Paper short abstract:

Vis-à-vis to Wixaritari colorful image, the xikuri seems an ordinary garbing element, often addressed poorly by museums. Under a closer look, this female cloth headset, reveals as a precise sign of cultural change and preservation. Its versatility constructs side by side to the notion of femininity.

Paper long abstract:

Wixaritari(1), also known as Huichols, inhabit the highlands of eastern Mexico and were long time subjects of a called "traditionalist" and "isolated" character promoted throughout the XX century. Consequently, their material culture was widely integrated in many ethnographic collections around the world. Ritual objects and paintings, as well as daily life instruments and clothing exposed offer to the visitors an idea of Wixárika living and cosmogony. Nevertheless, the interest of specialists to grasp the symbolic dimension of Wixárika world, has provoked a deflection of scientific interest from more ordinary objects of simple manufacture. The case of the xikuri is emblematic of this last. It is the most typical female cloth headset worn every day. Its portability adds up to its multifunctional capacities making it a perfect female tool. In contrast, in museums is exposed as a bare decorative element. This museographic void confronted to Wixárika communitarian life appears as an odd contradiction. The xikuri is one of the most important allies for Wixárika women in household and other economic activities. Its material flexibility seems to draw level with its technical versatility, offering furthermore some clues to contemporary wixárika femininity. This paper intends to expose through how the materiality of the xikuri discloses relevant both as a solution for daily women activities and as a symptom of cultural change.

(1) Wixaritari is the plural from of wixárika.