I purchased this yarn ‘painting’ from Antonio, a Huichol artist in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. Despite our difficulty in conversing – his English and my Spanish being poor – I understood that certain symbolic images appear in this work. I wrote down what I could understand of what Antonio told me about those images and have made my tentative translation of his words into a poem:
Wearing the mask of the sacred deer
The Healer dances ‘til dawn
Around the ceremonial fire.
We all dance ’til dawn
Around the fire.
Taking the meat of the sacred deer
The Healer feeds the people
And the gods
Around the ceremonial fire.
We all feed around the fire.
Before the dawn the Healer must
Perform the healing.
The Moon offers the Healer
The secret power of wisdom and dreams
To perform the healing,
And we are healed.
After the dawn the Healer must
Perform the cleansing.
The Sun offers the Healer
The secret power of heat and light.
And with eagle feathers
The Healer performs the cleansing,
And we are cleansed.
At noon the water god sends the Hummingbird.
The Hummingbird is the third blessing of the dance.
The Hummingbird brings laughter and children
And blesses the Healer,
And we are all blessed.
At sunset the Healer blesses the corn.
The blessing of the corn
Offers hope for a full harvest,
Offers hope for our health
And for our children’s health,
Offers full bellies for us all.
In this way we honour our gods,
In this way we honour our ancestors,
In this way we honour the earth,
In this way we honour ourselves.
