Artesanias Watakame - Artesania Huichol - Lazaro Cardenas No. 925 Col Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
There are a number of good books for sale which relate the story in a much better manner than this short version which I cobbled together.
Watakame's Journey: The Story of the Great Flood and the New World
The flood and creation myth of the Huichol Indian people of Mexico is told through the brilliantly colored beaded or yarn paintings of shaman Guadalupe Lopez Bautista and other Huichol artists.
In the story a Huichol boy plays a role similar to Noah's, though Watakame's odyssey is more complex and magical.
The young boy was known for working hard for his own family as well as for other members of his community. He worked particularly hard one day clearing a tract of land with a particularly large and troublesome tree. Almost finished at dusk the young man was forced to stop the final clearance of the huge tree, so he returned early the next morning to find everything as it was the previous day before he had started his work. Again he set to work to clear the land, but again the work was too much for him to complete in one day. He repeated his hard work on that tree for five days. That night rather than returning home to rest he stayed and hid until a fog rolled down from the mountain and an old woman emerged who pointed a stick in the four directions and the pieces of the tree flew back to its original form. Watakame took up his axe and confronted who's woman who he thought was a witch, and demanded to know why she was destroying his hard work.
The Goddess Nakawe, the creator of all growing things, had selected Watakame to escape the coming flood and begin human life again in the new world. Nakawe told him to build a small boat and to bring with him water, candles, fire, six of every kind of seeds including squash, beans, and corn, and to bring one companion, a small black dog.
In the fifth year, when the floodwaters receded, Watakame witnessed the recreation of the sun and all living things.
Nakawe helped Watakame find his wife by revealing that it had been the black dog who had prepared his meals since the flood, and instructed him in planting the seeds in the four directions, harvesting, and Tatewari, the God of Fire appeared, providing fire to allow him to make offerings to the Gods and to make his pilgrimages to the sacred land Wirikuta.
Nakawe told Watakame to wait until the black dog had removed her skin to bathe and that he should toss the skin into the sacred fire, but not before preparing a healing potion of tehuino and fire ashes to cure the damaged skin of the black dog who had transformed into a woman. The Huichol people are his descendants. He instructed them in the proper way of living and taught them joyful songs, prayers, and dances to please the Gods and celebrate the beautiful new world that is their home.
Artesanias Watakame - Artesania Huichol - Lazaro Cardenas No. 925 Col Emiliano Zapata, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
There are a number of good books for sale which relate the story in a much better manner than this short version which I cobbled together.
Watakame's Journey: The Story of the Great Flood and the New World
The flood and creation myth of the Huichol Indian people of Mexico is told through the brilliantly colored beaded or yarn paintings of shaman Guadalupe Lopez Bautista and other Huichol artists.
In the story a Huichol boy plays a role similar to Noah's, though Watakame's odyssey is more complex and magical.
The young boy was known for working hard for his own family as well as for other members of his community. He worked particularly hard one day clearing a tract of land with a particularly large and troublesome tree. Almost finished at dusk the young man was forced to stop the final clearance of the huge tree, so he returned early the next morning to find everything as it was the previous day before he had started his work. Again he set to work to clear the land, but again the work was too much for him to complete in one day. He repeated his hard work on that tree for five days. That night rather than returning home to rest he stayed and hid until a fog rolled down from the mountain and an old woman emerged who pointed a stick in the four directions and the pieces of the tree flew back to its original form. Watakame took up his axe and confronted who's woman who he thought was a witch, and demanded to know why she was destroying his hard work.
The Goddess Nakawe, the creator of all growing things, had selected Watakame to escape the coming flood and begin human life again in the new world. Nakawe told him to build a small boat and to bring with him water, candles, fire, six of every kind of seeds including squash, beans, and corn, and to bring one companion, a small black dog.
In the fifth year, when the floodwaters receded, Watakame witnessed the recreation of the sun and all living things.
Nakawe helped Watakame find his wife by revealing that it had been the black dog who had prepared his meals since the flood, and instructed him in planting the seeds in the four directions, harvesting, and Tatewari, the God of Fire appeared, providing fire to allow him to make offerings to the Gods and to make his pilgrimages to the sacred land Wirikuta.
Nakawe told Watakame to wait until the black dog had removed her skin to bathe and that he should toss the skin into the sacred fire, but not before preparing a healing potion of tehuino and fire ashes to cure the damaged skin of the black dog who had transformed into a woman. The Huichol people are his descendants. He instructed them in the proper way of living and taught them joyful songs, prayers, and dances to please the Gods and celebrate the beautiful new world that is their home.