ceremonies are held there.