Una versión del mito huichol de la ruta de los muertos

Resumen

Silvia Leal and Pedro Garcia Muñoz (Haɨmiwie)here present a version of the Huichol myth of the journey of the dead. They have selected it from the more than 35 variants of the text collected by theCentro de Investigación en Lenguas Indígenas of the Universidad de Guadalajara. In this one, Pedro Garcia questions Santos Aguilar Carrillo('ɨrɨtemai), the narrator, about each step. According to the myth,which includes as an integral part the Huichol ritual that is performed usuallyon the fifth day after death, the 'iyari of each Huichol who dies musttravel from where he dies to his destiny. He will be guided on the journey by alife-stealing god, who has been given control of his spirit by anotherdeity.
During the course of his journey he will be praised or punished by variousgods, according to his good or bad deeds in life, such as whether he hasfulfilled his religious obligations or not. In this tale, a frontier isdescribed that is invisible to human beings, but which marks the limits of theregion of light with respect to the region of darkness. In the first livecertain gods and the spirits of the dead who have been sent to paradise, whilein the second one finds the deities of darkness or of hell and the spirits ofthe dead consigned there. In the ceremony, the shaman communicates with the godKauyumarie to find out what has happened to the spirit of the dead man, and tohelp him if possible.