The Huichol people use nierika as a form of spiritual art. Colored yarn is affixed to a round or square backing in ornate symbols or images culled from the spirit world in the modern nierika. The nierika has recently made its way to cities in Mexico, and from there to the rest of the world, captivating people with its profound beauty and complexity.
The Huichol are a native Mexican people who live in the Sierra Madre Mountains in western Mexico. They number around 7,000 people, with more than half of the population migrating to Mexico’s cities since the 1960s. The Huichol have a rich oral tradition and have resisted assimilating Western culture, preferring to keep their own language and religious practices.
The Huichol have a deeply shamanistic worldview, and most Huichol are taught to communicate with the spiritual world on a regular basis from childhood. Strong ritualism and a beautiful use of symbols are used in this communication. The nierika is the most visible manifestation of this spiritual communication.
Nierika is the Huichol word for deity and is used to describe both the physical artifact and the deity. Nierika adorn all kinds of sacred spaces in Huichol life, from temples to sacred caves to each house’s xiriki shrines. Traditional nierika comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, each with its own set of functions. A nierika is a square or round object with holes in the middle. The more common round nierika are seen as invoking an ancestor or god, whereas square nierika are considered prayer mats for the ancestors.
The namma is one type of traditional nierika. These were known in Spanish as ojo de dios, or God’s Eyes. The God’s Eye was made up of a lattice of sticks woven together with yarn and a central eye. Namma were built so that when a supplicant prayed, god could look out through the hole in the center and see him.
The traditional nierika began to become more elaborate in the 1960s, thanks to the introduction of more colorful yarns and migrant Huichols’ desire to make a living in their new city homes. A number of large-format nierika were displayed in Guadalajara in 1962, giving the general public their first glimpse of this amazing form of spiritual art. The first public nierikas were straightforward and executed in a traditional manner. These nierika became more complex over time, eventually reaching the status they have today, where the best examples are displayed as fine art in museums.
The nierika incorporates symbols and images from Huichol mythology. The Huichol use peyote in rituals to gain a better understanding of the spirit world, and they return with images of the spiritual plane to display in their nierika art. Nierika serve as a constant reminder of reality’s spiritual nature, which the Huichol regard as an endless expression of prayer and grasping for the divine. The spirit world is traversed in prayer, the nierika is crafted with prayer, and it exists as a prayer made physical. Peyote is gathered as an expression of this prayer, it is ingested as a form of prayer, the spirit world is traversed in prayer, the nierika is crafted with prayer, and it exists as a prayer made physical.