Documentary shows the struggles of Wixarika people of Mexico to preserve their territory
(7/9/14). – The film 'Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians' is a story about the Wixárika People and their struggle to preserve Wirikuta, their most sacred territory from exploitation of Canadian mining companies.
Wirikuta is also the land where peyote grows, the traditional medicine that keeps alive their knowledge, reported Interncontinentalcry.org.
As part of the opening of the Festival of Indigenous Cultures of Mexico City, the film directed by Hernán Vilchez was screened last week in the Zócalo, in the historic heart of the city, with 3,000 people attending.
The film was presented by traditional Wixaritari (Huichol) authorities from all of the major Wixarika territories, as well as the Wixárika Union of Ceremonial Centers and the Wixárika Regional Council for the Defense of Wirikuta.
"Making this film was not my choice. I was asked to do it by the Wixaritari elders, in a language I did not understand, but with a powerful force that has sealed my way up until today", said Vilchez.
The film is being used to raise awareness about the threat to the Wixarika people, whose very culture depends on their ability to make their pilgrimages to their sacred sites, to maintain a reciprocal relationship with what they call "the essences of life" that reside in these places.
Eduardo "Lalo" Guzmán, a longtime resident and steward of Wirikuta who has been at the forefront of the movement from the beginning, spoke of the parallels to the Wirikuta struggle that are taking place around the globe.
"What's happening to the Wixarika people is also happening to other peoples around the world – United States, Canada, Guatemala, Chile, and many others, said Guzmán to Interncontinentalcry.org.
Published by Jorge Jordan
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