Mexican Scholar

Stressing that it is more important to "build up a treasury of spirit than a treasury of wealth." Mexican scholar and writer Juan Negrin said last night the Huichol Indians of northwest Mexico possess a "nearly ideal" non-materialistic culture.

Speaking before a Science Center crowd of 200 people, Negrin showed several hundred slides and played authentic Huichol ritual music.

Ten thousand Huicholes live in the inaccessible Sierra Madres of Mexico, Negrin said, adding that they are the cultural bridge between the Aztecs and the Hopi Indians. Living in a cold, temperate, impassable climate, the Huicholes are "a shamanic culture of a very complex nature," he said.

"The Huichol culture is extremely diverse and it is very difficult to generalize about them" Negrin said, adding "They are not interested in revealing themselves to the outside world."

The Huicholes are most famous for their are which has been displayed in museums across the country. Jose Benitez Sanchez, a Huichol artist, "is the first window into the Huichol world," Negrin said, adding "when I first saw his works. I knew there was something much more powerful behind the art itself--that's what really interests me."