Taking The Pilgrims Home, Part 1

"To realize one`s personal destiny is a person`s only obligation" The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho.

I started this entry the night after I returned from a 3 day trip taking the Wira pilgrims from Santa Margarita to Mesquitic a distance of several hundred kilometres, and it has taken me this long to finish it. Last week, I once again put on my traditional Wira dress as I accompanied Masauke to the ceremony to thank the fire and to close down the Wiricuta campsite of the Wira pilgrims.

This campsite had been their home for all the time that the pilgrims had been harvesting the medicine they would need for the next year. While making the two day trek up the Sierra to El Cemado, one of their most sacred sites, where many offerings were left, I am told that they left guardians to take care of their sacred fires. During the closing ceremony, each pilgrim payed their respects to the fires before they were put out. It was a simple but very specific ceremony. I am sure it would take many repititions for me to understand all the intricacies and significance of what they were doing. Once the spirits of the fires had been respectfully addressed and the fire put out each pilgrims was free to gather his/her basket with their belongings, their gourd or bottle of water and put their crate of medicine into one of the awaiting vehicles.

At this stage the pilgrims no longer walk as there is now too much to carry. The caravan included 6 vehicles, one truck was provided by the government`s office for indigenous people and the other 5 vehicles were pick trucks, SUVs or vans. The owners, only one of them Wira, have for years assisted the Wira people in thier pilgrimage by providing transportation on thier journey home.

This year the caravan was transporting 37 pilgrims from their campsite in the Wiricuta desert back to the site near Mesquetic where they had `officially`started the pilgrimage. There they would have a day to prepare for the next phase of the pilgrimage, the sacred hunt. The harvesting of the deer energy is very sacred to Wira people. Deer skins and other aspects of the deer energies are present in many, if not all, of the Wira ceremonies. Following the hunt the pilgrims will spend 3 more days walking over 2 mountain ranges to get back to the ceremonial centre in their main village.

The van that I had travelled in carried between 5 to 7 pilgrims plus Masauke and myself. There was usually at least one of the women pilrgims in the van, though on each leg of the journey, the group of pilgrims in the van had changed. To say that this was an amazing experience for me would be a total understatement. On the morning of the closing ceremony I had not eaten, as we had left early to catch the ceremony. By the time the ceremony, and the packing and loading of belongings, crates, and people, was complete, it was close to 11 am. I had planned to grab an orange but had forgotten to take even a bottle of water. By the time we made our first pit stop, several hours later, I was hungry and extremely thirst. The pilgrims had not eaten or drank in the time we had been travelling and showed no signs of discomfort.

As we were leaving the Wiricuta campsite, one more pilgrim piled in. I gave up my seat, in the back of Masauke`s van, which is arranged more like a talking circle in a psychologists office than the back of a passenger van. I rode the first leg of the journey a floor of the van, squished in between pilgrim`s feet, sleeping mats, the machetes each pilgrim carries to harvest wood and medicine, and pilgrims bundles. Most of the pilgrims had just met me, and as they are a somewhat reserved people, they did not say much to me though they did talk among themselves in Wira.

Maria, the woman who had been happy to see me dressed like them, asked me the occasional question. Maria`s son, a youth, who is engaged to Masauke`s goddaughter, decided to use the opportunity of the trip to practice the English he had learned in school. Thus my relationship with the youth contingent began. It felt good to don my teacher hat, which I had worn very rarely in the past few months, and engage the youth to practice the English they knew. Translating between English, Spanish and Wira, playing a sort of `I spy`game became the order of the day with the youth contingent and I for the rest of the trip.

The women pilgrims and I developed a very special relationship, despite the short time we spent together. I would go and sit with the group of women, who most of the time sat separately from the men, every time we stopped. When Masauke asked the women to present me at one of the altars that we stopped at on the way back, we really developed a closer bond. It totally warmed my heart to see how grateful they were when I gave them the package with the fabric for their outfits. The woman who received it kissed the package and thanked me profusely. The little money they have does not often stretch to new clothes for themselves.

Lessons learned: 1) Our needs are really very simple, eg none of the pilgrims changed their clothes in the time I was with them and neither did I .. a free afternoon is provided for at each river or watersource where one outfit is washed and hung on the bushes to dry and an alternate outift put on. The women I saw wore the same outer outfit the entire time ; 2) In the West, when we go camping we think we are living with nature. These are people who are still ONE with nature; 3) The practicality of their clothing, especially the long full cotton shirt, was greatly appreciated when the caravan stopped and everyone scattered in different directions to use the outdoor facilities!!

StayTuned. Staywell and Travel with Spirit, Spirit Traveller.