Peyote is a small, spineless cactus that is native to Mexico and America. The plant is found in many places in the United States and Mexico. The plant is widely known for its cultural significance, especially the Peyote cult. Its cultural importance and cult can be dated back to Chichimeca time around 1,890 years before the arrival of the Europeans. Chichimeca discovered the psychoactive properties of Peyote, and from them, the plant spread to other communities including the Cora and Huichol and many other tribes in Mexico.
According to Schultes (1979: 145), Peyote is very significant in the Huichol culture, the religious use of Peyote gained popularity among the Wixarika region where the plant was considered holy and significant in conducting various religious rituals. The Huichol religion consists of four deities; Peyote (Hikuri), Blue Deer (Kayumarie), corn and the eagle that all comes from the sun, God. This means that Peyote is very important culturally as it offers both medicinal and ritualistic significance in the culture. The plant is believed to offer visionary sacrament that opens a way to other essential ritual deities. However, recordings show that missionaries ultimately refused the missionaries opposed peyote and its use in Christianity because it is associated with paganism. Despite this opposition, the Indians widely accepted the Peyote cult and its traditional use were well recognized.
The peyote cult and ritual involve a lot; it involves dances, ritual confessions and purification (Schultes 1979). The participants must tell the audience their sexual experiences, and during this exercise, the participants are not expected to be jealousy or shame. The Peyote ritual also included significance dances among the tribes that were ritually and culturally important.
Discussion question
- How is the Peyote traditional, cultural and ritualistic use contradictory to Christianity?
- How has the cultural use of peyote evolved over time?
- Is peyote still significant in the contemporary world where technology, modernity, Christianity and pharmaceutical medicine, among other technological inventions, have engulfed the world?