The Tarahumari of northwestern Mexico, though their hikuli cult is less
elaborate than that of the Huichol, have a complex of “worship” and
use of several varieties of cacti. Besides hikuli wanamé (_Lophophora
williamsii_) Lumholtz[1] lists the following:
Mulato (a _Mammilaria_), believed to make the eyes large and
clear to see sorcerers, to prolong life, and to give speed to
runners who eat it.[2]
Rosapara (a more advanced vegetative form of the same, but
with many spines) which has very keen eyes for Tarahumari
wrong-doing; it punishes by driving the offender mad, or
throwing him down a precipice; “it is therefore very effective
in frightening off bad people, especially robbers and
Apaches.”[3]
Sunami (_Mammilaria fissurata_),[4] rare, but even more
powerful than wanamé, for it calls soldiers to its aid. The
drink produced from it is strongly intoxicating. Deer cannot
run away from you, nor bears harm you when carrying this
cactus.[5]
Hikuli walúla sälíami, “hikuli great authority,” is the
greatest of all; it is extremely rare, and Lumholtz never saw
a specimen, though it was described to him as “growing in
clusters of from eight to twelve inches in diameter, resembling
wanamé with many young ones around it.”[6]
Ocoyome, unlike the preceding hikuli which are good, is used
only for evil purposes. It has long white spines or “claws,”
and comes from the Devil. If accidentally touched with the
foot, it would break one’s leg; it also throws offenders
over precipices.[7] Lumholtz says it was very rarely used,
and Mooney says the Tarahumari used it not at all—though the
“Apaches” did—since it was “poison.” Mooney describes the plant
as having a reddish down, root and surface, which may account
for the Apaches’ tying it around their waists to make them
brave, in their battles.[8]
Bennett and Zingg are perhaps referring to the same plant under the name
“peyote cimarrón,” which is “small, red, and ineffective; it is not used
or even touched, since the abuser might die.” “Peyote christiano” (hikuli
dewéame), a larger, green variety, apparently Lophophora, is considered
the “most efficacious.”[9]
Bennett and Zingg give two other kinds of cactus used by the
Tarahumari:[10]
Witculíki (Mex. _biznaga_, _Mammillaria hyderi_), a ball cactus
of the gorges, is roasted about four minutes in ashes, after
being split and divested of its spines; the soft center is
squeezed into the ear in case of earache or deafness. (This
curiously echoes of the talking peyote stories.)
Bakánawa or bakánori, a small ball cactus, is used by the
Indians of the barrancas. Shamans, not peyoteros, carry small
bits of the root in their bags; it can be kept only three
years, after which it must be sold or hidden, lest the owner
go crazy. The shaman chews and anoints the patient with it. So
powerful is it that runners use it three days before racing;
one man died of fear after having offended this plant.