July 4, 2017 will go down in history as a great day of victory for the Wixáritari, the Native American tribe commonly known to the larger world as Mexico’s Huichol people.
The momentous date marks the end of a 17-year endeavor to achieve official recognition of Xapawiyemeta, the Wixárika sacred site located on Lake Chapala’s Scorpion Island.
It was there that traditional governors of the Huichol communities of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlán, San Andrés Cohamiata and Tuxpan de Bolaños gathered with a group of their people on Tuesday morning to receive the formal Declaration of Xapawiyemeta as Immaterial Cultural and Sacred Heritage of the Wixáritari delivered by Jalisco chief executive Aristóteles Sandoval and his Secretary of Culture Myriam Vachez Plagnol.
The unveiling of the decree was preceded by a ritual cleansing of the government officials on hand, performed by maraka’me (shaman) Francisco López Carrillo. Sandoval stooped down to get inside the tiny thatched-roofed temple where tribal pilgrims visit to leave candles wrapped in ribbons, traditional foods and other offerings.
The decree is viewed as a concrete step towards guaranteeing conservation and permanent protection of the sacred site that has been subject to recurrent acts of vandalism and looting by ignorant tourists who lack understanding and respect for the Wixárika culture and cosmovision. Tribal leaders have been advocating for the status since 1994. The process of developing a proper request for the new designation was initiated in a workshop held in Chapala in January, 2016.
Following this week’s ceremony the traditional governors regrouped at the Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia in Chapala where they sat down for a two-day confab with academics and staff from the Ministry of Culture’s heritage conservation to draw up a comprehensive management guide for the sacred site. It will include strategies to protect the place and create informational signage to give it appeal as a tourist attraction.
Xapawiyemeta is located on a rocky outcropping on the southwest side of the island. It is one of five ceremonial centers identified by the Wixáritari people as a sanctuary to get in touch with their ancestors and divinities. It is situated at the southern cardinal point of their ancestral homeland.
Other sacred sites include Wirikuta, set to the east between the Sierra Madre Oriental and Zacatecas ranges, where the tribe believes the sun first appeared, making it the birthplace of the world. Huaxamanaka, in the Cerro Gordo of Durango, is the northern cardinal point while Haramara, at San Blas, Nayarit, lies to the west. Teakata in Santa Catarina, Jalisco, marks the center of the cosmic map that maraka'ames (shamans) follow in their annual 400-kilometer sacred journeys.