Huichol Mask
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Huichol Mask
$199.00
Item Number: HMSK306
Description
This beautiful, one-of-a-kind beaded mask was made by pressing tiny glass beads into natural beeswax spread over a hand-carved wooden form. Bead art is made in limited quantities by the Huichol people of southwestern Mexico. Click here for additional information on the Huichol people and how this art was made, and here for an Adobe Reader fileMore…
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Helpful Information
- The rugged mountains and remote villages of the Sierra de Nayarit north of Guadalajara are the homeland of roughly fifteen thousand Huichol people. These were among the last indigenous groups to succumb to Spanish influence, and their faith still is essentially pagan, revolving around several important agricultural deities. Deer is the most sacred of all animals, its blood a symbol of fertility. Corn is the source of all life, for it was Nacahue, mother of all gods, who gave corn to the first man for planting, and from this corn was born the first Huichol woman. Peyote is a means of communication with the Gods, and the consumption of peyote by the Huichol people is a deeply religious experience. The unity of these three elements - deer, corn, and peyote - represent the core of Huichol beliefs.
- Huichol people express these feelings through their art, which is made not from the standpoint of decoration, but to give profound expression to deep spiritual beliefs. This makes traditional Huichol art, whether it be meticulous beadwork, yarn paintings, wooden masks, or striking embroidered and woven personal adornments, beautiful not only from its aesthetic standpoint but from the psychological as well.
- Click here for additional information on the Huichol people and how this art was made, and here for an Adobe Reader file describing the significance of their symbols and color choices.