extreme heat of the sun, they take a clay disk, and on one side of it
they paint the "face" of Father Sun, a circular space surrounded by rays
of red and blue and yellow which are called his "arrows," for the
Huichol sun, like Phœbus Apollo, has arrows for rays. On the reverse
side they will paint the progress of the sun through the four quarters
of the sky. The journey is symbolized by a large cross-like figure with
a central circle for midday. Round the edge are beehive-shaped mounds;
these represent the hills of earth. The red and yellow dots that
surround the hills are cornfields. The crosses on the hills are signs of
wealth and money. On some of the disks birds and scorpions are painted,
and on one are curving lines which mean rain. These disks are deposited
on the altar of the god-house and left, and then all is well. The
intention might be to us obscure, but a Huichol Indian would read it
thus: "Father Sun with his broad shield (or 'face') and his arrows rises
in the east, bringing money and wealth to the Huichols. His heat and the
light from his rays make the corn to grow, but he is asked not to
interfere with the clouds that are gathering on the hills."

Now is this art or ritual? It is both and neither. _We_ distinguish
between a form of prayer and a work of art and count them in no danger
of confusion; but the Huichol goes back to that earlier thing, a
_presentation_. He utters, expresses his thought about the sun and his
emotion about the sun and his relation to the sun, and if "prayer is the
soul's sincere desire" he has painted a prayer. It is not a little
curious that the same notion comes out in the old Greek word for
"prayer," _euchè_. The Greek, when he wanted help in trouble from the
"Saviours," the Dioscuri, carved a picture of them, and, if he was a
sailor, added a ship. Underneath he inscribed the word _euchè_. It was
not to begin with a "vow" paid, it was a presentation of his strong
inner desire, it was a sculptured prayer.