The Huicholes manifest their religious faith in the art offerings they produce: backstrap weavings, beaded masks, prayer bowls, bundles of arrows decorated with feathers which carry the petitioners' prayers to the ears of the gods in the heavens, and the yarn paintings recognized around the world and displayed in the finest museums and galleries.

The yarn paintings evolved from early offerings made of stone or wood. Called "nierikas", these stone or wood slabs were carved with designs, then the raised ridges were painted with natural dyes made from crushed plants, insects and seeds. The nierika is the opening into the spirit world through which shamans pass in order to communicate with the gods and return with messages for their people.

As outsiders realized the economic potential for sales of Huichol art, they sought to adapt traditional pieces to forms were easily transportable and faster to produce. The stone nierika were replaced with ones made of wood. The wooden boards were spread with beeswax, then left to warm in the sun. All materials must be from the natural world. The artisan would scratch his design into the wax with a sharpened stick. When the wax was warmed and maleable, he would fill in the lines by patiently twisting and coiling colored yarns to create his own cryptic message from the gods which he received from dreams, or from peyote-induced visions during religious episodes.

The animals  and symbols of the yarn paintings represent the core of Huichol culture and religion. Each detail has great significance and weaves into the totality of the paintings' message. Eagle, snake, bird, jaguar, scorpion, turkey and deer -- living creatures who, like the Huicholes, know the gods and have a duty to perform.
Corn, flowers, peyote buttons, datura -- ephemeral, growing creations of Great-Grandmother-Growth -- like man, have a short life on this Earth during which they bear witness to the bounty of nature. Colors are also significant. Red is the color of blood and the rising sun in the east. Black is the represents death and the darkness of the west when the sun sinks into the underworld. Green, the color of growing things, is the vital life force of regeneration of the northern light. Blue symbolizes the wisdom and knowledge that eminates from the south. Yellow is the color of fire, of the sun and the center of man's spirit. White, the color of the sacred rain clouds that bring life-giving moisture from the ocean, is also the color of the deer's tail, representative of Great-Grandfather-Deer-Tail. The deer is the incarnation of the gods on earth, the symbol of goodness. To follow the deer means to seek the meaning in one's own life and follow the path to spiritual completion.