Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians

by Barbara G. Myerhoff

Book Overview

"Ram n Medina Silva, a Huichol Indian shaman priest or mara'akame, instructed me in many of his culture's myths, rituals, and symbols, particularly those pertaining to the sacred untiy of deer, maize, and peyote. The significance of this constellation of symbols was revealed to me most vividly when I accompanied Ram n on the Huichol's annual ritual return to hunt the peyote in the sacred land of Wirikuta, in myth and probably in history the place...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801491371
• ISBN13: 9780801491375
• Release Date: March 1976
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a beautiful belief system

This is the greatest ethnography i have ever read... While that's not saying an enormous amount, it is also one of the most fascinating and worthwhile books of non-fiction i've read, and that is saying a lot. Cohesive, illuminating, not too long, focussing on a culture which is very simple except for its complex religion, which, as with many native peoples, is really its entire life. Not being long, it reads like an essay with this as its thesis. A must for anyone interested in the cultural ecology of religion, or in native American peoples; the Huichol are one of the most interesting.