Comments for The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer

The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer: 02/24/14

A friend posted a photograph of a beautiful quilt — white with stylized figures, animals and plants. Give what I know about her family, I took a guess and decided to limit my search to indigenous groups in the south western corner of North America.

The closet thing I found was the yarn paintings of the Huichol people. They live in the Sierra Madre mountain region of Mexico and their sacred imagery has been an influence on Mexican arts and crafts. I don't know if my friend's quilt is also from the area; nor do I know if she ever did find an expert to properly appraise her quilt.

But in the process of trying to learn what I could about the quilt, I came across The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer by James Endredy. It's the story of a young boy who is separated from his family and the spirit journey he ends up taking.

Tunuri on realizing he's no longer with his family begins to panic. It's then that a beautiful blue deer meets him and offers to take him back to his family. Along the way the deer introduces him to the various nature spirits that are part of Huichol way.

The illustrations were done by two Huichol artists. They worked eight to ten hours a day until every piece was complete. The finished pieces are actually for sale.

Four stars

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