"Thoroughly researched, well-written, amply illustrated, and fascinating. . . . Important and highly recommended."
--Choice
"The editors have assembled a multinational collection of essays on the Uto-Azatecan-speaking Wixarica, or
Huicholes, of the Sierra Madre of Nayarit and northern Jalisco."
--SMRC Revista
Submitted By Publisher, May, 2003
Summary
Now available in paperback, People of the Peyote explores the Huichol Indians of Mexico, who are best known
for their worship of the peyote cactus. Ritually harvested each year, the peyote flower plays a central role in
most Huichol observances of the annual ceremonial round. The Huichols have been the most culturally persistent
indigenous group in Mexico and have maintained their pre-Christian religion with only minimal accommodation to
Catholicism. Eighteen essays explore Huichol ethnography, ethnohistory, shamanism, religion, mythology, art, ethnobotany,
society, and other topics. The authors, including Huichol contributors, are an international array of scholars
on the Huichols and indigenous peoples of Mexico.