英语听力：自然百科 仙人掌 peyote（在线收听） |
Outsiders call it peyote. The Huichol, an indigenous tribe in western Mexico, call it hikuri, and they teach their children to use it. While most societies outlaw this consciousness-altering drug, Mexico permits the tribe to use it as the central experience of their religion. The Huichol believe peyote leads the spirit world. To get there, they must set out on a pilgrimage, one that starts with a legend. At the dawn of time, a Huichol hunter stalked a blue deer. He shot straight, but the animal fled across the desert. In its tracks, cactus plants budded. Ever since, the Huichol have visited this sacred desert collecting peyote from the cactus.
It is harvest season. Tomorrow the tribe will travel to the distant desert. Parents would explain the journey to children, who will taste the holy cactus for the first time. First, they must fast. And tonight, as with every night on the road, they will go without sleep.
Before entering the land of the blue deer, minds and bodies must be ready for the sacred trip. Their quest takes the Huichol far from their homes in the remote Sierra Madres to the Chihuahua Desert in western Mexico. The tribe shaman Don Hesups(音) hopes to pass on this tradition and all its rituals to his children, seven-year-old Francisco and baby Hesusida(音).
The Huichol once made the journey on foot, a trip that took 45 days. Now they live in a world of property lines and must travel by highway, many leaving their village for the first time. Three days into the journey, they reach their destination.
Pure in mind, chastened in body, the pilgrims prepare to taste the food that summons the gods. With symbolic arrows, the Huichol reenact their creation story. In this ritual, a cactus achieves godhood, the incarnation of the mystical blue deer. The Huichol hunt as if for a wild animal. They believe only the pure mind can see the deer's new form.
The pilgrims easily find the first peyote buttons, perhaps heralding a good crop. Though they gather a year's worth of peyote, the Huichol treat the land with care. They know it takes these slow-growing succulents four years to get as big as a dime.
In his father's footsteps, Jose Luis quickly learns the art of gathering buttons along with the art of being Huichol.
“My son is learning the songs and legends of our people. We are not going to live forever. As soon as one grows older, one dies. But your path continues through your children. That is how we live on. And that is why I bring him as a child, to learn from the land.”
Fathers and sons receive the first dose. As their parents did, adults share the peyote with their children. True visions demand that the pilgrim chew long into the night. The peyote takes hold. Their senses send them on a journey, not across the land but inside their heads. Guided by the shaman, they enter the spirit world and encounter their god.
The path of peyote is not a boulevard of cheap thrills. The ritual recollects the creation of the world, a time of beauty and peace. Their offerings have pleased the dear god. Until they return for the next harvest, he bestows his blessing.
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| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/zrbaike/2010/257289.html |