Ruta Wixárika por los sitios sagrados hasta Wiricuta

On July 12, 2025, UNESCO declared the Wixárika Route through the Sacred Sites to Wirikuta a World Heritage Site, recognizing it as a biocultural corridor of great historical, spiritual, and environmental value. This biocultural corridor stretches over 500 km through five states in Mexico (Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Durango, and San Luis Potosí). This sacred route connects key sites in the Wixárika worldview, such as Tatei Jaramara and Hauxa Manaka, and culminates in Wirikuta and Cerro Quemado, in Real de Catorce.

It represents the sacred path traveled by the ancestors, who manifest themselves in natural elements such as mountains, caves, plants, and sacred animals. Each site along the route has important spiritual and cultural significance. Throughout the pilgrimage, elders pass on ancestral knowledge to new generations through stories, songs, dances, and rituals, making the Route a kind of “itinerant Mesoamerican university.” This oral tradition is key to preserving the Huichol identity, as they have no written tradition. Huichol art reflects this worldview and the ritual connection with nature and everyday life.

It is also considered one of the last living vestiges of pre-Columbian pilgrimage routes in the Americas. It represents a deep connection between spirituality and nature, central elements in the worldview of the Wixárika people. This people has managed to preserve its ancestral system of beliefs and social organization in an exceptional way. The Route, together with its agricultural practices, ceremonial centers, and ritual cycles, constitutes a unique testimony to the continuity of Mesoamerican cultural models. International recognition is the result of almost 30 years of joint effort between indigenous communities, local authorities, and the Government of Mexico, and highlights that cultural heritage is also expressed in ritual paths and living knowledge, not only in material monuments.