Wixarika Research Center

Wixarika Research Center The Wixárika Research Center is a non-profit family foundation that promotes public awareness and respect for Wixárika culture, history and art.

The Wixárika Research Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit public foundation founded and registered in the State of California in May of 2001. We strive to promote public awareness of the Wixárika (Huichol) culture of Mexico through an online archive of their art, history, and culture along with a news section dedicated to current events. In addition to the archive, we provide support for community initi

atives that advance and preserve Wixárika culture and territory. The Wixárika remain one of Mexico’s most enigmatic indigenous peoples and have actively preserved their ancestral land base, language, social organization and spiritual practices. Nonetheless, the Wixárika must actively work to preserve their culture and land against the encroachment of large development projects and the ever-growing intrusion of people interested in their knowledge and resources. Through our longstanding alliances with Wixárika communities and organizations, our foundation provides a free platform for accessing information on Wixárika history, art and contemporary politics. Our hope is that our archive can facilitate greater appreciation of Wixárika culture and work as an instrument for advancing ongoing Wixárika efforts to make autonomous decisions regarding how to best manage their land, education, healthcare and housing. Our foundation has worked toward the defense of the sacred lands and natural resources of the Wixárika people and when requested we help design, implement and finance environmentally sustainable projects for their communities. All projects we participate in are authorized by consensus at general assemblies and confirmed in writing by the elected Traditional and Agrarian Authorities. Additionally, our foundation is committed to working with young Wixárika scholars and university students. This includes our scholarship fund for college students and providing opportunities for young Wixaritari to work with the archive collected by the Negríns. We hope you will enjoy exploring our website whether you are an enthusiast of Wixárika art, a student, a scholar, or someone interested in indigenous rights and the current events shaping our shared future in this rapidly changing world. We invite you to peruse the online archive and website at https://www.wixarika.org

Aquí pueden ver en su totalidad el Plan de Justicia de los Pueblos Wixárika, Naayeri, Odam y Meshikan elaborado por el g...
08/27/2026

Aquí pueden ver en su totalidad el Plan de Justicia de los Pueblos Wixárika, Naayeri, Odam y Meshikan elaborado por el gobierno durante el mandato de AMLO. Este documento reúne compromisos que siguen en puerta.

Plan de Justicia elaborado en conjunto con el Instituto Nacional de Pueblos Indígenas (INPI) y representantes de los diversos pueblos originarios solicitados y convocados. El documento explica el contexto histórico, geográfico y cultural del territorio ancestral de los pueblos wixárika, na'ayeri...

To the extent possible, we have created a bilingual Spanish-English website that provides news about Wixarika history, c...
08/26/2026

To the extent possible, we have created a bilingual Spanish-English website that provides news about Wixarika history, culture and territory. You can see news like this note from the Mexico News Daily in 2025 on our News dropdown tab.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken decisive steps toward the restitution of ancestral lands to the Wixárika people in a historic process that seeks to repair decades of dispossession and agrarian conflict in the border region between Jalisco and Nayarit.

La peregrinacion a Wirikuta de una cultura milenaria viva.Conoce este y otros documentos en nuestro archivo digitalwww.w...
08/25/2026

La peregrinacion a Wirikuta de una cultura milenaria viva.
Conoce este y otros documentos en nuestro archivo digital
www.wixarika.org

https://www.wixarika.org/es/viaje-ritual-wirikuta-la-tierra-del-pe**te-la-morada-de-todos-los-dioses

Articulo escrito por Nicolás Triedo para México Desconocido en julio de1996. Relata como los wixaritari se preparan para peregrinar al lugar sagrado de Wirikuta y la serie de acciones necesarias para llegar limpios para comunicarse y dialogar con los dioses.

Lee artículo completo en italiano de 1993 aquí/Read full Italian language article from 1993 here."Durante dos mil años, ...
08/24/2026

Lee artículo completo en italiano de 1993 aquí/Read full Italian language article from 1993 here.

"Durante dos mil años, los indígenas huicholes, habitantes de la Sierra Madre Occidental, han consumido la pulpa de un pequeño cactus con propiedades alucinógenas en sus rituales. Las visiones fantasmagóricas que evoca ayudan a los chamanes a conectar con los dioses e inspiran a los artistas a crear pinturas asombrosas.

Resulta conmovedor y a la vez aterrador encontrarlo de repente bajo tus pies, caminando por el desierto mexicano. Conmovedor, porque este pequeño cactus sin espinas, de pulpa jugosa y brillante, tarda unos veinte años en alcanzar el tamaño de un puño. Aterrador, porque sus cincuenta componentes activos, incluyendo la potente mescalina, tienen un efecto realmente potente. Un golpe al cerebro que te hace ver estrellas a todo color."
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"For two thousand years, the Huichol people of the Sierra Madre Occidental have consumed the flesh of a small, hallucinogenic cactus during their rituals. The phantasmagorical visions it induces help shamans commune with the gods and inspire artists to create astonishing paintings."

"It is both endearing and startling to stumble upon it—suddenly, right underfoot—while walking through the Mexican desert. Endearing because this small, spineless cactus, with its succulent, vibrant flesh, takes about twenty years to grow to the size of a fist. Startling because its fifty active compounds—including the potent mescaline—can truly deliver a punch: an uppercut to the brain that makes you see stars in Technicolor."

"Da duemila anni gli indios Huichol, che vivono sulla Sierra Madre Occidentale, consumano durante i loro riti la polpa di un piccolo cactus dai poteri allucinogeni. Le fantasmagoriche visoni che esso provoca aiutano gli sciamani a entrare in contatto con gli dei e ispirano agli artisti quadri sorpre...

Mensaje bilingüe/Bilingual messageWe are thrilled at having been able to provide scholarships to 10 students from the Au...
08/24/2026

Mensaje bilingüe/Bilingual message

We are thrilled at having been able to provide scholarships to 10 students from the Autonomous University of Nayarit and the ITESO (Jesuit University of Guadalajara) as part of our fund that has been supported by the collaboration of the International Friendship Club and the Rotary Club of Puerto Vallarta. The Wixarika Research Center shares the joy of these Wixarika college students who come from different communities and study different fields, but share the same conviction for personal development and support for Wixarika communities through their studies and professionalization. We celebrate the successes of these young people with an exchange trip. We thank all those who have contributed to the scholarship fund and to Juan Aurelio Carrillo Ríos for having supported the coordination of this trip.

Fue un gran logro entregar becas a 10 alumnos de la Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit y del ITESO como parte de la nuestro fondo de becas en el que también colabora el International Friendship Club y el Club Rotario de Puerto Vallarta. El Centro de Investigación Wixárika comparte la alegría de estos alumnos wixáritari quienes vienen de diferentes comunidades, estudian carreras diversas, pero comparten la misma convicción por la superación personal y el respaldo del pueblo wixárika a través de los estudios y la profesionalización. Celebramos estos logros con un viaje de intercambio. Gracias a todos quienes han donado al fondo de becas y gracias al lic. Juan Aurelio Carrillo Ríos por apoyarnos con la coordinación.

To donate to the scholarship fund, please visit www.wixarika.org/donate and make a note that you want your donation to go to the Wixarika Scholarship Fund.

En marzo de 1985, Thomas Bolhardt, estudiante de doctorado del Instituto de Etnología de la Universidad de Friburgo, pro...
08/21/2026

En marzo de 1985, Thomas Bolhardt, estudiante de doctorado del Instituto de Etnología de la Universidad de Friburgo, propuso organizar una exposición de cuadros de estambre wixárika. Bolhardt acababa de regresar de una estancia de investigación de un año en México, financiada por el Servicio Alemán de Intercambio Académico (DAAD). Había convivido con los wixáritari, principalmente en las afueras y alrededores de la ciudad de Tepic, participando en su vida cotidiana, sus festivales y ceremonias religiosas, observando a los artistas de estambre en su trabajo, entrevistándolos extensamente sobre el contenido de sus obras e incluso encargándoles él mismo numerosos cuadros de estambre, que llevó a Alemania. Este catálogo en alemán es resultado de una exposición organizada a base de esta colección e intercambio en 1985.

Im Márz 1985 trat Thomas Bolhardt, ein Doktorand am Instituit fur Volkerkunde der Universitat Freinburg, aufmich zu und versuchte, mich fur eine Ausstellung uber Garnbilder der Huichol-Indianer zu gewinnen. Thomas Bollhardt kam damals gerade von einem einjahrigen, durch den Deutschen Akademischen A...

This article was written by U.S. scholar Hope Mac Lean in the summer 2001 for American Indian Art Magazine.
08/20/2026

This article was written by U.S. scholar Hope Mac Lean in the summer 2001 for American Indian Art Magazine.

"The Huichol (wee-chol) Indians of Mexico produce brilliantly colored yarn paintings that depict myths and ceremonies from their traditional shamanic culture. The painthings` glowing colors and mystical symbolism are attracting the attention of growing numbers of coolectors around the world."

From our online archive, today we share an article written by anthropologist Jay Courtney Fikes in conversation with Wix...
08/19/2026

From our online archive, today we share an article written by anthropologist Jay Courtney Fikes in conversation with Wixárika mara’akame, Catarino Carrillo.

"In 1996 I made my first visit to the Huichol community of Tuxpan de Bolaños. There I began developing rapport with an eighty year old shaman who we will call Catarino. Catarino has been kind enough to share many details about his life, including the explanation of how he became a shaman."

"In 1996 I made my first visit to the Huichol community of Tuxpan de Bolaños. There I began developing rapport with an eighty year old shaman who we will call Catarino. Catarino has been kind enough to share many details about his life, including the explanation (below) of how he became a shaman."

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2329 Grant Street
Berkeley, CA
94703

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