 In the traditional Huichol ranchos, the "nieli'ka" or "nierika" is an important ritual artifact.Negrín states that one of the principal meanings of ""nierika"" is that of "a metaphysical vision, an aspect of a god or a collective ancestor," and is the same term the Tepehuán people use to refer to deities.Negrín quotes Lumholtz as stating that for the Huichol and Tepehuan "a "nierika" means a picture, an appearance, or a sacred representation."