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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 1

HOUSES AND HOUSE USE

OF THE

SIERRA TARASCANS

by

RALPH L. BEALS, PEDRO CARRASCO, AND THOMAS McCORKLE

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
INSTITUTE OF SociAL ANTHROPOLOGY,
Washington 25, D. C., June 21, 1944.

Str: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled ‘‘ Houses
and House Use of the Sierra Tarascans,’’ by Ralph L. Beals, Pedro Carrasco,
and Thomas McCorkle, and to recommend that it be published as Publication
Number 1 of the Institute of Social Anthropology.

Very respectfully yours,
Juan H. Srewarp, Director.

Dr. C. G. ABgBot,

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
ane

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 1

HOUSES AND HOUSE USE

OF THE

SIERRA TARASCANS

by

RALPH L. BEALS, PEDRO CARRASCO, AND THOMAS McCORKLE

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE + WASHINGTON : 1944

FOREWORD

The Smithsonian Institution published recently Doctor Charles Upson
Clark’s translation of the “Espinosa Manuscript,’ which he discovered in the
Library of the Vatican.* This work contains the detailed report by a keen
observer of conditions in Latin America as they were soon after the Spanish
Conquest.

The Smithsonian Institution’s Institute of Social Anthropology now
begins to give an even more detailed account of life and conditions prevailing
at the present time among the Sierra Tarascans in Mexico. It can readily
be foreseen that not only may this study lead to improvement in these social
conditions, but that it will be read by anthropologists of the future with the
same type of interest which attracts them in the Espinosa Manuscript.

C. G. ABBOT,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution,
June 22, 1944.

*Compendium and description of the West Indies, by Antonio VAzquez de Espinosa. Translated by Charles
Upson Clark. Smithsonian Mise. Coll., vol. 102,862 pp. 1942.

BLE

CONTENTS

PAGE
TERT ENG pn ee ix
MHONEIC NOs) 92-8 ane oe ee oo ee enemies x
PITIRO MUCHO hee scons a ae oe ee 1
Theoretical background________-_-_------------ 2
Broporon the study s- 29 === 2 sesso n teen 5
Mhe Tarascan town_.....---.------------------ 6
whe town of Cherdn_....-...=--=-------------- 7
Building materials and their sources------------- 9
WOOUme te a tho S eek oes 9
INGODSIDIICKS 2a = see oe 5. oe eee seean 9
LODGE a eee eee 10
Muile;and brick= 22.25 ..<<c--22 20S 2css5-e 10
Moscellanéous_ ==. . == <-22-52--2225-52--- 10
mypes On structures==2 22. 28 ose eaten e 10
Wooden structures..--.2=.-.=--.2=..---2.--- 10
Adobe-and-masonry houses ----------------- 17
Supplementary structures_---.------------- 19
Specialization and distribution of skills_______---- 20
Preliminary notes on the distribution of types__--- 21
House tUIMmIshings= =. 22-2225 4 nosso veeecSass 21

Economies of the Tarascan house__-_-------------
The lot____--_-- ae ot le ae
Wooden housessse-2- 2-2 eee one see eee ee

Costiot materalss ss). e eee eae eeeee
Cost:of construction. ~-2------222--2-2—
Masonry-adobe structures ___-_-------------
Supplementary structures _ - — -- aon einio ater
Womparison Of COsts= > e255 ean ee

Relation of houses to socia] and economic status - ~~

Uses of the’ Tarascan houses. 2--- == --22- ===.
StOla gone = oe eee eee
Sleeping and cooking ----==2--=_-_ = 22s
House size and household size_.-_-----------

Ceremonial and social functions related to the

‘Tarascan) NOUSé_ = 2422222525555 225s eee
@eremoniesee=— 2. nese ea =n aaa
Soolalitunctions=.22-2e5 eee 2-6 e == eae

Relation of the Tarascan house to the environment-

Coniparative data 2=—)_--- 2-222 =< se se=— ee
History of the Tarascan house_...-.------------
Contemporary Tarascan housing problems-_-------

PAGE

ILLUSTRATIONS

8. Left: A well-built stone structure in Paracho with the
wide eaves characteristic of Central Michoa-
can,

Right: Scene in a house-roofing fiesta in Cheran,

PLATES
(All plates at end of book)

. Upper: Angahuan, showing the rectangular arrange-
ment of streets and the large lots.

Lower: A portion of the town of Chern.

. Upper: Troje”’ in Angahuan.

FIGURES

Lower: A street on the outskirts of the town of Cherdn. PAGE
. Right: Street near the plaza in Cherin. 1. Map of the modern Tarascan region________-- 5
Left: Two types of pole fence in Capacuaro. 2. Plan of a typical Chern lot in the southeast
. Upper (left): Leveling the foundation beams for a house. SecllON aoe acoso eee 8
Upper (right): The ‘‘planchas” in position. 3. Old “‘troje”’ in Cherdn, said to have been built
Lower (left): Placing one of the doorframes. before the Revolution _______-___._._____ 10
Lower (right): Laying the floor boards of a house. 4. Details of construction of the “troje” in figure
. Upper (left): Simple kitchen under construction in 5 a ae eR ee epee 11
Cherian, ‘‘pie derecho.” 5. Two methods of notching wall planks_________ ll
Upper (right): Two roof sections in place in process of 6. Methods of finishing doorframes, windows, and
moving a Cherdn house. Piulers: - cnet se esas See Beers up]
Lower (left): Arrangement of rafters in Paracho house 7. Details of roof construction__________ eee 12
without ridge pole. 8. Methods of attaching and laying shakes_-_____ 13
Lower (right): Old house in Paracho of unusual style. 9. Kitchen of simpler style (kosina térueri)_____- 15
. Upper (left): Kitchen of simple type with corner posts 10. Plan of ceiling in an elaborate kitchen (trdéja
(Angahuan). kosfna) _--_--___- nad ot a 16
Upper (right): Kitchen of elaborate type (Angahuan). 11. Plan of floor of an elaborate kitchen (seen only
Middle (left): Wooden ‘“‘troje’ at Ihuatzio, Lake im) PATE ChO) a eeeeee cena en ae ee eee 16
Patzeuaro. 12. A “chimenea,” or raised fireplace (seen only in
Middle (right): Storehouse of style found mainly in STC HO) ees ee eee ee 16
Angahuan (imutakata). 13. Well-made masonry and adobe-brick wall in
Lower (left): Large storehouse (imutakata) over gate. Cher ar ee ee ee cs ee 17
Lower (center); Storehouse (Gmutakata) with lower part 14. Plan of house of Pedro Chavez, Cherdn___-_--- 18
made into a room. 15. Fire hearth of stones_.-=2222222--2=2--_22-- 22
Lower (right): Storehouse (uak4li) in Capacuaro. 16. Utensils and furnishings commonly found in a
. Upper (left): Mason at work in Cherdn. Cherankitchenes =. sense eee 22
Upper (right): Fairly elaborate roof construction at 17. Utensils commonly found in a Cherdn kitchen_ 23
Thuatzio typical of adobe structures. 18. Hollowed log with wooden cover used for stor-
Middle (right): Gate roofed with tile (Ihuatzio). age of water outdoors______--_----------- 24
Lower (left): Stone house at Paracho with shake roof of 19. Representations of houses in the plates of the
“troje’’ style. Relaci6n de Michoacdn_____-------------- 34
Lower (right): Thuatzio house with veranda, seen from 20. Distribution of types of houses according to the
one end, Relaciones geogrdficas_..---.------------- 35

PREFACE

The Institute of Social Anthropology is one of
the many tangible responses to the growing sense
of a need for closer cooperation and greater under-
standing between the peoples of the United States
and of the other American Republics. It was
created within the Smithsonian Institution to
carry out cooperative research and teaching in
the field of social anthropology as part of the
broad program of Cooperation with the American
Republics under the State Department’s Interde-
partmental Committee.

The purpose of the Institute of Social Anthro-
pology is to send scientific personnel to those
countries which have expressed a desire to under-
take a cooperative program of teaching and re-
search in social or cultural anthropology. Social
science methods are developed and a body of
important data is obtained through university
training of selected students followed by a period
of field training in connection with a research
project. The field program is carried out by the
cooperating institutions, but other persons or
institutions with special interest in the project
are invited to collaborate, so that advantage may
be taken of many diversified skills in subjects
relevant to the problems.

Research interest centers in broad, social
science studies of selected communities which
represent samples of the basic populations of the
country in question. Such studies will be thought
of as “anthropological” because they principally
concern peoples whose blood is partly or wholly
Indian and whose culture, though not. strictly
aboriginal, contains an important element of
indigenous practices and is often still organized
in native patterns. But the studies are not re-
stricted to preliterate cultures, which is the tra-
ditional field of anthropology. On the contrary,
they follow certain modern trends in the analysis
of contemporary cultures, which they seek to
understand in terms of the environmental, his-
torical, and other processes that have produced

596082442

their modern content and organization and of the
potentialities they contain for future change.

An important part of the cooperative program
of the Institute of Social Anthropology is the
publication of research results. The publications
will serve three purposes. First, the information
they contain will contribute to a scientific for-
mulation of the developmental and functional
processes of culture. Particularly, it will con-
tribute to an understanding of the formation of
modern cultures. Second, the publications will
provide specific and accurate data on which any
successful action programs affecting the peoples
concerned must be based. Third, they will afford
an accurate picture of the peoples who constitute
so great an element of many of the American
Republics. Existing publications on these coun-
tries represent them disproportionately in terms
of the city dweller or of special classes. There
are extraordinarily few books from which the
general reader can obtain an adequate and scien-
tifically accurate account of the diversified peoples
of indigenous ancestry.

One of the cooperative programs of the Insti-
tute of Social Anthropology is with the Escuela
Nacional de Antropologia of the Instituto Na-
cional de Antropologia e Historia of Mexico.
This program involves teaching anthropology,
cultural geography, linguistics, and related sub-
jects at the Escuela and field research among the
Tarascan Indians of the State of Michoacan in
Mexico. The research program for investigations
among these Indians had already been formulated
and partly carried out in recent years by the In-
stituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia in co-
operation with the Departamento Auténomo de
Asuntos Indigenas of Mexico and the University
of California. It is fortunate that the Institute
of Social Anthropology will be able to further the
work begun by these institutions not only by
direct participation in the field research but by
publishing some of the results already obtained.

Ix

The present paper, “Houses and House Use of
the Sierra Tarascans,” by Ralph L. Beals, of the
University of California; Thomas McCorkle, of
Berkeley, California; and Pedro Carrasco, of
México, D. F., is the first monograph to result
from the work of the Instituto Nacional de Antro-
pologia e Historia, the Departamento Auténomo
de Asuntos Indigenas, and the University of Cal-
ifornia. Future monographs on other aspects of
the program will be published under various aus-
pices as opportunity arises.

“Houses and House Use of the Sierra Taras-
cans” is also the fut of the publications of the

Institute of Social Anthropology. Subsequent
publications of the Institute will include papers
covering the work in Mexico and_ elsewhere.
These will be published in English, Spanish, or
Portuguese, and in Washington, D. C., or in the
country in which the research was done, as cir-
cumstances dictate.

Juuian H. Strewarp, Director,
Institute of Social Anthropology,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.

PHONETIC NOTE

The phonetic symbols used conform to the Tarascan alphabet approved by the Congreso
de Filélogos y Lingitistas of Mexico in 1939 and employed by the Tarascan Project of the

Departamento de Asuntos Indigenas.

The alphabet is based on standard Spanish usage

insofar as possible, with additional symbols added for Tarascan and with some clarification

of the Spanish symbols as indicated below.

The vowels a, e, 7, 0, wu have Spanish values.

Spanish 7 and wu.

The vowel a is intermediate between

The consonants b, d, f, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, 7, s, and t have regular Spanish values. In

addition the following symbols are used:

¢ is the equivalent of English or Spanish ¢s.

é is the equivalent of English ch.
7 is used for the sound of English ng in

4 is intermediate between Spanish / and r.

F is equivalent of Spanish rr.
is equivalent of English sh.

nn

sing’.

¢‘, 6°, k‘, p‘, and ¢‘ are aspirated forms of the consonants given above,
f, l, and 7 occur only in foreign loan words in Tarascan; b, d, and g occur primarily in
words of Spanish origin but occur sometimes in purely Tarascan words.

Houses and House Use of the Sierra Tarascans

By Raurpx L. Brats, Pepro Carrasco, and THomas McCorkiE

INTRODUCTION

The present paper is the first substantial publi-
cation resulting directly from the Program of
Anthropological Investigations Among the Taras-
cans. The Program originated as a cooperative
undertaking entered into by the Escuela Nacional
de Antropologia (formerly, Departamento de An-
tropologia, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Bio-
légicas del Instituto Politéenico Nacional, now
part of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia
e Historia), the Departamento Auténomo de Asun-
tos Indigenas, and the University of California.
The program provided for the cooperation of other
interested institutions, and the collaboration of
the Institute of Social Anthropology is a logical
extension of the plan.

The general features of this Program are set
forth in ‘The Tarascan Project: A Cooperative
Enterprise of the National Polytechnic Institute,
Mexican Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Uni-
versity of California,’ by Daniel F. Rubin de la
Borbolla and Ralph L. Beals (Amer. Anthrop.,
vol. 42, pp. 708-712, 1940). Two short papers
based on field research have already been pub-
lished: ‘The Diet of a Tarascan Village,” by
Ralph L. Beals and Evelyn Hatcher (Amer.
Indigena, vol. 3, pp. 295-304, 1943), and “‘Games
of the Mountain Tarascans”’ by Ralph L. Beals and
Pedro Carrasco (Amer. Anthrop., vol. 46, pp. 516-
522, 1944). Other papers are in preparation.
These include ‘Cherian: A Sierra Tarascan Vil-
lage,” by Ralph L. Beals, which will appear as the
second paper in the publications of the Institute
of Social Anthropology. A number of other
papers have also appeared which contribute to
the objectives of the Program but which are the

result of work which was undertaken independ-
ently. These include: ‘Tzintzuntzan-Ihuatzio,
Temporadas I y I,” by Daniel F. Rubin de la
Borbolla (Rev. Mex. de Estud. Antrop., vol. 3,
pp. 99-121, 1939), and ‘‘Exploraciones Arqueo-
légicas Realizadas en el Estado de Michoac4n
Durante los Anos de 1937 y 1938,” by Jorge R.
Acosta (Rey. Mex. de Estud. Antrop., vol. 4, pp.
85-98, 1940).

The purpose of the Program is to provide a
coordinated and integrated plan of investigation
of the Tarascan Indians for the dual purpose of:
(1) Making a comprehensive scientific study of a
little-known major Mexican Indian group, and (2)
providing a body of fundamental data for the
administration of the Tarascan area. For both
purposes of the study, it is felt that certain non-
anthropological studies are essential. As the
Tarascans have been a farming and fishing people
into a remote past, and since Spanish times be-
gan have also been a woodworking and cattle-
raising people, a thorough understanding of the
environment and its potentialities is essential, not
only in order to understand the past and present
culture of the Tarascans, but also to provide an
adequate basis for intelligent administration. To
this end, geographical, botanical, and zoological
studies are planned as well as a thorough soil
reconnaissance followed by more detailed studies
of agricultural methods, problems, and potential-
ities, together with similar studies of forest, graz-
ing, and animal husbandry techniques. In a
similar fashion, understanding of the present
population requires the collaboration of medical
and public-health workers with the physical an-

1

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1
thropologist. At the same time, understanding of briefly to envision a pooling of the techniques of

the contemporary culture and the processes which
led to its formation requires a knowledge of the
Tarascan past. The Program consequently in-
cludes plans for archeological research to illuminate
the prehistoric period and for historical research
to determine the events of the Contact, Colonial,
and Republican periods.

Put in another way, the Program may be said

all the various branches of anthropology with those
of the other social sciences and the more pertinent
natural sciences to the end of understanding the
Tarascans and their past and present problems as
fully as possible. The Program is anthropological
only insofar as anthropology provides the central
core of essential studies and is the integrating
discipline.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The present paper is a frankly experimental
effort to reconcile scientific and applied objectives
in anthropology. The Tarascan Indians of Mi-
choacadn, Mexico, are one of the large Indian groups
of that country and so are the object of great con-
cern on the part of governmental agencies devoted
to Indian problems. Housing is one of the usual
subjects considered in programs of social welfare
and, hence, is a suitable topic for discussion from
this point of view. On the other hand, the
Tarascans are very little known scientifically.
Housing, as one of the important aspects of cul-
tural activity, is, therefore, a legitimate subject
of scientific study. The problem is whether
these two purposes may be combined, either in the
process of field study, or in the manner of presenta-
tion of data, in such a way as will be useful and
satisfactory to individuals interested in either
subject.

Interest in applied, or “practical,” anthropology
has been increasing in recent years among large
numbers of anthropologists. In Mexico, results
capable of application have long been regarded as
one important end of all anthropological research
in the country, although it must be confessed that
there has been more tendency to consider purely
scientific research to be a necessary prerequisite to
the adequate solution of practical problems than
has been the case with administrators in the United
States. In the United States, the growth of inter-
est in applied anthropology is evidenced in the
recent birth of a journal devoted to this subject.
Moreover, many anthropologists who have been
reluctant to concern themselves with practical
problems in studying the Indians of the United
States, have confessed that it is undesirable and
perhaps impossible to ignore the practical prob-
lems in such countries as Mexico where the Indian

question vitally affects the entire national welfare.
It would, consequently, seem important to attempt
a reconciliation of the objectives of “‘pure,’’ or
“scientific,” anthropology and ‘applied,’ or
“practical,’’ anthropology.

As this paper will attempt to reconcile the two
different approaches, a consideration of the ab-
stract problems involved seems desirable. It is
obvious that scientific ends in anthropology are
often varied in character, but all depend to some
extent upon the primary problem of description.
It is obviously impossible to discuss anything re-
lated to Tarascan housing without first knowing
its characteristics. Description, then, necessarily
provides the raw data for any scientific objective.
The amount of description necessary to any par-
ticular objective may, of course, vary, but unless
a precisely limited problem is set in advance, the
fullest possible description is apt to be of the widest
use to the most people. To the applied field, de-
scription is likewise necessary. We cannot decide
whether a people are adequately or poorly housed
until we know how they are housed, what natural
resources are available, or are used, and what
skills exist for the utilization of these resources.
So far, then, we may say in general that description
of housing and house use is necessary both to ap-
plied and to scientific objectives, even though the
amount and kind of description needed conceiva-
bly may vary.

As indicated, scientific study may be directed
toward several objectives. One scientist may set
himself the problem of discovering the history of
the Tarascan house type, another may wish to
learn the history of the Tarascan wse of the house
rather than the history of its construction. Yet
another may wish to know what the functions of
the house are within the total culture partly or

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 3

wholly aside from its use for shelter or storage, or
he may wish to study the interrelations of the house
and its use with other aspects of culture. It is
possible, for example, that houses may represent
prestige values or be symbols of status quite apart
from any utility they may have. Yet others may
wish to study the house from the standpoint of
culture change: how changes in houses occur or
how they are occurring, the effect of a dominant
culture in close contact with Tarascan culture
upon housing, and so on,

The foregoing suggests that an aspect of the
scientific approach, aside from description, in-
volves in part the setting of problems. However,
this is not the exclusive property of the pure
scientist; in the applied field, problems also exist
or are set up. The nature and phrasing of the
problems in the applied field, though, are apt to
be different from those of the ‘‘pure”’ anthropol-
ogist, although in many cases they may be closely
similar. In the applied field, the problem may
be: ‘To what extent is Tarascan housing suitable
for the needs of the inhabitants?” A pure scien-
tist could well ask a similar question, but his
purpose in so doing would be different. The pure
scientist asking a similar question probably would
be doing so in order to ascertain how good a ‘‘fit”’
the Tarascan had achieved in his adaptation to
his physical environment. The student in the
applied field would probably go somewhat further.
He would perhaps ask: ‘“‘ What other type of house
would be better suited to the needs of the Taras-
cans?” In addition, his final question might be
either: ““‘How may the use the Tarascan makes
of his present house be improved?” or “‘How may
the Tarascans be induced to change to a better
type of house?”

Some of the questions of the applied anthropolo-
gist superficially seem to be of quite different
character from those asked by the ‘‘ pure” scientist,
but it perhaps must be conceded that, theoreti-
cally, at least, they are capable of scientific ap-
proach. Even a problem involving change in use
or type involves, for its successful solution, an
understanding of culture processes and culture
dynamics. At the same time, it is obvious that
the applied anthropologist has introduced the
whole field of values in his use of such terms as
“suitable,” ‘needs,’ “‘better,’’ and ‘improved.’

It must at once be asked whether these value
terms are capable of scientific definition or not.

Before proceeding to the discussion of this point,
it should be remarked that the pure scientist also
frequently utilizes value terms in his work. Un-
fortunately, the “‘pure’’ scientist all too frequently
either ignores this fact or is completely unaware
of it. I have already pointed out that, in some-
what different context, the question, ‘‘To what
extent is Tarascan housing suitable for the needs
of the inhabitants?” could be a thoroughly respec-
table question in pure science if the objective were
to determine the relations of the Tarascans to
their environment. Anthropological literature of
excellent scientific repute is full of appraisals of
the adaptations primitive peoples have made to
their environments. Actually, every such ap-
praisal requires the existence of some sort of value
standard on the part of the anthropologist. If
he is a “pure scientist,’’ however, he apparently
considers himself above the necessity of explain-
ing these values or else he takes them for granted.
Actually, of course, he is often using ‘common
sense.’’ Other things being equal, a house that
keeps its inhabitants warmer in cold weather,
most people will agree, is a better adaptation than
one affording less warmth. For the “applied”
scientist, however, such ‘‘common sense’ ap-
proaches are not permitted. He must make his
value statements explicit and justify them.

Once an attempt is made to bring values into
the open, the difficulties pyramid. How, for
example, is one to determine what is “suitable?”
An expression of an ideal on the part of the
investigator usually will not be meaningful in
terms of the realities of a given social situation.
What is suitable housing is not alone a question
of adjustment to climate. Realistically, what is
“suitable” involves a complex balancing of what
may be deemed most desirable taking into con-
sideration such things as available raw materials,
available technological skills, economic resources,
and so on. It might be perfectly possible to
arrive at the conclusion that, under given tem-
perature and humidity ranges, a brick and frame
construction with a slate roof, steam heat, modern
plumbing, and a bedroom for every member of
the family represents what is suitable, but among
most Indian groups such as the Tarascans this

4 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—-PUBLICATION NO. 1

would be mere fantasy at the present time. Not
only would materials be lacking, but there would
be an almost complete lack of skills available for
the construction; economically, it would represent
an unattainable ideal even for the wealthy, and
the Tarascans would have no idea what to do
with such a house if they had it.

There are not wanting opinions that the estab-
lishment of values is entirely too complicated a
business to be feasible. This seems, perhaps, too
drastic a view to take. Admittedly, it is not
possible with our present techniques to arrive at a
complete statement, and, for the purpose of the
approach to be used in this paper, it is not par-
ticularly necessary that we do so. What should
be possible is to establish certain minimal stand-
ards of value which will be generally accepted and
some of which are susceptible of empirical deter-
mination. In the Jast analysis, the decision as to
how far beyond the minima it is desirable or
feasible to go with respect to the Tarascans is a
matter to be decided by administrative agencies
in terms of the data which may be presented by
research. This is, of course, begging the question
of the ultimate establishment of desirable values,
but, for the present, we wish only to establish the
main categories within which value problems
exist. Using these categories, it should be pos-
sible for the scientist to present the problems and
data in such a fashion as to serve the interests of
both the ‘‘pure” and “applied”’ fields.

The following categories of value problems are
offered as representing the basic assumptions on
which we may proceed:

1. A reasonable number of square feet of floor space
and cubic feet of room space per person are necessary to
good health. This assumes that good health in the popu-
lation is a desirable goal, but we must make some assump-
tions if this discussion is not to be unduly protracted.
The amount of space needed should be possible of empirical
determination by medical experimentation, taking into
account variations in climate, living habits, clothing, and
similar factors,

2. The degree of ventilation necessary for health may
be determined.

3. The housing should be sufficiently dry to preserve
not only the health of the inmates but any furnishings,
food, or other belongings kept in the house,

4. If the climate demands, some method of providing

heat is needed, conditioned again by clothing and living
habits.

5. The housing should be rodent and inseet proof,
again to protect health and property,

Other factors of a more complex nature could
be brought into this list. Any mention of esthetic

satisfactions is also purposely avoided. It is
hoped that, in the ensuing sections of the paper, it
wil be demonstrated that data on Tarascan
housing can be presented sensibly in terms of
these problems relative to costs, materials, skills,
habits, and economic resources. Such a presen-
tation should make it possible for administrators
to set goals, and at the same time permit the
scientist to establish the relative adequacy of the
Tarascan adaptation to environment more ex-
plicitly than is usually done.

It perhaps must be emphasized that in the last
analysis any system of values or goals chosen must
rest with the administrative agency or agents, not
with the investigator. It is obvious also that
these values may be unduly influenced by the
cultural background of the agents. Thus, a
southern Californian might show a predilection
for frame and stucco construction (or, if he is
sensitive, & pronounced antipathy to such con-
struction), while a New Yorker might prefer
brick, and a Mexican might lean toward adobe or
lime and stone. Such problems lie outside the
immediate scope of our purpose. Rather we are
concerned with ascertainnmg whether the data
may be presented with reference to problem cate-
gories in such a way that the administrator can
make a reasonable choice of values and a decision
as to the means to be employed in achieving them.

An additional question is whether these data
may be presented in such form as to be scientific
in character and to meet the needs of the scientist
in the pure sense. This is really a dual problem.
The first is whether the collection of data for the
two ends may reasonably be combined. The
second is whether the presentation of data can be
combined in a single report. It is our impression
that the latter is more difficult than is the first.
In any case, we believe we are in a good position to
make the attempt. Although some of the funds
used in the field work were supplied by a govern-
ment agency, the Departmento Auténomo de
Asuntos Indigenas, absolutely no restrictions were
attached to their use, and no efforts were made to
influence the place or the direction of the study.
We also have little direct personal interest in the
solution of the problems posed and can have little
hope of influencing any administrative decisions
on value standards. Consequently, our attitudes
toward values or goals should be relatively neutral.
With this lengthy discussion of theoretical prob-
lems, we turn now to the concrete attempt to put
these ideas into practice.

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 5)

SCOPE OF

In the 16th century, the Tarascans occupied the
State of Michoac4n and some adjacent parts of
Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Guerrero. Today they
are reduced to part of central Michoacan, in-
cluding the regions of Lake Patzcuaro, Zacépu, La
Canada, and the Sierra. The present area extends
from Lake PAatzcuaro on the east to near Los
Reyes on the West, and from La Canada south
to Uruapan (fig. 1).

This study refers solely to the region where
Tarascan is still spoken, and, more particularly,

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THE STUDY

to the Sierra. The town of Cheran is taken as the
basis of investigation. Beals and McCorkle
spent nearly 8 months in Cheran, in 1940-1941,
although visiting other towns briefly. Carrasco
spent some time in Cherén in January and
February 1941, but spent most of his time in
Angahuan, Capacuaro, and Chilchota. Carrasco
also spent part of January and all of February
1942, in the field, working especially in Paracho,
but visiting extensively in the Lake Patzcuaro
region. ‘Towns visited for varying lengths of time

7
PUREPERO

RAPAN ZACAPU JA REJERO
GOENEO@ TEREMENDO

mffyn0%

eSEVINA Dy,
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AJUNO

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ARIO TACAMBARO
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Figure 1.—Map of the modern Tarascan region.

6 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

by one or more of the authors included the
following:

Sierra region: La Canada:
Ahuiran Acachuén
Angahuan Carapan
Aranza Chilchota
Capacuaro Hudncito
Charapan Ichan
Cheran Santo Tomas
Cocucho Tacuro
Corupo Tanaquillo
Nahuatzen Urén
Nurié Zopoco
Paracho Lake Pdtzcuaro:
Parangaricutiro Cucuchucho
Paricutin Huecorio
Patamban Thuatzio
Pomacuardén Janicho
Quinseo Jardcuaro
San Felipe Tecuena
San Lorenzo Tzentzénhuaro
Tarecuato Tzintzuntzan
Urapicho Tzurumttaro
Zirosto Yunudn

In the last area, information was also secured
from residents of Cuanajo and Puécuaro, but
these villages were not visited.

Many informants were used, but those most
employed in Cherin were Pedro Chavez and
Agustin Rangel; in Parache, Maximino Estrada,
master carpenter; and in Angahuan, the brothers
José and Miguel Bravo.

Tarascan words are written in the alphabet
approved by the Consejo de Lenguas Indigenas.
Unless otherwise indicated, Tarascan words are
from Paracho or Cheréin (the two are only 6
miles apart, and dialect differences are slight).
Spanish words are italicized, but if the word has
a special regional meaning not found in standard
dictionaries, it is placed in quotations and the
meaning is explained the first time the word is
used. Names of towns are in the local Spanish
spelling.

THE TARASCAN TOWN

Tarascan towns tend to be located on level, or
relatively level ground. Exceptions are found
only in a few villages located in the higher moun-
tains such as Quinseo, Cocucho, and others. Ex-
cept where the irregularities of the terrain prohibit,
the towns are subdivided by streets forming rec-
tangular blocks oriented approximately to the
compass points (pl. 1, upper). This is undoubt-
edly a reflection of the Spanish origins of these
towns; in many of the settlements traditions of
former locations still exist. The blocks are sub-
divided into lots, or solares, of quite variable size,
which are used both as building sites and gardens.
Usually, the lots are fenced, particularly on the
side facing the street. Houses either may adjoin
the street line or may be located well within the
lot away from the street. In the center of the
larger towns, structures are more apt to adjoin
the street, but the doors of living quarters almost
always open on the yard rather than the
street.

In the Lake region, the fishing villages tend to
be on the edge of the water. As a result, some
of the smaller villages, such as Tecuena and
Yunuin, do not have streets but merely paths.
Where the ground is very uneven, as at Janicho

on the Lake and some of the Sierra villages, such
as Urapicho, the plan is irregular and the streets
have steps.

If the town is of any size, it usually is divided
into from two to four districts known as cuarteles,
or barrios. The town tends to center on a, plaza,
where usually is to be found a municipal building,
the school, and the church, although the latter
may not be directly upon the plaza. In most
cases, a fenced cemetery exists before the church,
but in some towns it has been replaced by a new
cemetery on the outskirts. A stone cross still
stands in the center of the cemetery in most towns.

Two clearly defined types of construction exist
in the Tarascan area: wood, and a combination
of adobe bricks and stone masonry laid in adobe
mortar. In the region of the Sierra, the majority
of houses are of wood with shake roofs. Adobe-
and-masonry construction with tile roofs predom-
inates in the region around Lake Patzcuaro, the
district of Zacdpu, the region known as La Cafiada,
and the district of Zamora. The division, how-
ever, is not absolute. Adobe-and-masonry struc-
tures, sometimes with tile roofs, sometimes with
shake roofs, are found in most of the towns of
the Sierra, especially in the larger settlements and

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 7

where Mestizo influence is marked. Nevertheless,
in some towns, such as Capacuaro, almost the
only nonwooden structure is the church. Struc-
tures of wood also occur in the other districts,
although they are relatively rare.

The difference in materials used apparently
has a geographic basis. The Sierra region has
abundant forests, while often lacking sufficient
water to permit easy manufacture of adobes or

tiles. The other areas have abundant water,
but the forests are distant. An exception is the
Sierra town of Tarecuato, where, despite abundant
forests and the relative scarcity of water, most of
the houses are of adobe. In the Sierra it is also
becoming increasingly difficult to secure materials
for large houses. This fact, together with Mestizo
influence, probably is contributing to the spread
of adobe, or stone-and-adobe construction.

THE TOWN OF CHERAN

The town of Cherén lies at the head of a broad
valley about 1,300 feet (400 m.) above the valley
floor at an elevation of 8,500 feet (2,500 m.) (pl. 1,
lower). The terrain slopes rather steeply toward
the west. A small ravine forms the western half
of the south boundary of the town; the eastern
half of the south boundary lies beyond the ravine.
A much larger ravine forms the north boundary of
the town. A branch of this ravine runs through
the town and partly isolates the northeast barrio,
or cuartel. Springs at the bottom of this ravine
afford part of the water supply. A pipe-and-
wooden-trough system also brings water from a
spring 9% miles (15 km.) away to cement tanks in
the approximate center of the town as well as to a
fountain in the plaza, which lies north of the center.
At the northeast is a small cinder cone, which
affords most of the stone used for buildings and
fences. The town encroaches on the slopes of the
cone on the east and south. The northeast
barrio, or cuartel, climbs part way up the slopes of
another cinder cone.

Most of the streets of the town are oriented to
the cardinal directions, and the central part of
town is subdivided into rectangular blocks. In
some sections irregularities of the terrain have led
to modifications of the block plan; in these sections
streets may follow the curving contours. Streets
vary in width from mere pathways to about 40
feet (12.2 m.). In the heart of town they are
often paved with small cobblestones and have a
central drain or gutter. Stone-paved sidewalks
are common in the middle of town. The main
north-south street is traversed by the Carapan-
Uruapan highway and was paved withoil macadam
in 1940.

The church, parish residence, school, and the
municipal building all front on a central plaza.
Except for benches and a fountain, the plaza
is bare. Cement sidewalks and a surrounding
paved area are contributions from the highway
construction.

The width of the building lots varies from 10 or
12 feet (3 to 3.6 m.) to almost an entire block.
The depth in most cases is half that of the block,
but in some cases it may be little more than
20 feet (6 m.). Asa general rule, however, except
in the center of town, the lot is large enough for a
small garden, a few fruit trees, and at least a
small area devoted to growing types of corn not
ordinarily cultivated in the fields (fig. 2). The
size of lots varies appreciably, though, in various
sections of town. ‘There is no general rule for
placing the house upon the lot except in the center
of town, where it usually abuts the street, es-
pecially if it is of adobe-and-masonry construc-
tion. If the house does not front on the street,
a fence, generally of stone, is built along the
street line. It usually is designed to keep out
all animals including pigs, and customarily is
above head height so passers-by may not peer
over. The interior boundaries are also fenced,
but the fences are often less substantial (pls. 2,
lower; 3).

The lots are all owned individually. They may
be bought or sold freely and may be subdivided in
various ways. A man with a large lot may sell a
portion, creating two lots. Sometimes a man who
may wish to enlarge his holdings will buy a strip
from an adjoining lot or even the entire lot and
merge the two pieces into a single lot. Heirs may
also divide lots.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

BARRANCA

CHERRY
TREE

CHERRY
TREE

AT YP Vea
LOT

STONE FENCE

Gago

i STRUCTURE

LJ = ERECTED
BETWEEN

SEPT. and DEC.

5
CHOP
BLOCK TROUGH

WASH
ROCK AH
TE JSOCOTE a

TREE z E Ww

SNe fa)
us <
Ae pany WATER TROUGH B
y

Ficure 2.—Plan of a typical Cher4n lot in the southeast section.

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 9

BUILDING MATERIALS AND THEIR SOURCES

WOOD

All wooden materials used in Cherén are pro-
duced from local timber. The forests stand al-
most entirely on public lands considered to belong
to the town. Formerly, exploitation of any sort
was open to all residents who had paid a small fee
to an administrative committee. The fee was
used to pay federal taxes on the land. Recently,
the Department of Forestry of the Federal Goy-
ernment has restricted exploitation of the forests
for any purpose other than the collection of fire-
wood to persons having permits. In Cheran this
apparently will mean that persons wishing to cut
lumber or shakes (or make charcoal) must join a
local cooperative, for the Department of Forestry
has refused to give permits to any other group
or to individuals.

In general, the cutting of lumber is done by
specialists. Men who have no land or inadequate
land or, in some cases, men who prefer the activ-
ity, cut most of the timber and shape it into planks
and beams. Shake making is even more special-
ized, and men who make shakes may do nothing
else except look after whatever farm lands they
may own. Only a very poor person would attempt
to cut the planks and beams needed for a house if
he were not a specialist, but anyone might cut
poles and stringers used in the roof construction.

Woods used in house construction are pine and
fir. Pine is most used and two types are dis-
tinguished, red (iaaini), the heartwood of large
trees, and white, the sapwood of large trees or
wood from young trees. From these woods are
made shakes, tejamanil, “‘vigas” (any piece over
2 inches (5 cm.) in thickness), and planks, or
tablas.'

Trees are felled and trimmed with the ax. To
cut trees in sections, a two-handled saw is used
called a “sardina.” Splitting is done with oak
wedges and an oak maul. Large pieces produced in
this fashion are sometimes dressed down with ax or
adze. Planks, or tablas, are sawed with a long two-
handled saw (k‘eréri asikutarakua). Logs des-
tined for planks are squared with the ax, marked

1 The measure of length is the vara, which is divided in fourths or thirds.
Each fourth contains eight English inches (20 cm.); so the vara equals 32 inches,
or 81.28 cm. Fourths and inches are measured usually with the hand and

. fingers, but the span is also used.

by a chalk line, and then placed on a platform of
poles, sometimes with a pit underneath.”

Shakes, teyamanil, are made from both pine and
fir. Fir shakes are preferred as they last longer
despite breaking more easily. Trees used to
make tejamanil must be straight-grained. The
trunk is cut in sections with saw or ax; each sec-
tion is then split lengthwise with wedges to pro-
duce a number of pieces, usually 8, each 4 fingers
wide at the bark edge. These pieces are then split
into 16 shakes. A special machete is used to start
the split, which is then completed with a thin
metal or wooden tool.

Several types of shakes are made. In Anga-
huan, a shake 5 cuartas (40 in.) long and 7 inches
wide is made to sell in Zamora and is called
Zamorano. One shake 4 cwartas (32 in.) in length
by 4 inches in width, called ‘little shake”
(tasimbani sapirati), is sold in Uruapan, while
one called “long shake’? (tasimbani iérati), 6
cuartas (48 in.) by 1 quarta (8 in.), is used in the
town itself. Cheran, on the other hand, uses a
shake called “thick shake” (tasAmani tidpiti), 5
cuartas (40 in.) in length. This is the size used in
most ‘Tarascan towns. Shakes are occasionally
sold by the hundred, but the most common unit is
a bundle of 400 (irépita).

Master carpenters may use an elaborate variety
of modern tools for woodworking and house
building. However, everything may be done in
woodworking with ax, adze, saw, drill, chisel, and
wooden wedges, and many persons work only with
these tools.

ADOBE BRICKS

Adobe bricks are usually made from suitable
earth near the village by specialists. The earth is
mixed with manure and water to the proper con-
sistency, then shaped in wooden forms. Two
sizes of brick are made, one 3 spans long, one 2%
spans long. Adobes are laid by a mason in a mor-
tar of adobe and manure. Because of the moist
climate, adobe walls always rest on a foundation of
stone masonry laid in adobe mortar; the founda-
tion may extend as much as half a meter (20 in.)
below the ground surface.

2A fuller description of lumbering techniques will be given in a general
monograph on Cherdn in preparation.

10 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

In some towns, dried pine needles (“huinomo”’),
wheat, or oat straw are used in place of manure.
In the Sierra, adobes are called adébi; in [huatzio,
on Lake Paétzcuaro, iaudrukata.

STONE

Masonry is made of assorted-sized rocks brought
from a quarry in the west side of the cinder cone
on the northwest edge of town. The stone is a
porous soft reddish lava, easily broken or dressed
roughly with a hammer. It is carried from the
quarry on burros. The rocks are used for all
types of masonry walls. Usually large sizes are
employed near the bottom and to make the ex-
ternal faces of the wall; smaller stones are used to
fill up the spaces, and usually all external surfaces
are filled with small stone spalls set in the mud
mortar.

Large stones used for foundations are a hard
gray lava from the arroyo north of town or from
the slopes of a cinder cone northeast of town.
The same rock is employed for finished pieces of

stone work used as doorjambs, door corners, and
bases for the pillars of verandas where these rest
on the ground.

TILE AND BRICK

Tile and brick are little used. Some tile roofs
are seen and tiles are sometimes laid over a shake
roof when the latter is worn out. Both tile and
brick are made from clay occuring near the town.
The dry clay is brought to town on burros. The
manufacture is carried on in an old chapel, and
firing is in a kiln, both located in the church com-
pound. The quality is poor and the demand is
small.

MISCELLANEOUS

Adobe-and-masonry walls are commonly fin-
ished on the inside and, less frequently, on the
outside, with a coat of sand and lime plaster.
This material is always imported. So, too, are
the pigments used in whitewash or kalsomine
finishes employed to decorate plastered walls.

TYPES OF STRUCTURES

WOODEN STRUCTURES

Three main kinds of wooden structures are
built. These are the ‘‘troje,”’ or house (tréja; in
Angahuan, ¢arimba), really a storehouse in use,
the kitchen (kosina), and sheds used for storing
fodder or sheltering animals. Normally, a mas-
ter carpenter is employed; he usually works for
an agreed price and hires a helper.

The “troje’”’ is a rectangular structure, nearly
square, consisting of one room with a loft over it
(fig. 3; pl. 2, upper). The door is always in one
of the long walls and there is usually an overhang
of the roof, supported on pillars, forming a veranda
on this side. Usually the flooring of the first floor
is extended to form a floor for the veranda (fig. 3;
pl. 4, lower, left).

The “‘troje,”’ or house, is elevated on large stones
(or stone pillars in some towns), usually 9 in num-
ber, one at each corner, one in the middle of each
side, and one at the center of the floor. Upon
the stones go four interlocking foundation beams,
“polines” * (pi¢ekua), and a crosspiece destined to
support the middle of the floor, the “atravesano de

3 Also “‘yarines,"’ because they are usually made of heartwood (iaaini).

Ficure 3.—Old “‘‘troje” in Cheran, said to have been built before
the Revolution.

la tarima”’ (uandj¢éukua). The foundation beams
are square, from a third to a fourth of a vara
(about 8 to 10 inches) in cross section, but the
crosspiece is thinner by the thickness of the floor
boards.

The two longest foundation beams and _ the

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE all

crosspiece, ‘‘atravesatio de la tarima,”’ are placed

first, then the two remaining foundation beams.
The lower beams are notched at each intersection
to half their thickness on the upper side; the
upper beams are similarly notched on the lower
side. Very frequently the front and back beams
are notched to receive the ends of the floor planks
(fig. 4; pl. 4, upper, left).

POST

BOTTON

ze Floor Board

Ficure 4.—Details of construction of the ‘‘troje’”’ shown
on figure 3.

Upon the foundation beams are placed the floor
planks, ‘“‘tarima” (tagijpani) (pl. 4, lower, right).
Upon the floor planks are laid one or two more
beams, ‘‘planchitas.’”’ One marks the line of the
front wall with the door. If there is a wooden
floor to the veranda, a second, somewhat heavier
beam is laid at the outer edge (pl. 4, upper, right).
These beams are morticed to received tenons on
the lower ends of the pillars of the veranda and the
side frames of the door.

The walls are of logs or, more commonly, of
heavy planks set on edge. Both logs and planks
are notched to interlock at the corners in the
manner of the log cabin of North America and
Europe. Assembling planks or logs in this fash-
ion is spoken of as “‘to chain,” “‘encadenar.”” Two
methods of notching planks are used (fig. 5).
The number of planks varies somewhat according
to the total size of the house. The door is 9
cuartas (72 in.) in height, and the front wall up
to this point is made of short planks. When four
or five planks are in place, giving the required
height for the door, the side frames of the door

CE

Figure 5.—Two methods of notching wall planks. That on the
right is more recent and is a tighter fit.

(anamdrakua) are put in place (pl. 4, lower, left).
Each frame has a tenon at the bottom, fitting
into a mortice in the “planchita,” and a groove at
the side to receive the wall planks.

Various methods of completing the doorframe
are used. The simplest way is to notch the top of
the doorframes to receive a long plank extending
across the front of the house. Sometimes this
plank is ornamented with carving; in this case it
may be cut so the lower part is red heartwood,
the upper part white sapwood. More often, the
doorframe is finished with one or even two special
pieces, “arco de la puerta” (uiaimukua). These
pieces are grooved to receive the upper wall
planks (fig. 6).

AER
aaE

Ficure 6.—Methods of finishing doorframes, windows, and pillars.

If the veranda is floored, usually four pillars rest
on the forward ‘“‘planchita.’’ The pillars are made
of heartwood and are usually round but occasion-
ally spindle shaped. Each end has a tenon, the
bottom tenon fitting into the ‘‘planchita” (pl. 4,
upper, right), the upper into a capital, zapata
(fig. 6), or directly into a roof beam, “‘arco del
portal” (uandzukua). If no capital is used, the
roof beam is often carved into an arch between

AY

Ficure 7.— Details of roof construction.

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

B

END

CORNER

RIDGE POLE

RIDGE POLE
CORNER
END
CORNER E

CONSTRUCTION
DETAILS

a, Vent in roof of kitchen; b, lean-to kitchen built against an adobe wall with ventilation

arrangement; c, two ways of finishing shakes at apex of an end roof section; d, arrangement of rafters in a small Cheran house;

¢, joining of rafters and ridge pole viewed from outside roof frame; and (above) same seen from inside roof frame.

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 13

each pillar. In any case, carved ornamentation is
common, often covering roof beam, capital, and
even the upper part of the pillars (pl. 5, lower,
right). The pillars at each end of the veranda
usually have a groove to receive the ends of the
side-wall beams.

The topmost two wall planks and the beam
above the pillars are usually one vara longer than
the others, and the ends are cut into a curve and
often carved. In addition, a special carved piece
of red heartwood called a ‘“‘cornisa’”’ may surmount
the usual wall.

The top of the wall and the beam supported by
the pillars in front. of the veranda must now be
carefully leveled again. A morticed cross beam,
“atravesano del tapanco” (uanddekua), is generally
placed in the middle of the room at the top of the
walls. The ceiling is laid directly over the tops
of the walls, and wooden pins attach the two outer
planks to the walls. As the ceiling serves as the
floor of the attic, the planks are usually of the
same thickness as the lower floor. In one corner,
almost always over the veranda, but occasionally
inside the room, an opening is left to provide access
to the loft or attic.

Upon the ‘‘planchas”’ is erected the frame of the
roof. First are placed the ‘“tijeras’” (jaudrakua)
consisting of pairs of fir poles about 115 varas apart.
Half of the upper end of each pole is cut away,
and the two are nailed together or, more com-
monly in Chern, they are fastened with a wooden
pin. The lower ends rest in sockets cut in the
“nlanchas.’’ Two pairs of rafters are now leaned
toward each other and fastened together. Usually,
three groups of rafters of four each are used. At
each end of the house another rafter is now placed
with a deep notch in the upper end. Within this
notch is fitted a ridge pole (fig. 7, d, e). For
further strength, pairs of rafters may be braced
by crosspieces nailed to them below the apex of
the roof.

In other towns the ridge pole is not used (pl. 5,
lower, left). Additional smaller rafters may also
be added after the main framework is erected,
but in Cherdn the house normally has 14 rafters
of equal size, 3 groups of 4 and 1 at each end
supporting a ridge pole.

Stringers, ‘‘fajillas” or ‘‘costillas” (litasa), are
fastened horizontally to the rafters. The distance
apart depends upon the length of shakes used.
Nails are ordinarily employed now to fasten the

stringers, but wooden pegs (tartju) of pine heart-
wood or wild crabapple, or string of maguey or
bark fibers, may be used. The method of attach-
ment is such that each shed of the roof is a sepa-
rate unit and, by removing the wooden pins, may
be lifted off intact in case it is desired to move the
house to another location (pl. 5, upper, right).
The stringers are crudely made with ax or saw.
They are not measured, but after fastening, any
surplus length is cut off.

The shakes are laid in two layers with the thick
sides facing in opposite directions (fig. 8). They

os er

Ficure 8.—Methods of attaching and laying shakes.

are fastened down now usually with 2- or 3-inch
nails. However, they may also be fastened with
small pins (pirén¢A) of red-pine wood, or, prefer-
ably, of wild crab apple, tejocote. If pins are
employed, a hole is made with an awl. The
shakes must be put on while green; otherwise
splitting is excessive. If it is necessary to use
old shakes, they are first soaked in water.

In addition to the above methods, shakes may
be held in place by long thin strips of wood placed
on top of the shakes. Stones are placed on the
wooden strips at intervals. This method is rarely
used now on houses, where the steep pitch of the
roofs makes it rather insecure, but it is common
on the roofs of sheds and stables and is not infre-

14 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

quent on the roofs of kitchens. If the much
inferior pine shake is used, the nails usually are
not driven all the way in and a length of wire is
run from one nail to another, a turn being given
about each nail (fig. 8, c). This may be done
with fir shakes also, in which case the nails are
driven all the way in after wiring.

The door is usually carefully made and is
bought from a master carpenter. The hinges
and latch are usually of metal, although the hard-
ware may be crude. If a well-made door cannot
be afforded, however, the door may consist
merely of loose upright planks fitting in grooves
at top and bottom.

A hinged trapdoor is placed in the opening to
the loft. This is usually a well-built door bought
from a carpenter and fastened by a stout pad-
lock. A ladder gives access to the door. Some-
times the ladder is a notched log (kékua).

Thirty days is considered the minimum con-
struction time for a house.

Some further general comments on houses, or
“trojes,”’ may be made. Houses with carved
ornament are called ‘‘trojes labradas.”’ The parts
decorated may include the beam over the front
pillars, the piece over the door, capitals, the upper
part of the pillars, and ‘‘cornices,” or special
pieces along the upper walls. <A ‘“troje labrada”’
usually is carefully made throughout. Undeco-
rated houses, ‘‘trojes lisas,’’ may be made crudely
with only ax and adze as tools. Small ‘“‘trojes
lisas” are virtually the only ones to lack a veranda.
Occasionally, heavy planks are not used for the
ceiling. Instead, light boards are laid over several
cross beams, which also support the ‘‘planchas,”’
or frames, holding the roof.

The size of the “troje” is taken from the length
of the rear wall. Other dimensions vary accord-
ing to table 1. Lengths in the table are in varas.

TaBLE 1.—Proportions of the houses, or ‘“‘trojes”’

Length | Length : |

x Height are | Length | a

re | corr of wall | Rafters ofrartars Shakes
s | | |
|

Varas Varas Varas | Number| Varas | Number

5 416 214 14 3. 400

6 51g 234 14 414 500

7 614 3 14 5 1,000

8 74 3 18 6 1, 100

9 8 314 18 6 1, 500

The measure of the back wall is also the length
of the front, center, and back foundation beams
and the ‘‘planchitas.” The side-wall measure is
the length of the short foundation beams; the
floor planks are a little shorter. The top wall
planks, cornices, the beam over the veranda
pillars, the planks for the loft floor, and the
“nlanchas” holding the ends of the rafters are
all one vara longer than the corresponding meas-
urements at the lower floor. ‘ Trojes’’ of 6 or 7
varas are the most common.

A “troje,” or house, may be moved completely
to a new location in from 1 to 1% days. Each
piece is marked as the structure is dismantled and
then reassembled in the same order. As many of
the men cannot read, the side boards are marked
with a symbol for each side and then numbered
by a series of tally lines. A master carpenter is
hired primarily to supervise the work and to
make sure that the foundation frame is level.
Relatives of the owner do the rest of the work
and are fed, but receive no pay.

A “troje,’’ or house, may last 50 to 100 years
or more, if not destroyed by fire. Cases where
“trojes”’ have lasted longer than 80 years are
exceptional. However, the roof shakes must be
replaced at intervals. Pine shakes last only
about 6 years, fir shakes about 10 years.

Tarascan kitchens are of two types. The
simpler structure is called “torita,” or kosina
torueri in Cherén (kosina kukuarékata, in Anga-
huan). It has no loft or veranda. The floor plan
is rectangular, with the door on one of the short
sides. The roof has two sheds (fig. 9; pls. 5, upper,
left; 6, upper, left). Subtypes may be distin-
cuished according to the method of supporting the
corner posts. In ‘‘cocinas de pie derecho,” the
corner posts rest on wooden foundation beams,
while in ‘‘cocinas de horeén,” the corner posts are
set in the ground. Further differentiation may be
made according to the presence or absence of a
ridge pole.

The “cocina de pie derecho” starts with four
foundation beams of heartwood, morticed at the
corners and resting on four small stones. Four
corner posts (andjtarakua) of heartwood of pine
are morticed into the foundation beams. The
posts have grooves on two sides to receive the

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 15

A KITCHEN

Ficure 9.—Kitchen of simpler style (kosina torueri).

wall planks or boards. The side-wall planks run
horizontally, while those at the two ends are
vertical, resting in grooves cut in the foundation
beams or made by strips of wood nailed to the
beams. The door is in one end (center of a short
dimension of the structure) and is framed in the
same manner as is the house door.

The tops of the corner posts are notched to
receive two “‘remates,”’ planks longer than the
planks of the side wall and forming the top of
the side walls. The vertical planks forming the
front and back walls fit into grooves cut in
rectangular rafters supported by the corner posts.

If the roof has no ridge pole, the frame is formed
by pairs of rafters resting on the top planks of the
side wall and joined together at the top. To the
rafters are fastened stringers to which the shakes
are nailed. In case a ridge pole (uandj¢ikua) is
used, it rests in notches cut in triangular pieces
cal d ‘burro’ or “ zoquete” which are placed above
the door and the center planks of the rear wall.
The rafters then rest on the ridge pole and the
top planks of the side wall. Such a kitchen takes
about 15 days’ labor to build.

In ‘“cocinas de horcon,’ four square posts
(aS4ma) are set in the ground. Construction of
the walls then proceeds in the fashion described
above. This type of kitchen always has a ridge
pole which is supported by two additional posts,
one at each end. The door necessarily is at one
side, not in the center as is usual in the ‘‘cocina

de pie derecho.” Both types have an earthen
floor.

The above types are by far the most common
and constitute the actual dwellings of the great
majority of the Tarascans. Many variations
from the described types occur due to differences
in the skill of the builders and the economic
resources of the owners. Dimensions vary ac-
cording to table 2.

TaBLE 2.—Relative dimensions of kitchens in varas

| |
Short Long | Height of | Length of | Number
side side wall rafters | ofshakes!
4 415 | 146 3 600
5 6 | 134 3h6 1, 000

L

1 This figure applies if a double layer of shakes is used; often only one iayer
is used, in which case the number of shakes is halved.

The more elaborate of the two types with its
foundation beams, morticed corner posts, and
roof without ridge pole, is said to be relatively
modern. Formerly, no foundation beams were
used; the corner posts were set in the ground, and
a ridge pole was always present. The stringers
were fastened to the rafters with wooden pins,
while the shakes were fastened with wooden nails.
Another way of fastening the shakes was to let the
stringers project. Another stringer was then laid
on the top of the shakes and the two tied together
at the ends. Alternatively, the upper stringer
might be held down with rocks.

Another and better type of kitchen is known as
tréja kosina or kosina uisipiti (round kitchen),*
and more closely resembles the house, or ‘‘troje.”
The ground plan is square. The construction
differs from the “troje’’ in only a few details.
There is no loft and no veranda (pl. 6, upper,
right). Two horizontal planks are morticed into
the rear of the side walls and extend across the
back of the kitchen to form two shelves. These
shelves often occur in simpler kitchens, too.

The absence of the loft floor requires some
change in the roof frame. Resting upon the
uppermost planks of the wall are several cross
beams. The simplest way is to place three beams
running from front to back, one in the center and

4 The term round is also applied to a type of square house (see p.17), After
much questioning, Carrasco was told the term round is used because the
structures are square rather than rectangular, This sounds like a rational-

ization. Round houses probably occurred anciently, although apparently
they were not common (see Pp. 33).

16 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

one over each side wall. Upon these are placed
the “planchas,” and construction of the roof pro-
ceeds as in the “troje.”’ In other cases, four
squared beams are used. Two run from front to
back, while two shorter beams run from the middle
of each side wall to the nearest long beam (fig. 10).
The ‘“‘planchas” again rest on these. As in the
“troje,” the roofs have four sheds. <A ventilator
may be built in one shed (fig. 7, a, 6).

Ficure 10.—Plan of ceiling in an elaborate kitchen (tréja kosina).

The floor of these ‘‘round”’ kitchensis usually of
earth owing to the character of the fireplace. In
Paracho, however, a raised fireplace, called a
“chimenea” (fig. 12), permits a wooden floor.
Two additional foundation beams are placed as in
figure 11. A wooden floor is then laid, leaving a
space one meter square open for construction of
the fireplace.

This type of kitchen varies from 4 to 7 varas in
its longest dimension. As in the house, the top-
most wall planks and the ‘‘planchas” are a vara
longer than the other wall planks.

Although the kitchens, particularly the simpler
type, are relatively inexpensive, they still may
cost more than aman may be able to pay. In this
case, he may construct one without the services
of a carpenter. As a result, one sees all sorts of
approximations of the types described. Perhaps
most common is a structure in which the roof is
supported by four posts set in the ground and the
walls filled in with any convenient material—
planks, lumber fragments, old shakes, and so on.
A lean-to against a wall may also be used (fig. 7, 6).

In Angahuan, and to a lesser extent in Paricutin
and San Juan Parangaricutiro, storehouses (called
tmutakata in Angahuan) are built on four posts
some two meters (6 ft.) in height. Often these

ee floor planks

=sfoundation beams
—space without floor
= for fireplace

Ficure 11.—Plan of floor of an elaborate kitchen (seen
only in Paracho).

structures are at the entrance to the lot, but may
also be inside (pl. 6, middle (right) and lower
(left)). Two beams connect pairs of posts and a
floor of planks is laid across these. Upon the planks
rest four “planchas,” supporting a roof similar to
that of the “‘troje.” The entrance is either through
the floor or one of the gable ends. The floor’
plan is always rectangular.

Ficure 12.—A “‘chimenea,’” or raised fireplace (seen only in
Paracho).

In Angahuan, the lower part of these structures
is often walled and the structure then serves the
function of a “troje.” Often the walls are made
simply of shakes or old boards, but sometimes
the posts rest on foundation beams and the wall
planks are well fitted (pl. 6, lower, center). In this
case, the floor plan is square and, except for this,
the structure is a ‘‘troje.”’ Such square structures
have a wide distribution and are called “trojes”’ in
some towns, such as Paracho, but in Paricutin

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 1L7/

they are called round houses (k‘uté uisipiti). The
latter term is known but not used in other towns.

In Capacuaro occur storehouses, called “huacal’”’
(uakali), made of four walls of interlocked logs
or planks with a simple roof of two sheds (pl. 6,
lower, right). In some other towns, the same
type is made in the fields. The structures are
used to store wheat before thrashing or to store
straw for animals.

Occasionally, houses built on the edge of the
street have the street wall of stone or stone and
adobe, while the remaining walls are of wood.

In the Lake Patzcuaro and La Canada towns,
a few old “‘trojes’’ are found. They resemble
those of the Sierra but, except for two cases in
Janicho, the roof is different. At either short end
a triangular structure of adobe, “capisayo,’’ is
erected on the wooden walls and sustains a ridge
pole. Rafters run from the ridge pole to the
“planchas,” ov plates, in front and back. Stringers
attached to the rafters support a roof of either
shakes or tile (pl. 6, middle, left).

SOBRE O
SPR HE OS ‘e
TOD OS DOA B HK CIOS

masonry is used to complete a wall; in others,
the upper part of the wall is completed in adobe
brick. In the latter case, the stonework wall is
carried up at least half a meter (20 in.) above
eround level.

Masonry is always extended about 50 cm. (20
in.) below the ground surface, whether used only
as a foundation or for the complete wall. The
stone used is the volcanic tufa brought from a
The walls are usually about
50 cm. (20 in.) in thickness. Larger stones are
set with relatively flat faces outward. The flat
faces will be dressed if this is imperative but no
other shaping is done. To fill in irregular spaces
in the wall face, stones of proper shape with one
flat face are sought in the pile of materials. Small
stone spalls are also employed abundantly to fill
in any spaces between rocks. The mortar is of
adobe mud mixed with animal dung, and the
central part of the wall is filled in with irregular
rocks and considerable quantities of mortar.

If the upper part of the wall is to be of adobe

nearby cinder cone

ISO Cd TOOT OER PD
etaiane carey:

Ficure 13.—Well-made masonry and adobe-brick wall in Cheran.

ADOBE-AND-MASONRY HOUSES

In its simplest form, the house with walls of
stone (¢an¢Akata), ‘casa de pared,” or stone and
adobe, has one rectangular room with the door
on one of the long sides. Occasionally, houses of
more than one room are encountered or even of
two stories. The latter seem very recent and
commonly belong to Mestizos.

Masonry is always used as the foundation,
“rehenchido,” of an adobe wall. In some cases,

bricks, these also are laid in adobe mortar (fig.
13). Two sizes of brick are employed; the larger
size results in a somewhat thicker wall. The
mortar is the same as that employed for masonry.
In the Sierra and on those islands in Lake Patz-
cuaro where adobes are not made, the stone base
is usually higher than elsewhere.

In construction, a professional mason is em-
ployed. He erects a frame to which strings are
attached to keep the wall straight. He also uses
a plumb line to keep the wall vertical. A trowel

18 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

and a hammer are the other needed tools. As the
wall increases in height, a crude scaffolding is
erected, usually on each side of the wall, and the
mortar is placed on a small portable platform of
planks (pl. 7, upper, left °).

Adobe-brick walls are frequently finished with
a coating of adobe plaster, plentifully mixed with
animal dung if the wall is to be used for a house.
Somewhat less frequently, a lime-plaster coating
is used to cover the wall.

In Cher4n, usually only front and side walls of
houses are made of brick or masonry. The back
wall, and sometimes one side wall, will be of
upright planks fitting into grooves in horizontal
beams at top and bottom. Doors have door-
jambs of stone and the doorposts rest on a stone
base with a mortice to receive a tenon on the lower
part of the post. A lintel at the top is morticed

4'4"

4' «" c’ q!’

= S

Ficure 14.—Plan of house of Pedro Chavez, Cheran.

to the doorposts and extends beyond them on
either side, being surrounded by masonry or
bricks and supporting the wall if it continues
above the door. Windows are made in the same
way, but no stone is used.

Upon the leveled tops of the wall are laid
wooden plates, or ‘‘planchas” (in this case also
called ‘‘plantillas”). Across these are square
joists, extending 2 or 3 feet beyond the walls.
The ends are ornamentally carved. Across the
ends of the joists, a second plate is sometimes laid
and fastened to the joists with wooden pins, which
sometimes pass through the joists and extend
below them. The rafters are set into sockets

5 The making of adobes and tiles will be described in another paper.

in this plate, or may be pinned directly into
sockets in the joists. The frame consists of a
ridge pole supported by pillars from the walls and
joists. The rafters are in pairs resting on the
ridge pole. In large structures with tile roofs,
additional pillars or braces may support the
rafters (pl. 7, upper, right). The ends of the
gable roof thus formed are usually closed with
shakes. Sometimes a floor is laid over the joists
to form a loft. Yet another common variant is a
shake roof with four sheds similar to the roof of
the “troje”’ (pl. 7, lower, left).

The wide eaves of this type of house usually
extend to the edge of the sidewalk, a very con-
venient arrangement in a rainy country, although
the purpose probably is to keep moisture away
from the walls. No other feature so strikingly
sets off the architecture of central Michoacan from

YUL), «

e)

: Combination masonry and wooden walls. a shows tongue-and-grooving
of vertical plank walls. } and c show notching of beams at top and bottom to receive wall planks, and (c) floor planks.

that of the remainder of Mexico than do these
wide eaves (pl. 8, left). Structures fronting on
the plaza often have a corridor with supporting
pillars.

Many structures of masonry and adobe brick
are approximating Mexican architecture in their
eround plans, particularly if they are of any size.
Usually two or more large rooms front on the
street. A large entry way with double front
doors, wide and high enough to permit the pas-
sage of animals, usually will be between two of
the rooms. On the side facing the inner yard,
there is a wide earth or brick-floored veranda
(fig. 14). Doors and windows may open on both
the street and the yard. Floors of such structures

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 19

occasionally are of brick or cement but ordinarily
are of wooden planks. There is also usually a
kitchen of wood in addition to the masonry-
adobe structure. The latter is more difficult to
maintain in order and there is a reluctance to
smoke up the interior.

Certain customs connected with the erection
of masonry-adobe walls should be mentioned.
Often a division wall is erected between the for-
ward part of two lots which may later be used
as a house wall by either or both lot owners. If
the cost of such a wall is shared, half the wall
rests on the land of each owner. As frequently
happens, however, one householder pays all the
cost. In this case, the entire width of the wall
is on the land of the person not contributing
money. The latter, however, may use the wall
as part of a house wall at any later time.

In the Lake Patzcuaro and La Canada regions,
house walls are almost always of adobe on a low
stone-masonry foundation. Usually the houses
have a veranda or corridor. The walls are erected
as described. Five heavy planks then serve as
plates, “planchas,” one on top of each wall and
one supported by pillars at the outside of the
veranda. Sometimes there are capitals, zapatas,
between the pillars and the plate. The plates
at the two sides extend from the wall to the
pillars, or the side walls are extended to the edge
of the corridor. In this case, no corner pillars
are needed (pl. 7, lower, right).

Upon the plates on the two shortest walls is
erected a triangular adobe structure, ‘‘capisayo”
(kenzéjtakua). Across the other plates are laid
joists, in the more elaborate structures extending
well beyond the rear wall and edge of the corri-
dor, and carved at the ends. If the joists do
not extend beyond the wall and corridor, the
plates on thé short sides may go only from the
outer edge of the corridor to a point part way to
the opposite side of the house. In this case, the
“capisayo” may be partially an upward exten-
sion of the house wall.

If the loft space is not used, shakes may be
laid on the joists to form a ceiling; often this is
done only over the veranda. Alternatively, a
plank floor may be laid.

Should the house lack eaves, two heavy planks,
“isos,” are placed on the ends of the joists.
Upon these rest the rafters. If the eaves pro-

ject, then the “pisos’’ are usually higher, sup-
ported by the adobes of the “‘capisayo,”’ and
another heavy plank is placed on the ends of
the joists. The space between the wall and the
ends of the joists is usually covered with shakes.
The lower end of the rafters is supported by the
‘““niso,” the upper by a ridge pole (pirij¢akua in
Thuatzio). The latter in turn rests on two
wooden pieces, ‘burrito,’ or “zoquete,” forming
the top of each triangular adobe ‘‘capisayo” (pl. 7,
lower, right).

Although the preceding roof type is the most
common, simpler types are known. In some
cases, one wall is lower than the opposite wall
and a single shed roof is formed by sloping joists.
It should be observed that similar types of con-
struction are used in La Cafada and at Tare-
cuato. Moreover, examples of all types of stone-
and-adobe construction may be found in nearby
Mestizo towns.

SUPPLEMENTARY STRUCTURES

Supplementary structures consist of fences,
gates, and sheds for storage or for shelter of
animals. Fences facing on streets are the most
elaborate as a rule. They may consist of dry
rock walls made by the house owner, but in the
central parts of town are almost always of masonry
or masonry topped with adobe brick (pls. 2, lower;
3, right). They are called sérka. The construc-
tion differs in no way from that for house walls.
The top is covered with shakes held down with
a wooden stringer and stones. Adobe fences are
most common in the Lake Patzcuaro and La
Canadaregions. Often fences of poles (ua¢étakua)
are employed to divide lots, or especially in the
outlying sections of town, along the streets (pl. 3,
left). Poles may also be used to raise a masonry
or adobe-brick wall somewhat higher, in which
case a row of shakes will usually be employed to
give privacy as well. No orthodox construction
is used for pole structures. One attractive but not
very practical fence was made of dry cornstalks
bound neatly at top and bottom to small poles. A
fence of upright poles or planks is called ¢irindikua.

Gates are usually quite elaborate and serve to
close openings to the street. Commonly, the gate
is a well-made door, purchased from a carpenter,
and swinging from two substantial upright posts.
These posts are set in the ground and in addition

20 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

are connected by a piece of wood at top and
bottom. Almost invariably they have a small
gable roof (timutakata in Angahuan, the name of
the storehouses on posts already described). Two
pieces are supported by the gate posts at right
angles to the gate. The ends of these are con-
nected with two pieces which support. rafters.
Construction is like that of a gabled house roof
in miniature. Sometimes a light floor is laid, and
the space is used to store maize husks for tamales
or some similar, not very valuable, material.
The gate roofs keep the gate from rotting or
warping from rain. They are an inevitable part
of the Tarascan landscape and may be seen some-
times in open fields over the entrance to the field
even though there be no gate (pls. 8, right; 7,
lower, left). In the Lake region, they are roofed
with tile, a practice sometimes seen elsewhere
(pl. 7, middle, right).

In some cases, however, simpler constructions
are used. The gate may simply be upright planks
resting in a groove at the bottom and held by cord
loops at the top. In the fields, gates are often
made by planting two posts with holes chopped in
each to receive bars. Such gates are sometimes
seen in town also. They are called ‘agijas” in
Cheran, but in Paricutin they are called jar4surita.

Sheds are usually built leaning against a house
or wall. They consist ordinarily of only a sloping
roof of shakes supported by a crude home-made
framework. The upper end of the roof rests
against the house or wall, the lower end is sup-
ported by posts. <A great variety of crudely built
structures is found, serving for hen houses, barns,
storage of fodder, or toilets. Crude roofs called
“nestana”’ are also built over entrances to houses
and kitchens (pl. 2, upper).

Many houses have pigpens made of poles.
These often have an entrance directly from the

street which can be closed from inside. As a rule
pigs roam the streets during the day. At night

they must be penned carefully, especially in the
outskirts of town. Otherwise, coyotes may kill
them.

In some house yards there are large domed
ovens, used primarily for making bread. They
are often rented to bakers who do not have ovens.
The construction is mostly of adobe but sometimes
stone is used about the entrance and in founda-
tions. A rough shake roof supported by poles
protects the oven from the rain.

Temporary shades (é6njetarakua) are built of
poles and covered with branches and grass for use
in weddings and fiestas.

SPECIALIZATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SKILLS

While a high degree of specialization is charac-
teristic of the Tarascans in comparison with most
primitive people, such a term is always relative.
Actually almost any man in Cherian is first of all a
farmer; only landless men, which means also poor
men, are not farmers. Probably most Cherdn
men are fairly skilled with an ax, sufficiently so to
do a reasonably competent job felling a tree,
trimming poles, cutting fence posts or ties, and
hewing out rough timbers. On the other hand,
to make a living at woodworking occupations
requires more skill and speed than would be
possessed by many men. In the same way, any
man might do a fair job of building a dry-stone
field wall, but he would not be as fast as a special-
ist, nor could he put up a masonry wall or lay
adobe bricks in a fashion that would meet Cheran
standards of fitness. Nevertheless, these facts
make an absolutely correct assessment of the

distribution of skills difficult. The following list
of specialists, then, merely gives those who make a
major part of their living from the specialty
indicated. In some cases, the individuals no
doubt get all their living from their professional
occupation; in others, they either farm themselves,
do farm work, or are employing farmers.

Carpenters. 22> = oe eee ea eee oe Sees ard
Masons 20 ooe ae ete ee ee ee 5
Brick and tile makers____________.____--------- 2

The above represents a fairly accurate census of
those men in Cheréin who have special skills and
who would be hired for work in their field by others
if possible. To put it another way, the average
man would recognize that one of these specialists
would do a more competent and finished job than
he could do himself; consequently, any ordinary
man would make some sacrifices to employ these

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE

specialists. The situation in other Sierra towns
is similar. In the Lake region as well, nearly
every one can make adobes and erect a house of
sorts, but good work requires a specialist.

In the Sierra, a master carpenter is usually em-

ployed on a contract basis.
employs a helper.

21

Often the carpenter
In addition to their pay, the
carpenter and helper are given their food.

or stone structures are also built under contract,
but in this case the workmen are not fed.

PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF TYPES

No complete survey of construction types has
yet been made but some general data are available.
It is clear that many fundamental features of the
architecture extend through not only large areas
of the Tarascan country but also into adjoining
regions settled by Mestizos. The type of masonry
construction with tile or shake roofs and wide over-
hanging eaves extends far beyond the limits of
Tarascan settlement, and the wide eaves are
characteristic of even such a town as Morelia, the
State capitol. In general, the higher, more heavily
forested areas from at least as far west as Tin-
giiindin to near Morelia show a predominance of
wooden construction, usually with shake roofs.
The lower and, in some instances, drier regions
show a predominance of masonry-adobe structures
with tile roofs and wide eaves. In some cases,
shakes replace tile as roofing material. Distribu-
tion of the wide-eaved masonry-adobe style ex-
tends beyond the present Tarascan boundaries.
It ends sharply west of Zamora, and it disappears
east of Morelia.

The following tabulation shows the present

known distribution of types within Tarascan

boundaries:

Mostly wood Mostly masonry-adobe All masonrji-adobe
Ahuiran Cuanajo Cucuchucho
Angahuan La Cafada (all Huecorio
Arantepakua towns) Thuatzio
Aranza Puacuaro 2 Janicho
Capacuaro Tarecuato Jardcuaro 2
Charapan Uruapan !? Naranja
Cheran Zacdpu ! Pareo
Cocucho Zamora ! Patzcuaro }
Corupo Quiroga
Nahuatzen Santa Fé
Nurié Tarejero
Paracho Tecuena

Parangaricutiro
Parjecutin
Patamban
Pomacuardn

Tirindaro
Tzentzénhuaro
Tzurumiutaro
Yunudn

Adobe

Quinseo

San Felipe
San Lorenzo
Sevina
Tucutacato
Tingiindin
Urapicho
Zirosto

1 Indicates Mestizo town showing influence of styles.
2? Indicates shake roofs common,

HOUSE FURNISHINGS

’

The terms “house,” or “‘troje,”’ and ‘‘cocina”’ as
employed in the Sierra refer to the construction
of the house rather than to its use. Normally,
each family has a house and a kitchen. In the
kitchen, the family cooks, eats, and sleeps. The
house serves as a storage place for all types of
property. In it also is kept the image of the
family saint. Sometimes in place of a ‘“‘troje,” a
“cocina de torito” is floored and used for storage.
Despite this shift in use, the structure is still
called a ‘“‘cocina,” or kitchen.

The “‘troje”’ contains a minimum of furnishings.
The loft is used purely for crop storage and usually
has no furnishings whatever. The lower floor

generally has a table against the wall opposite the
door upon which is placed the image of a saint,
if the family owns or is carring for one. If not,
a picture of a saint will be found behind the table
on the wall. Usually, a variety of religious
pictures are tacked or pasted behind or around
the picture or image of the saint. Often candles
and a pottery incense burner are on the table; in
addition, the table may have a varying number
of miscellaneous objects placed there temporarily
for safekeeping. The ceiling, especially over the
altar table, may be decorated in colored tissue
paper and strings of miniature household objects.
Several wooden chairs with arms are kept in the

22

room, the number depending upon the economic
status of the family. They are rarely used except
to seat visitors. Tin trunks or wooden chests are
usually found for storage of clothing. Clothing
may also be hung on a pole extending from front
to back wall. A sewing machine is a fairly com-
mon item of equipment. Rather rarely, the room
will contain a wooden bedstead; this again is used

ee

a

Ficure 15.—Fire hearth of stones.
for comal.

a, Space for pots; b, space

only for guests, when mats are spread over the
bed. In emergencies, the room may also be used
for the storage of harvests. A portion of the
veranda may also be boarded for this purpose.
The second floor is customarily used to store maize
on the cob.

BRoom

BRoom

POT BRUSH

TORTILLA
“BASKET

ee

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO.

ya

‘ A
Mate

1

The kitchen always has a hearth on the ground,
usually made with six stones (pardngua), arranged
as in figure 15. Infrequently, the hearth or stove
is of clay (fig. 16). Space is provided for three
fire places, one (fig. 15, 6) for the comal or tortilla
baking dish, and two (a-a) for cooking pots.
This hearth is usually at one side of the structure.
Near the fire a branched stick (¢uringu) is set in
the ground; on this stick pitch-pine splinters
(k‘uerému) are burned for light at night. At the
back of the kitchen are one or two shelves,
“tinajera,” (plitu jatékua). On the upper are
the old ollas and large vessels. On the bottom
are new ollas (pure¢i), plates (plitu), jars (i¢ama-
tarakua), wooden spoons (iodésa), and knives
(kué6). Below the shelves on the ground, are
the three-legged metates (iaudri), molcajetes (jitim-
atakua), comales (eréksa), and large water jugs
(k‘amtikua), including one set on a fiber ring
(uan¢ari) containing drinking water. Also on
the ground are baskets (¢akidta), tortilla baskets
(“tascal,”’ kuatésa), and gourds (uaéni). Either
on the floor or on the shelf may be wooden bowls
(batieéa), other types of baskets (¢akidta kanimu
and Stindi, ‘“chwndi’’), and fire fans (p‘unitatara-
kua). All the manufactured articles are imported.

The metate, when in use, is placed on a plank
beside the fire. At night, it is removed and mats

TORTILLA COOKER

Ficure 16.—Utensils and iat commonly found in a Cheran kitchen.

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE

water jvg9s | | olla

wooden spoon jicara

jar

bow!

i metate

Ficure 17.—Utensils commonly found in a Cheran kitchen.

596082—44——3

24 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

are spread out for sleeping. The women sit on
the ground in kneeling position; the men either
sit on their heels or on low wooden benches
(buritu) or low chairs (uaSdn¢akua). In Pari-
cutin, Ihuatzio, and some other towns, the
benches are carved in zoomorphic forms. Hang-
ing from the roof may be a shingle or small
board on which to place small objects (sirsu,
zarzo). One or more wooden hooks (titipatara-
kua) may hang from the ceiling. These and
other items are illustrated in figures 16 and 17.
Usually outside the house there is one or more
wooden troughs used for water storage (fig. 18).
In the Lake region, the furniture is similar, but
the clear-cut distinction in the use of structures is
lacking. Often one room serves all purposes.
If a separate kitchen exists, it may be just a lean-
to against a wall of the house, open, or with
adobe walls. The use of the raised fireplace,

ECONOMICS OF THE

THE LOT

Lot prices vary considerably in Cherin. At
the present time, the tendency is to sell lots by
front footage in the central area, but square
meters (39.3 in.2) are sometimes used as a base
for prices also. In the case of lower-priced lots,
probably the price is not set in terms of any
specific area or frontage, but is the subject of
discussion and’ ultimate agreement. In general,
lots (without buildings) which front on the main
street were valued in 1940 at 25 pesos a meter
(39.3 in.). On the outskirts of the town prices
were about 10 to 12 pesos a meter (39.3 in.).

WQODEN HOUSES
COST OF MATERIALS

The following tabulation presents the cost of
those materials which ordinarily are purchased
according to various estimates. Variations in
price are partly due to differences in size and
quality, partly to the bargaining skill of the buyer,
partly to the need of the vender to sell.
Pine planks, per doz., f. 0. b.2}

Seven-vara (6.44-m.) planks 15 inches wide,

3 inches thick, dozen_____._____-_-___- 6. 60
Range of other estimates______--------- 7. 00-9. 00
Delivery charge, heavy planks, per dozen_ 7. 00

Price in pesos

1 Price is about the same for 1-inch planks, which are shorter and must be
sawed, and long 3-inch plauks, which are adzed.

Ficure 18.—Hollowed log with wooden cover used for storage
of water outdoors.

“chimenea,”’ is More common, and there often is
also a special fireplace for the comal, a circular
ridge of clay with an opening on one side to feed
the fire similar to that shown for Chergén in
figure 16.

TARASCAN HOUSE

Price in pesos

Heavy square beams, each, f. 0. b--_--------- 1. 50-2. 50
Delivery ‘charge; each--2.---=2-22--2-2.4- 1. 50
Veranda pillars; each; f. 0.,.b_222- 2222 seeees 1, 25-2. 00
Delivery charge, -each=---2 22>) 2 ae 1, 25-1. 50
Shakes; bundle of 4002. 22.2.4. === 5. 00
Rafter poles; dozene 222-4. fae a ee 4. 00
Root stringers,;dozen= = 2= 22 52-2 se ese ee PH fait)
rap door 2s. ase Seceec aoe ones eee eee 1. 50-3. 00
WOOPs cas a-ta2 ees ae ee ee 2. 00-8. 00
Foundation stones, delivered average (2. 50
CAC) its 2 Sect n Se ee ee 9. 00-22. 50
Nails; periolo: 22. -2.5--s.cseccseesaeeeeon 1. 60

Planks at Paracho were more costly in January 1942.
Boards, six varas long, cost 0.75 to 1.25 pesos each,
depending on width. Heavy planks cost according to
length:

Length in varas: Price in pesos

By a Si ae ee 1. 50
GS a Ae eee eet ee arenes 1, 75
Wis ais atts Se ee ee eee aed 2. 00
SE ae oe fe ae ee es Fo Baye 2. 50
Oye aeawn 25 as SRO es eee are ee re ene 3. 00

Shakes, 5 cuartas (40 in.) in length; cost, 6 pesos per
bundle of 400 (irépeta).

COST OF CONSTRUCTION

Table 3 represents the most accurate account
secured of the materials, labor, and costs of a
wooden house, or “troje.”’ This house was built —
in July 1940 at Morelos 31. Its outside dimen-
sions were 16 by 14 feet (6 by 5.2 varas), and it
was raised off the ground about 18 inches (46 em.)

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 25

on nine large stones of hard gray rock brought
from the barranca north of town. The porch
was not floored. Other materials used were pine
beams and planks, fir shingles, and nails. Doors
were purchased ready-made.

TaBLE 3.—Materials, labor, and cost of constructing a
wooden house, or “‘troje,” at Morelos 31 in June 1940

| Labor Cost in pesos
House parts Materials used P i. : | ne
n escrip- | ate-
days tion | Labor | ‘vials
Foundation__| 9 big stones !___...-.---- 14| Oxteamand |? (2.50)} 2. 50
driver to
haul.
Foundation | 5 beams, 10X10in.X16 |._---|_----- ve|Sccases 2.50
frame. ft. (0.25X0.25X4.9m.).
Roof base....} 4 beams, 8X8in. X18 ft. |_...-|-.------------|------- 2.00
(0.20X0.20 5.5 m.).
Floor__._.---.| 20 planks, 8X3in. X16 ft. 10. 00
(0.20 0.067 X4.9m.).
Walls: .22.-.- 44 planks, 103 in, x16 15) Straighten- {322.50 20. 00
ft. (0.250.067 X4.9m.). ing planks.
Ceiling-....-- 24 planks, 8X3 in. X18 ft. 12.00
(0.200.067 5.5m.).
WOOL. ...-:--- Aa oor (ol 2 One 5 ees eee Od PS Re ee eer ee 8. 00
Trap door.___| 1 wooden_-_.__-_--- Sa [epee eee ened Vetoes 3.00
Porch-roof | 4 pillars, 9X9 in. x8 ft. |...--]--------------]------- 8.00
supports. (0.226 X0.226 2.45m.).
IBMOlES se eee oats
1) 18 stringers, 4-16 ft. long_
|2,400 shakes, (6 irépitas) -

1 Presumably quarried by builder.
? Included under cost of materials.
3 At rate of 3 pesos per dozen.

See rocks for foundation.

As in all other cases, informants did not include
the cost of nails for fastening the roof shakes, the
only place nails are employed. In this case, the
builder made some of the planks, charging the
value of his product into the estimates above.
However, no costs were included for haulage,
except possibly in the case of the pillars. If this
was the case, the pillars were secured rather
cheaply. We may, therefore, add the following

items omitted in the above statement:

Additional costs: Price in pesos
Nails, 3 kilos (probably a little generous) - ___- 3. 00
Hauling beams and planks_______---------- 60. 00
Wiesta for Woot aisings-— = 2222<sc5s22esase2 25, 00

88. 00

Bullderisiestimates === 2-2 s5sescseesecencce 175. 50

Probable total if all labor paid for__________ 263. 50

In this case, probably the haulage was all done

by the builder, and there may have been no fiesta
for the roof completion. The builder sold the
structure for 200 pesos and estimated he had
made a profit of 25 pesos, plus payment for his
work as a plank maker.

To gain a clearer idea of the cost of a house, a
summary of all detailed estimates is given below.
Unfortunately, these may cover different-sized
structures, but they are said to be for average-
sized buildings. Items the owner may have
provided are indicated, in which case in some esti-
mates the low entry might be considered zero;
however, as we are anxious to get an average cost,
this point is omitted for the present.

Tasie 4.—Summary of detailed estimates of cost (in pesos)
of a house, Morelos 31, June 1940

Estimates
Item les =
Lowest Highest

Foundation stones_ ==. -2<--22-2-2-222-2--222_- | 19,00 22. 50
MOOVEMDISNKS ote ne sere eae ee se snes ee | 42. 00 63. 00
G-10iDeamMS Se Sasa oe ee | 4.50 15. 00
i OOP: «sos Soon San ecewe toa tenematceeenses~easstses 2. 00 8. 00
1 trapdoor | 1.50 3. 00
4\pillars..2-<..-... 4. 00 6. 00
12-15 poles (rafters) 11.50 4. 00
18-42 roof stringers -____ 13.50 15. 00
5 to 6irépitas (bundles) 25. 00 30, 00
2-3 kilos of nails___--_- 2.00 3.00
Haulage of planks- -___ 149. 00 49. 00
Haulage of beams-_--_- | 115.00 15. 00
Haulage of pillars__ _- -| 14.00 6. 00
Straightening planks_- | 21. 00 30. 00
Carpenter’s fee_____- sae 50. 00 50. 00
Roof raising fiesta__-___---....-------------------- 220.00 3.50.00
Lbs). 1: (eee erat Rete eee ee a eee 254. 00 369. 50

1 Ttems owner might provide himself.
2 Without music.
3 If relatives do not help.

The lowest figure given here may be further
reduced, as suggested, by the owner doing part
of the work. If we reduce the lowest figure by
deducting all the items which the normal Cherén
man might do himself (if he owns oxen to do the
haulage or may borrow them from friends or
relatives) and eliminate the fiesta, we get the
figure of 152 pesos. This is the least for which
it would appear a Cherdn resident may secure
an averaged-size wooden house, or “troje,”’ approxi-
mately 14 by 16 feet (4.27 by 4.88 meters).

This estimate of 152 pesos may be compared
with gross estimates secured by McCorkle and
Beals. These ranged from 180 to 3800 pesos,
Carrasco secured estimates of from 250 to 300
pesos. However, in every case where a gross

26 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

estimate was obtained and then an itemized
statement secured from the same informant, the
total of the itemized statement ran well below
the original gross figure given. A careful check
of material costs indicates that the lower esti-
mates probably are more nearly correct.

Detailed estimates on kitchens were not secured.
A home-made affair could probably be made by
any man by the purchase of two bundles (irépitas)
of shakes for about 11 pesos (shakes 10 pesos,
nails 1 peso).

One of several approaches used in getting costs
was to secure estimates on a given section of wall
for different types of construction. These esti-
mates indicated that a 1614- by 161- foot (5- by
5-m.) house, exclusive of roof, would cost 138
pesos; and a well-built kitchen the same size,
75 pesos, exclusive of the roof.

Carrasco secured estimates of 20 to 25 pesos
for a poorly-made kitchen of the “torito”’ type in

Cherin. The materials probably were second-
hand. Even without any delivery charges, new

materials would cost over 20 pesos, exclusive of
labor. However, a “‘torito” could be built by most
men without hiring a carpenter. <A well-built
“round house” kitchen, Carrasco was told, would
cost about 100 pesos. This seems reasonable in
terms of material and labor costs.

Carrasco secured comparative prices for Paracho
which, considering the slightly higher cost of

materials, probably are above the prices in
Cherdén. The figures also were obtained from a

master carpenter, who obviously would have an
interest in establishing higher prices.

Total cost
Size of ‘“‘troje’”’ in varas: Labor cost in pesos
Re ee eS = eee, $60. 00 250. 00
Ce pe a eres ae 90. 00 300. 00
ff ee a eee 110. 00 400. 00
53) operas Si I ae eae eee 130. 00 500. 00
(1 Sees eee ee ee eee eee 150. 00 600. 00
Size of tréja kosina in varas
Fae en ee 2 ee 30. 00 60. 00
ene ieee eae Se le ee 45. 00 85. 00
Cees eee a een. ee) ee = 70. 00 125. 00
Se eS eee ee ae 100. 00 182. 00
Size of ‘“torito” in varas:
Ch ae Pe Se ny pee een ee 25. 00 50. 00
(i) byes ar a 30. 00 72. 00

MASONRY-ADOBE STRUCTURES

The costs of materials and labor in building
masonry-adobe structures are as follows:

Adobes: Total cost in pesos
Small size (2% spans long) per 100 !____ 2. 50
Large size (3 spans long) per 100______ 3. 00

Laying adobes, average cost, small size, per

100:
According to one informant____---_-_- 2. 00
According to another informant:
To shoulder height_--------_------ 1. 00
Shoulder height to 9.8 ft. (8 m.)_-___ 1. 50
Above: Si8ift. (sume 2 os eee 2. 00

Manure for mortar (2 sacks per 100
adobes) per large sack (this may be
furnished by the mason).__.-_______-_ 0. 25

Stones:

Quarrying, per 100% 22 Sees ee ee ee 2. 00
Transporting, per 100___-----_----- 2. 00

Mason’s charges per sq. m. (householder
to furnish water and materials) ___-____ 1. 00

Roofing tiles, per 1,000____---__-------- 25. 00 to 30. 00

Bricks (mostly used for flooring or corners
and doors in masonry structures) per
1000. 2-6 Seen eo eee eee eee 32. 00

1100 adobes will make 43 sq. ft. (4 sq. m.) of wall; large-size adobes make a
somewhat thicker wall.

2100 stones” really means 50 burro loads and will make 43 to 53 sq. ft.
(4 to 5 sq. m.) of wall.

Masonry appears to be somewhat more expen-
sive than adobe construction. A wall 8 feet (2.46
m.) high, 16.5 feet (5 m.) long, and of normal con-
struction with 11 feet (44 m.) of masonry buried,

would cost as follows:
Price in pesos

Masonry-adobe (2 estimates) _______ 19. 65 to 21. 00

With large adobes-_______-.-__-- 23. 00
All masonry (1 estimate) __________- 27. 00
The same extent of wall in the usual

wooden house construction_—_____ 23. 00

The best indication of costs of masonry-adobe
houses is supplied by a study of the house of
Pedro Chavez, school teacher of Cherain, under
construction during 1940-41. The costs were
checked in every possible way, in terms of ma-
terials and labor and also in units. It probably
represents as accurate an estimate of costs as can
be secured.

The house itself presents certain peculiarities.
The front and side walls are of adobe brick on the
usual masonry foundation. The ground plan
consists of two rooms with an entryway, or

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE D7

zagudén, between them. The walls facing the
zaguén and the patio are of wood. A foundation
of morticed beams resting on stones supports a
wooden floor and walls. These beams are grooved
as shown in figure 14. Wall boards are tongue-and-
grooved, a type of construction used in Uruapan
but new to Cherin. The wall boards are vertical
and fit in a channel in the ceiling beams. One
room has two windows opening on the street (fig.
14). The roof is of shakes. Chavez actually paid
for only half of one side wall and nothing for the
other (which rests entirely on his land), as his
neighbor paid all the cost. In formulating the
cost estimate, however, the wall was carefully
measured, the number of adobes counted, and the
cost of all masonry-and-adobe work was included
in the total. All the woodwork was done on a
definite contract which included wood materials,
so it Is unnecessary to itemize this.

Costs in pesos

Masonry, 32 m. (106 ft.):

DSS C0 eee ne es ee 24. 00

Mason'scharaes:= 222 -- 2222. 22 ee 32. 00
ENGIG) OY SB Ns AO ee Re Lene ES pe Dee 70. 00
Four stone bases for veranda pillars_______-__---_ 10.00
Zaguéin door (not included in carpenter’s con-

LEEIRE CO) Sr 25. 00
Carpenter’s contract....._..-.-.-_-----_-_--_- 275. 00
Shakes, best grade, 8 bundles_________________- 40. 00
aKOOStOh natise et ee ee ee 6. 00

BIN Citi sl ee es see eee ee eee ae 482. 00
Roofing fiesta (not including contributions of

RELALIVES) ees eee a ae cia a cau eie 30. 00

MotalicostSasa 2s 222 2<-2soesea2cescte ss 512. 00

1 1,433 adobes were used; door and window openings make a lineal estimate
impractical. This figure takes into account different mason’s charges at
different heights.

Two “trojes,” or houses, of approximately the

same size would cost between 500 and 600 pesos,
but the above-described structure has much more
loft storage space through utilization of the area
over the entryway and veranda. The cost prob-
ably would be less if the interior walls were made
of masonry and adobe. A tile roof would have
cost between 100 and 120 pesos, adding 54 to 74
pesos to the cost. Its longer life would make it
cheaper in the long run, however. The owner
probably will lay a tile roof when the shake roof
needs replacing. It should be remembered also
that a kitchen will be employed apart from this
structure.

SUPPLEMENTARY STRUCTURES

The main supplementary structures to be con-
sidered are fences, gates, and sheds. The only
fences involving expenditure are those of masonry-
adobe. Costs are the same per meter as for a
house wall.

The gate will vary in cost. Often it may con-
sist of only a few planks, which may be second-
hand material secured without cost, or even
merely a pole or two laid horizontally across the
opening. <A well-made zagudn gate bought from
a carpenter will cost about 17 pesos and up, de-
pending on size. The balance of the gate, includ-
ing the roof over it, will usually be constructed by
the house owner. Ordinarily, the few shakes
needed will be left over from house building or
may be secured for a few cents.

Sheds are usually built by the householder. A
sizable shed roof might require a bundle of shakes
costing 5 pesos. No nails would be used, the
shakes being held down by rough-hewn strips of
pine and stones.

COMPARISON OF COSTS

It is clear from the foregoing data that a ma-
sonry-adobe structure is as cheap or slightly
cheaper than a wooden house, or “troje.”’ It also
has more storage space. On the other hand, it
requires somewhat more care in upkeep and also
more expense to make it look ‘right’ to the
Tarascan. The interior, for example, should have
a coat of plaster of either adobe or lime and sand.
Preferably, so should the exterior. Both should
also be whitewashed or kalsomined. None of
these costs are included in the estimates.

An interesting comparison is made in table 5
of the costs of the following four categories of
Tarascan houses:

(a) What the Tarascan would conceive to be the mini-
mal shelter, which would be far below the Tarascan
standard of decency.

(b) Housing considered a poor standard but not im-
possible.

(c) A respectable standard for a small family.

(d) A high standard for a small family.

Only people of some wealth normally use ma-
sonry-adobe structures; consequently, only in this
category have I shown costs for this type of
housing, without including any “‘frills” for deco-
ration or finishing.

28 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

TaBsiE 5.—Costs of housing in Cheran

A sores Cost in
Category of housing Description pesos
a. Minimal..____--- _..| One poorly built “torito” kitchen _-_. 25-50
b. Low standard, small} One small troja kosina, or one “‘torito’”’ 175-200
family. kitchen and one small “‘troje.””
c. Adequate standard, | One medium tréja kosina or ‘‘forito” 375-500
small family kitchen and one medium “‘troje.””
@epyy.caltiys:22----2-.- One large troja kosina and two good 550-800
“trojes.””
One tréja kosina and two-room mason- 750
ry-adobe house.

These figures show a very wide range, yet they
still do not represent the true situation. Actually,
of course, if a poverty-stricken person can persuade

a relative or friend to permit him to use a bit of
Jand—as many do—the cost of minimal shelter
could be as low as $11. By begging scraps, even
this figure could be reduced. Such a housing
situation would, however, be regarded as “ fright-
ful” by all Tarascans.

At the other end of the scale, there are numer-
ous Cherén residents who have much more costly
establishments than those represented under d.
Relatively few are in the condition of 6; the great
majority of Cherdn residents would fall in cate-
gory ¢ and a fair proportion in category d. The
discussion of house use will illustrate this point.

RELATION OF HOUSES TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STATUS

Only in a general way is there correlation be-
tween house size and type to social and economic
status. Very poor people would be in categories
aorb. But relatively poor and relatively wealthy
people will often be in class ec. Where the family
occupies a class d category, this will usually be
owing to one, or a combination of the following
things:

1. Size of household. Often two brothers, or a father and
one or more married sons occupy the residence.

2. A special occupation, such as storekeeping, may be
followed.

3. There may be definite social pretensions. Of these
three causes, the last seems least operative. Wealth
is a necessary prerequisite to anything more elaborate
than class d housing but wealth is often concealed.
Numerous families in class d are far from wealthy
by Cherdn standards.

These judgments are somewhat subjective, but
case material could be cited to support them.

USES OF THE TARASCAN HOUSE

STORAGE

The Cherén house is really a storehouse. The
loft and, sometimes, the lower floor are employed
for storage of crops and food reserves. The lower
floor is used for the storage of clothing, furniture
not in immediate use, and for the family altar
and the image of the saint. On occasion, it may
be used as a sleeping room for guasts. Supple-
mentary sheds also may be used for crop storage,
especially for fodder for animals.

SLEEPING AND COOKING

Cooking and eating is all done in the kitchen.
Guests may be fed in the kitchen, outside, on the
house veranda, or in the house. Female visitors
are usually entertained in the kitchen. Male
visitors are more apt to be entertained outdoors
or on the house veranda, depending on the
weather.

In mountain towns. siseping is always in the

kitchen. With few exceptions, the entire family
sleeps on mats about the fire. Cold weather and
lack of bedding are given as the reasons for this.
Even where a masonry-adobe structure with a
bed exists, the family normally sleeps in the
kitchen.

On ceremonial occasions modifications occur.
The house to some extent becomes a center of
activities, while cooking will move into the open
or under supplementary sheds. These occasions
are not many. In the main, family life takes
place outdoors when the weather permits; in the
kitchen when it does not. The term ‘house’ in
practice is a euphemism, and some members of
the family may not enter the structure for days
at a time.

HOUSE SIZE AND HOUSEHOLD SIZE

A survey of Cherdin houses was made to deter-
mine the relationship between size of buildings

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 29

and the number of persons in the household. A
sampling technique was used, and about 5 percent
of the houses in each barrio, or cuartel, were
measured and a census of their inhabitants taken.
The only subjective factor in the study was the
selection of houses for measurement. An effort
was made to select houses in different classifica-
tions more or less in the proportions in which

pied a lot, 6 had no house. These cases must be
ascribed to poverty in all probability. The same
is true of the 4 cases where single families occupy-
ing a lot had no houses. The housing situation
suggests, then, that 19.2 percent of Cheran resi-
dents are inadequately housed according to
Cheran standards.

Considerable inequality in the amount of living

TaBLE 6.—Data on Cherdén houses showing relation between size of house and number of persons in household in comparison
with similar data on Sevina houses

Data
Families per . . Average living Average kitchen
Town and cuartel Horses lot Persons per lot House size per lot space Average area
ots:\|' meas= || eetoraee Remarks
ured | Aver- Aver- Per el Not Per per-
auat Range age Range | Average Range Per lot Hie Per lot ai
| |
Cheran: No. No. No. No. No. No. Feet Feet Sq.ft. | Sq.ft. | Sq.ft. | Sq.ft. | Sq. ft.
Cuartel 1_----_- 190 10 ny 4 1-3 5 2-11 13X14 9X9-18 X18 295 59 124 197 40 | 6 out of 10 lots
had no house.
Cuartel 2___.._- 280 13 156 1-3 6 2-16 14X16 11X9-28X40 349 69.8 178 142 28 | 4 one 13 had
no house.
Cuartel 3_.-.... 390 17 1.65 1-3 5.47 3-10 15X17 12X12-26X22 439 80.3 300 164 30 | 3 outa 17 had
no house.
Cuartel 4.__.._- 270 12 1.6 1-3 5. 25 3-9 13X11 9X9-28 X20 239 45 76 90 19 | 2 ono 12 had
no house.
Seving:-22...----. i ay 18 1.4 1-3 4. 67 2-8 | 15144X1316 9X7-24X22 452 | 97 ahead [esreeporenies| bape ap aes
they seemed to occur in the ecwartel. As this space per person is evident, even when averages

study was done only after several months of
familiarity with the town, it is believed the sub-
jective error is not large. Comparative data
are given from the town of Sevina. In the latter
town, two streets were selected, and data taken
from every house on each of the two streets from
the central plaza to the edge of town.

It is evident that in an appreciable number of
cases more than one family occupies a lot. This
situation may be due to several causes. In some
instances, it is a reflection of extreme poverty.
In others, it results from sons remaining with
their parents after marriage. In some instances
also sons or sons and daughters may jointly oc-
cupy a lot inherited from their parents without
subdividing the property.

In those cases where no house existed, 15 out
of 52, poverty is indicated. It is true, however,
that cases may exist where the person may be
relatively comfortable financially and has not
built a house because he has no agricultural land
and hence no great need for storage space. In
most cases where more than i family occupied a
lot, there is a separate kitchen for each family.
In the 22 cases in which more than 1 family ocecu-

from the different cuartels are compared. This
difference is even more marked in terms of the
individual families. Individual households may
vary from 179 square feet of living space per per-
son to as little as 22 square feet per person. This
inequality appears less marked, however, if only
kitchen space is considered. In view of living
habits, the amount of space per person in the
kitchens is a more accurate indicator of living
conditions. This also varies appreciably from
household to household but the range appears to
be from 14 square feet (1.3 sq. m.) of kitchen
space per person in cases with a house also—or
from about 20 square feet (1.85 sq. m.) in cases
without a house—to as high as 95 square feet
(8.82 sq. m.) per person. The smailest kitchens,
with relation to number of persons, appear in
cases with a house as well. However, the largest
kitchen space appears in connection with house-
holds also having a house or houses.

It is probable that a number of these families
are inadequately housed according to Tarascan
standards, but no minimum figure can be set
from present knowledge. An abstract minimum
of the proper number of square feet per person

30 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

could be established, however, in which case the
number of inadequately housed persons could be
calculated from the data given.

Little comparative information is available on
the subject of house use. In a number of areas
where masonry-adobe structures predominate,
however, it is apparent that the kitchen is not

CEREMONIAL AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONS RELATED TO THE
TARASCAN HOUSE

CEREMONIES

Two ceremonial activities are common in con-
nection with Cherin house construction. One is
extremely simple; it consists of placing a cord, on.
which are tied several small bunches of flowers,
over every door and window of the structure as
the frame and lintel are completed. No par-
ticular beliefs connected with this could be dis-
covered, but it is almost always done.

The second ceremonial event in connection with
house building occurs when the shakes are placed
on the roof. For such an event, called ‘com-
bate,” there is usually a sizeable fiesta, and most
of the relatives of the owner come. Close rela-
tives may also aid in the cost of the ceremony.
In addition, the master builder and a corps of
assistants attend the ceremony. It is virtually
impossible to complete a house without holding
this ceremony. In one case, an informant did
not wish to give the ceremony (this occurred
while working for the survey on which this paper
is based), but first a cousin offered to supply the
music for the fiesta, and then an uncle offered to
supply the atole. Both insisted on knowing the
date of the fiesta, and eventually the informant
felt he had to hold it.

On the eve of the ceremony, the house owner
takes about three packages of cigarettes and a
box of matches to the master builder. With
these, the builder invites his friends and relatives.
If they accept an offered cigarette, they are
obligated to appear to help finish the roof. The
master builder, however, is obligated to respond
to a similar invitation. These helpers nail on the
shakes; the relatives of the house owner may
assist in handing up the shakes and other needed
materials, but they do not assist in the nailing.

All the relatives of the house owner are invited

used for sleeping ordinarily. This seems to be
true of the Lake, Zacépu, and Canada sections.
How far this is a function of the type of archi-
tecture and how far it is due to climatic condi-
tions remains to be established. In general, the
Sierra region is colder and sleeping is in the
kitchen even where masonry-adobe buildings exist.

and are expected to attend or send excuses. When
they arrive, they give the householder or his wife
a package of cigarettes or 10 or 15 centavos,
which is regarded as the equivalent of the package
of cigarettes. The men present their cigarettes
to the man of the house, the women to the wife.
The man salutes those who make this present,
tipping his hat and shaking hands. The women
also shake hands and curtsey. The women help
in the preparation of food, while the men help
the master builder and his assistants with the
roof,

After the work is well along, a bottle of aguar-_
diente, or charanda, is circulated at intervals —
among those working. When the work is com-
pleted, the men are fed, then all the boys. They —
are all seated on two logs facing one another.
Male relatives of the house owner assist in serv-
ing; sometimes a compadre will aid also if he is a
particularly good friend of the householder. The
women eat in a group near the fires where cooking
is done. The food is the regular ceremonial
food: tortillas, beef stew with chile and cabbage
(éuripu), and tamales (kurtinda).

The master builder meanwhile leaves the house
and shortly afterward returns with his wife and
other immediate members of his family. They
are seated on a mat facing the new house and are
fed there. A cross with an arch over it, decorated
with paper flowers, is set in the middle of the
ridge of the roof. It is said to protect the house
against violent storms and the devil.° The house

® Use of the cross on the house is common throughout the Tarascan area,
In most of the Sierra towns, the crosses are only some 10 inches (25 em.) in
height, but in Particutin they are over a meter (39 in.) tall. Here the
cross is placed against the house wall, and often with a vase or jar for flowers
tied to it. Tile-roofed houses have the cross painted in white on the tiles,
fastened to the wooden “shoe” supporting the ridge pole, or carved on the
capital.

In Paracho, the priest is often brought to bless a new house. Two men

go to request the priests’ presence. They are regarded as godfathers of the
house and become compadres of the house owner and the master carpenter.

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE ail

owner, the master builder, and his helpers, and
the nearer relatives of the house owner are now
decorated with festoons of pieces of bread, some
in the shape of animals, toasted wheat tortillas,
and flowers. These are brought in a procession
from the house of a relative. Women carry
baskets on their heads and dance in the streets.
The musicians accompany the party. The vari-
ous articles are tied to the women’s belts and
then are hung about the necks of the men. These
strings are called ‘‘cwelgas” (pl. 8, right). As a
special guest, Beals was decorated with the
others, and care was taken to explain to him
that it was customary to return the belts. The
master builder and, particularly, the house owner
received several festoons of this kind.

Following this ceremony there was dancing,
which lasted until late at night. In the particular
ceremony described, the householder drank very
little. The next day several of the relatives
returned with liquor and insisted that he get drunk
with them as he had not drunk the day before.

The other major occasion on which ceremonies
occur in connection with houses is when a house is
moved from one location to another. A man
wishing to move a house to a new location hires a
master builder to supervise the work. He also
invites all his relatives, who are obligated to come.
The women aid in preparing food, while the men
take apart the house, carry it to the new location,
and erect it again. The house owner takes no
part in this work; in fact, he is apt to become drunk
and be something of a nuisance. The relatives
are fed at midday and again in the evening, but
they do not ordinarily drink much until evening.
Even then most of them are apt to go home before
eating or immediately after eating. Ordinarily,
a house will be moved completely in 1 day; some-
times, however, part of the roof will be unfinished,
in which case a few men will return the next day
to complete the work.

A special feature observed at a house moving,
but nowhere else, was the serving of tobacco from
the lowlands and corn husks for rolling cigar-
ettes. At all other ceremonies the host frequently
passed around cirgarettes, but they were of the
usual commercial type.

The house is the center of numerous other
festivities and ceremonials, but they do not pertain
to the house directly. The major occasions are

weddings, funerals, and mayordomias. In the
latter type of ceremony, the image of a saint is
kept in the house for a year. However, as the
use of the house is incidental in all these cases, the
ceremonies will not be described. It may be
noted, however, that probably the image of a
saint would not be entrusted to a family unless it
had adequate housing for it Another special
feature in connection with weddings is also worth
mentioning. The most important ceremonial
directly associated with a structure takes place,
not in the house, but in the kitchen. This is a
ceremony where all the close relatives of the bride
and groom enter into the relationship of the
compadrazgo, that is, they assume the relationship
of godparents to each others’ children.

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS

The house is involved in a number of social
usages and obligations. As a piece of moveable
property, it may be sold or inherited independently
of the land on which it stands. Sale or inheritance
follows the same rules as exist for other property,
however. As these rules will be treated in another
paper, they will not be repeated here.

Residence rules operate with respect to houses.
Normally, after marriage, the bride and groom
live for a time in the house of the groom’s father.
This may continue for several years, but, usually
after the birth of a child, if not before, an effort
will be made to establish the son in a house of his
own. This may be done merely by erecting a
separate kitchen for the new household. Ideally,
however, the son will have a lot, house, and kitchen
of his own. In exceptional cases, however, the
family remains as a unit until the death of the
father. All the sons live on the same lot, and
the father directs economic activities and controls
the family treasury. Such a household is said
always to separate after the death of the father.

Ownership of a house entails numerous com-
munity obligations. A house owner, first of all,
must pay taxes to the Federal Government
through the local tax office. A percentage of
these taxes goes to the municipal government
also. The house owner is responsible for the re-
pair and cleaning of the street in front of his
property. This is not strictly enforced; only
street cleaning is demanded and this ordinarily

a2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

only on the days preceding a town fiesta. The
householder is also expected to work on certain
community enterprises, such as repairing roads or
bridges and the water system. Likewise, unless
he occupies some special position which exempts
him, or is well along in years, he will be expected
at times to join the ronda, or night watch, which
polices his ewartel, or barrio.

Chern is unique in its attitude toward visitors.
We have already mentioned the general occurrence
of fences. These are usually high enough to pre-
vent passers-by on the street from peering into
the house yard. Visitors always knock at the
gate or call out, announcing themselves. As some-
times the inmates will not respond to a knock,
the call is useful in getting a response. Unless
the visitor is a relative, compadre, or neighbor

with whom especially friendly relations exist, nor-
mally the visitor is not invited into the house
yard. Conversation takes place at the gate of
the yard; if it bids fair to be protracted, the
householder may even step into the street and
continue the conversation there, closing the gate
behind him.

So far as is known, customs in other mountain
towns are similar in all respects except for the
attitude toward visitors. In most towns fences
are rarer than in Cherian, and the visitor is invited
to enter. In Sevina, it is customary for the visitor
to push open the gate, pass into the middle of the
house yard, and then announce himself. Two
Cherén men who accompanied Beals to Sevina,
commented at length on this difference; they were
quite plainly shocked at the custom.

RELATION OF THE TARASCAN HOUSE TO THE ENVIRONMENT

CHERAN

The wooden house, or “troje,’’ of Cherain is
relatively dry but, in the absence of any method
of heating, it is uncomfortably cold most of the
year, especially at night. The kitchen floor is
frequently damp; although it is heated by fire,
ventilation is inadequate, and the smoke often
irritating to eyes and throat. On windy days,
also, drafts whistle through cracks or under the
lower edges of the walls. The masonry-adobe
type of construction also presents drawbacks. It
is not heated either and, while wind is less apt to
penetrate, it is often unsatisfactorily ventilated.
Moreover, the dampness climbs up through the
walls at least 6 months of every year and into
every corner of the room.

Probably the “troje,”’ or house loft, can most
easily be made impervious to rodents if it be well
built, and if bunches of cactus be fastened at
strategic points on the outside walls. Rarely,
however, is this true. In addition, the roof often
permits entry of birds, particularly half-wild
domesticated pigeons, and scarcely ever is any-
thing done to prevent their forays on the maize.
It is doubtful if the masonry-adobe structure is
superior in any respect for loft storage. For
main-floor storage it probably is inferior owing to
the greater dampness.

The major insect pests are fleas. In some vil-
lages there are also bedbugs. There seems little
to choose between the various types of structures,
although the earthen floor of the kitchen facili-
tates the activities of fleas. At certain seasons of
the year, all Tarascan houses swarm with fleas to
such an extent that the residents often cannot get
a satisfactory night’s sleep.

Apparently, the climatic conditions are not
propitious for Jarge numbers of houseflies or
related species. Those that do exist, however,
have free access into houses. Mosquitoes and
other noxious insects are unknown at Cherdn.

In the lack of good medical statistics, it is
impossible to estimate the relation between health
and housing conditions. Fleas may be respon-
sible for the transmission of some cases of typhus
and perhaps other diseases. Relative to most
places in Mexico, however, insect-borne disease
is probably at a minimum. Head lice and, to
some extent, body lice occur, despite thorough
weekly baths, and the crowded living and sleeping
conditions in the kitchen must facilitate trans-
mission of the insects.

The most serious health hazards of the Tarascan
house probably lie in the damp condition much of
the year, lack of ventilation, and close crowding
of the inmates, especially at night. These con-
ditions facilitate the spread of all diseases trans-

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 33

mitted by contact and particularly respiratory
and pulmonary infections. Although data are
lacking, a high incidence of tuberculosis is sus-
‘pected. There seems little to choose between
various house types for health.

COMPARATIVE DATA

Most Sierra towns, on superficial acquaintance,
seem to have similar conditions. Local varia-
tions, of course, occur as the result of differences in
rainfall and temperature (functions of location
and altitude) and the number of animals kept
(causing variations in the number of flies).

HISTORY OF THE

In this section we try to determine the antiquity
of modern house types. We do not include all
the data found in early sources referring to pre-
Spanish houses and house uses, but base our
study of the history of the Tarascan house on
modern tradition and especially on the writings
of the 16th century. Traditions appear to supply
useful data concerning the last century or so,
The houses of stone and adobe are usually con-
sidered to be relatively recent introductions in
the Sierra region, but of older use in the Lake
area. This view is supported by the relatively
greater frequency of stone and adobe in the towns
showing most Mestizo influence. In the Lake
region, it is remembered that wooden structures
once were more frequent. In La Canada, at
Chilchota, the lack of adequate streets is referred
to the older custom of building houses in the
center of the lot.

Among the variant wooden-house types dis-
cussed, kitchens of poles and “‘trojes’’ and the
tréja kosina of logs are regarded as the oldest
types. Tools, until recently were limited to the
ax, adze, chisel, and awl. Shakes were fastened
with wooden pins or stones.

Beyond a century, however, tradition is of no
value. The pre-Hispanic Tarascans and those of
a few generations ago are merged into “los ante-
pasados’’ and, unless an historically known event
is referred to, it is difficult to know to what
period a tradition refers. So, even if data on

1 This section is almost entirely the work of Pedro Carrasco.
§ In this connection, it should be recalled that the Sierra uses the Spanish
word adobe, while in the Lake area a native word (iaudrukata) is known.

In lower and drier areas such as La Cafiada,
where different house types occur, information is
inadequate to make any useful comparison.
Masonry-adobe structures are probably less damp,
but flies are more numerous. In the Lake region,
there are also mosquitoes, apparently including
those of the Anopheles genus. Dr. D. F. Rubin
de la Borbolla tells us that in Tzintzutzan on Lake
Patzcuaro he suspects the population to be 100
percent infected with malaria. The cause of this,
naturally, is only to a very slight extent related to
housing conditions, although screening of sleeping
quarters no doubt would somewhat lower the
chances of infection.

TARASCAN HOUSE’

houses of the antepasados were given, they would
be untrustworthy.

Some of the data available from the 16th
century refer to a wider area than that covered
by this study. These include the “Relaciones
geograficas” ® of the 16th century and the diction-
ary of Gilberti.!? The “Relacién de Michoacdn,”
on the other hand, refers only to events occurring
about Lake Pdtzcuaro."

The “Relaciones geogrdéficas,” written about 1580,
refer almost entirely to houses with adobe walls
and straw roofs, adding that they often are small
and of little shelter. In the valley of the Rfo
Balsas, houses of bajareque (poles or canes inter-
woven and plastered with clay) are described
but this type is not referred to in trerra fria.
Sahagtin remarks: “Sus casas eran lindas, aunque
todas ellas de paja.”’”

In Gilberti, reference is also made to adobe
(iaudrukata), stone (tsintsicata), and wood (“tsir-
incata, hacer casas de cafia 0 palos’’; “tsirindacata,
casa ast hecha”’). In addition to “quahta, casa”
(today k‘uta’, in Angahuan), Gilberti gives “casa
pajiza, quaqua, acarutaqua, acxcata.”

The plates of the “Relacién de Michoacin” show
that houses usually had a rectangular floor plan
or, perhaps, sometimes a round floor plan (fig. 19,
j, k; m is described in the text as a provisional

9 Relaciones geograficas de Michoacén, unpublished. Copy in the Na-
tional Museum of Mexico.

10 F, Maturino Gilberti. Vocabulario en lengua de Michoacén, México,

5¢
cee de las ceremonias y ritos y poblacién y governaci6n de los indios
de la provincia de Michoacan. Morelia, 1903.

12 Fr, Bernardino de Sahagin. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva
Espana. T. 3, p. 135. Mexico, 1938.

34 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

LPEEOEROT
172 faint Oh Set CLO as
PALL ttt tt YN ue

CUP PUES Cees

Ficure 19.—Representations of houses in the plates of the
“Relacion de Michoacan.”

shelter). The roofs appear to be of straw or
palm, in some cases with a very large comb or
crest undoubtedly resulting from the manner of
interweaving the palm at the ridge of the roof.
In other cases, the roof is pyramidal or conical
and is surmounted by something which may be
an inverted pottery vessel. This is what may
be referred to by Gilberti: “hucahtsiqua, wn re-
mate que se pone encima de la casa,” and “chapitel
de casa pajiza, bhucahtsiqua.’”’® Verandas are
depicted in the plates and references to them
are made in the text.

It is evident that modern houses do not cor-
respond to those of the 16th century. Adobe
walls may be pre-Hispanic, but the present
methods of construction reveal Spanish influence.

Hucahtasiqua (in the alphabet of the ‘Consejo de Lenguas Indigenas”’
jukaj¢akua) can be anlayzed as “‘a thing placed on a summit.”

Tiles are unquestioaably Spanish in origin, and
the architectural types of the Lake resemble

Spanish types more than they do the illustra-

tions of the “Relacién de Michoacan.”

Wooden houses are not mentioned in the
“Relaciones geograficas” (fig. 20). Although the
cabeceras described in these Relaciones are not in
the Sierra, part of their territories are in the Sierra
and some subject villages were in the Sierra. For
example, the “Relacioén de Peribén”’ says: “las casas
deste dicho pueblo e sus sujetos son pequefios e de
poco sustén e muy baxas, son cubiertas de paxa
y los cimientos de piedra y las paredes de adobes
e barro”. Among the subject towns of Periban
were San Francisco, Atapan, Charapan, and San
Lorenzo, all villages of the Sierra, as well as others
not identificable because the native name is not
given, but which, from their description, are
evidently in the Sierra.

The sole modern construction which might
have been in existence in the 16th century is
the Gmutakata, for in Gilberti occurs “tsirimba
troje asentado en cuarto palos.”” The houses of
canes and poles (tsirindacata of Gilberti) may
have been similar, in a general way, to some
modern kitchens of a simple type or to shelters.

The principal historical problem is to deter-
mine whether the shake roof and the log wall
with interlocking corners is of European or pre-
Hispanic American origin. Both elements are
well known in Europe and were introduced in
North America, the interlocked log walls beiag
brought by Swedish colonists to the Delaware
River. In our case, information is scanty. We
do not find references to log houses from before
the Conquest or early Colonial times. As to the
shakes, the question appears somewhat clearer.
The Spanish and Tarascan words for shake
(tejamanil, tasimani) are both derived from the
Nautl tlaxamanilli, a descriptive word meaning
“split thing.” Nevertheless, shakes are known
in Spain, and their Spanish origin in Mexico
is confirmed by the Relacién of 1581 on the
Taxco region near Michoacan, stating that shakes
were used as covering for Spaniards’ houses, those
of the Indians being thatched. A similar situ-

ation is found today in the Tsotsil region of

14 In shepherds’ huts of the Basque country. Anales del Museo de
Pueblo Espanol, vol. 1, p. 91, pl. 7. 1935.

15 Papeles de Nueva Espana, vol 6, p. 281. Madrid, 1905.

35

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE

i
1
Zapotlan x

oe Chilchota mY

a & BAe Bbare

‘"
‘
i

af
_--Patzcuaro

Saas

ss iti ,
°Périban

ine a ee a or oe

\

Ayychitian one

Distribution of types of houses
according to the “Relaciones Geogrdficas

thatched roof
adobe wall

stone fou ndation

A

stone wall

cane and wood wall

_ wattle wall (of cane and clay)

ey erescen boundary in the {oth century

” Present Tarascan boundary

Ficure 20.—Distribution of types of houses according to the “Relaciones geographicas

36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 1

Chiapas, where ladinos use tiles or shakes for
their houses while Indians continue to use thatch.

It seems sound, then, to assume that shakes
were introduced into Mexico by a small group of
Spaniards, and that their use spread rapidly and
intensely in wooded country. As shakes were
probably unknown to a great part of the Span-
iards, the Nauatl descriptive word prevailed over
the Spanish one.

The history of shakes and of interlocked log
structures cannot, however, be resolved defini-
tively without taking into account all the data
from Middle America. At the present time, log
structures are found among the Trique, Mixteca,
and Mixe in Oaxaca; in the region between
Perote and Jalapa, in the Sierra de Puebla; and
among the Tepehuano and the Tarahumara.
Shakes have a wider distribution.

The modern use of the Spanish word troje and
the Tarascan ¢arimba (in Angahuan) suggests
that these were once granaries which have evolved
into the modern wooden house. In the “‘Relacién

de Michoacéin” we read about trojes for storing
food, clothes, and idols, but no reference is made
to the shape or building materials of these trojes.
Probably we have here a precedent to the clear-cut
distinction between troje and cocina of the modern
Sierra Tarascans.

To summarize, we may conclude that the pre-
Hispanic houses were predominantly of adobe,
with thatched, four-shed roofs. The Spaniards
introduced tile roofs and modifications in the
architectural type. On the other hand, new iron
tools and building techniques (shakes and prob-
ably interlocking logs) favored the use of wood in
construction on a large scale. Although wooden
houses have their center ot distribution in the
Sierra, they are still found in the regions of Urua-
pan, La Canada, Lake Patzcuaro, and elsewhere,
once having been much more common in those
districts. With timber becoming increasingly
scarce, adobe construction has virtually displaced
wood in the adjoming districts and is invading the
Sierra.

CONTEMPORARY TARASCAN HOUSING PROBLEMS

In the Introduction of this paper, a number of
problems were discussed relating to the evaluation
of Tarascan housing.

Although accurate determination of value
standards for setting ideal goals for Tarascan
houses is not pretended, some general conclusions
seem possible. Tarascan houses are below the
most desirable health standards from the stand-
point of dryness, ventilation, protection from
cold, and freedom from insects. In general, the
wooden type of architecture is less damp and
better ventilated. It is perhaps less warm, a
deficiency compensated for by use of the fire in
the kitchen, with the additional drawback, of
course, of smoke irritation of the eyes and respira-
tory tract. There seems little to choose between
the two types of constructio1 from the standpoint
of rodents and insects.

Economically, the masonry-adobe type of con-
struction seems to be a little cheaper. For most
Sierra Tarascans, however, this advantage is
illusory and only holds for those who can afford
to hire all the labor done. The masonry-adobe
construction calls for the employment of special-
ists throughout. Most Sierra Tarascan males, on

the other hand, are capable of doing a considerable
amount of the necessary work on a wooden struc-
ture. For those below the higher economic levels,
then, it is probable that wooden structures are
potentially less expensive than are those of
masonry and adobe. In other words, in terms of
the distribution of skills within the population,
wooden structures are more apt to produce ade-
quate housing if space be the main objective. It
should be observed, however, that this probably
is not true in many Lake and Cafiada villages,
where access to timber is absent or difficult, but
skill in making adobe bricks is common.

As has been indicated, about 20 percent of the
population of Cherdén is inadequately housed ac-
cording to Tarascan standards. For these, any
change in housing conditions quite obviously is
related to wider economic problems and conditions.
What of the other 80 percent according to ideal
standards? Until medical determination is made
of the proper amount of living space per person in
the Tarascan climate, no complete answer to this
question can be made. It can be asserted, how-
ever, that better housing is possible for most of
this SO percent if two things could be accom-

HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS—BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 37

plished: changes in construction methods, and
changes in living habits and house use.

One needed alteration in construction methods
is in the direction of better ventilation for living
quarters. This means more ventilation for
masonry-adobe structures and better controlled
ventilation for wooden structures (including ade-
quate smoke-venting). Moisture-proof concrete
foundations for masonry-adobe structures would
remove a major drawback to this type of con-
struction. Neither of these changes would in-
crease costs beyond the reach of most of the
80 percent who approach present Cheran standards
of adequate housing. In less prosperous towns,
however, the added expense of concrete founda-
tions would be more serious, particularly in towns
not accessible by road.

In Cherén, living habits are a more serious
drawback to adequate housing conditions than are
economic factors (always excepting the lower
20 percent). As has been shown, actual living
goes on in the kitchen, which serves for both
eating and sleeping. Much potential living space
thus is unused. Whether a wooden or a masonry-
adobe house is owned, it is not used for any part

of healthful living. The problem, then, is to
secure use of more of the available living space.
This may prove more difficult than providing
additional living space. It is our impression that
the answer to this problem les partly in intro-
ducing practical, economical, and cleanly ways of
heating parts of the buildings other than the
kitchen, partly in persuading Tarascans to pur-
chase and care for additional bedding and clothing.
Economically, the introduction of heating would
be easier for the Sierra Tarascans (who can cut
their own wood) than would the purchase of more
bedding and clothing. Introduction of adequate
care for bedding likewise would be difficult.

Essentially, then, for the majority of the Cheran
population, improvement of housing conditions is
not an economic problem. Rather is it a problem
of altering basic patterns of culture. It may be
concluded, therefore, that in addition to the
economic betterment of the lower segments of the
population, a program of education and directed
acculturation is required. The housing problems
consequently merge into the wider problems of
education and culture change.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1944

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 1 PLATE 1

Upper: Angahuan, showing the rectangular arrangement of streets and the large lots. Lower: A portion of the town of Cheran, viewed
from the hill in the northwest section, which furnishes most of the stone used in building.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 1 PLATE 2

Upper: “Troje” in Angahuan with a shed in front in place of a veranda. Lower: A street on the outskirts of the town of Cheran.
Fences are carlessly built of dry stone, supplemented by poles,

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adds aduaj aqopr

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yalvid |! '°ON NOILVOINENd ADOTOdOYHLNY 1VIDOS 40 ALNLILSNI

PUBLICATION NO. 1 PLATE 5

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Upper (left): Simple kitchen under construction in Cheran, “pte derecho” type. Upper (right): Two roof sections in place in process
of moving a Cheran house. Lower (left): Arrangement of rafters in Paracho house without ridge pole. Lozwer (right): Old house

and absence of capitals of the pillars should be noticed. The walls are of

in Parache of unusual style. The elaborate carvi
vertical planks rather than the normal horizontal construction.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 1 PLATE 6

Upper (left): Kitchen of simple type with corner posts (Angahuan) Uoper (right): Kitchen of elaborate type (Angahuan). The gate
half door is rare in Cheran.. Middle (eft): Wooden “troje” at Ihuatzio, Lake Patzcuaro, with tile roof and adobe support for
ridge kc Viddle (right): Storehouse of style found mainly in Angahuan (amutakata) Lower (left): Large storehouse
ta) over gate Lower (center): Storehouse (Gmutakata) with lower part made into a room, Lower (right): Storehouse
Canpacuarc

Lise

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL. ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 1 PLATE7

Upper (left): Mason at work in Cheran. Upper (right);-Fairly elaborate roof construction at Ihuatzio typi of adobe structures
Middle (right): Gate roofed with tile, Ihuatzio. Lower (Jeft): Stone house at Paracho with shake roof of “‘¢roje” style. Lozver
(right): Ihuatzio house with veranda, seen from one end. The “‘plancha,” or plate, is carried clear across the house in this case
and doubled at the ends. The wooden support, or “burrito,” for the ridge pole is cle

arly seen

PLATE 8

1

PUBLICATION NO

TITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 2

CHERAN:
A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE

by
RALPH L. BEALS

Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of
State as a Project of the Interdepartmental Committee
on Cultural and Scientific Cooperation

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 2

CHERAN:
A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE

by

RALPH L. BEALS

Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of
State as a Project of the Interdepartmental Committee
on Cultural and Scientific Cooperation

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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE + WASHINGTON :

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY,
Washington 25, D. C., June 21, 1944.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled
“Cheran: A Sierra Tarascan Village,’ by Ralph L. Beals, and to recom-
mend that it be published as Publication Number 2 of the Institute of
Social Anthropology, which has been established by the Smithsonian Insti-
tution as an autonomous unit of the Bureau of American Ethnology to
carry out cooperative work in social anthropology with the American
Republics as part of the program of the Interdepartmental Committee on
Cultural and Scientific Cooperation.

Very respectfully yours,
JULIAN H. STEWARD, Director.

Dr. C. G. ABBOT,

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

TOSSED Oe Ee ee eee ee ee
TENA EU (© 00) Se ee
REGO UIC LO Meas areas 2 es al Ee re 8 ese
The setting and the people __________--_---_-.---------
BRECON GOO Vp eee aes ee ae ep Sees
Exploitative activities __............-.--.-----------

(fo) fb oY - een ee ee eee ane eee

(Wiseof minerals: _--- ...222-2-222-.2222-2-2ce2-c--

Wa ben SUD DIY << 2 oeeeo= en oees ned -sebe esac

orest. utilization: =. -2--2<---cs-s2cose =o on
ATTNS GL eee eee eee pee ere meee
SCS (OLA A 2) ee

Types of farm lands
The farming cycle __-

Soil preparation

14 CAV Z2) 5. ae a Se a

Manufacturing processes ___....._._-..---.----_--
(Chesegy ci oh Be ae ees oe
BING Xb) x beeen eee een 2s ot 2
Clothing and dress habits......._...____.
Woodworking techniques ___-._-.__-._.-.-.--
Miscellaneous processes ______-.-____--------
Specialized service occupations _______.__-
Food processing and diet........-......._---

Meat foods 222224 -.--<..-2.-- 222k. ==.
Maize st 00d si seewcens ee ee ee
IRICER TO OCS = ao- eaten eee
Amaranth foods _______.-_-_.-.-_.._---.-
Wiheat foods. --.2.-..<.2-2-------222------
Vegetables and fruits .........._.___-
BOVCT AC CS eee aca ae setae anne eee eee
Some fiesta foods__.._.-..........-..--.-
Quantities and cost of foods_-_-___---
Comparative notes _.___........._._.-
Eating customs

(CEE E:T paket Seer ea es
Credit, loans, and interest..__.__.____.__.
Costs of production and income ____..___._____-
Agriculture ________-
Animal husbandry
WOO WOPKIN 9+ 2. - 2222252 ce soe es eee
Mineral processing and use__...___------
mextile’ manufacture _....---..----.--------_--

CONTENTS

PAGE
Economiecs—Continued
Costs of production and income—Continued
Minor activities _...............------------- i. 72
Dy stron ees ee cae eaten 75
TAC ers ieee ec ee ee ee 76
Transportation’ -2-<— 225 eee eee 78
Storekeepers, 2920 2oe- Ss Sees 79
Miaieket geese. fee ane een ee 79
OTS UI LL OTN geo ee ene ee ee 83
AViEULUIG ETC D1 CC tee re oa es 86
Wealth and property..........-.-------------------- 87
The ‘COMMUNIGY=——3-- 82a oe eee sees ee ceene semen ss 91
THE: MUNICDIO® 222 2 oan nee e sees ease 91
The town and its subdivisions.--..---...-..-.-.-- 92
Ther popula tons 22. 2ec see sceee se ecee cess 93
Kinship terminology and behaviors.....-....-- 100
he compadre systems =<. 2c- cs mae eee 102
GOVErnment 222222228 eee oe oer eee seen 104
Barrio functions and communal
TIN PLO WEMI GN bes a eee 108
Blections:... 2.02.2 22a s2-2nneectee- cece + --sseecemecace 109
Biscall system ses teee eeeee 111
Unofficial oreanizations -.--------<-2---<-2-------—- 112
Conflict and awe. s-2- oe eee 114
Religion and ceremonial..._.-...-..---------------------- 116
STie Rare ee a i eee pla by ¢
The priest and the Church organization ____- 118
Relipious) fiestas. as cee 120
Fiesta of the patron saint_------------------ 120
he diuiestas Of COTPUS .-o2e-- ees eee 125
Maestao tea © Cte Vel erences oe 127
COE Whig: | Ue ei Reet ne eames 127
bent and Holy Week-.---:-----------.-------- 127
Minor fiestas .----s22c-ce=.-2--c2--=sasce-eoeeees 129
Secnilare tes tia Se ee enemas 129
House-roofing fiesta.........----.-------------- 129
Fiestas in other’ towns:.-.--.--.-.-------..-— 130
Mayordomia organization and the cult of
BEG eS TA GS ee aa ee 131
Mayordomias__----------------------------------------- 137
Mayordomia of the Santo Nino.____------- 137
Mayordomia of Santa Nieves__------------ 138
Mayordomia of Guadalupe. ....-.----------- 138
Mayordomia of San Isidro__-.-._----------- 138
Mayordomia of San José _..........------- 139
Mayordomia of Santa Inéz.___-....-..------ 139
Mayordomia of San Rafael ____--..------- 139
Mayordomia of San Antonio _.-.--.--.--- 140
Mayordomias of San Anselmo___-----.----- 141
Mayordomia of the Three Kings._-.--.--- 141
Mayordomia of Santa Cecilia_..-...---.-- 142

Religion and ceremonial—Continued
Mayordomias—Continued
The Miraculous Holy Child...
Comparative notes
Dances
The moros __----—---—---- eee eee
he negritos.- 2-2 8
Unorganized Christmas dances__.._._.-
he Musto ela 2a ee
Dance of the viejos or Europeos------------
Othent dances 2.
Dances in other towns __-
Musicians ,
Witchcraft... 2s :
Witchcraft in Capacuaro ERS.
Miscellaneous beliefs...........___ one
The individual and the culture
Births se
Infancy .

VI

PAGE

142
143
144
144
144
147
148
149
154
154
156
156
159
161
163
163
169

Gli dh Gd sac 2: ee ceo eee ne eee 173
Youth eee a= ma 176
Marriage and sex relationships_._............ 177
A. Tarascan wedding'......-....--..--__..-.= 180
ACC Ut GLa eee 192
Old age ne sacst 5. ee 201
Sickness and its cure= 2-22-2212 202
Death... eee 207
Conclusion and further problems___.-...--._.--------- 210
Appendix 1. Data on food plants and food from
Wha; Canada), esse eee ete ee 213

Appendix 2. The ceremonial organization of

(G1 atl Cod 0 (0 1.2 Hees een camera = Sie pe en BS 215
Appendix 3. Report on maize from Cheran, by
Edgar Anderson .......-.-.--------.----------c2-e+--+-- 219
SUmmMaryes 2 eee oe eee 222
Bibliography. eee meee 223
GlOSSaPY> 2-3 ase ee 223

i al

waa

anrwne

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES
(All plates at end of book)

Cheran landscapes and methods of carrying objects.

Women, carrying methods, and hair grooming.

Cheran aqueducts, board sawing, shake splitting,

and wheat winnowing-

Cheran plaza during fiesta.
Market and bull fighting during festival.

Plowing, ditches to protect fields, log hewing, and

Castillo, pastorela, negrito dancers, and wedding.

Roofing fiesta and wedding.
Specimens of maize ears.

FIGURES

. Woodworking implements _.
meburpentine Still's. -.2....-:-.:.--<--.-sasseeecscs

The Cheran plow. __- octate tar aes
Pear picker .......-.--

. Tilemaker’s eens) . eee Ie
. Spinning wheel and associated eoplerdea se:

PAGE
16
18
22
28
34

36

Bm wd ee

Sprdn-(2 ai (010) 01 eae Ane Ea a ears Ce Rien Ee RP ae Perera
AVVLOMeN S:.GRCSS 225s ne ee
Riathoeee ees ere A ee ee
. Rope-twisting eeice ae nc nen re ce —_
7 Market at s\@hilchotas..3:%2-- 2.2.0 se5. eee

. Cheran kinship ______- pea ees EI
pa@herany kimShipyssss-2 22 coos tee ee ese eeeae ae
S OWerate KIS Dp meee eee eee eee
. Cheran kinship Bo SAP EO Me Dee
. Negrito dance figure

. Dance of the Europeos....------
. A Cheran wedding. ...____... ; Py oe ae ee
. Characteristics of Cheran maize ......_._____.

MAPS

. Modern Tarascan territory_- earn :
. Cheran lands _... -----------_. ee Rae
. The municipio of Cheran
. The town of Cheran, house pened and

BDCCIAU SES taees = cea nena a see eee seaeeene anes
The town of Cheran (street map)-_---------------

10

FOREWORD

By Jutian H. Srewarp

The Institute of Social Anthropology was
created within the Smithsonian Institution to
carry out cooperative research and teaching in
the field of social anthropology as part of the
broad program of Cultural and Scientific Co-
operation under the State Department’s Inter-
departmental Committee.

One of the most important cooperative pro-
grams of the Institute of Social Anthropology
is with the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia
del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e
Historia of Mexico. The field research of this
program will be directed toward a study of the
Tarascans of Michoacan, a large group of
Indians whose culture is of great interest to
science and whose role in national life is of
great importance to contemporary Mexico. In
undertaking this work, it is the good fortune of
the Institute of Social Anthropology to help
further a program already extensively carried
out by the University of California in coopera-
tion with the Departamento de Antropologia
de la Escuela de Ciencias Biolégicas del Insti-
tuto Politécnico Nacional, now the Escuela
Nacional de Antropologia del Instituto Nacional
de Antropologia e Historia, and the Departa-
mento Auténomo de Asuntos Indigenas. The
present monograph is a community study of
Cheran, a Tarascan village, made by Dr. Beals
in collaboration with the Mexican institutions.

This study is a basic document for under-
standing native American communities from
the point of view both of their individuality
and of their gradual assimilation to national
life through economic and ideological accultura-
tion. Although Cheran, like many other towns
of the Tarascan area, is thought of and thinks
of itself as Indian, it is difficult to identify any-
thing that is aboriginal besides its language
and racial type. Cheran’s domesticated animals,
many of its crops, its patterns of cultivation,

596569—46——_2

and its general technologies and material cul-
ture are almost exclusively European. It is
presumably European in its individual land
ownership and inheritance, though the assump-
tion that aboriginal America had collective land
ownership needs further proof. Wholly Euro-
pean is its cash system, involving even a
monetary standard of values, loans made for
interest, and the purchase from elsewhere of
most goods other than the local agricultural
and forest products. It might be expected that
these European economic patterns would have
repercussions in other aspects of the culture;
actually, the degree of Hispanicization of reli-
gious and social life is astonishing. Religion
is strictly Catholic, witchcraft is European in
type, and even the curers with their herbs and
applications betray virtually nothing that is
clearly aboriginal. Cherdn’s large, compact
community of 5,000 persons is seemingly in the
Spanish rather than Indian settlement pattern
(a problem to be solved by archeology), and it
may have been facilitated partly by the use of
pack animals for transportation. The social
configurations are likewise Spanish: the family,
with a large circle of relatives by blood and
marriage; the innumerable godparents; the
mayordomias (festivals for the saints); the
elaborate wedding ceremonies; and the dances,
music, games, and other recreations.

With virtually all aspects of Cheran culture
that can be formally categorized clearly Spanish
in origin, why is Cheran considered Indian?
Cheran’s strong attachment to the locality, to
the local group, and to traditional culture
characterizes many other “Indian” communities
in Mexico, Central America, and the Andes.
The essential characteristic of an “Indian”
would seem to be his failure to integrate emo-
tionally and actively with national life rather
than a demonstrable aboriginal content in his
culture. The culture that he preserves in com-

Lod

parative isolation may, in fact, be far more
that of 16th-century Spain than that of native
America. This is not to say, however, that a
pure 16th-century Spanish culture survives any-
where. In the case of Cheran, Beals suggests
that the distinctive characteristics may repre-
sent the “pattern influence of native ideas’ on
European features, together with the effects of
Bishop Vasco de Quiroga’s application of
Thomas More’s “Utopia.” For historical an-
thropology, these communities clearly pose im-
portant problems concerning 16th-century
Spanish culture, its imposition through the con-
quistadors and priests on the Indians, and the
subsequent long interval during which many
areas stabilized their culture in comparative
isolation.

Despite being considered Indian, Cheran
seems to contain the potentialities for rapid
acculturation. Its essential economic patterns
will, so far as local productivity through agri-
culture or manufactures permit, facilitate fur-
ther economic development as the new highway

stimulates increased commerce with other
areas. Its essentially Spanish social patterns
and its present proletariat consciousness and
political sense seem to afford a ready basis for
further assimilation of national culture through
the informal means of outside contacts and the
more formal means of governmental programs.
Its strong Catholic background will pave the
way for further Church influence. One cannot
predict the future of such a community in
detail, for it will depend partly upon national
and even international developments as well as
upon Cherdn’s reaction to them. General
trends are now observable among comparable
communities; and the work that the Institute
of Social Anthropology is now carrying on in
cooperation with the Escuela Nacional de An-
tropologia of Mexico among other Tarascan
villages that have slightly different character-
istics and degrees of acculturation and the
Institute’s studies in other parts of Latin
America will yield data that will both clarify
general trends and high-light local peculiarities.

PHONETIC NOTE

The phonetic symbols used conform to the Tarascan alphabet approved by the
Congreso de Filélogos y Lingiiistas of Mexico in 1939 and employed by the Tarascan

Project of the Departamento de Asuntos Indigenas.

The alphabet is based on standard

Spanish usage insofar as possible, with additional symbols added for Tarascan and with
some clarification of the Spanish symbols as indicated below.

The vowels a, e, 7, 0, uw have Spanish values.

Spanish 7 and wu.

The vowel A is intermediate between

The consonants b, d, f, g, j, k, 1, m, n, p, , s, and t have regular Spanish values. In

addition the following symbols are used:

¢ is the equivalent of English or Spanish ts.

é is the equivalent of English ch,

7 is used for the sound of English ng in

bes

sing.”

w is intermediate between Spanish / and .

r is the equivalent of Spanish rr.
s is the equivalent of English sh.

¢‘, &, k‘, p‘, and t‘ are aspirated forms of the consonants given above.
f, l, and r occur only in foreign loan words in Tarascan; b, d, and g occur primarily
in words of Spanish origin but occur sometimes in purely Tarascan words.

Cheran: A Sierra Tarascan Village

By Ratru L. Beats

INTRODUCTION

The study of Cheran was carried out in
1940-41 as part of the Program of Anthro-
pological Investigations among the Tarascans,
a cooperative undertaking of the University of
California, the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia
del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e His-
toria (formerly the Departamento de Antropo-
logia de la Escuela de Ciencias Biologicas del In-
stituto Politéenico Nacional), and the Departa-
mento Auténomo de Asuntos Indigenas. In
general, the program aims at a thorough in-
vestigation of the Tarascans and their culture,
both past and present.!’ An extensive program
of this character is obviously the work of many
persons and involves many individual projects.
Consequently, a number of subjects which
might have formed a part of the study of
Cheran were not undertaken because they will
be dealt with in other studies. The chief omis-
sion has been the lack of any general considera-
tion of the Tarascans as a whole or any investi-
gation of historical backgrounds. In some
respects the study of Cheran would be more
rounded and intelligible had fuller knowledge
of the historical changes in Tarascan culture
been available.

Unfortunately, the historical aspects of the
Tarascan program are still little developed.
Several years of documentary research would
have been necessary to approach the study of
Cheran with reasonably full background knowl-
edge. Consequently, the description of Cheran
is primarily a cross section of the culture of
the community at the time of the study without
any effort to interpret its historical develop-
ment.

1For a fuller discussion of the Program, see Rubin de la
Borbolla, D. F., and Beals, Ralph L. (1940) and Beals, Carrasco,
and McCorkle (1944).

Financial support for the field work came
from two sources. The Board of Research of

the University of California contributed ma-
terially to field expenses and to the preparation
of the manuscript. In addition, a substantial
amount was made available for field expenses
by the Departamento Auténomo de Asuntos
Indigenas in México. Funds for a preliminary
survey of the Tarascan area, which resulted in
the selection of Cheran for study, were sup-
plied by the Board of Research of the Univer-
sity of California and the Instituto Politécnico
Nacional.

The village of Cheran was chosen for several
reasons. In the first place, it is the largest of
the mountain Tarascan villages and conse-
quently offered an advantageous opportunity
for several people to work simultaneously.
Until about 1937 Cheran was also one of the
most isolated of the mountain Tarascan towns.
In that year the grade for the branch highway
from the Guadalajara—Mexico City highway to
Uruapan was established. Paving of this high-
way was completed in 1940, but little effect on
Cheran had yet taken place. This situation
offered an attractive opportunity for later in-
vestigation of the results of lessened isolation.
Finally, Cheran is an almost wholly Indian
town, a situation which is not true of most of
the large mountain Tarascan settlements.
Actually, in 1940 only a few families in Cheran
did not regard themselves as Tarascan. The
non-Tarascan families were more or less tran-
sient and occupied a low position in the social
scale; most of them were the flotsam left from
the highway construction crews and _ had
neither influence nor status in the town. The
majority actually left the town during 1940.

1

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

The exceptions were two storekeepers, both
from essentially Indian towns themselves, two
school teachers, a Federal tax collector, and the
town Secretary.

The field work in Cheran was a cooperative
enterprise, involving the work of numerous
assistants. Most important of these helpers
was Thomas McCorkle, of Berkeley, Calif.
His greatest contribution was in accumulating
the endless amount of detail necessary to the
economic study, although there is scarcely a
section of the paper which does not make use
of data collected by him. Dr. Emmanuel
Palacios, of the Departamento Auténomo de
Asuntos Indigenas, is responsible for a great
deal of the data on childbirth, infant care,
midwifery, and medical practice in general.
Sra. Silvia Rend6én, of the Escuela Nacional de
Antropologia, worked particularly in the field
of foods, but also contributed extensively on
other topics, especially on matters dealing with
women. She also supplied data from other
towns, especially Angahuan, Capacuaro, and
Chilchota. Sr. Pedro Carrasco R., of the
Escuela Nacional de Antropologia, worked pri-
marily on housing. His major contributions
are included in two other papers (Beals, Car-
rasco, and McCorkle, 1944; Beals and Carrasco,
1944), but he also provided miscellaneous notes
from Cheran, Angahuan, Capacuaro, and
Chilchota and some of the Lake Patzcuaro
towns. Some comparative notes from Patam-
ban were collected by Ricardo Pozas, of the
Escuela Nacional de Antropologia, in the course
of a study of pottery manufacture, the details
of which are not included in this paper.
Finally, some data were collected by Dorothy
Beals and Margery McCorkle.

In addition to the foregoing, many persons
in Cheran were of assistance. Throughout the
entire period of the study two were especially
helpful, Agustin Rangel and Pedro Chavez.
The former, although a full-blooded Tarascan,
had been born and educated in California. As
a literate assistant he was extremely useful in
many ways; for example, in searching the town
archives and recording many important facts
therefrom. Perhaps his most important ser-
vice, however, was in providing an entreé into
the homes of his almost innumerable relatives.
Particularly to be mentioned are his parents,

his aunt, Dona Feliciana Bautista, and his uncle,
Don Antonio Sanchez. Agustin also afforded
fascinating data himself, as we were able to
observe closely the process of his assimilation
into the culture and life of the community. In
the course of the study, he changed from a not
untypical United States high school graduate
into a pretty typical resident of Cheran.

A particular debt of gratitude is also due
Pedro Chavez. <A native of Cheran, Sr. Chavez
had been educated in a Government boarding
school and was serving as a school teacher.
Owing to the lack of facilities, he was able to
teach only at night, and he spent his days aid-
ing in the investigation, without compensation.
No amount of pay could have secured more
conscientious and faithful aid, day after day
for many months. Regardless of the weather,
or, I suspect, very often regardless of his per-
sonal concerns, Sr. Chavez either worked as
systematic informant or accompanied one or
the other of the investigators on endless visits,
opening many doors to them which otherwise
would have been closed. When not actively
assisting, he wrote lengthy accounts of various
phases of town life. A person of some emi-
nence in the town, as well as belonging to the
dominant political group, he had served as
town Treasurer and was a member of the com-
mittee which administered the town’s forest
lands.

The hundreds of Cheran residents who aided
us at one time or another cannot, of course, be
listed. Many gave long hours of their time
and courteous and intelligent aid on numerous
problems. Essentially, this report is their
report and the outsiders acted primarily as
guides, recorders, and interpreters. That the
people of Cheran were willing to do this was due
partly to the unreserved cooperation of the
municipal authorities who endorsed the study
on every occasion. I am also indebted to the
Executive Authority of the State of Michoacan
for providing me with the proper introduction
to the town.

A word should be said about field methods at
this point. Obviously, working with a large
group of investigators presents special prob-
lems. Perhaps the most important special
technique was to arrange to have all field notes
transcribed at the earliest possible moment.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 3

Usually, field notes were classified, typed in
triplicate, and filed according to a modification
of the system of the Outline of Cultural Mater-
ials prepared by George P. Murdock and others
for use in the Cross-Cultural Survey at Yale
University (Murdock and others, 1938). In
this way it was possible for all workers to find
immediately what had already been collected
on a subject and to discover discrepancies in
accounts when these existed. The system also
served to show deficiencies in the data.

Certain other problems in field methods arose.
Cheran habits place some obstacles in the way
of field work. The main occupations of the
town are farming and forest exploitation. In
the former case, men are usually in the fields all
day, often at points several miles distant from
town. In the latter instance, men may be away
from town for 4 or 5 days atatime. In certain
seasons the town is almost deserted during the
day. As women will not talk with strange men
in the absence of their husbands, it often took
many visits to find at home a man we wished to
query on some specific point. In addition,
yards are surrounded by high walls and it is
customary to greet visitors at the yard gate
and converse with them on the street. Con-
sequently, it is difficult to gain much insight
into home life. Only women can get free ac-
cess into the houses, and it is unfortunate that
Sra. Rendoén could not have spent full time in
the field. Certain aspects of this study would
then have been much better than they are.

In general, the method followed was first to
‘discuss a topic with Sr. Chavez in detail, obtain-
ing from him as complete an account as possi-
ble. In some cases Sr. Chavez also wrote sup-
plementary accounts. Efforts were always
made to get the names of specific people who
were involved. Once we had obtained what
might be considered Sr. Chavez’s view of a
particular aspect of the culture, this was some-
times checked with Sr. Rangel. On other occa-
sions we started with Sr. Rangel and checked
with Sr. Chavez. An effort was then made to
visit and talk with a large number of the people
concerned. For example, after securing Sr.
Chavez’ account of childbirth, a list of all the
professional midwives in town was secured.
These were all then visited by Dr. Palacios and
interviewed intensively. Some were inter-

viewed independently by other staff members.
Data were likewise taken from as many women
as possible. In another instance, accounts
were secured of as many fiestas and mayor-
domias as possible. Each mayordomo and
other ceremonial official was then visited and
interviewed, often several times. Finally, in
this instance, as many ceremonies as possible
were observed. In the case of economic life,
virtually every specialist in town was inter-
viewed and the data were checked and cross-
checked. In addition, a representative sample
of forest workers and farmers were inter-
viewed. This process was facilitated by the
existence of a complete roster of males of voting
age for two barrios, together with their major
occupations, given to us by the town authori-
ties.- In the case of farmers, the tax rolls of
the tax collector’s office were opened to us,
giving some check on land ownership. Some
fields were paced to estimate size (measure-
ment was out of the question for various local
reasons), and observations were made on the
length of time taken to complete various farm
tasks. At harvest time, the actual production
of fields was determined by observing the har-
vest closely. In this case, data given by infor-
mants proved markedly variable from the facts.
Prices of all products were established by ques-
tioning numerous producers and also by ques-
tioning buyers. Obviously procedures varied
with different topics, but the examples given
perhaps sufficiently indicate the general method
employed.

In conclusion, acknowledgment should be
made of assistance and encouragement given by
persons not directly concerned with the field
study. Dr. Morris Swadesh, director of the
Proyecto Tarasco, an experiment in bilingual
education with headquarters in the nearby
town of Paracho, together with all the mem-
bers of his staff, was extremely helpful in
many ways. Scores of residents of Michoacan
at one time or another rendered personal assist-
ance. In Mexico City, Dr. Paul Kirchhoff and
Miguel O. de Mendizabal were helpful, both in
personal matters and in giving numerous sug-
gestions and leads for problems to investigate.
Sr. Luis Chavez Orozco, then chief of the
Departamento Auténomo de Asuntos Indigenas,

4 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2 .

gave much time and effort to forward the pro-
gram. Dr. Alfonso Caso discussed many pro-
blems and gave valuable advice. Numerous
members of the staff of the Instituto Politécnico
Nacional also gave of their time. President
Robert G. Sproul of the University of Califor-
nia, arranged a special leave of absence to make
the study possible. Above all, thanks are due
to Dr. D. F. Rubin de la Borbolla, then head of
the Department of Anthropology of the Insti-
tuto Politécnico Nacional and now director of
the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia, collabor-
ator in the general program, who gave many
days of his time in completing necessary ar-
rangements to make the study possible.

In addition to the persons mentioned, I wish
also to express my gratitude to those who have
helved further the general Program of Anthro-
pological Investigations among the Tarascans:
General Lazaro Cardenas, former President of
the United States of Mexico; Dr. A. L. Kroeber,
of the University of California, Berkeley,

Calif.; Dr. John M. Cooper, Catholic University
of America, Washington, D. C.; Sr. Luis Chavez
Orozco, former Chief, Departamento de Asuntos
Indigenas, Mexico; Dr. Gerardo Varela, Direc-
tor of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencis Bio-
l6gicas, Mexico; Lic. Gilberto Loyo, Director
General of the Census, Mexico; Dr. J. B.
Lockey, former Chairman, Board of Research,
University of California, Los Angeles; Dr.
Vern O. Knudsen, Dean of Graduate Studies,
University of California, Los Angeles; and the
late Dr. Charles B. Lipman, Dean of Graduate
Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

The excellence of the drawings is due to the
intelligent cooperation and skill of Virginia
More Roediger, who worked not only as an
artist but as an illustrator.

Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the assis-
tance of the Institute of Social Anthropology,
Smithsonian Institution, for editing this manu-
script and for publishing it in this series, which
is devoted to inter-American cooperation.

THE SETTING AND THE PEOPLE

The modern Tarascans occupy the west cen-
tral section of northern Michoacan, Mexico.
In prehistoric times the Tarascan area was
larger, including most of the State of Micho-
acan, except possibly the rather abrupt and not
very hospitable seacoast, as well as parts of
the State of Jalisco to the northwest, Guana-
juato to the northeast, and the lower end of the
Balsas River basin in Guerrero to the south.
This expanded area apparently represented the
results of a series of conquests. Two or three
centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards,
the Tarascan area probably was not greatly
different from that of today.

The State of Michoacan is one of the most
densely populated rural States of Mexico. It
lies to the west of Mexico City, and its capital,
Morelia, is about 250 miles from the National
Capital by road or railroad. Despite its dense
population, much of the State is rugged and
mountainous. Its eastern and northern parts
are on the plateau of México. Level areas are
often above 7,000 feet elevation, but, although
it is technically a part of the Central Mexican
plateau, only the northern margins of the State

have large level tracts, for most of the elevated
part of the State is in the so-called “volcanic
axis” of Mexico. In many regions, and this is
particularly true of the area occupied by the
Tarascans, the characteristic sky line is a series
of old volcanic cones, often surrounding basins
or long depressions, in which more recent low
cinder cones frequently occur (pl. 1, upper and
lower left). Dozens of peaks have elevations
of over 10,000 feet, but only one may exceed
11,000 feet.

To the south and southwest the terrain drops
sharply toward a great basin formed by tribu-
taries of the Balsas River. The slope is steep
and so thoroughly dissected by streams that,
despite the opening of many roads and truck
trails in recent years, it still is not possible to
reach the Balsas River by road from highland
Michoacan. This great basin forms an impor-
tant portion of Michoacan and is much visited
by the Tarascans. Tropical vegetation and
climate characterize the basin except for a
semiarid section in the west.

The Pacific coast of the State is paralleled
by a large range of mountains, the Sierra de

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS : 5

Coaleoman, which again reaches elevations of
over 10,000 feet. The rain shadow of this
range accounts for the subarid conditions of
part of the basin area. Although these moun-
tains are little known, apparently they rise
fairly steeply on both faces and the coastal
area beyond is narrow and of little use.

The drainage of Michoacan presents some
peculiarities. In the north and west central
region are lakes of various size, of which per-
haps the best known is Lake Patzcuaro. In
common with some other lakes in the area,
Lake Patzucuaro has no outlet, but its waters
are nevertheless not brackish. The high poros-
ity of the volcanic soil may account for this
phenomenon, for the lake has evidently been
isolated from other drainages for a long period
of time. This isolation is attested by the fact
that the native fish are all very primitive
viviparous species.

Moreover, despite heavy rainfall in some
areas (at Lake Patzcuaro the average annual
rainfall is around 60 inches), there are virtu-
ally no permanent streams and even springs
are rare. Most Tarascan towns suffer from
almost constant water shortage despite the
heavy precipitation. In contrast, some of the
lower lands have abundant large running
streams. In places, underground springs of
great size emerge at elevations of about 5,500
feet. Near Uruapan, for example, a large
stream is formed by a group of such springs.

The present-day range of the Tarascans can-
not be defined with great accuracy, partly be-
cause of the lack of detailed studies and partly
because of the degree of acculturation under-
gone by many settlements. Villages which
outwardly differ in no visible respect from well-
known Tarascan settlements often contain no
persons speaking Tarascan. All around the
edges of Tarascan territory occur villages in
various degrees of assimilation to Mexican cul-
ture and with various degrees of physical
mixture with the Mestizo population. As a
result, the present-day distribution of the
Tarascans can only be approximated (map 1).

On the east, the basin of Lake Patzcuaro is
definitely Tarascan, although some towns, such
as Tzintzuntzan, the traditional capital of the
Tarascan “Empire,” are no longer Tarascan-
speaking. The western edge of Tarascan ter-

ritory is close to the railroad which runs
through the town of Zamora to Los Reyes.
The southern boundary might be defined
roughly as on a line from Los Reyes to Uruapan
and thence close to the railway from Uruapan
to Patzcuaro, while the new highway from
Mexico City to Guadalajara in some places runs
just inside the northern limits and in others,
just outside. Within or near the borders of
the present-day Tarascan area occur a number
of old Mexican towns closely associated with the
historic Tarascans and their contemporary cul-
ture, which provide the administrative centers
and the major market places. These towns are
Patzcuaro, Zacapu, Purépero, Zamora, Los
Reyes, and Uruapan. In some instances other
towns of local importance have arisen more
recently, towns which were once Tarascan but
are now occupied by Mestizos and deculturated
Tarascans. <A good example of such a town is
Chilchota.

Viewed as a whole, the Tarascan area may
be characterized generally as an elevated tem-
perate region of sufficient rainfall, deep volcanic
soils, and pine or mixed pine and hardwood
forests. In detail there are differences, and a
number of regions may be identified.

The easternmost region is that about Lake
Patzcuaro. The lake has an elevation of
slightly over 7,000 feet, and most of the villages
are either on the shore or upon islands in the
lake. The forests have been cleared away
around the lake except upon lands too steep to
cultivate with the plow. Rainfall is heavy, but
is concentrated in the summer months. The
climate is temperate and cool even in mid-
summer,

North of Lake PAtzcuaro is a large fertile
valley or depression near Zacapu, ringed about
by hills and mountains covered with forest.
Although there is but little difference in eleva-
tion from Lake Patzcuaro, the climate is warm-
er and some tropical or subtropical plants such
as sugarcane are grown on a small scale.

Over a range of mountains to the west of
Zacapu is a fertile valley known as La Cafiada.
Here the climate is warmer and more arid, as
is evidenced by the frequency of irrigation and
extensive cultivation of citrus fruit, bananas,
and similar tropical and subtropical plants.

PUBLICATION NO. 2

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CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 7

West of Lake Patzcuaro and south of La
Cafiada is the rugged area known as La Sierra,
extending as far west as the town of Tinguindin.
This region is relatively homogeneous, with an
essentially temperate climate. Although the
elevation of towns varies from about 6,000 feet
to about 9,000 feet, generally the temperature
is cool. Heavy rainfall and the presence of
numerous 10,000-foot peaks apparently com-
bine to prevent cultivation of most subtropical
plants. Extensive steep, forested slopes and
lava flows are interspersed with numerous val-
leys and depressions in a high state of cultiva-
tion. Only in the west, where rainfall appar-
ently is less, are a few towns favored by a
milder climate. South of La Canada and about
equidistant from Uruapan, Zacapu, and Patzcu-
aro is Cheran, largest of the mountain Tarascan
towns and, until very recent years, one of the
most isolated.

Situated on a sloping bench, Cheran looks
westward over a long depression, dotted with
villages and interrupted here and there by
cinder cones rising as much as a thousand feet
above the depression (pl. 1, upper and lower,
left). North and south of Cheran, the series
of peaks which bound the depression to the west
culminate in two 10,000-foot cones. Eastward
is another smaller basin of fertile soil, similarly
marked by cinder cones and by the striking
isolated volcanic peak of El Pilén, also over
10,000 feet in height.

Except for occasional marginal farm clear-
ings, the steeper slopes, and those areas where
relatively recent lava flows make cultivation
impossible, are covered with forest. The pre-
dominant species are three or four types of
pine, but completely pure stands are rarely
found. Usually there is a fair intermixture
of oak and madrofa, while, beginning at the
level of Cheran, fir trees occur and increase in
number at higher elevations. These forest
lands provide one of the important resources of
the Cheran population.

Wherever the land is sufficiently level to per-
mit regular cultivation, the forest has been al-
most entirely cleared away. In many places,
areas hundreds of acres in extent are contin-
uously cultivated. Maize and, to a much smal-
ler extent, wheat, are almost the only field
crops. Cultivation of these, plus exploitation

of the forest resources and the breeding of a
few sheep and cattle, provide the sustenance of
the great majority of Cheran’s population.

The town of Cherdn has a population of
about 5,000. The community is unique among
Tarascan towns, not only for its large size—
almost 2,000 more than that of any other
settlement—but because the municipio of the
same name contains only two, unimportant
rancherias. Most municipios in the Tarascan
area consist of one moderately large settlement,
the cabecera, and a surrounding group of small
settlements known as tenencias, and still smal-
ler communities known as rancherias or by
other classificatory terms. Usually the total
populations of these municipios approximate
the population of Cherdn or even exceed it.
Consequently, the unique feature of the municip-
io of Cheran is the concentration of almost
the entire population in the cabecera.

Despite the concentration of population in the
cabecera, the municipio of Cheran comprises
a large area. Much of this area is mountain
and forest, but there are many relatively large
tracts of arable land (maps 2, 3). This cir-
cumstance, in part at least, has been the cause
of numerous boundary disputes and some loss
of territory. The most notable recent loss of
territory has been the secession of the one
tenencia of Cheran, the rather large settlement
of Cheranastico to the northwest, which seceded
in 1939 and joined the municipio of Paracho.
The immediate cause of this secession again
appears to have been a boundary dispute be-
tween the tenencia and the cabecera.

Cheran differs from the ordinary Tarascan
agricultural village only in size. Throughout
the area the type of settlement is the compact
village. Probably in most cases the villages
represent settlements of Spanish type, with a
central plaza about which are the church
(sometimes not actually on the plaza), the
municipal building, and, more recently, the
school. From the central plaza radiates a
rectangular grid of streets, modified only where
necessitated by the irregular terrain (maps
4, 5). In the case of a large settlement such
as Cheran, there usually exists some fragmen-
tary legend of origin of the settlement through
amalgamation of aboriginal groups dispersed

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

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CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

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12 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

in smaller communities in the nearby moun-
tains.

In the absence of documentary evidence, it
may be surmised that Cheran is an old settle-
ment. Archeological remains occur at several
nearby places which may represent the ante-
cedent smaller aboriginal settlements spoken
of in tradition. About the period from the
founding of the original settlement until 1910
there are few data, documentary or traditional.
Although individuals were encountered who
claimed to remember the time of the French in-
tervention in Mexico, apparently events in the
rest of the country influenced Cheran very
little. Some outside settlers apparently lived
in the town before 1910. Frequent references
were made to a German family that owned a
considerable amount of land and had a preten-
tious house on the plaza, now in ruins. Physi-
cal evidence in the shape of ruined structures
suggests there once were a number of families
of greater wealth in the town than is now the
case, but apparently, with the exception noted,
these families were native Tarascans.

During the revolutionary period, the town
was in the center of the agrarian movement in
Michoacan. This movement was related to the
Zapatista movement in Morelos, and residents
of other villages claim to have been Zapatistas.
As Michoacan is also a Catholic stronghold,
some villages participated in the religious
wars of the twenties. Cherdn, however, seems
not to have taken an active part in any of these
movements. Nevertheless, it suffered from
them, and more particularly from the general-
ized banditry which operated under the cover
of one label or another. Twice the town was
attacked and burned in the period shortly be-
fore 1920, the last time being almost completely
destroyed. Apparently many hundreds were
killed or starved to death, while still more made
their way to the United States, starting a
migration which continued until 1929. Since
that time, the tide of migration has been to the
town. Probably a majority of families in
town, though, have been in the United States
or have relatives still living in the States.

Some general details of the flora of Cherdn
have already been mentioned. Nothing can be
added to these remarks, as the region is un-
studied botanically. The situation with respect

to the fauna is equally unsatisfactory. Despite
the extensive forests, wild life is scarce. No
one in Cheran gets a living from hunting, and
the amount of game taken forms an incon-
siderable amount of the food supply. Deer and
peccary are sometimes hunted and occasionally
damage outlying fields, but they do not seem to
be numerous. Squirrels, rabbits, wild pigeons,
and quail are among the animals of most
economic importance. Badgers are known, but
are not eaten. An exception to the general
searcity of wild life is the coyote. This animal
appears to be numerous and to be a danger to
livestock in the outskirts of the town. Larger
predatory animals, such as the jaguar and the
mountain lion, are unknown. Informants
could recall only one mountain lion being seen
or killed in the vicinity of the town. The re-
gion is, of course, too high for the absence of
the jaguar to be surprising, but smaller mem-
bers of the genus Felis are also rare. Only the
wildeat is reported. The rattlesnake and
culebrilla occur, but are not common. As there
are few handicrafts practiced in Cheran, the
community is consequently primarily agricul-
tural and the only use of the forests is for
lumbering, charcoal making, and grazing.

Little need be said about the people of Cheran
or their language. Although white admixture
certainly exists in the town’s population, there
are virtually no acknowledged Mestizos. Until
studies of the Tarascan population are com-
pleted, it perhaps will suffice to say that the
people of Cheran seem to be typical Tarascans,
on the average relatively short and slender,
although stocky individuals are not uncommon.
Their complexion is relatively dark, the hair is
straight, and the features are attractive. Cor-
pulence in old age is very rare. Goiter or
incipient goiter is common, especially in the
mountain towns, although the disease is less
frequent in Cherdn than in many other settle-
ments. Teeth are bad, a condition observed
for the area in pre-Columbian remains also.
Not only are caries frequent, but malocclusion
is common. Individuals with attractive regu-
lar teeth are the exception. (Pls. 1, upper and
lower right; 2; 3, center and lower right and
left.)

The language of Cheran is Tarascan, a tongue
which shows relatively few dialectic differences.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 13

Probably no group of Tarascans has great diffi-
culty in understanding any other group. As
Tarascan has not been subjected to intensive
grammatical analysis, thus far no affiliations
for the language have been seriously proposed.

To summarize the discussion, the Tarascans
appear to be fairly typical of the plateau In-
dians of Central Mexico in type, but they speak
a unique language. Both anciently and today

they occupy a temperate to cold environment,
which offers rich rewards to a farming people
but which otherwise possesses relatively meager
resources. In prehistoric times the Tarascans
were able to utilize the present area as a base
to develop a modest empire. In historic times,
their empire gone, they still have maintained a
degree of individuality in the face of an en-
croaching modern civilization.

TECHNOLOGY

EXPLOITATIVE ACTIVITIES

In this section are described the techniques of
the Cheran Tarascans for the exploitation of the
environment. With a few exceptions, manufac-
turing processes, the uses to which the products
are put, and the economic system into which
they enter are discussed in later sections.

COLLECTING

Plants.—No food plants are collected regu-
larly. Recourse is sometimes had to edible
greens in times of starvation or as an occa-
sional means of bringing variety into the diet.
Most useful plants, except medicinal herbs,
exist in the town in virtually a semidomes-
ticated state. This is particularly true of the
most commonly used plants such as kulantro
(silantro) ,2 the most frequently employed herb
for flavoring food. Similarly, manzanillo,
probably the most generally used medicinal
herb, is to be found in every garden. Discus-
sion of these plants can therefore best be de-
ferred to the discussions of medicine and the
house gardens.

A small wild maguey growing in the moun-
tains and in the malpais (lava flows) is col-
lected from November to May. The heart is
roasted in pit ovens and sold.

One minor commercial enterprise, formerly
of some importance, is collecting raiz de paja,
the roots of a coarse grass.
off and carried to Cheran, where they are care-
fully laid out in rows on sunny, dry days.
After drying, they are tied in bundles for sale

2Tarascan words are in Roman and Spanish words are in italic

unless they are in frequent English usage. Spanish words with
special local meanings are in quotation marks.

The roots are cut -

for the manufacture of brushes. The entire
family may work at this task. While some
collecting of raiz de paja still is carried on,
the market collapsed badly with the outbreak
of war in 1939, depriving a number of families
of an important part of their livelihood. In
good times, the roots sold at 30 to 35 centavos
a kilo.?

A root, éalankéte, is used for washing wool-
ens and is considered superior to soap.* It is
dug in the barrancas, both for use and for sale.
In Angdhuan, Rend6én found seeds of a bush
called kbmerame used for the same purpose, as
well as leaves called aptipen and roots of the
plant paéankua.

Honey gathering.—The one collecting tech-
nique still important in Cheran is gathering
wild honey. Not only are there still specialists
who spend many weeks at the occupation dur-
ing proper seasons of the year, but there are
numerous ceremonial associations. The pana-
leros or honey collectors are divided into two
groups, each with an image and a mayordomia
of San Anselmo, patron saint of the group.
There are also important ceremonial activities
on the part of the panaleros in connection with
the fiesta of Corpus Christi in June. The vari-
ous ceremonies are described later.

Most gathering of wild honey takes place in
the regions of old lava flows or malpais. The
malpaises of Turicuaro and Tanaco are con-
sidered among the best today for honey gather-
Weinla Canada, wild gourds, guajes (arumbas), are collected
and sold in the Chilchota market. The leaf of a wild bay (7),
baya (hongakua), is used in washing clothes by La Canada
Tarascans, who claim the plant is eaten by the Sierra Tarascans.
Soaproot, amole, is used in La Canada for bathing.

4The orthography used for native words is that recommended by

Proyecto Tarasco and the Consejo de Lenguas Indigenas (Swadesh,
1940).

14 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

ing. The combs found here are round and
hang from tree branches. They are found by
observing the flight of bees; this requires good
eyesight and is difficult on cloudy days. The
clear weather of late spring and fall conse-
quently is the time of greatest activity. From
December until warm weather begins, the
honey is sugared and cannot be extracted from
the comb.

Several varieties of bees are sought. The
combs found near Cheran are white and have
little honey, most of the comb being occupied
by brood. In the region near Tanaco the
combs are red, small, and almost completely
full of honey, with little brood. Other combs
are described as being occupied by bees that
are muy bravo. Only this type of bee requires
the use of smoke to secure the honey. At times
this bee attacks passers-by and follows until
the victim covers himself with straw. Lemon
juice is used to alleviate the stings. In addi-
tion to these types, wild European bees are
sometimes found in hollow trees.

Once a comb is located, the panalero usually
climbs the tree and knocks the comb down. If
the tree is large, he cuts notches in the trunk
with a small special-type ax, tying himself with
a riata or a length of rope while he chops. The
rope is not tied, but passes around the tree
trunk and the two ends are held in the hands.
The panalero holds the rope tightly while he
edges up the tree. Then, with a skillful motion,
he throws the loop of rope higher up the tree
trunk. Once the comb is reached, the panalero
covers his face and hands with a blanket and
taps the comb until the bees leave. The pro-
cedures are regarded as highly dangerous.
Panaleros are always careful to take a good
rest before climbing a tree. They are also par-
ticularly attentive to their saint, San Anselmo,
who is believed to protect them. The danger
of the occupation is increased by the fact that
the panalero always works alone and in case of
accident could expect no rescue.

Honeycombs are now said to be so searce that
it is hardly worth while hunting them. Never-
theless, one panalero mentioned securing 19
combs on one trip which he sold for 9 pesos.
Sometimes the combs are sold as collected. At
other times the honey is extracted by squeezing
the comb in an ayate or carrying net. If very

clear honey is desired, it may be strained
through silk. The native wild combs contain
no wax. The larvae are sometimes eaten,
either toasted in their cells or fried. The latter
method of preparation involves picking the ~
larvae out of the cells. Yet another method is
to toast the larvae with onion, chile, and salt.
The latter method is said to be especially tasty,
but probably only panaleros ever use any of
these methods very often.®

The larvae of another insect, the traspanal
(jicotera in La Canada), are also collected and
eaten occasionally. This insect resembles the
native bee but is a little larger and makes its
nest in the ground to depths of 1 meter (3 ft.)
or more. No other animal food is collected and
the use of the eggs of wild birds was denied
with every evidence of distaste.

USE OF MINERALS

Stone, volcanic cinders, and clay are the three
mineral resources utilized in Cheran. Tuffs
and lavas are employed for house building,
foundations, and fences. The materials occur
either in the town itself or in barrancas within
a few hundred yards of the town. Volcanic
cinders are also quarried out of the sides of
barrancas, often within the town, and are em-
ployed to spread over slippery places on trails,
streets, and yards. The supply of materials
far exceeds demand, and the public domain
affords all needed supplies.

Most of the rock used in Cheran comes from
a quarry on the west face of the hill of Santa
Karakua (also called Santiakujdkua) within
the village. Most of the rock is prised out of
the upper face of the quarry in large pieces,
which usually are broken up in the fall to the
foot of the quarry. The broken rock is then
placed in piles, which later comers will not
molest. Smaller rocks and spalls are abun-
dant and anyone may help himself to these.
The rocks are usually packed by tying them on
burros with ropes, while small pieces may be
placed in nets or in pack boxes.

Clay is somewhat more scarce. It is used
only for tilemaking and brickmaking, as no
one in Cheran makes pottery. <A sufficient sup-
ply of clay for all present needs is dug out

5 At Sopoco in La Canada, Rendén was told that the larvae are
sometimes eaten raw.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 15

either from the sides of public roads or from
fields, with the permission of the owner. It is
dug with pick and shovel, put in bags, and
taken into town on muleback.

Adobes (ad6bi) and adobe mortar are made
from any convenient fine earth mixed with
manure. In some towns dry pine needles
(“huinomo’’)® or wheat or barley straw is used.
The mud (adimu) for adobes is mixed in a de-
pression in the ground. Dry earth is first
mixed with manure and water is added, in the
proportion of 10 loads (carretilladas) of earth,
half a sack of manure or straw, and 10 five-
gallon tins of water. The mud is then mixed
with a spade for about 3 hours.

A wooden frame (marco or adobera), the size
of the brick to be made, is now placed on care-
fully leveled ground. Mud is placed in the
frame and pressed down well with the hands
to insure complete filling of the space. The
frame is now lifted off and washed in prepara-
tion for making the next adobe. The adobes
are allowed to dry for 8 days, first in the
original position and then on edge.

The usual size of adobes is 60 by 40 by 10
cm., or 2144 spans long. Cherdn makes this
size and also a brick 3 spans in length.

WATER SUPPLY

Cheran has a better water supply than most
Tarascan towns, but it is still far from ade-
quate. The larger of the barrancas through
town often has flowing water, but this is used
only for watering animals and washing clothes,
as it is not considered pure enough to drink.
At one spot, however, there are a number of
small springs in the walls of the barranca.
These have been improved by building cement
tanks to accumulate the rather small flow, and
people from the barrio of Paricutin and some
other nearby residents obtain their water from
the springs.

About 10 years ago an aqueduct was built
to large springs near the base of the mountain,
El Pilén, a distance of 15 km. (9 mi.). A
2-inch pipe line was laid, but the pipe reached
only to the edge of town. From the end of the
pipe the water is carried to the center of town
by an arrangement of hand-hewn wooden

® Words regarded in Cheran as Spanish but which either do not
appear in dictionaries or have special local meanings are placed
in quotation marks.

troughs and pipes (pl. 3, upper left). Large
tanks exist in the approximate center of town,
and water is also piped to a fountain in the
plaza. The troughs leak, however, and in some
places are low enough to permit water to be
dipped directly from them. In consequence, if
the flow is small, water may not reach the tanks
in sufficient quantity. The lower portion of
the town receives no water directly and the
effort of obtaining water in those sections, par-
ticularly the southwest district, is considerable.

FOREST UTILIZATION

The forests are one of the important and
most utilized natural resources of Cherdn.
Firewood, charcoal, posts, railroad ties, shakes,
and lumber of various sizes are secured from
the woods. Forests cover a very large part of
the Cheran lands and most of the timber is on
public domain, although some forest patches
may occur on privately owned land. The public
domain is regarded as belonging to the town,
and the Federal Government levies a nominal ,
land tax on the community for the forest lands.
Each head of a household pays a fee (ristica),
usually 25 centavos a quarter, which is collected
by a committee on community property (bienes
comunales). This sum covers the taxes and
gives each person the right to cut firewood
from public lands. Persons exploiting other
forest resources pay more.

Until recently utilization of other forest
resources was also open to everyone. The De-
partment of Forestry of the Federal Govern-
ment is now attempting to control the exploita-
tion of the forests, and since 1940 any use of
the forest for purposes other than cutting fire-
wood requires a permit. In 1941 an effort was
being made to restrict all lumbering and char-
coal burning to members of a cooperative.
This is discussed later.

With the exception of a few wealthy persons,
everyone who is not lazy cuts his own firewood.?

7This is general even in such Mestizoized towns as Chilchota.
In the latter town, however, there is some selling of firewood.
During planting and harvest times the price is $0.35 a carga
(burro load in this case) ; the rest of the year it is $0.25 a carga.
Some people in Angahuan make a business of taking firewood to
Mestizo Zamora; similar cases occur in villages near Mestizo
towns. Ocote (pitch pine), used principally for light, is also
produced by the householder in Cheran. A long vertical cut is
made on one side of a tree, which is gradually cut away as pitch
accumulates. The tree is rarely cut through, but it usually dies
from the operation. In Chilchota, where ocote (pitch pine) is sold,

16

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

g

FicurE 1.—Woodworking implements. a, Typical ax head, weighing 6 to 8 pounds.

b, Same as a, with handle;
total length about 3% feet. d, Saw used for cutting planks (k‘eréri
arakutarakua), about 6 feet long; the lower handle usually is of metal and clamps over the end of the saw,
engaging the saw teeth to hold it in place. e, Long-handled adz. f, Method of using long-handled adz to
dress beams or planks. g, Logging saw, “sardina,” used to cut felled timber into desired lengths.

c, Short-handled adz (angaru).

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS lye

Consequently, every Cheran male is a fairly
competent axman and in a pinch can produce
other forest products. Oak is considered far
superior to other woods for burning, but it is
becoming scarce near the town. The best sup-
ply is near El Pilén, several kilometers away.

With some exceptions, most skilled woodsmen
work only when they have to fill definite orders.
In other words, no stock of lumber or shakes
is accumulated against possible future sales.
Lumber or shake workers usually are farmers
who supplement their income by forest prod-
ucts when opportunity offers. Not infrequently
one or two members of a large household do
lumbering but help in the fields when necessary
or when unoccupied.

Pine is the main wood used for lumber, and
fir for shakes. Trees ordinarily are cut with
the ax (jaca). Trunks are cut in sections with
asaw (‘“‘sardina’) (fig. 1, g), which is operated
by two persons. The trunks are cleared and
debarked with the ax. The trunk is then
squared by splitting off slabs (“‘tachones’’),
with oak wedges some 20 cm. (8 in.) in length
driven by an oaken maul or the butt of the ax.
The slabs are used for firewood or fences.
Thick planks called “vigas’’ (anything over 2
inches in thickness) are then split out with
wedges. Before use, heavy planks usually are
dressed with a long-handled adz (angaru)
(fig. 1, e). Thinner pieces, tablas (k‘eréri),
are sawed from squared sections of logs (pl. 4,
upper right). The logs are elevated on a
scaffolding of poles (or sometimes laid on poles
across a saw pit) and sawed out by a saw
(k‘eréri azgakutarakua) about 2 m. (6 ft.)
long and wider at one end than at the other
(fig.1,d;pl. 3, upper right). The handle at the
wide end is fixed, and that at the narrow end is
hooked over the teeth of the saw. Before saw-
ing, the block of timber is marked with a cord
used like a chalk line but employing charcoal
instead of chalk. All the planks from a block
of timber are usually sawed about two-thirds
of the length of the block; work is then begun
at the opposite end. Planks customarily are

1 centavo buys a thick piece. In Parangaricutiro, partly Mestizoized,
there is some cutting of firewood as a business. In one case a
father and three sons, 10, 12, and 15 years of age, cut a cord a
day (16 cargas), which sold for $1.50 (all monetary values are in
Mexican currency). In Paricutin two widows without grown sons
buy firewood. The women are not poor.

about 1 inch thick, 6 to 8 feet long, and 6 to 8
inches wide. Planks cut from timber with a
heavy pitch content are said to last longer.

Beams are usually squared sections of red
(heart) wood. They are used primarily for
foundations and joists and are split out by
wedges.

An important product of Cheran is shakes,
tejamanil (tasamani). The product is all ex-
ported, mostly to Zacapu. Some is also taken
to Uruapan. Pine is rarely used for shakes,
as the product curls during dry weather and is
not as durable as shakes made from fir. How-
ever, fir shakes are more brittle. Fir trees
grow only sporadically among the pine forests
and must be searched for. Once a tree is
found, the shake maker examines it carefully,
studying the position of branches and estimat-
ing the probable straightness of the grain. If
the tree does not look promising, it is left.
Even after a tree has been felled with the ax,
it may prove unsuitable for shakes. In this
case it may be hewed into a beam, but it is
more apt to be abandoned.

If the tree proves suitable, it is cut in lengths
with saw or ax and the bark is removed, to-
gether with any rotten or insect-eaten portions.
Each length is now split in sections (péri) with
a wedge, cuna (injarukua). Each section has
a width of four fingers at its outer edge, and
a tree of average size will produce eight sec-
tions. One end of each section is then marked
with a machete along the radii of the trunk.
The section is first marked in the middle; each
half is then divided in two, then each quarter,
until 16 divisions are marked. At each mark
the machete is driven in with blows of an oaken
club to a depth of about 5cm. The shakes are
then split off with an oaken instrument called
arajador (udygua). (P1.3, lower right and left.)

The completed shakes are thin and wedge-
shaped when viewed in cross section. After
drying in the sun for 2 or 3 hours they are tied
into bundles of 400 called an irépita (400 in
Tarascan). They are transported and sold by
the bundle, the price varying according to the
length. Different villages and Mexican mar-
kets have preferences for different lengths,
usually 4, 5, or 6 cuartas.®

8A cuarta equals %4 of a vara (the standard measure of length,
about 32 inches long).

18 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

SMOKE HOLE

(

OPENING
FOR
OLLA

Ficure 2.—Turpentine still. a, Perspective view. 6, Cross-sectional view from side. c. Schematic view of
fireplace from above.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 19

Cheran prefers shakes 5 cuartas in length,
called “thick shakes” (tasamani_ tiapiti).
Shakes of 4 cwartas (1 vara) are sold primarily
in Uruapan and are spoken of as de comercio,
or “small shakes” (tasamani sapirati). Shakes
6 cuartas long, preferred by some Tarascan
towns, are called “long shakes” (tasamani
idrati). In Angahuan, shakes 5 cuartas long are
sold in Zamora and are sometimes called
Zamorana.

Shake makers usually work from 8 a.m. to
6 p.m. A week’s work routine is as follows:
On Tuesday suitable trees are sought and felled.
Wednesday is devoted to cutting trees in sec-
tions. Thursday and Friday the timber is split
into shakes. One day is spent drying the shakes
in the sun, and, if the maker is a professional,
the finished product is taken to Uruapan or
Zamora on Saturday and Sunday for sale. On
this schedule one person might make two bun-
dles of 400 shakes (two irépitas) in a week.

Railroad ties are usually made under contract
arrangements. The workers leave town on
Tuesday, usually arriving in time to cut a
week’s supply of logs for splitting and shaping.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are spent in
splitting and shaping the ties with the ax.
Saturday the ties are checked by the contractor,
and the men are paid in time to return home
that night.

A minor industry is cutting out blocks of
madrona and jaboncilla wood. These are sold
in Paracho, where they are made into doors,
spoons, wooden bowls, and the various small
wooden objects for which Paracho is famous.
A few people in Cheran also make broom
handles.

A considerable amount of charcoal is pro-
duced on the more distant lands of Cherdan.
Several men in town make their living entirely
from charcoal burning. Oak is used almost
exclusively for charcoal. Charcoal burners
usually spend from Monday until Friday in the
woods, and return home over the week end.
Charcoal is usually sold in the woods to dealers,
the unit of sale being a stack 8 by 7 inches
by 6 feet.

In a number of Tarascan towns turpentine
production is an important industry. This has
been true of Cherdn in the past, but, for rea-
sons not discoverable, output at present is

negligible. Turpentine is produced at any
season of the year. The first cut in trees is
made about 20 or 25 cm. (8 or 10 in.) from the
ground, with a small ax called guirbia. The
initial cut is one-half cm. vertically and 10 cm.
horizontally. At the base of the cut a small
copper or pottery cup is fastened. The initial
cut is lengthened upward each year until, after
about 10 years, the cut is 1.50 to 1.70 m. in
height. A cut is then started on the opposite
side of the tree. Formerly it was the practice
to leave the cup for collecting the resin at the
bottom of the cut. This wasted considerable
resin, and now the cup is raised as the height
of the cut is increased. In order to lead the
resin into the cup, a small sheet of metal is
driven into the tree just above the cup. The
cup is emptied every 3 days and the cut cleaned
or enlarged.

The collected resin or brea is cooked in special
stills. An olla of resin is placed above a fire-
box (fig. 2). The cover and “coil” are made
of pottery (in the village of. Patamban), and
the turpentine is caught in another vessel. Be-
fore the decline in turpentine prices caused by
World War II, a kilo of resin sold at 8 centavos
in the woods and a 5-gallon tin of turpentine
sold at 18 pesos. In 1941, prices were 4 or 5
centavos for a kilo of resin with a correspond-
ing drop in turpentine prices.

HUNTING

Probably no one in Cheran derives any con-
siderable part of his livelihood from hunting.
Some men hunt casually because their farms or
lumbering activities take them where game is
more plentiful. Others hunt a good deal be-
cause they enjoy it. Finally, sometimes people
hunt because they are poor and thus can aug-
ment their food supply or income.

The most commonly hunted animals are deer,
peceary (guakin), squirrels (both ordinary,
kuinike, and flying squirrels), rabbits, quail,
pigeons, and less commonly, armadillos. Other
local wild animals are not eaten. Heavy rifles
are used for large animals, usually .30 or .32
caliber, and .22 caliber rifles for squirrels.

Deer are sometimes trapped in pits in the
mountains. Squirrels are caught in snares.
Horsehair threads are used to make snares to
catch quail and pigeons. Quail snares are hung

20 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

in the tops of bushes in which quail perch and
peer about. When the bird puts its head in the
noose, the hunter, who is hidden nearby, pulls
a string. Pigeons are hunted mostly by boys,
who set snares near watering places. The
birds ordinarily water at dusk, alighting away
from the water and walking toward it. The
boys erect small fences by the water and hang
the snares in openings left at frequent intervals.

Deer meat is sold in the village at the price
of beef. It is said not to be liked very well.
Squirrels are sold at 10 centavos and pigeons
at 5 centavos each. Wild ducks are brought
from Zacapu and sold at 50 centavos to 1 peso
each, depending on size.

AGRICULTURE

Cheran is primarily an agricultural village.
Many Tarascan towns have industrial special-
ties at which most of the inhabitants work full
or part time. For example, it is fair to say
that Paracho is a woodworking and weaving
village or that Patamban is a pottery-making
village, even though a number of persons devote
part or all of their time to farming. In the
same way, although there are industrial special-
ists in Cherdin and it produces an important
amount of forest products, such as lumber, rail-
way ties, and charcoal, farming nevertheless
overshadows all other activities. Most Cheran
residents own land or farm on shares, and the
majority engage in no other activities. In rela-
tion to all economic activities, then, farming
occupies a place comparable to that occupied
by pottery manufacturing in Patamban or fish-
ing in some Lake villages.

The basic crop of Cherdn is maize. Second
in importance, but ranking far below maize, is
wheat. Yet despite the emphasis on these two
erops, Cherian farming is extraordinarily
varied, as the following list of cultivated plants
shows:

Maize Cabbage
Wheat Silantro
Barley Mint
Oats Fennel
Amaranth Pears
Broadbean (haba) Plums
Squash (chilacayote) Cherries
Pumpkin Apples
Bean Peaches
Potato Quinces

Crab apples
Zapote blanco

Maguey (agave)
Chayote

The above list is but a portion of the total
number of varieties cultivated by the Tarascans
in other villages. Plants used in Cheran but
grown in other villages include onion, garlic,
tomato (several types), chile (many kinds),
sugarcane, sweetpotato, banana, lime, lemon,
orange, guava, mamey, mango, watermelon,
canteloup, avocado, zapote negro, and
cherimoya.

TYPES OF FARM LANDS

The lands cultivated by the Cheran Tarascans
all have soils almost exclusively composed of
voleanic ash or cinders. However, low-lying
areas which receive materials washed from the
higher ground are usually more fertile and in
a few specially favored spots may be cultivated
annually. Asageneral rule, however, lands are
cultivated only in alternate years.

Cheran lands are of five main categories: (1)
“Plains” or valley floors, which may include
some gently sloping or rolling areas but which
are relatively flat; (2) patches of sloping land
capable of permanent cultivation; (3) small
areas of level land, usually called “‘joyas,” con-
sisting of small valleys, depressions in the midst
of lava flows, which were not covered by lava,
and the level depressions in the craters of
cinder cones; (4) relatively level or gently
sloping garden plots within the town; (5) tem-
porary fields on the steeper slopes of the
mountains.

The so-called “plains” consist of several large
areas (maps 2, 3), subdivided in numerous
privately owned plots. Maize and wheat are
the principal crops grown. The “plains” are
cultivated in alternate years under supervision
of the town government. Harvest dates are
fixed by the town council; after the final date,
the ‘plains’ become community pasture.
Fencing of individual plots is not permitted,
nor is planting in consecutive years. There-
fore, men who own land in only one “plain”
plant only every other year. Consequently,
everyone tries to have land in at least two
“plains.”

The largest “plain,” usually referred to sim-
ply as el plan, is west of Cheran, extending
from the foot of the slope below the town to the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 21

boundary with Aranza and Cheranastico (pl. 1,
upper left). The second most important
“plain” is south and southeast of the town and
extends on the east to the boundary with
Nahuatzen. On the north and south the plain
is bounded by hills and mountains, on the west
by the slope to el plan. This area is usually
referred to as Sharicho (Sarico). The “plan
of Arantepacuaro” is south of the range of
mountains of San Marcos, and extends to the
boundary of Arantepacuaro on the south. The
fourth and smallest “plain” of importance is
northeast of the mountain of El Pilon.

Patches of sloping land under permanent cul-
tivation are found scattered throughout the
municipio. A large number of plots are found
on the slope between el plan and the town and
on the lower, gentler slopes of many mountains
and cinder cones. These lands may be fenced
or, more commonly, protected by deep ditches
with hedges of agave on each side. Thorny
crab apple or other fruit trees sometimes are
also planted along ditches. Weak spots may be
guarded by thorny brush and poles (pl. 4,
lower left).

The so-called “joyas” are usually patches of
only a few acres, often in isolated places far
from town. They may be fenced or ditched to
keep out animals and, like the other areas, are
privately owned. Unless they are unusually fer-
tile, “joyas” are cultivated only every other year.

The garden plots are within the town proper.
In a few cases they may occupy an entire block,
but normally they are merely part of a building
lot (solar). Few of them are as large as half
anacre. They are fenced and, unlike any other
areas, they are cultivated every year.

Temporary fields are created by clearing the
forest on community lands. Permission must
be obtained from the Federal Department of
Forestry, Hunting and Fishing. Extra forest
taxes must be paid, but charges are nominal.
Usually the areas cleared are steep and the soil
is poor and badly leached. Frequently, serious
erosion results from such fields. Although
cultivated only in alternate years, these fields
are short-lived and are abandoned after a de-
cade or so. Only use rights exist for such
fields and after abandonment they revert to the
public domain.

THE FARMING CYCLE

A clearer picture of the agricultural cycle
may be given by a monthly summary.

January: Little to do; second plowing of maize lands
may begin.

February: Second plowing of maize lands.

March: Maize planting begins.

April: Maize planting; first cultivation of early maize
at end of month; planting of vegetables and maize in
solares.

May: Wheat harvest; second cultivation of maize.

June: Second cultivation of maize; some wheat
threshing (continued in dry weather throughout rest
of year).

July: Fairly free month; weeding of maize begins;
second cultivation ef maize continues.

August: Plowing for wheat.

September: Planting wheat; cutting maize fodder.

October: Plowing for maize; rains usually end; cut-
ting maize fodder; wheat threshing nearly finished.

November: Maize harvest (if lower lands planted) ;
plowing.

December: Maize harvest on higher lands; plowing.

SOIL PREPARATION

Land is prepared for field and garden crops
(except for small kitchen gardens of cabbage
and herbs) by plowing one or more times (pl. 4,
upper left). The plow used is usually a
wooden type (fig. 3). The Government has
given some 30 steel plows to the municipio,
which lends them to farmers; although these
are all in use, they care for only a small part
of the plowing.

Regardless of the type of plow, it is almost
always drawn by oxen. Mules, and perhaps
horses, undoubtedly are used sometimes, but
not as frequently as in adjoining Aranza; in
the entire season of 1940-41 no single instance
was observed on Cheran lands. If the wooden
plow is used, the long plow beam is attached to
the ox yoke directly. Steel plows are attached
to the ox yoke by achain. An ox goad of wood,
often with a chisellike metal butt (for sticking
in the ground), is employed.

A great many farmers own oxen; if they do
not, they must rent them at 75 centavos to 1
peso a day, depending on the demand. If driv-
ers are hired, 50 centavos a day is usual. On
the other hand, if a man has rented his land on
shares, he must make sure his tenants plow at
the right time. Usually land is plowed twice
before planting, but the depth rarely exceeds
6 inches.

Oe INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

MAIZE

Except in the garden plots and a few other
highly favored places, corn is never planted on
the same ground on two successive years. Gar-
den plots are more carefully cultivated and are
fertilized to some extent by depositing organic
refuse of all kinds and, if available, manure.
Good farmers will even carry surplus manure
to the fields, but some are lazy and simply
throw it in one of the arroyos. It is then car-
ried down to the “plain” west of town.

As a

result, a part of the “plain’’ where the water
sinks into the ground can be farmed every year.

The basin, of which the “‘plain” forms a part,
has no outlet. So porous is the volcanic soil
that streams run only briefly after heavy rain-
fall. The drainage of the entire basin collects
on the Cheran—Aranza boundary, where it sinks
into the soil within a few hours after a storm.
The entire sink area is cultivated and is highly
fertile. No rotation of crops is ordinarily
practiced on the plain; but in the mountains,

a
a eS —— hy

Figure 3.—The Cheran plow.
a single piece of wood.
main frame.

a, Plow in use with oxen (see also pl. 4, upper left).
c, Peg over which the tongue fits.
e, Tongue which goes over peg (c), while the end fits in a socket on the main frame.
the tongue (e) passes through the opening in the yoke and is held by a tapered peg (not shown).

b, Main frame, made from
d, Steel plowshare fastened on the point of the

f, yoke;
g, Bow

used on the plow in planting to spread the dirt into the already planted furrows; the bow is inserted into

the indicated hole.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 23

when maize begins to do poorly in a field, with
small stalks and poor ears, barley is often
planted for 1 year. This “warms up” the soil
and good corn crops are secured for a few years.
Maize lands are plowed twice, the first time
in late summer or fall, the second in late winter,
the furrows of the second plowing being made
at right angles to those of the first. Planting
takes place in the spring after danger of frost
is past; on the plain this is as early as March,
but at higher elevations it may be later.
Three men and two yokes of oxen are used
in planting. One yoke of oxen draws a plow
which opens a furrow. A man follows this
furrow, dropping seed each step and pressing
it down with his foot. Two grains are dropped
unless worms are bad, when three or four may
be planted. Maize rows are about 1 vara (32
inches) apart. The second yoke of oxen draws
a plow which makes a furrow between the
planted rows, covering the seed to a depth of
about 4 inches. To aid in covering the corn,
the second plow has a wooden bow fastened

horizontally below the beam behind the plow

point. No digging stick is ever used except to
replant fields damaged by worms, and all work
is done by men. There is no exchange of labor
or lending of tools or animals, even among
relatives.

Several types of maize are grown. Trima-
sion is white with a somewhat larger grain and
is sown in the “plains.” It has more and larger
stalks and ears. Tulukénio is yellow and has
small grains. It is sown in the mountains
about 8 to 15 days later, but matures at the
same time as Trimasion. The ears are short,
ordinarily about 4 inches in length, and the
stalks are smaller. The fact that Tulukénio
is always sown on poorer and colder lands
probably accounts for most of the differences,
although it is claimed that the differences per-
sist when the two types are planted in the same
fields. However, probably because of the
methods of seed selection and the isolation of
mountain fields, some regressive or primitive
types occur in Tulukénio which may have
genetic significance. Not enough Trimasion
types have been studied to define the differences.

In the garden plots a black or dark-blue
maize (¢irayki) is planted. It appears to have
some significant differences from Tulukénio,

596569—46——_3

although belonging to the same race (see Ap-
pendix 3). It is believed in Cheran that blue
maize will not grow in the fields, although an
almost identical genetic type is grown in the
fields in Sevina and Nahuatzen. The stalks are
taller and more slender and the ears are larger
and longer than those of other types. Although
it may be planted as early as Trimasion, the
maturation time is faster and some people
plant black maize late in order to have a single
harvest time. In no ease is black corn planted
before Easter Saturday. However, much of
the black maize is eaten in the milk stage as
roasting ears. The stalks are also sweeter,
apparently, and non-bearing stalks are cut and
chewed to extract the sweet sap.

All Cheran farmers preserve a red color
variant of the Trimasion and Tulukénio types.
Red ears are called ¢6¢éu and are considered a
different variety, but genetically the type appar-
ently is only a color variant. A few red ears
are always planted in each field. The reasons
are discussed below. Red maize is said to be
sweeter and is used for two kinds of cookies,
an S-shaped cookie called ¢ustika and a coiled
shape called tokére ¢ustika.

No effort is made to select seed at harvest.
All the maize is stored together, but as corn is
taken from storage for use, the farmer’s wife
systematically lays aside red ears and the
largest and best-filled-out ears, always taking
inferior ears for food or sale. In this way,
when planting time comes, the best ears re-

main. These are sorted and a further selection
made. Grains from the butt and tip are
discarded.

Maize seed selection is always done when the
moon is crescent. Neither selection nor shell-
ing is done after the full moon. This rule
applies to no other seeds. Each family keeps
its own seed (of all other plants as well as
maize) and obtains seed from others only if its
own is very bad.

Maize is subject to many plagues and animal
enemies. Pocket gophers do great damage to
maize (and also to wheat). Before planting,
and usually before plowing, gunpowder is ex-
ploded in the runways of the animals, which
is said to kill many. No effort is made to trap
or kill survivors, however, even though they
may be damaging growing crops severely.

24 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

While crops are small, posts are placed in the
fields to provide perching places for hawks.

Worms may damage small plants to the point
that reseeding is necessary, especially if there
are long periods of cloudy weather without
rain. Worms also damage about 35 percent
of the ears. Deer damage crops badly only in
isolated mountain fields. Badgers in some
places are serious pests. The only remedy is
to attempt to shoot the animals. Birds do lit-
tle damage. Some maize is attacked by a fun-
gus. The fungus is eaten, but it is not sold or
prized as a delicacy as is the case in some parts
of Mexico.

Trespass by domestic animals and theft must
be guarded against. Sometimes isolated fields
are completely stripped if not watched. Stray
animals caught damaging corn are taken to the
municipio and held in jail until the owner pays
for the damage.

Unseasonal frost often damages corn, par-
ticularly late plantings and in fields at high
altitudes. In 1940, frost, heavy enough to
damage some fields, occurred on September 29.

When maize is about 1 foot high it is culti-
vated (“escarda” also “trozando”) by running
the plow between the rows, throwing dirt to-
ward the plants. This is done a second time
when the plants are about-18 inches tall. If it
is delayed too long, the roots may be cut, the
maize leaves will yellow at the tip, and no ears
will form.

When the maize is in tassel, after the rainy
season is well underway, the fields are weeded
“chaponeado.” This is done by hand with a
short machete, called “‘os,”’ with a sharp curve
at the point. Also, earth is piled around such
plants as were not sufficiently covered by the
cultivation. If the weeds are bad, a second
weeding is sometimes done, but not often. If
weeding is omitted, weeds climb high up the
stalks and the crop suffers considerably. The
weeds removed are piled up beside the fields and
are not used for feed or fertilizer.

As soon as grain is well formed on the ears,
some maize is used for food, usually roasted.
At this time, also, guards must be set in the
fields, not only to keep animals out, but to pre-
vent theft. Whole families may move to tem-
porary field shelters at this time and remain
until the harvest. In the “plains,” usually

only a few watchers are necessary. <A pine
tree some 20 feet high is trimmed and set
firmly in the ground. The watchers climb this
and spend hours standing uncomfortably in the
crotches left by trimming the branches. Often
several families may cooperate in watching, or
several landowners may hire watchers, called
veladores.

When the ears are well formed, but while
stalks and leaves are still green, fodder
(“rastrojo’’) iscut. Allstalks without ears, and
the ear-bearing stalks above the ears, are cut,
dried, carried to the house, and stored in sheds.
This forms the principal fodder for animals.
The stalks remaining in the field are not cut
after the harvest, but animals are allowed to
graze the harvested fields.

The main work of harvesting is done by men.
Women bring food to the men, and they also
glean, assisted by children. At harvest each
man takes two rows at a time. The ears are
picked, husked, and thrown in a round cane-

splint burden basket (Sundis) carried on the

back with the aid of a tumpline. Ears which
miss the basket belong to the gleaners, who also
take the nubbins. When the basket is filled,
the corn is piled at convenient spots.

The harvest is the busiest time of year.
Except for a few specialists, the sick, and the
infirm, everyone works, either on his own har-
vest or as a laborer for someone else. Labor
also comes from other towns. Wages are 40
to 50 centavos a day, plus the right to glean.
Women and children follow the men of their
own household and close supervision is neces-
sary in order to prevent too many ears from
being dropped or overlooked. The workday is
about 7 hours. The larger landowners have
tried unsuccessfully to eliminate gleaning by
raising wages to 1 pesoa day. Men refused to
work without gleaning rights, despite the opin-
ion of most objective observers that the maize
secured from gleaning had less value than the
additional wages. The landowners would have
saved through eliminating supervisors. When
the harvest is over, some farmers treat all their
help to a few drinks of aguardiente (Caranda).

Most of the harvest is carried to town and
the storehouses on burros. Nets are used to
hold the ears. Sometimes other animals are
used, and for some fields employment of two-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 25

wheeled oxcarts is possible, although they are
rarely used. Burros usually have to be rented
or borrowed; in the latter case, a gift of maize
or money equal to the rent is usually made.
Fifty centavos a day is the usual pay for burros,
which adds considerably to the expense of
bringing in the harvest from distant fields.
Often pay is in maize and is subject to some
bargaining.

The time of the harvest varies in different
places. If the ‘plain’ west of town is planted,
the main harvest is in November, but if the
“pylain” southeast of town is planted, the har-
vest is in December. In either case, the town
council, in consultation with the principal land-
owners, sets the dates for harvests. Where
lands adjoin those of neighboring towns, usu-
ally both towns begin the same day. Eight
days after the date set, anyone may turn
animals into the fields. Persons who have not
completed harvesting or carrying in their har-
vest may have difficulty protecting it from
animals.

As the harvest is a time of joint work, even
though not communal in character, it also is a
rather festive and social occasion. Moreover,
many workmen have more money than at any
other time. To protect them from tempta-
tions, keep them sober while working, and avoid
distractions, the sale of fruit or liquor is pro-
hibited outside the edge of town. Actually,
the “edge of town’ becomes somewhat elastic,
and vendors may set up stands as much as half
a kilometer from town.

In 1940 the following schedule of harvests
was posted:

December 5. Huanaschucun (sloping lands at the
foot of the Cerro de la Virgen, northwest of town).

December 9. Eastern part of the “plain” of Sharicho
and Rincon de Paso.

December 16. Western part of Sharicho.
December 19. Plain of Arantepacua.

No rules were posted for smaller isolated
areas and fields which were fenced. The parts
‘of Sharicho and other areas close to the
Nahuatzen boundary were harvested beginning
November 26 in order to prevent conflicts over
animals crossing the boundary.
White maize and yellow maize are stored un-
shelled in the lofts of “‘trojes.”’ Little effort is
taken to protect maize from rats and squirrels

and none at all to stop attacks of weevils or bee-
tles. There are no mechanical corn shellers in
Cheran, and bulk sales of unshelled maize are
often made. Small amounts may be shelled
for sale to storekeepers if there is need of a
few cents in cash. One common method of
shelling corn is to bind corncobs tightly with
wire or cord to make a bundle about 12 inches
in diameter. Maize ears are laid on the floor
and rolled with this crude implement.

Black maize usually is not completely
husked. Instead, pairs of ears are tied to-
gether and hung over poles in the house. The
best ears are often hung on a pole on the
veranda. Good field ears may also be hung in
the house. Most black corn is consumed as
roasting ears. Otherwise it is usually saved
to make tamales in Easter week.

Discussion of land values, maize yields, and
labor costs is deferred to the section on
economics.

WHEAT

Wheat lands may be fertilized by hiring
sheep to bed at night on wheat fields. Lands
are plowed once before planting, and the seed
is then sown broadcast. The land is then
plowed lightly a second time, the furrows being
at right angles to the first. Thorny brush,
such as wild crab apple, is weighted and
dragged across the furrows to break up large
clods and to complete covering of the seed.

Some persons say only one kind of wheat is
grown at Cheran, a type planted between
September and November and maturing during
the dry season. However, both bearded and
beardless varieties were observed. Moreover,
a few families have a so-called winter wheat
(““winter” in Cheran is the rainy season, tech-
nically our summer) which is planted before
the rainy season and matures in August or
September. The more commonly grown wheat,
it is said, would not survive so much water.
Some other Tarascan towns near Tangancicu-
aro are reported to grow a reddish-colored
wheat.

The dry-season wheat is short-stalked and
often grows very sparsely. Moreover, most
wheat is grown on inferior sloping lands or
lands on which corn does not do well. Rains
often appear to be inadequate to produce a

26 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

good crop, although complete failure is rare.
A little wheat is grown in town lots, where it
seems to do better than in fields.

Wheat is harvested by hand with a sickle.
Men do most of the work, but women and chil-
dren help sometimes. The plants are cut as
close to the ground as possible, tied in sheaves,
and transported to the houses. One, and in
1940 two, small threshing machine is used in
Cheran, but the bulk of the wheat is threshed
by hand with flails. The flail used is a slender
pole about 8 feet long. To this are fastened
two or three heavy iron wires some 10 to 12
feet long. Threshing is done on any hard
clean-swept ground when the weather is dry.
One stone threshing floor exists at the end of
Zaragoza Street. The owner is usually given
a liter or so of wheat for its use, although it is
built on public property. The straw is care-
fully saved, whether threshing is done by hand
or by machine. Both men and women winnow
the wheat on windy days (pl. 3, center). The
grain is stored in sacks.

Some wheat is consumed locally. It is
ground on the metate and made into bread or
atole. The bulk of the wheat is sold, however,
to four mills at Purépero, Carapan, Tarataro,
Jacona, or as far away as Morelia (since the
highway has been built). Wheat is, indeed,
probably the major cash export crop of Cheran.
Prices and costs are discussed later.

MINOR CROPS

Barley.—Some barley is sown in June and
harvested about October. Techniques of plant-
ing and harvesting are similar to those for
wheat. Barley is fed to animals or sold out-
side the town. It is stored in sacks. Most
barley is planted to restore failing cornlands,
and the quantity is not important nor is it
regarded as an intrinsically valuable crop.

Oats.—Although the growing of oats is re-
ported, no farmer was found who had planted
the grain. The quantity must be unimportant.

Beans.—The soil of Cheran is said not to be
good for beans; possibly the climate is also un-
satisfactory. Whatever the reason, Cheran
grows few beans and many are imported from
the Lake Patzcuaro region.

The principal bean grown is a small pinkish
type called criolla. White, orange-yellow,

brownish, and various spotted beans with much
variation in size and shape were observed, and,
in many cases, were named by informants.
Until reports are received from botanists, the
details of variation seem of little interest. All
seem to be of climbing types.

Some people plant a few beans between the
corn rows, usually in the garden. Mixing of
corn and bean seed is said not to give good
results. Separate planting of beans is rare, if
it occurs at all. Beans are threshed by driving
burros over the straw, or children may trample
out small quantities.

Squashes and pumpkins —A few pumpkins
are grown in gardens for home use. The most
common type is a squash known as chilacayote,
although it is not grown abundantly.

The chilacayote must be planted 15 to 20
feet apart, for the plant spreads widely.
Uusally it is planted in gardens. The fruit is
large and green, resembling a watermelon in
shapeand color. The flesh is white and watery.

Some chilacayote is eaten fresh, cooked with
brown sugar. Usually, though, it is cured by
leaving it in the sun on roofs or wall tops for
2 or 3 weeks. Sometimes the squashes are
coated with ashes mixed with water. This is
believed to harden the exterior. After curing,
they are stored in the “‘troje” or in the storage
loft and saved until spring. Planting time is
the traditional season for eating chilacayote,
for this is a period when there are almost no
fresh fruits or vegetables. The squashes sell
for 25 to 50 centavos.

Broadbeans or habas.—Broadbeans (Vicia
faba), a coarse variety of European vetch, are
usually planted in gardens or, more rarely, in
the field. They are planted in furrows, like
maize, and are cultivated similarly. Broad-
beans yield well in Cheran but relatively few
are grown, as they are not liked as well as
ordinary beans.

Potatoes.—Planting of potatoes began in
Cheran only 2 or 3 years ago. Apparently
they do well but only a few are planted as yet,
principally for sale in Mexican communities,
for they have little place in Tarascan cookery.
They are planted in April and harvested in
November or December.

Chayote-——The chayote is not grown abun-
dantly. Plants are found only in gardens,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 24

usually near the house, where they spread over
kitchen roofs, sheds, and fencés. Planting is
in the week of Candelaria. No fruit is borne
until the second year.

The tubers formed on the roots of the chayote
plant, called chinchayote, are dug up every
third year on New Year’s day or shortly after.
They are found about a yard and a half from
the stalk at a depth of 2 feet. They are boiled
or fried and eaten. In flavor and texture they
are superior to potatoes, which they resemble.
If the tubers are not removed every 3 years,
they rot and the plant sickens and does not
bear.®

Miscellaneous vegetables and herbs.—Green
vegetables and herbs are usually grown in small
garden plots within the patio or houseyard.
Most important is cabbage, of which two var-
ieties are grown, one which heads and one
which does not. The latter is the more com-
mon, producing a cluster of large leaves along
a stalk a foot or more in height. Cabbage is
an essential ingredient of the universal meat
dish, ¢uripo.

On rare occasions, other vegetables are
grown, such as carrots, tomatoes, and onions.
The latter two do not produce well in Cheran,
and carrots and other vegetables have little
place in Tarascan cookery.

Almost every garden has a few herbs, the
most common of which is silantro (kulantro),
used to flavor meat dishes. Two mints
(kua¢itiniS and kua¢itinis kamata aka) are
grown for use in atoles.

Camomiles, manzanillo, of at least two types
are grown as carminatives.

Agave.—Although agaves (akamba) are
planted extensively along the ditches cut as
field boundaries to keep out animals, relatively
little use is made of them. There is some
collection of the juice, agua miel (urapi).
Some is consumed locally, but most of it is
shipped to Uruapan. No native residents drink
the juice after fermentation as pulque. Only
wild agaves are roasted.

To secure the juice, according to description,
a cavity is cut in the heart with a knife and the

®In Paricutin village, chayotes (apipo) are planted in stone-
lined pits to protect the seeds from gophers. The pit is about
30 em. deep. The pulp is carefully removed from the seeds, which
are then carefully wrapped in maize husks and tied with the
same material.

pulp is chopped. Three days later the chopped
material is removed and the surface of the
cavity is scratched with a rakelike implement.
On the fourth day, collection of the juice begins
twice daily. Each time juice is collected, the
surface of the cavity is scratched with the rake-
like implement. The juice is dipped out with a
small pottery vessel and poured into a larger
container. If the juice is to be shipped to
Uruapan it is put in a 25-liter can. A good
plant produces slightly more than 2 liters a day.

The bud of the wild agave is cooked in a
round hole, 1 meter in diameter and 1 meter
deep. The hole is filled with small stones to
within 10 or 15 cm. of the top, and a large fire
is built on top of the stones. When the fire
dies down, the agave buds are thrown on it,
covered with leaves of agaves and trees, and
then sealed with earth. On the third day the
oven is opened. The thick fleshy end of leaves
of the smaller wild agave are also roasted.
The season is from November to May.

Approximately 20 men in Cheran roast agave
in season. They must eat sugar when the
agave is cooking so that it will emerge sweet.
They must also abstain from sexual intercourse
during the 3 days the agave is in the oven.!°

Pears.—The most important fruit in Cheran
is the pear. It is carried by traders as far as
Guerrero. Three types are recognized: leche
(uérgamote), pardo (¢arapiti), and t‘aéani
(Spanish name unknown). The only signifi-
cant difference recognized is that the three
types mature at different times, although some
say only the uérgamote transports well.

Pear trees are always grafted on a rootstock
of wild crab apple, tejocote. (This is a sloe-
like fruit which bears a marked resemblance in
flavor and appearance to the true crab apple.)
The tejocote trunk is cut with a saw and then
split. A pear graft is inserted at each end of
the split, sealed in with wax, and wrapped in
clean cloth. It is believed the grafts will grow
only in January, February, and March, but a
school teacher with experimental tendencies
claims to have grown them at all seasons.

1 Agave is of varying importance in other towns. In Angahuan
the techniques are similar. The plant is known here as quiote;
the leaves are called i¢ikua, the stalk or bud, 5amas. Mestizoized
Chilchota makes mescal. The leaves are cooked in earth ovens,
macerated with clubs in cement tanks, fermented several days, then

distilled. The Tarascan terminology relating to the agave and its
processing survives in part.

28 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Pears and other fruit trees are not pruned,
cultivated, or fertilized. Fruit to be shipped,
especially pears, is picked with a special imple-
ment to prevent bruising. Three narrow pieces
of shake are cut to a point at one end. They
are then tied with string to one end of a long
light pole, forming a triangular funnel. The
funnel is placed under the fruit and raised,
detaching it gently from the tree (fig. 4).

=

F

FIGURE 4.—Pear picker, made of trimmed shakes, cord,
and any convenient long pole. The fruit is caught
in the opening, lifted until the stem breaks, and
then lowered to the ground. Bruised pears will
not stand shipment.

Miscellaneous fruits—A bitter apple, man-
zana agria or chata, is grown in Cherdn. A
larger, sweet apple is grown in Pichataro, but
only four or five trees exist in Cheran.

Three kinds of peaches are grown in Cheran:
blanco, a type with red flesh near the pit (name
uncollected), a green peach (prisku), and a
yellow peach (melékuta). Relatively few
peaches or apples are exported.

Two kinds of cherries, black and white, are
grown in Cheran. Both are dried in some
quantities and are sometimes sold in the market
at Paracho.

A few zapote blanco are grown in Cheran,
but most of this fruit consumed in Cherdan is
imported. The same is true of plums.

The tejocote is said not to be cultivated, but
it sometimes is planted deliberately along field
borders and its fruit is used. As, with the ex-
ception of pears, this is all the attention ever
given to other fruits, it is fair to include the

tejocote as a domesticated type. It is har-
vested and exported for making jellies and
preserves. A few are used locally.

Some quince trees are found in Cheran.
They are little used, but some preserves are
made.

BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS

Most beliefs and customs center about maize.
Most important are the beliefs about red ears,
cocu. A red ear is described as the mother,
chief, and a¢e (ceremonial leader) of all maize.
In the storage lofts, red ears are mixed in with
the yellow and white to act as guardian of the
rest. They are never eaten until all the white
and the yellow corn are gone. Care is taken to
plant seed from one or more red ears in each
field; otherwise it is believed that there will be
no harvest.

Red ears and black ears are both said to be
used in curing, but no details could be secured.

Twin ears, cuates (Saninkudte), are said to
come because God wishes to send a little more.
Sometimes large ears have four or five points;
they are said to be the hand of the planter.

The family harvesting the first green corn in
the town places two or three ears on the altar
of San Francisco. Each family gives one or
two cargas of maize on the cob to the priest.

If the rains do not come at the proper time
near the end of May, the image of San Ramos
is taken to the peak of San Marcos. The image
is placed on a white sheet, held by a man at
each corner, and tossed in the sheet. If San
Ramos can be made to ery, it begins to rain
immediately. During the rite a rezador recites
a rosary, copal is burned, and cohetes are fired.

Every year, beginning in January, the grass
is burned, causing great damage to the forests
and destroying the last remnants of pasture.
The burning is said to prevent heavy frosts,
while the smoke hastens the coming of the
rains. Town officials and officers of the Forest
Service succeeded in extinguishing most of the
fires in 1940.

It is said there are no beliefs regarding
wheat. Nevertheless, wheat must be carried in
a wooden bowl while sowing or it will be at-
tacked by rust, “tecolote.” Rust is a sign the
planter used his hat, blanket, or some other
improper article at planting. Girls plait elab-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 29

orate ornaments of wheat straw at harvest
time, which are hung on the veranda or inside
the house. Beliefs about these ornaments were
denied.

No beliefs or customs were discovered re-
garding other plants except those connected
with roasting the wild agave.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS

The domestic animals found in Cheran are
cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, goats, pigs,
dogs, cats, chickens, pigeons, and bees. Of
these, cattle, burros, sheep, and pigs are the
most numerous and of greatest economic im-
portance. Turkeys, ducks, and geese are com-
pletely lacking, although they are found in
other Tarascan towns. Sevina, for example,
has a fair number of turkeys.

Cattle——Ownership of cattle is widespread
in Cheran, but accurate knowledge of the extent
of ownership is impossible because of the tend-
ency to conceal wealth. As most cattle are
kept at pasture, usually in the mountains, house
censuses are of no value. Possession of cattle
seems to make little difference in the economic
position of their owners. Wealthy men often
own herds of some size which they do not
appear to exploit to their fullest extent. Such
men, though, probably gain some social prestige,
for their bulls will be sought for use in the bull
riding which forms an important part of the
fiesta of the patron saint of Cheran.

Cattle are raised for several economic uses:

- meat, milk, draft animals, and sale outside the

town. Somewhat different treatment is ac-
corded animals raised for various purposes;
consequently, separate discussion is indicated.

Relatively few cows are milked, and most
families do not keep milk cows. There is no
special breeding for milk cattle and a ‘very
good” cow will not give over 2 liters of milk a
day. The milk is sold in Cheran, usually for
pregnant women or sick people, or it is made
into cheese. Only a small part of the local
demand for cheese is supplied in this fashion,
however. No butter is made.

Milking is done only by men, but women
clean the milk containers, make the cheese, and
may care for the animals. Milking is done by
primitive methods; the cow is tethered closely
at the head and the hind legs are tied together.

The calf is then tied nearby while the cow is
milked; it is then permitted to suckle.

The cow is milked only once a day and only
from June to January or February while pas-
tures are good. Ordinarily, the cows are kept
and milked in the fields. If only one or two
cows are milked, they may be pastured close
to the village and driven into the house yard
for milking. In this case, if the owner has
feed, the cow may be milked after February.

Oxen, and sometimes bulls, are used exten-
sively for plowing. In a very few cases they
also draw two-wheeled carts to bring in the
harvest, although most of this is done by pack
animals. Oxen are broken to the yoke after
they are fully grown, but fairly young steers
are sometimes yoked together in the pastures
in order to accustom them to traveling together.

Animals are not bred or raised specially for
beef. Cows, bulls, and steers are killed, the
main consideration being the fatness of the
animal. A considerable number of the animals
slaughtered are oxen considered to have out-
lived their usefulness as draft animals. Al-
though specially fattened for slaughter, the
beef is as tough as might be expected. Calves
or young animals are never slaughtered. Ani-
mals dying of disease are not eaten in Cheran
but are in other towns. The hides of slaugh-
tered cattle are valued according to prices in
adjacent Mexican markets.

Although Cherdn raises more than enough
cattle for its own use, cattle raising is not re-
garded as a very satisfactory business because
of the lack of pasture during the latter part
of the dry season. Usually, numbers of ani-
mals die of starvation during April and May.
This is true of other grazing animals also.

When not in use, cattle are ordinarily pas-
tured inthe mountains. They are visited every
third day to make sure they have not been
stolen and that they are getting water. They
are driven down to the farm lands and allowed
to graze on the cornstalks or wheat stubble
during the winter. This practice not only aids
the animals over part of the dry season with
its scanty pasturage, but is recognized as a
means of fertilizing the soil.

Little care is used in breeding, and new bulls
are never brought in from outside. If a man
owning a cow has no bull, he simply drives the

30 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

animal to a herd containing bulls. Sometimes
he will seek a bull regarded as superior. There
is no service fee. Cattle are branded when
young and draft animals almost always are
castrated.

Pigs.—Probably the pig is the second most
important animal in Cheran; certainly it is
the most common. Almost every family has at
least one sow. If a family has no sow of its
own, usually someone will lend a sow to be fed.
In this case the litter is divided; should the
animal lent be a male, the meat or proceeds of
sale are shared.

The pig is raised for meat and fat or for sale,
often outside the village. The skin has very
little value. No use is made of the hoofs, but
the entrails are prized as sausage casings. A
not unimportant.function of pigs is their ser-
vice as scavengers.

Although some persons in Cheran were said
to keep boars for breeding purposes and to
charge a small fee for service (of from 25 cen-
tavos to 1 peso in Paricutin), evidently little
care is taken in breeding. Most males are
uncastrated until it is desired to fatten them.
As the pigs roam the streets and nearby roads
and woods during the day, little selective breed-
ing seems possible. Normally, pigs are fed
just enough corn to keep them returning home.
At night they are placed in pens to protect
them from coyotes.

Ordinarily only boars are fattened and
slaughtered. Some people castrate their ani-
mals before fattening them, claiming they will
fatten on less grain. Others dispute this, say-
ing further that meat from castrated hogs has
no flavor. Not every one knows how to cas-
trate, but field notes do not indicate whether
a charge is made for the operation when the
aid of a neighbor is necessary. Animals being
fattened are shut in small log pens with
wooden floors, which are cleaned at frequent
intervals. It is claimed that there are two
types of pig, one of which fattens more readily
than the other. At least 1 fanega (about 90.8
qts.) of maize is used in fattening a pig. Fat-
tened pigs are normally sold to butchers; own-
ers ordinarily kill their own pigs only for
fiestas.

Sheep.—Although
own sheep,

relatively few families
the number owned in Cheran is

fairly large and they assist materially in fer-
tilizing wheatfields. Wheat farmers will pay
about 30 centavos a night to have an average
herd bedded on their fields. This is not done
for cornlands, as the return is not considered
sufficient.

No sheep owner gets his living from the
ownership of sheep, but in some cases individ-
uals or even entire families live on their wages
as sheepherders. Most sheepherders, however,
are boys of from 8 to 20 years and old men and
women. Very poor families may start their
sons to learn sheep herding as apprentices as
early as 6 years of age.

Ordinarily sheepherders return to town only
for fiestas or when they need new clothes.
Their food is taken to them by a woman in the
family. If the entire family work as shep-
herds, the wife returns to town periodically to
cook a supply of tortillas or gordas (thick
tortilla fried in fat, sometimes made of wheat
flour instead of maize).

The average wages of sheepherders are 5
pesos a month without food, but this evidently
varies with the size of the flock. One of the
larger owners, with a flock of about 200 sheep,
pays 10 centavos a head a month, 1 fanega of
maize, and permits slaughter of 1 sheep a
month. In all cases, shepherds may eat sheep
which die, if they think it safe to do so, but
the pelt must be washed and dried, and given
to the owner.

Shepherds watch one another to prevent mis-
behavior, such as secretly selling sheep, or
carelessness which would reflect on the profes-
sion. Shepherds care for the flocks, protect
them from coyotes, and put the ownership
marks on the lambs. They are aided by
specially trained dogs.

Sheep are herded in the ‘anata part of
the year, and on farm lands after the harvest.
Identification marks are made by notching or
cutting the ears. Males are not castrated.
During the dry season, numerous sheep die of
starvation unless their owners have feed (usu-
ally wheat straw). Sheep are not dipped and
in general receive little care beyond herding.
Coyotes are the principal enemies, although a
waggish informant listed the enemies of sheep
as “First, the coyote; second, the shepherd;
and third, the man who buys him for food.”

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 31

Although mutton is eaten to some extent,
sheep are raised primarily for wool. Sheep
are sheared twice a year, in late fall and early
summer. A sheep yields about 1 pound of wool
in two shearings, which sells at from $1.00 to
$1.25 (all monetary values are in Mexican cur-
rency). Black wool brings more than white
(as it is all used locally for serape weaving).

Goats.—Only a few goats are raised. Nor-
mally they are herded with the sheep and are
treated like them. In rare instances the goats
are milked, and the milk is made into cheese.
The most important use of goats is to sell them
for food, usually outside the town, as goat meat
is rarely eaten in Cheran. Goatskins are sold
uncured with the hair.

Horses.—Although some horses are bred in
Cheran and some care is exercised in breeding,
it is said the animals deteriorate because of the
cold climate. Consequently, most horses are
imported, but they also deteriorate rapidly.
More important than the cold, undoubtedly, is
the fact that no one in Cheran understands the
care of horses. They are badly fed and receive
little protection from the weather. Stallions
are castrated.

In any case, horses are rare in Cheran and
are little used except as riding animals, es-
pecially by those with numerous cattle or pack
animals. Riding and pack gear are the same
as those of the Mestizos. Although in other
Tarascan towns horses are used in plowing,
this was denied in Cheran. A rather poor
horse costs about 70 pesos. Most horses be-
long to well-to-do men and primarily are indica-
tors of social position. Attitudes toward own-
ing a horse are a weak reflection of those of the
vanishing Mexican caballero. Women almost
never ride.

Horses are fed maize, oats, maize stalks, and
wheat or oat straw. Few people have any
knowledge of treating illnesses of horses.
Ownership is indicated by branding, and horses
are given names similar to those used by
Mestizos. Horse meat is not eaten, but horse
hides are valued for tanning.

Mules—Mules are even rarer than horses
and have a higher value. Almost all are im-
ported. They are used mostly as pack animals,
but occasionally they are ridden or used with

596569—46—-4

the plow. Care and practices otherwise are
the same as for horses.

Burros.—‘‘The poor man’s mule’”’ is one of the
more common animals in Cheran. Often kept
in a shed by the house, the burro is employed
to bring in firewood (when he may be ridden to
the woods), to bring in the harvest, carry goods
on trading trips, and perform any other service
of burden carrying. Burros may be used as
light draft animals in such tasks as dragging
brush over wheat fields to cover the seed after
sowing. Often rented, especially at harvest
time, burros are frequently lent to friends,
neighbors, and_ relatives. Although hard-
worked, they are usually better cared for and
less abused than among the Mestizos. They
are often fed rather than pastured, and saddle
sores and other signs of abuse are relatively
uncommon.

Burros are bred in the town. Jacks are not
castrated. The flesh is never eaten and the
hide is regarded as of little value.

Dogs.—Usually each household has one or
perhaps two dogs, but large numbers of starved
animals are rare. Ordinarily a dog is fed
what the family has, and if a dog is underfed,
usually the family is also. Dogs are always
named, usually for “pretty things or animals”
such as Butterfly, Duke, Tiger, or Rattlesnake.
Others are named for their coat color or be-
cause the name is liked. No effort is made to
control the breeding of dogs.

Dogs are used in hunting, sheepherding, and
to guard the house. In the latter capacity, the
dogs of the barrio of Paricutin are much more
aggressive than in the rest of the town. This
may be because their masters are generally less
friendly or may simply reflect the more rural
character of the barrio.

Hunting dogs are used to chase deer, squir-
rels, rabbits, and other animals after they have
been wounded. Apparently no special train-
ing is given. Sheep dogs are trained by put-
ting them on a leash with a sheep during the
day and tying them near the sheep at night.
They are encouraged to bark at the right time
and to attack coyotes.

Cats.—Cats are not numerous in Cheran,
although they are valued fairly highly because
they combat the many rats which steal stored
corn. Cats seem well treated and are some-

32. INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

times petted. One reason for having cats is
“because they give pleasure.” They are given
“pretty” names or names of affection such as
Chulita and Negrita (‘Pretty Little One” and
“Little Black One’’).

Cats are fed primarily on tortillas, although
they usually are given a little of whatever the
family is eating. Kittens are given away to
friends and relatives; they are never killed,
“for there are never enough cats.” Strange
cats may be associated with witchcraft and
might be mistreated or killed, but this appar-
ently does not happen often. Eating of cats is
denied, although young fat kitten is reported
to be a delicacy for really poor people in near-
by Mestizo towns.

Chickens.——Many people have no chickens
and no one has large flocks. They are fed, but
receive little care. Fowls are sometimes eaten
on special occasions, such as a baptism, when
a cooked fowl may be presented to the god-
father. Eggs are rarely eaten but are sold to
traveling egg merchants from Mestizo towns.
An average egg will sell for 5 or 6 centavos,
which will buy enough beans for a whole family
to have a meal, while one egg “will not satisfy
even one person.”

Chickens are fed whole corn or, if there are
very few chickens, nixtamal (masa or corn
dough for tortillas). Chicks are also fed
nictamal. Boxes or baskets are provided for
nests. The first time a hen wishes to “set,” it
is not permitted, but it is the second time.
Eggs from other hens are never placed under
a “setting” hen. Small chicks are placed under
box crates to protect them from ‘“‘onzas” (from
descriptions, onza in Cheran means a small
weasellike animal).

Roosters are raised for cock fighting. How-
ever, organized cock fights are held only during
the fiesta of Octava.

Pigeons.—Although regarded as a domestic
animal, pigeons are really wild. Ownership is
not clear. As the birds are not fed, but help
themselves to stored grain in the lofts of the
houses, ownership presumably would be felt
for the birds eating one’s corn. The matter
seems unimportant, as the birds are rarely
eaten, although they are used in connection with
the San Juan fiesta. If eaten, only adult
pigeons are killed.

Bees—While a moderate number of families
have a few hives of bees, most of the apiculture
in Cheran is carried on by a few men who may
have 20 to 30 colonies. Only European bees
are kept. :

Beehives are wooden boxes, about 80 cm.
long, 20 to 35 em. wide, and 25 to 40 em. high.
The entrance is at one end, while the wax and
honey are taken by opening the back. The
hives are placed on benches or poles at inter-
vals of about one-half meter. Lizards are be-
lieved to eat the larvae. Flowers and scented
herbs are often planted in the area surround-
ing the hives. Wherever bees are kept, copal —
gum is burned in pottery censers. It is said
to “feed’”’ the bees because “the odor of copal
is the odor of our Lord.” It is believed it also
prevents bees from leaving. No other ritual
or belief could be discovered.

Honey and wax are usually taken from the
hives in October or November. If delayed
much after this time, the honey sugars and can-
not be extracted. The honey gatherer places a
net over his head and burns wheat straw to
stupefy the bees. The top of the hive is-
smeared with honey so the bees will not leave.
Should they leave the hive and not return by
late afternoon, a small bell is rung to attract
them.

When bees swarm, a bell is rung to make
them alight in a nearby tree. A little honey is
smeared over the inside of a box, which is then
placed by the swarm. When a few bees have
entered voluntarily, most of the remainder are
brushed in and the box is closed and put in
place. When it is opened, the bees usually
remain. The function of the queen is known,
and beekeepers can identify her.

One of the largest apiaries in Cheran con-
tains 42 hives. The owner started beekeeping
17 years ago when he encountered a wild colony
in the mountains and brought it home. He
recovers 10 kilos of wax a year, which he sells
in Cheran at $2.50 a kilo, and between 40 and
50 pounds of honey. Most of the latter he sells
in small quantities at his home, but some is
sold to stores.

All the work of caring for bees is done by
men (with one exception, a widow), but if the
wax is bleached, this may be done by women.
Wax is used mainly for making candles. -

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 39

Honey is used primarily to sweeten atole and
as a treat for children."

For the village of Capacuaro, Silvia Rendén
reports what are probably native bees kept in
sections of hollow log hung on the walls. She
was told they produced “‘Campeche wax” (cera
de Campeche).

Pets.—Only domesticated animals are pets.
Dogs and cats are most commonly treated as
pets, being stroked, fondled, picked up, or
played with. However, this is not true of all
dogs or cats, nor is it true of all individuals.
Pigs often seem to be treated as pets, especially
young animals, but they are not picked up or
fondled. Kids are sometimes pets, especially
if the mother had died and the animal has been
reared by hand. Even more common, although
by no means general, are sheep. Lambs are
placed on a leash until half-grown; after this
they follow their masters everywhere, even to
automobiles. Many children have lambs as
pets. One boy of 10 had an immaculately
washed white lamb with a red sash tied about
its middle. The lamb followed him everywhere
and was even trained to stand on the pack pad
of a burro so it could be taken to the mountains
on wood-cutting trips.

Beliefs and ceremonies.—The only ceremony
connected with domestic animals is burning
copal for bees. Beliefs are likewise few. The
association of cats with witchcraft has been
noted. If a dog sits down and howls by day
closeby, it is a sign something bad is going to
happen. Coyotes are believed able to bewitch
the domestic animals they eat, especially chick-
ens. ‘“‘Coyotes just shake themselves and chick-
ens will go right to them.”

Curing of animals.—A few men are special-
ists at curing animals. They are usually paid
for their services. Wounds and sores are
cleaned by washing with lukewarm water, to
which salt is sometimes added, until all pus is
removed and bleeding begins. If the wound is
deep, a wick of cloth may be inserted to keep
it open; sometimes peroxide of hydrogen is
used as a disinfectant, but creosote is more

1 Beekeeping is very popular in La Canada. Nearly every family
has at least a few hives. Much of the honey is used in the house-
hold, and only the surplus and the wax are sold. Burning of copal
is not practiced.

In Angahuan and Paricutin only a few people keep bees. The
largest apiary in Paricutin contained only four hives, and only
three people possessed hives.

common. If wounds are bound, carefully
washed lard mixed with sugar may be applied
or wet dressings may be used, dampened at
frequent intervals with salt water.

Rabies is believed to be caused by the bite of
some other animal, by inadequate food, or by
heat. There is no cure.

Dysentery, “posicién,”” in horses and burros
is believed to be caused by cold or “‘salitre,” a
very salty mineral-bearing earth. The animal
is fed pills of coffee, lemon, and bicarbonate
of soda.

“Oni” is caused by overwork, but the symp-
toms were not recorded. Treatment is bleed-
ing the side of the neck and rest. (In general,
overwork is regarded as an important cause of
sickness. )

Sore feet result from the feet becoming full
of blood. The bottom of the foot is bled and
the animal must rest until well.

“Roncha” is a disease caused by mosquito
bites; if it is not cured within 24 hours, the
animal usually dies. Symptoms and treatment
were not recorded.

“Pirojon” is very dangerous and kills in 24
hours. It is believed to be caused by mosqui-
toes or flies that have bitten a dead animal
already putrefying. One curer burns the bites
with a magnifying glass.

Evil eye, malojo, may affect animals that
refuse to eat. There is no cure. The best
thing is to sell the animal to the man who cast
the evil eye (at his price usually) ; the animal
then recovers.

Bats are reported to bite animals at night
and make them bleed. Nothing is done to pre-
vent this. As it is said bats never bite humans,
and as Cheran probably is above the range of
vampire bats, the report may be folklore.

MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

In the previous sections were described the
technological processes which involve the ex-
ploitation of the environment and the extraction
therefrom of raw materials. The present sec-
tion will describe techniques by which the raw
materials are processed and made ready for
consumption. Obviously, such classifications
must be somewhat elastic. No doubt, good rea-
sons could be advanced against including
domesticated animals under exploitative activi-

34 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

ties. Neither are descriptions of dress or house
use entirely appropriate under the heading of
manufacturing processes. Nevertheless, there
is a certain cultural or associative logic involved
which would be violated by too rigid adherence
to the literal meaning of categories.

CERAMICS

No native ceramic industry exists in Cheran.
Pottery is not made, but in 1940 two men, both
non-Tarascans, made roofing tile and brick.

5.—Tilemaker’s
view of the mold.

FIGURE implements. a, Perspective
b, Direct view of the mold to
show proportions and the shape, which is narrower
at one end than the other. c, Wooden chisel or
knife used to loosen clay from mold if necessary
(ength about 18 inches with other artifacts in
proportion). d, Outline of the form for tiles. e,
Perspective view of the form for tiles. The mold
is filled with clay and the top smoothed. The
mold is then lifted up, leaving the clay on a bench
top. The clay is then slid onto the form to receive
the curved shape of the tile. After a few minutes
drying, the unfired tile is slipped off the form onto
the floor to complete the drying process.

Both men had arrived with the highway con-
struction crews; neither was making what he
regarded as a satisfactory living and both hoped
to leave.

Tile and brick are made in an old chapel
and surrounding grounds, formerly part of the
curato or curacy. Ten percent of the finished
tile or brick is given to the municipio as rent
for the buildings and for the right to dig clay
on publie lands.

A grayish clay is brought to the factory in
sacks by mules. It is mixed with water and
manure in a board-lined pit in the patio, where
it is turned with spades and hoes and trodden
with bare feet. The mixed clay is pressed into
a trapezoidal wooden form laid flat on a table
(fig. 5). The top is smoothed carefully with
the wet hand. The clay is then slipped off the
table onto a wooden form resembling half of a
truncated cone, but with a handle. After a few
moments, the clay, now in the shape of a tile,
is slipped off on the floor. When fairly well
dried, the tile is moved outdoors. for further
drying.

Bricks are made in the same fashion but with
a different wooden form. Both brick and tile
are fired in a wood-fired kiln in the patio. The
wood is cut and hauled by the brickmakers and

tilemakers. The time required to make a thou-
sand brick or tile is about 9 days, as follows:
Days
Getting and mixing clay .. 2
Cutting and hauling wood af
Shaping 1,000 brick or tile 5
Loading kiln. .... ub
Total : 9

TEXTILES

Mats.—Most sleeping mats used in Cheran
are imported, but at least three women make
them locally. The mats are made of tules im-
ported on burros from Erongaricuaro on Lake
Patzcuaro. The mats are made in twilled tech-
nique, usually treating two tules as a single
weaving element. The only tool observed was
a stone fist hatchet for severing tules.

Hat making.—About four men manufacture
men’s hats of palm straw braid, although pro-
duction does not meet the local demand. The
activity involves complex trading arrange-
ments, for palms do not grow in Tarascan terri-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 35

tory. Palm leaf originates in Ario de Rosales,
whence it is transported to the market at
Paracho. Weaving of the straw into braid is
done by women of the several small villages in
the municipio of Paracho. The finished braid
is sold in the Paracho market, the bulk of it
going to the village of Jaracuaro on an island in
Lake Patzcuaro. The thread used for sewing
the braid is an imported machine-made thread.
The tools of a hat maker include:

Sewing machine

83 or 4 hat blocks

Wooden paddle for blocking

Smooth stone for blocking

Wooden reel for thread (which is bought in
skeins)

Iron punch for ventilators

Roller like a clothes-wringer for straightening
and smoothing braid

The type of hat most commonly made has a
low crown and broad brim. Each hat requires
about three bundles of braid. The braid is
sewn together in a spiral beginning at the mid-
dle of the crown. Each spiral of the braid
overlaps its predecessor about three-quarters or
five-sixths of its width. One man, working
steadily, can make about three hats a day, but
no one in Cheran works steadily every day.
Essentially, hat making is a part-time occupa-
tion. Some hat makers are also farmers, while
one is also a “tailor.” Another also operates
a nixtamal mill. One hat maker employs an
assistant who is said to be paid 50 centavos a
hat. This is doubtful in view of hat prices and
the cost of materials.

Sometimes hats are whitened. They are
first treated with glue, then successively coated
with owxido (a_ crystalline material melted
down), a white pigment (blanco de sin), and
then a white varnish (blanco de Espana).
None of these materials was further identified.
The price obtained for hats varies with the
thinness of the braid, fineness of the sewing,
and the finish applied.

Embroidery, crochet, and drawn work.—A
number of women ornament women’s blouses
or make crocheted petticoat borders as a part-
time occupation. Women’s blouses are some-
times equipped with crocheted yolks. Cro-
cheted bands are also placed on the short blouse
sleeves. Bands of embroidery for the bottoms

of petticoats are made by one woman, although
this technique is primarily found in Nahuatzen.
The proportion of women doing this work
seems significantly smaller in the third cuartel
or barrio when compared with the other
cuartels.

The crochet may be replaced by embroidery
or drawn work, especially on finer materials
such as linen or rayon. Designs either come
“from one’s head” or patterns may be bought
in market. Usually the poorest designs come
from the market, but no evidence was found
either to indicate preservation of traditional
patterns on the part of those not using com-
mercial patterns, or to indicate creativeness in
designs. Blouses decorated with crochet in-
volve 1 week’s part-time work, and embroidered
or drawn-work blouses, from 1 to 3 weeks.

Blanket weaving.—About four men in Cheran
weave blankets. These men buy raw wool, and
wash, clean, card, and spin the wool, and do
the weaving. White, brown, and black colors
are usually natural wool colors. For blue, the
only other common color, the weaver dyes white
wool with indigo. A urine mordant is used.
To produce a gray thread, white, black, and
blue wool are mixed together before carding.
Raw wool is washed and cleaned, losing about
one-third its weight in the process.

Carding is done with commercial steel cards
which cost $8.00 a set and last about 3 years.
A handful of wool is placed on one card and the
other is drawn across it several times. The
wool is then folded on one of the cards and the
process repeated. If wool of two or more
colors is being mixed, the rectangles of carded
wool are torn into pieces, mixed together, and
carded a second time in order to give a more
uniform color.

Spinning is done with a wheel (fig. 6). The
edges of a rectangle of carded wool are folded
along the long side. The rectangle is then
pulled apart down the middle except at one end,
giving a strip of carded wool about 114 inches
wide. One end is thrown over the left arm and
the other end fed into the yarn with the left
hand while the wheel is turned with the right.
When 6 to 8 inches are lightly twisted, the yarn
is stretched to from 24 to 30 inches, given a
tighter twist, and then wound on the spindle
(fig. 6).

36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Figure 6.—Spinning wheel and associated implements.

stone; length of the beam is 14% inches.

vITR

a, Seales for weighing wool; the weight is a 1-pound
b, Carders used to prepare wool for spinning, about 9 by 12 inches;
the wires are merely indicated schematically and actually are much more numerous.

c, Home-made spin-

ning wheel; the wheel is turned with the right hand, the wool fed into the thread with the left hand; the

spinner stands to operate the apparatus.

Weaving is done on a wooden European type
loom with heddles and treddle. A blanket is
always woven in two strips, and then sewed
together with an opening left in the center so
it may be worn as a poncho. Further details
are omitted pending a study of the handicraft
in a town specializing in weaving.

Lace weaving.—It is probable that this tech-
nique is misnamed. In any case it is not prop-
erly a Cheran technique, the only weaver being
a woman from Aranza. So far as is known,
only six or eight women in the latter village
know the technique.

A broadloom frame is used, about 8 feet by
4 feet. It is warped with white cotton thread.
The weft, also of cotton thread, is placed with
the fingers. Designs are set off by open work
and consist of human and animal figures.
A bedspread or tablecloth takes 2 months
or more to make and sells at $75.00 and
up (asking price). Often the design is

arranged to be cut up in small pieces. A 2-
foot square piece in coarse thread (which
weaves faster than fine thread) with figures of
a man, a burro, and two deer, was purchased
for $2.00.

Belt weaving.—Perhaps five or six women
in Cheran weave narrow belts for women. A
small belt loom is used. One end is tied to a
house post or tree, and the weaver kneels on a
mat. A circular warp slips freely about the
yarn beams. Two heddles, a spreader, two or
more shed dividers, and a batten are employed
(fig. 7). The belts always have a central de-
sign with plain border. The main warp is
cotton, but the central design area has a double
warp, one being of wool. Sheds for intricate
parts of the design are picked up with a small
stick, not with the heddle. There is no shuttle;
the weft threads are wound in small balls or on
a piece of paper. No patterns are used for
designs. Belts take about 2 days of fairly in-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 27

Loi
LOOM BAR sa -
,
- Z)
VB Of
o
ta“
SPREADER
S
DOUBLE WARP HEDOLE SE ;
N a
WOVEN BELT —~ BaTTEN
LY > =
oF Ca L007 BA
cf
P
py
aD
y, _GIROLE BACK PosT, |

5 HEDOLES = ey

c HELD BAR
a Ta LOOM BAR
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L00/7 BAR.

FicurE 7.—Belt loom. Proportions are distorted to show detail; the actual width of the belt is about 1%
inches. The central part of the warp is double. The lower view shows schematically the various sheds
created by the shed bar and the four heddles. Length is 3 feet 9 inches between the loom bars.

38 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

tensive labor, although the weavers usually do
some housework also.

CLOTHING AND DRESS HABITS

Clothing manufacture-—Many persons make
their own clothes, but a number of persons
make clothes for sale or on order. Even men
may make clothes for sale if the family owns a
sewing machine. For example, one storekeeper
makes men’s cotton trousers (calzones) and
men’s shirts in his spare time, selling them in
the store. His wife also sews but less fre-
quently. Many storekeepers have one or more
sewing machines—the largest number observed
was three—which are rented to women who
come to the store to sew. One ambitious family
(whose sons were sent to Morelia to school)
made much of the family income from the labor
of mother and daughters. Most of the sewing
is durable but not skilled. No one in the town
knows how to fit a garment, and as standards
approach those of the Mestizos, more and more
people buy ready-made garments from outside
in stores, markets, or in Mestizo towns.

Most of the “tailors” are specialists, making
only one type of garment. One woman makes
only men’s cotton trousers. She makes six
pairs a day, double-stitched. Garments for
weddings are single-stitched. The cloth is pro-
vided and cut by the customer. This woman
works only intermittently on order. Trousers
require about 214 m. of cloth. Men’s shirts
require about the same amount of material but
cost more for sewing. One woman makes only
aprons, while another makes only children’s
garments.

Men's dress.—Influence of the Mestizo world
is strongly evident in men’s dress. Yet, aside
from the priest, no resident of the town dresses
completely catrin (i.e., in city style) in Cheran,
and only rarely do individuals going to Uruapan
or some other town wear city dress. Many
men, it is true, commonly wear one or more
garments of “town” style. Coats, sweaters,
and jackets are owned by many. Tailored
woolen trousers, on the other hand, are rare,
while almost none own complete suits. Ordinar-
ily, the cotton trousers of the Mestizo coun-
tryman rather than woolen trousers replace. the
white calzones of the Indian.

The most prominent and significant change
in men’s dress in Cheran is not the entry of the
catrin garments of storekeeper and professional
man of the towns, but of the blue denim jeans
or overalls of the mechanic and factory worker,
the garment of the proletariat. As the con-
trolling group in town is allied to the Partido
Revolucionario Mexicano and the Confederacion
de Trabajadores Mexicanas, the town officials,
including mayor and secretary, often wear over-
alls, reserving their catrin clothes for visits to
Uruapan or Morelia or for important civic
events.

The working dress of Cheran males, and the
exclusive dress of many, is trousers (calzones),
shirt or blouse of unbleached muslin (manta),
straw hat, andsandals (guaraches). <A blanket
or poncho (serape) is worn or carried as pro-
tection against cold or rain (pls. 3; 4, lower
right).

The calzones or trousers are tight-fitting in
the legs but cut full at the waist with a baggy
seat. There are no buttons on the fly; instead
of a fastening, the two ample sides of the fly
are lapped over each other, and a sash, about
6 inches in width, is wrapped about the waist
to hold the trousers. The lower part of the
trouser leg has a piece of cloth tape attached
which is used to tie the bottom of the calzones
tightly around the ankle. The shirt, or more
properly, blouse, likewise has no buttons. It
usually has no tails, or very abbreviated ones,
and is usually worn outside the calzones. It is
open part way down the front and has a roll
collar, but neither opening nor collar ordinarily
is fastened. Buttons are never used, except in
attempts to copy city garments, but strings may
be provided. Such fitting as is attempted is
badly done. A coat of manta may also be worn
on special occasions; it differs from the blouse
primarily in being open down the front and in
being of heavier material. It may also be
stitched in bright-colored thread.

Both shirt and coat may be modified by at-
tempt to copy urban models and sometimes are
purchased ready-made.

Sandals or guaraches have a heavy pointed
double thick leather sole and leather heel. Part
of the top is of leather pieces nailed to the sole,
but the major portion is made of woven leather
strips passing through slits in the upper sole

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 39

and the nailed portions of the uppers. The toe
is open. As the manufacture of guaraches is
practiced by only a few Cheran residents, most
of them recent arrivals, no detailed description
of techniques is given.

An inseparable part of the costume is the
straw hat. From infancy, every male is equip-
ped with a hat, which he always wears out-
doors, no matter how inconvenient the circum-
stances. Awkward jobs, such as carrying
heavy timbers, are infinitely delayed because
every time a man’s hat falls off, the entire
operation stops until the hat is replaced. More-
over, the first way in which a man makes an
extra “luxury” expenditure in clothing is to buy
a more expensive hat. The hat is frequently
embellished by a bright-colored string about the
front of the crown and, passing through two
holes at each side, then going around the back
of the head. Flowers also are often worn on
the hat. Hat manufacture is described under
weaving.

From the above-described working costume,
many departures occur. Without achieving
catrin styles, a gay and well-dressed man may
wear a brilliant rayon blouse or shirt of blue,
red, or yellow, and bright-yellow high shoes
(the latter without socks). A brilliant rayon
kerchief may be added, as well as a colorful
serape or poncho, although in Cheran the latter
is usually dull in color. In such a town as
Capacuaro, however, Sunday or fiesta dress
might consist of calzones of manta supported
by a brilliant red sash, a vivid blue rayon shirt,
bright green rayon kerchief, yellow shoes, a
striking orange or strong pink poncho folded
over one shoulder, and a large whitened straw
hat with a big spray of pink gladiolus or a clus-
ter of geraniums. Worn with an air, the en-
semble is impressive.

In Cheran a good many men have shirts
bought in market or in Uruapan; a necktie; a
pair or two of cotton trousers, perhaps made
by a tailor in Uruapan; a woolen sack coat; and
a felt hat. Such a costume normally would be
worn on Sunday or on trips by bus to Uruapan
or some other town. Very rare, though, are
individuals with a complete wool suit. Sweat-
ers are fairly common for lounging about home
or on the streets.

The dress of male children is similar to that

of adults as soon as they have learned to walk
and have established habits of toilet control.
However, it is said that small boys formerly
wore only a shirt; calzones for the young be-
came common with the advent of the highway.
Young boys, including even infants in arms,
have hats, but until the age of 10 or 12 these
are cheap woven straw hats costing 15 to 25
centavos rather than the more expensive sewn
braid hats worn by men. The acquisition of
an adult hat and a poncho is the principal
recognition of adulthood.

Today both men and boys wear the hair
short, cut either at home or by a barber. Only
one boy in Cheran was observed with long hair;
his mother was not a native. Still remem-
bered, however, is the belief that to use scissors
or a knife to cut hair will retard small children
in learning to speak. Consequently, long hair
was formerly common among small children.
Although no memory persists in Cheran of long
hair worn by men, in other villages it is
asserted long hair was worn until a generation
ago. Elderly Capacuaro informants insisted
they had seen long hair worn by men in San
Lorenzo, while an old man in Chilchota, now
a Mestizo town, claimed his grandfather wore
long hair as did many others of similar age.

Women’s dress——Probably the majority of
women in Cheran wear cotton print dresses for
everyday wear. However, only a few wear
the styles found among Mestizo women, that is,
a fairly short one-piece, rather simply cut dress
of garish cotton print cloth which might be
duplicated among cheap cotton house dresses in
the United States. Much more common is a
garment of archaic cut and usually with small-
er, less colorful figures in the material. This
garment is usually longer and has a definite
skirt, pleated at the waistband, and a blouse,
although usually the two are combined into a
single garment. Flounces or ruffles are not
infrequent on the skirt and the back of the
waist. This garment, in some of its forms, is
not essentially different from that worn by
Mixe women, as well as women of other Indian
groups, and probably dates back to at least the
seventeenth century.

Virtually every woman in town also has a
traditional Tarascan dress. This is usually
worn for any formal occasion, even though only

AO INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Ce

‘ 4x W »

ro RAM So NISSIM AVG SM oa

FIGURE 8.—Women’s dress. See text for description.
The petticoat is made more visible than usual in
order to indicate the embroidered edging. The
apron commonly reaches the bottom of the skirt.
The rebozo would normally be on the head or about
the shoulders, but is shown on the arm to permit
a view of details of the blouse, hairdress, ete.

for visiting or receiving guests, while a great
many conservative women wear it constantly.
In the latter case, if they can afford it, women
have two costumes, an old one for everyday,
a newer one for special occasions.

The complete Tarascan woman’s dress con-
sists of petticoat, skirt, blouse, apron, rebozo or
shawl, and a number of woven belts (fig. 8).
The greatest variation is in the blouse. This
may be of cheap manta or even discarded flour
sacking, in which case it merely has an opening
for the head, short sleeves, 4 to 6 inches in
length, and is unsewn down the sides. The
open-sided blouse is often worn by nursing
mothers, even though the materials are of bet-
ter quality. No matter how cheap the mater-
ials, however, some design in cross-stitching is
usually found about the neck opening.

Finer blouses may be of good cotton, rayon,
or even silk, although cotton is the most com-
mon. The short sleeves may have a drawstring
at the end to tie them closely about the arm.
This gives a puffed sleeve appearance, although
there is no fitting. More commonly, except in
garments made for tourists, the lower end of the
sleeve is finished with a crocheted band about
1 inch wide in a contrasting color. Often the
lower seam of the sleeve is not carried to the
body of the garment. The side seam of the
latter is also often incomplete for about 2 inches
below thesleeve. The opening left compensates
to some extent for the lack of fitting. The
neck opening is bound either by solid cross-
stitching or a crocheted band similar to that
on the sleeve. An extensive cross-stitched
design usually gives the effect of a yoke, al-
though front and back of the blouse are a single
piece. The neck opening is tied together with
two pieces of cord, a piece sewn to each side.
Garments for sale may have a drawstring about
the neck opening, which then is not extended
down the front of the garment.

Cheran women’s blouses are usually plainer
than those worn in other villages. The decora-
tion is usually a dull yellowish brown and is
applied with restraint. No study of the de-_
signs was attempted, as it is hoped a general
study of the Tarascan textile and garment
industry will be made.

The petticoat is of white cotton cloth or
manta. It reaches from the waist nearly to the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS Al

ground, and the lower edge is decorated with a
band nearly 2 inches wide of cross-stitched de-
signs in blue, strong pink, or red. These
designs are made in Nahuatzen on long strips
of manta and are purchased and sewn on the
lower edge of the petticoat. The garment it-
self is tubular with a circumference of at least
6 yards. The top edge is folded back a foot or
more, giving a double thickness of cloth about
the waist. It is worn flat across the front and
then skillfully gathered in knife pleats across
the back, forming almost a ridge of material
across the back. The pleats are not sewn but
are laid in place each time the petticoat is
donned. The top of the petticoat comes at
least 6 inches above the waist. A woven belt
of wool, usually in brilliant colors, about 2
inches wide and 2 or more yards long, is then
placed very tightly about the waist to support
the petticoat. Only training from childhood
-makes it possible to endure the tightness of the
belt constantly.

If Tarascan dress is worn constantly, women
frequently wear the petticoat without the skirt
and apron while working. This is true even
when running errands on the street. Any for-
mal occasion, however, is thought to require
the outer skirt and apron.

The outer skirt is of very dark-blue or black
wool cloth, either of commercial origin, or hand-
loomed materials from Paracho or Nahuatzen.
Two widths of the latter are required. The skirt
is tubular also, and the circumference should
equal or exceed that of the petticoat, the limit
being the purse of the family and the fortitude
of the woman. Skirts over 30 yards in cir-
cumference are known; a 15-yard circumfer-
ence is probably about the minimum for a really
stylish garment. The top is folded in, and the
surplus material is gathered, as in the petticoat,
in knife pleats across the back. The top of the
skirt is well above the waist and is held in
place by several narrow woven belts of bright
colors and designs. Despite their elaborate
designs, these belts are wrapped one on top of
the other. Although one would suffice, ideally
one belt is superimposed on another until they
reach a thickness of as much as 2 inches (pls. 1,
upper and lower right; 2, upper right and left).

The pleats of the skirt must be prepared
more carefully than those of the petticoat.

When the skirt is washed, two women fold in
the pleats while the material is still damp. It
is then laid flat to dry or clamped between two
or three pairs of sticks which project beyond
the sides of the skirt and are tied together.
The same device is often used when the skirt
is not being worn.

When both skirt and petticoat are worn, a
ridge of cloth extends across the middle of the
back large enough for a small child to sit on,
held by his mother’s shawl. The thickness of
cloth is also folded under when a woman sits
on the ground, creating a seat quite as high as
the low stools or chairs used by men. When
walking, the skirt barely clears the ground and
only glimpses may be caught of the colored band
of the petticoat. In rainy weather or on muddy
roads the skirt becomes wet and muddy. In the
Lake Patzcuaro region, not only is the skirt
worn a little shorter, but it is often hitched up
nearly to the knees by using one of the many
belts to loop up part of the cloth at the back
into a bustle-shaped bundle. In the same area,
skirts are often of red plaid materials and the
upper part is made of lighter materials, making
the thickness of the folds at the waist much less.

The rebozo, or shawl, is an inseparable part
of the costume. The everyday rebozo, and the
only one owned by poor women, is a hand-loomed
cotton fabric from Paracho or Nahuatzen. The
color is dark blue with fine light-blue or white
longitudinal stripes. The color is from indigo
dye. A tasseled fringe some 4 inches in length
finishes the ends.

For special occasions, women who can afford
them wear a much finer gray or blue cotton
rebozo from Tangancicuaro. Such rebozos may
cost from 10 to 60 pesos or more, and the finer
specimens can be drawn through a finger ring.
An elaborate netted fringe 8 or 10 inches long
is waxed to make it stiff. Some fine rebozos
have a thin stripe, but the main effect is of a
pepper-and-salt mixture.

The rebozo is sometimes worn over the head
as a protection against rain, sunshine, or cold,
or to hide the face partly if the wearer is
embarrassed. At such times a fold may be
drawn across the lower part of the face and
caught in the teeth. Much of the time, how-
ever, the rebozo is worn as a shawl. Children
or small objects are slung on the back in a fold

42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

of the rebozo (pl. 2, upper right and left). The
bare arms are also usually covered by the
rebozo. The ends may be used to lift hot ob-
jects or as a handkerchief. The rebozo is worn
with cotton dresses as well as with the tradi-
tional costume. :

Women usually go barefooted on all occasions.
Today some wear shoes, but no woman was
even seen to wear guaraches. Occasionally
women may wear a man’s straw hat over the
rebozo when traveling in hot sun. Usually,
though, a leafly branch is plucked and held to
shade the head.

Women dress one another’s hair. The hair
is carefully combed and brushed, frequently
with brushes from urban sources or with
brushes of raiz de paja. . Oil or lemon juice is
often rubbed on the hair to impart a sheen and
preserve the hairdress for 2 or 3 days. The
hair is parted in the middle and then carefully
braided in two braids. Young women and
some older women braid in pieces of bright-
colored yarn or narrow ribbons. Small girls
usually have yarn or ribbon only in one braid.
Very old women sometimes do not comb the
hair, letting it hang in a tangled mass, possibly
because they have no relatives or friends to do
this. A band or cord may, in this case, be tied
around the head to keep the hair out of the face.
In Mestizoized Chilchota, women still do not
comb their own hair but do it for each other.’

Girls frequently are put in the traditional
costume before they can walk. Usually a
portion of a worn-out skirt or serape is bound
on the infant with a belt. When the child can
walk, a miniature blouse and petticoat are pro-
vided, and usually a portion of a skirt, even
though ragged. Thus, even from infancy, the
girl is tightly bound about the waist and at an
older age is able to stand the tight belt neces-
sary to support the heavy petticoat and skirt
(pl. 2, lower right and left).

Both women and girls wear necklaces of
tubular red glass beads called corales (corals).
Three or four to several dozen strings are worn.
The strings go only part way around the neck,
being attached to two ribbons which are tied
behind the neck. Earrings are also worn.

1%22In Sopoco in La Canada, women dress each other’s hair after
the weekly bath. The hair is ‘‘fixed’’ with lemon juice and the
juice of an unidentified herb

Miscellaneous cheap products of the markets
may be worn, but the proper type every woman
desires is a large hollow crescentic ornament
with wires from each end passing through the
perforation in the ear. These are of gold or
silver, gold being preferred. <A gold pair costs
about $35.00.

WOODWORKING TECHNIQUES

Carpentry, including house building, is the
only wood manufacturing process in Cheran
except that of a single man who turns out
chocolate beaters and that of a family who
make broom handles. Aside from house build-
ing, carpenters mainly make doors for houses
and kitchens, gates in fences, and trap doors.
While several carpenters can do other kinds of
woodwork, they rarely make furniture, as
Cheran carpenters do not feel they can com-
pete with those of nearby Paracho.

The differences in the economic well-being of
towns situated only a few miles apart are
sharply underscored by this situation. Paracho
is a “poor” village with inadequate lands. A
considerable percentage of the population gain
their livelihood as hired laborers, traders, car-
penters, and weavers. Furniture makers in
Paracho receive ordinarily 50 centavos for a
chair, which takes perhaps a day to make.
Carpenters from Cheran, most of whom are
also landowners, feel this is a quite inadequate
return. Data from Cheran indicate carpenters
receive $1.50 or more a day for their labor.
It may be that the traditional specialization of
labor may have some influence upon the Cheran
carpenter’s unwillingness to make furniture,
but differences in economic standards un-
doubtedly play a part.

Carpenters have a shop in their yard, usually
consisting of a shed with one or two sides
closed. Under this is a work bench of heavy
planks. The tools are a saw, mallet, chisels,
adz, hammer, and plane. Usually the metal
parts only are purchased, and handles and plane
boxes are made by the carpenter.

As the majority of Cheran houses are of
wood, another important activity of carpenters
is house building. Only the simplest house
construction would be undertaken without the
aid of a carpenter, and even the roofing of a
stone or adobe structure likewise calls for a

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 43

FIGURE 9.—Lathe driven by a bow.

carpenter. Inasmuch as a detailed description
of houses, house use, and house furnishings has
already been published, no discussion is in-
cluded here (Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle,
1944).

As mentioned previously, one man in Cheran
manufactures chocolate beaters of simple type.
They are made of madrono wood and are turned
on a crude lathe (fig. 9). Power is provided
by a bow with the string wrapped about the
shaft of the lathe. The left hand is used to

work the bow. The lathe rests on the ground, ©

and both the bare feet and the right hand are
used to manipulate the tools. The tools and
technique are characteristic of Paracho, where
a wide variety of turned wood products is made,
including bowls, vases, candlesticks, chocolate
beaters, salt and pepper shakers, and chessmen.

Broom handles are made by one family, as
already mentioned. Pine logs are split into
long staves, which are whittled into a roughly
round shape with a knife. The entire product

A candlestick. about 12 inches long, is in process of manufacture.
bottom views show the position of the cutting tool.

The two

is sold in Patzcuaro, where there is a broom
factory.

MISCELLANEOUS PROCESSES

Waz bleaching and candlemaking.—Beeswax
is often bleached by exposure to the sun.
Melted wax is poured into bowls so that it
forms a thin shell over the inside. These shells
are removed and exposed to the sun for several
days until the wax becomes white. Although
the wax loses weight by this process, it sells for
no more than unbleached wax. The extra
effort thus apparently results in an economic
loss, making the motivations for the work some-
what obscure. Although men do all other work
connected with beekeeping, women often bleach
the wax.

Candles are made by men. Two candle-
makers are reputed to live in Cheran. The
only one who could be located was always so
drunk at the time of interviewing that little
reliability can be attached to the data secured

44 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

from him. Wicks are attached to nails in a
wheellike frame and are then dipped repeatedly
in liquid wax until the candles reach the desired
thickness. The frame is suspended from the
ceiling by a rope.

Paper flowers——The women of one rather
large household make paper flowers for funer-
als and paper ornaments for weddings. It was
impossible to establish satisfactory contacts to
learn details.

Blacksmithing.—Cheran has one reputed
blacksmith. The individual concerned was
never found at home, nor could any ‘details
concerning his techniques be learned.

Baking.—A baker of sweetened breads (pan
dulces) established himself in Cheran in 1943.
He baked daily in a regular local oven belong-
ing to one of the wealthier storekeepers. The
bread was sold with the aid of a boy, who car-
ried it about town in a big basket hat such as
is used in Mestizo towns in the neighborhood.
Information on sales was refused, but probably
they were between $10 and $12 a day at three
breads for 5 centavos. Expenses each day
were 1 arroba (25 pounds) of flour, $3.62; 1
kilo (2.2 pounds) of lard, $1.50; 3 kilos of
sugar, $1.08; or a cash outlay of $6.20, plus the
labor of baker and vendor. This does not take
into account the firewood for heating the oven.
Profits evidently at best hardly justify the
secrecy shown.

Fireworks.—At least one man in Cheran
makes fireworks, both cohetes (explosive
rockets) and castillos (set pieces built about a
tall pole). The one man interviewed was born
in Pichataro (which suggests he may be
Mestizo in origin, although he apparently re-
gards himself as a Tarascan) and learned the
trade from his father.

Materials used in the manufacture of cohetes
are niter, chlorate, sulfur, paper, agave fiber
cord, and shakes. The worker interviewed
makes cohetes only on order. He by no means
supplies all the Cheran market.

Castillos likewise are made only on order.
It is a general rule that castillos be bought out-
side the town, so the Cheran cohetero has never
made a castillo for a Cherdn fiesta. In 1940
he made castillos for San Felipe, Cheranastico,
Ahuiran, and Pichataro.

Materials for castillos are necessarily quite

elaborate, as they require fuses of various
speeds, different colors of fire, and slow-burning
types of powder. As handbooks exist for this
type of manufacture and supply houses also
furnish information to their patrons, it was
felt that detailed inquiry into techniques was
not worth while. The cohetero usually receives
a small advance payment—5 to 15 pesos—when
he accepts an order. He receives no further
payment until the castillo is burned. Should
there be a failure, not only may the cohetero
fail to receive his pay, but he may be jailed and
fined.

Stonecutting.—Several men do stonecutting
on a part-time basis. Doorsills and bases for
door posts and pillars are the major products,
although some men also make grinding stones
for nixtamal mills. A fine-grained gray lava
from the barranca north of town is the most-
used material. Tools include an iron-headed
hammer, weighing about 2 pounds, steel chisels,
and a pair of calipers. Stones for the niatamal
mills are made in pairs and are about a foot in
diameter and 6 to 8 inches thick. About 3 days
are required to make a pair.

Tanning.—The only full-time tanner of hides
in Cheran is a native of Aranza, who moved to
Cheran because of the better water supply.
He has a house and lot on the east side of town
beside the aqueduct. Most of his work is done
on hides brought him by shoemakers and
guarache makers. Such work is charged for
on a fee basis.

A man and his uncle also tan hides on a part-
time basis. They are primarily farmers and
do relatively little of the tanning in Cherdan.

Cowhides are tanned with oak bark. The
process takes 20 to 30 days, mostly occupied
with soaking the hides in the tanning mixture.
Sheepskins, used for inner soles of shoes, must
be put through a lye bath, scraped, and then
soaked with oak bark. A batch of five or six
sheepskins requires 2 days’ labor and about 8
days’ soaking.

The principal equipment consists of a num-
ber of large hollow logs for soaking the hides.

Laecquer.—One woman learned lacquer mak-
ing in Uruapan. She works fairly steadily,
producing a typical Uruapan black-background
lacquer with floral designs in four or five colors. —
She sells all her product in Cheran.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 45

Ficure 10.—Four-ply rope-twisting de-
vice used in making horsehair lead
ropes. Three men are needed to
operate the device. Four groups of
horsehair threads (spun on a simple
spinning device, not illustrated) are
fastened at h and at f, passing
through the holes in the piece of
wood e. c is a second perforated
piece of wood fastened to a Y-shaped
stump. Crank f is first blocked so
it will not revolve. The first opera-
tor rotates the piece of wood at a,
causing cranks b to revolve and twist
the four hanks of thread (d), into
cords. Crank f is now released.
The first operator holds the board
(a) stationary, a second operator
rotates the crank (f), and a third
operator moves the board (c) toward
c as the rope is formed by twisting
the four cords (d) together. g isa
heavy billet of wood, about 5 by 1
by 1 foot. As the cords and rope
are twisted, the increasing tension
drags g forward about 6 or 8 feet.
h are short maguey fiber strings
attaching the cords (d) to the
cranks (b). These strings are not
part of the finished rope.

46 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Shoemaking.—One master shoemaker with
two apprentices makes shoes of locally pro-
duced leather. The apprentices get no pay,
working from 6 months to a year in order to
learn the trade. The master shoemaker
learned in the same way. The techniques pre-
sent no unusual points of interest.

Equipment includes a sewing machine, lasts,
knives, and awls. The master shoemaker not
only must know his trade, but also he must be
able to judge hides and tanning and be a good
buyer. Only a portion of the Cheran demand
is supplied locally, and many consider the local
shoes inferior to those from outside.

At least three men make guaraches to order
on a part-time basis. Guarache making does
not require a sewing machine, and the capital
required is small. Most guaraches are im-
ported. The type is described in connection
with clothing.

Rope and twine.—One man makes kite strings
during the kite season in March. No interview
could be secured with this man. Another man
specializes in horsehair lead ropes and maguey
fiber riatas. A fairly complex twisting device
is used (fig. 10).

Hair brushes.—One family of four makes its
entire living by manufacturing brushes of raiz
de paja. The family collects its own raw ma-
terials and dries the roots. Brushes are made
by fastening bunches of root in metal rings of
about 1-inch diameter, then trimming the ends
off square.

Masks.—One family makes wooden masks to
order, charging about 2 pesos a piece. The
workmanship is very poor and most masks are
bought in other towns, especially Sevina and
Cheranastico. The local masks are cheaper
and much easier to buy, but most people would
go to considerable trouble to get the out-of-
town product.

SPECIALIZED SERVICE OCCUPATIONS

A number of occupations are characterized
by the selling of services requiring specialized
knowledge rather than the sale of goods trans-
formed from raw material. Certain types of
trading occupations, such as_ storekeeping,
could logically be included here, but their con-
sideration is deferred to the section on econom-
ics. Other skilled specialists dealing in purely

non-material things, such as “prayers” or
rezadores, midwives, curers, and witches, are
also left for consideration in other sections of
this paper.

Butchers.—Except for mayordomias and large
weddings, butchering of cattle and pigs is car-
ried on by a group of specialists. Usually two
butchers share a beef so the stock can be moved.
more rapidly. If the meat does not sell rapidly
enough, part of it may be dried.

All cattle are butchered at a “slaughter
house,” a stone-paved area with aramada. The
property is privately owned by Seferino Fabian,
mayor of the town in 1940, but he made no
charge for its use. A tax is charged of 5 pesos
or more, depending on the size of the animal.
Part of the tax goes into the municipal treasury
and the balance is forwarded to the State
treasury. Usually from four to nine animals
a week are slaughtered.

When cheese is scarce in the market, the
number of animals slaughtered is higher than
at other times.

Pigs are slaughtered at the home of the
butcher.

The principal skills involved are removing
the hide in good condition (a considerable part
of the profit is from the sale of the hide) and
in selling the right proportions of the animal.
Individual sales are usually small, and the
portions are not weighed. The customer indi-
cates the amount of money she has and presents
a bowl. The butcher cuts off proper propor-
tions of meat, bone, a bit of the lungs, and a bit
of liver. There is rarely haggling over the
amount; if the customer complains, the butcher
may add a bit more. Or, if the customer is
dissatisfied, she may go to another butcher.

Shops are not open continuously. When a
butcher’s supply is exhausted, it may be several
weeks before he butchers again. A red flag is
hung in the street to advertise that meat is
for sale.

Nixtamal mills —Some seven or eight nix-
tamal mills in Cherdn more than supply the
demand. To prevent ruinous competition, the
municipio has limited the number operating
on any one day to half the number. As costs
of operating the mill for a day are about the
same regardless of the number of patrons, this

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS At

arrangement guarantees an adequate number
of customers each day a mill is operating.

The miller must have some mechanical knowl-
edge as well as capital and business ability.
Most of the mills are driven by an old automo-
bile engine converted to operate on gas pro-
duced by a charcoal burner, usually made from
an old oil drum. A belt drive transmits power
and reduces the speed. Usually the owner (or
manager in some cases) supervises the motor
and the gas burner and an employee or member
of the family feeds the maize into the mill and
collects the charge, 1 centavo a kilo. In one
case a woman occupied this post, but most of
the mill operators are men.

Except for a few very poor families, every-
one in Cheran now patronizes the mills. Each
mill serves from about 330 to 360 customers
a day.

Wheat threshing.—One wood-burning steam-
driven threshing machine has operated in
Cheran for several years. The machine is
stationary (although it could be moved, it is
too cumbersome to do so), and the customers
bring their wheat to the machine. Two tenders,
who feed the wheat into the machine, and a
water carrier are required besides the operator.
Firewood is purchased. Exclusive of interest
on the investment and repairs, the operator
nets about 25 pesos a day above operating
expenses.

In 1940 a smaller gasoline-driven thresher,
which could be moved from house to house, was
said to have made considerable inroads on the
trade. However, as the bulk of the Cheran
wheat is still threshed by hand, there seemed
to be ample business for both threshing
machines. ;

Painters and plasterers.—This is a rare occu-
pation followed by two or three men on a part-
time basis. Only a minority of the houses of
adobe or stone are plastered, and few of them
are painted. The pay is fairly good, but the
best worker probably does not put in more than
90 days’ work a year. Brushes and stencils
are used in painting.

Masons.—As the house owner normally pro-
vides all materials, the mason sells only his
services. His equipment is a trowel, hammer,
a board frame for holding mud mortar, a shovel
for mixing mortar, an ax to cut poles for

scaffolding, and string to line up the walls.
Perhaps a dozen men do masonry, mostly as a
secondary occupation. Work is usually charged
for on the basis of square meters of wall.

Barbers.—Most men in Cheran now have
their hair cut by a barber. There are two
barbers in town regularly, and more come to
town during fiestas. The Cheran barbers also
visit nearby towns during fiestas. During the
middle of the week they have little trade.

Formerly men cut each other’s hair for noth-
ing in the bull ring on Sundays, using only
scissors. The barbers have clippers as well -
and also razors for shaving, although there is
not much demand for the latter. One barber
is not a native; the other learned the trade in
the United States.

Water carriers.—In most households the
women bring the water from the fountain or
aqueduct in ollas carried on their shoulders.
However, for any commercial use (nixtamal
mill, masonry, the threshing machine) water is
carried by men. In addition, there is one man
who makes his living carrying water for store-
keepers, whose wives may be too busy helping
in the store, and for a few families who are
somewhat Mestizoized and the husband has
decided the work is too hard for the women.

Interestingly enough, the men’s method of
water carrying is entirely different from that
of the women. Men carry water in two 5-gal-
lon cans suspended from the two ends of a pole
which is supported on the shoulder. This rigid
dichotomy is observed even in families where
one of the men or boys brings the bulk of the
water. If the women need to bring additional
water, they always use ollas and make several
trips.

FOOD PROCESSING AND DIET

Consideration of food processing in this
section is confined primarily to household activi-
ties. Commercial processing of food for sale,
such as baking, butchering, and ice cream
making, will be considered later.

The storage of food is confined primarily to
maize, wheat, beans, and broadbeans (habas).
Except for small supplies for immediate use,
stores are kept in the house, usually in the loft.
Maize is stored on the cob. Wheat, beans, and
similar seeds are stored in gunny sacks or in

48 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

baskets. Such foods as sugar, coffee, salt, lard,
fruits, vegetables, herbs, meat, fish, and manu-
factured foods such as bread are purchased in
small quantities and are kept in various covered
pottery or basket containers in the kitchen.

Eating habits show considerable variability
as between families. They also change with
the season and the prevailing occupations.
Ordinarily three meals a day are eaten, at about
10 a. m., 2 p. m., and 7 p. m. or an hour later.
Very poor people may eat only twice. The major
foods are tortillas and other maize dishes, meat
(or fish or cheese as substitutes), and green
plants. In addition to these common foods,
which may be prepared in various ways, there
are various occasional or seasonal foods eaten
as part of the regular diet, as well as foods
eaten only or primarily on the occasion of a
fiesta.

Two types of morning meal exist. The most
common is a meal of tortillas and either meat
or greens. This is varied every 4 to 8 days
with some kind of atole. Some persons have
taken over the local Michoacan habit of a boiled
sweetpotato or a piece of bread and a glass of
milk eaten early in the morning, at 7 or 8
o’clock. Such people usually eat the midday
meal a little earlier in the day, between 12 and
1 o’clock. The midday meal is almost always
a beef stew with cabbage (éuripo) eaten with
tortillas. Those who cannot afford meat, eat
some vegetable instead, often prepared with
milk and sometimes with cheese also. The
evening meal is usually the same as the mid-
day meal. Prepared food may be kept over
from one day to another.

Some people may eat only two meals, at about
10 a.m. and 7 p.m. The morning meal may
consist of tortillas and beans or tortillas and
chile sauce, varied frequently with atole, al-
though no one would have atole daily. At
night beans may be eaten if available; if not,
boiled cabbage or Guripo is eaten, depending
upon economic circumstances. Meat, eggs, fish,
and game are rarely eaten by really poor people.
Poor people often eat atapakua (squash blos-
soms and immature squash) with tortillas and
ground dried fish or cheese if they have a mid-
day meal. Between meals children or adults,
if they feel hungry and the foods are available,

eat cooked chayotes, chilacayotes, or boiled
squash (sometimes with brown sugar).

The following are the foods most commonly
eaten in Cheran:

All seasons: Tortillas, ¢uripo, tamales (kurindas
type), beans, beef or pork in brown mole, fish, cabbage,

chiles, onions, coffee, chocolate, lemons, bananas,
peanuts.
January: Cherimoyas, zapote negro, oranges.
February: Oranges.
March: Chilacayote (a squash stored since October).
April: Cherries, avocados, oranges.
May: Mushrooms, nopales (young leaves of the

prickly pear), wheat breads, wheat, tortillas, avocados,
watermelons.

June: Mushrooms, pears, peaches, avocados, cheese,
sugarcane.
July: Cheese, immature squash, squash blossoms,

pears, peaches, sugarcane.

August: Pears, peaches, green corn, sweet tamales
(oéepos), apples, cheese, sweetpotatoes, sugarcane,
broadbeans (habas.)

September: Pears, apples, crab apples (tejocote),
cheese, sweetpotatoes, sugarcane, broadbeans, honey.

October: Chayotes, chilacayotes, crab apples, honey,
sugarcane, guavas, oranges, papayas, broadbeans,
cheese.

November: Chayotes, chilacayotes, broadbeans,

guavas, oranges, pumpkins, cheese.

December: Cherimoyas, chayotes, some chilacayotes,
guavas, oranges.

Some of these foods may be available in other
months, but the periods in the list represent the
times of greatest use. The list does not contain
a number of little-used foods. Except for a
few herbs, the maguey, and wild crab apple,
no wild vegetable foods are eaten in Cheran.™

MEAT FOODS

Curipo is a stewed meat, almost always of
beef, usually containing cabbage, a few gara-
banzos (chickpeas), and often a bit of carrot.
Salt and a considerable quantity of ground
dried chile are employed as seasoning. The
thin broth is served in the same dish. One or
two pieces of meat weighing about 2 ounces,
a little of the vegetables, and about a cup of
broth comprise the usual serving. Second
servings are not usually eaten either by guests
or in the privacy of the home. This food is
eaten on all fiesta occasions throughout the year

13 Some wild foods are reported by Sra. Rendén for La Canada.
Bitter prickly pear, tuna agria (joconocostle), is used as greens
in éuripo and in making chile sauce (sindurakua). La Canada
Tarascans say mulberry leaves (7%), hojas de mora, are eaten by
the Sierra Tarascans ‘“‘because of their poverty.”

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

and as a daily food by all who can afford it,
which in Cheran would probably constitute a
considerable majority of the population. It is
often eaten with tamales of the type known as
kurundas, or with boiled chayote. Meat, if not
made into éuripo, usually is boiled.!#

Mole is a less common meat dish, probably
derived from the Mestizos. It consists of a
stew, preferably of turkey, but if this is not
obtainable, of chicken, pork, or beef in descend-
ing order of frequency as well as preference.
Pieces of the boiled meat are served in a sauce
made in various ways, according to the avail-
ability of the ingredients and the knowledge
of the cook. The sauce may include the follow-
ing ingredients: Cloves, ginger, chocolate, cin-
namon, ground toasted bread or tortillas, pump-
kin seeds, garlic, onion, and chile of the type
known as pasiya or “chileancho.” The chiles
are either fried in lard or dipped in hot water,
ground with the other ingredients, and cooked
in the meat broth. A thick, rich, and usually
rather greasy sauce or gravy is the result.
Mole is usually eaten on special occasions.

Fish are brought to Cheran either fresh,

_ broiled, or dried. Fresh fish come from Eron-

garicuaro on Lake Patzcuaro only a limitéd
part of the year, usually just after the rainy
season in the fall. It is expensive compared
with meat, but is much liked. During the
rainy season, broiled fish are brought from
Lake Chapala; in the dry season, from Eron-
garicuaro.

The fish are washed carefully in hot water

before cooking. Fish is boiled in water with

|
q

onion and silantro (a pungent herb). Some
people eat the intestines, removing only the bile.
Seasoning with chile and tomato, ground to-
gether, is common; sometimes the broth is
thickened with maize dough and sometimes
onion is added. Fish may also be fried with
eggs in lard, making a sort of fish hash.

Small dry fish (éardles), resembling small
dried minnows, are on sale on market day
throughout the year and also at many of the
stores. They are toasted on the comal and
eaten with chile and tortillas, especially for
breakfast. They are also made into a broth
with chile sauce.

44 The majority of the recipes were collected by Silvia Rendén.

49

It is believed to be injurious to eat any kind
of fish when ill of the “bilis.”

Game is eaten to some extent when available.
Deer meat is sold in pieces or in retail quanti-
ties by the hunters in much the same fashion
as beef. Squirrels, doves, and ducks are all
liked. Squirrels are sold at 10 centavos, doves
at 5 centavos, and ducks at 50 centavos to 1
peso. Ducks come from Zacapu. <A few people
eat pigeons. Only adult pigeons are eaten.!°

Eggs are eaten to a considerable extent,
fried, mixed with fish, or scrambled with cheese.
But poor families, even if they have chickens,
prefer to sell the eggs and buy beans.

MAIZE FOODS

Maize is made into tortillas, gordos, posole,
or tamales, and is also used to thicken some
types of broths and sauces. It is also eaten
green, and certain foods are made from green
corn. No maize foods are salted. Maize types
include white, yellow, red, and black, the latter
two types not being common. White maize is
sold chiefly outside the village.

Methods of initial preparation vary. For
tortillas and gordos the maize is boiled with
lime. This softens and to some extent dis-
solves the outer shell of the grain. After thor-
ough washing in a special basket, it is ground
into nixtamal or dough. If economically possi-
ble, grinding is done at the power mills in the
town, followed by further grinding at home.
Some people are too poor to pay for the mill,
and the women do all the grinding on the
metate.

Tortillas are made of the nixtamal or maize
dough. A quantity is scooped off the metate
and shaped into a flat disk in the hands. This
is then skillfully slapped between the palms until
it becomes a thin sheet about one-eighth inch in
thickness and 6 or 7 inches in diameter. This
sheet is baked on a dry flat clay dish, the comal,
with moderate heat. Usually the tortilla is
turned two or three times in the process. Tor-
tillas are served at virtually every meal, re-
gardless of the rest of the menu, and are the
main article of diet.

Gordos are smaller and thicker cakes fried

15 The people of Ichan in La Canada are well known for their

fondness for small wild birds such as kongotos, doves (huilotas),
wild pigeons, torcazes, and jarrines.

50 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

in deep pork fat. Wheat is used for gordos
more often than is maize.

Nixtamal prepared for tortillas or gordos is
the kind used to thicken sauces or soups.

For posole the maize is cooked with oak wood
ashes instead of with lime. When cooked, it is
white instead of yellow, as it is when lime is
used. The shell is completely removed in this
process. The grain is then washed thoroughly
and boiled with pork, chile, and chopped onion.
Posole is essentially a fiesta dish, served espe-
cially with certain birthday celebrations.

Tamales are made from maize prepared as
for posole but ground either at the power mill
or on the metate. There are several kinds of
tamales.

Kurtnda is the most frequently made type of
tamale. The maize is prepared apart from
that intended for tortillas. The dough is mixed
with bicarbonate of soda, which is said to pre-
vent the tamale from constipating the eater.
The nixtamal is then spread on the metate
with the aid of the mano or grinding stone and
the cook takes a quantity in the palm of the
hand, molding it into a flattened ball. It is
then tightly wound with several thicknesses of
maize leaves (not husks) in such a fashion that
the finished kurunda is triangular in shape.
The tamale is then boiled for some time in a
covered vessel. The dough is thick, compact,
and heavy, retaining something of the taste of
the bicarbonate of soda. Usually kurundas
are the size of the palm of the hand, but for a
person who is “very refined” (muy fino), they
may be made smaller, a delicate way of paying
a compliment.

The kurtnda is an essential part of a great
many special meals, such as those served at
weddings, for entertainment of guests, and at
fiestas. It is usually eaten with ¢curipo but may
sometimes be eaten with atole. On such occa-
sions, when kurundas are served to men the
wrappings are always removed but to women
they are always served with the wrappings,
possibly because the women frequently take
them home. Kurtindas may also be eaten cold
the next day, but usually they are heated on the
comal. They are sometimes sold on the streets
at 4 to 5 centavos and are always available on
market days. The vendors are always women.

With ¢curipo, the kurtnda is one of the most
typical of Tarascan dishes.'®

There are various forms of the kurutnda,
which are eaten on special occasions. The
details follow.

Atapakwa kurinda.—Atapakwa is a sauce
made of any kind of chile, cooked, toasted, or
raw. This is ground with green tomatoes,
garlic, and onion, and seasoned with salt.
Fresh or dried cheese, finely broken up, may
be added. The regular kurtnda is simply
dipped in the sauce as it is eaten. This dish
may be served at any time, but it is most fre-
quently used when men come home to lunch
from the fields or on other occasions in the
middle of the day when the family do not
ordinarily have a midday meal.

Agwidkata kurinda.—Beans of any sort are
cooked and ground. They are placed in layers
alternating with layers of nixtamal until a thick
cake is formed. This is wrapped in maize
leaves and steamed. Agwakata kurundas are
made primarily at the time of the bean harvest
(Cheran grows few beans) and are eaten at
any of the main meals. They may also be
given to children between meals.

Ndkatamal.—This is a tamale made with
maize dough filled with meat and chile sauce.
Beef is commonly used, although pork may also
be employed. The meat is boiled in water and
cut in small pieces without bones. It is then
mixed with a chile sauce made of the dry chile
known as pasiya, which is cooked in water and
ground with tomatoes, garlic, and onions.
These tamales are not wrapped in maize leaves
but in dry maize husks soaked in water. A
small quantity of dough is spread over the leaf
and on this is placed a small quantity of meat
and sauce. The leaf is then doubled over and
the tamale cooked in boiling water. The
ndkatamal must be small in size to be properly
made. The name and the type suggest it is of
Valley of Mexico origin. It is ordinarily made
only for the fiestas of the dead on the Ist and
2d of November, although it was served to me
once on an ordinary occasion. It forms a part
of the offerings made to the dead and is also
eaten in the graveyard by the mourners and

% In Parieutin kuranda means ‘‘corn husks.’’ Kurundurani means

“to wrap tamales in maize leaves.””

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 51

guests. A few are made for sale on the 1st
and 2d of November.

Tamalito.—This is made by mixing dough
with lard and salt, forming a small ball, which
is wrapped in maize leaves and cooked in boil-
ing water. It is usually eaten the following
morning for breakfast, commonly with atole
blanco.

Carikurinda.—This tamale is made of black
maize, boiled with wood ashes, washed, and
milled. The dough is allowed to stand one
night, becoming somewhat bitter. Beans are
cooked and ground on the metate. A layer of
bean paste is laid over a layer of maize dough,
covering the metate. This is cut in squares,
about three fingers wide, which are then rolled
up, wrapped in maize leaves, and cooked in boil-
ing water. The ¢arikurtnda is about the size
of the kurtnda. It is made about March, at the
period in which the sowing of maize begins.
The colored maize is usually set apart out of
each harvest for this purpose. A little white
maize is often added “‘to improve the taste.”

Atoles (kamdta) of various kinds are made.
The maize dough, prepared as for tortillas, is
dissolved in water and cooked with various
flavorings. The broth is sometimes fairly thick
but ordinarily is drunk from a glass, bowl, or
cup. There are also atoles made of other
grains. Many are made at special seasons of
the year or for special occasions. Atoles are
usually eaten for the morning meal.

Nurite kamdta.—This is the most common
form of atole. It is made as is described above
but is flavored with an herb called nurite. It is
usually eaten for breakfast not less than once a
week. Nurite is a wild herb greatly used for
flavoring and also for medicinal purposes. It
imparts a slightly bitter flavor to atole, some-
what like yerba buena. No sugar, salt, or other
flavoring is employed. This atole is commonly
eaten with tortillas and a little cheese, or
squash, or gordos of either dry or green maize.

Kamata urdpiti.—tThis is said to mean “white
atole.” It is made of dough from either white
or yellow maize cocked in water with a little
thickening substance (not identified) and either
without any seasoning whatever or with laurel
(nurtkata). A small bite is taken from a cake
of brown sugar, followed by a draft of atole,
and then a drink of aguardiente. The atole

is drunk throughout the day, even by children
(including the aguardiente). It is made in
March, April, and May.

Kagwas kamdta.—Fresh or dried nurite is
ground on the metate with three or four chiles
of the type known as cascabel (kawas guajilyo).
This is mixed with maize dough before it is
dissolved in water and cooked. A little brown
sugar and salt are added during the cooking.
This atole is eaten in September with green corn
on the cob. It is also eaten in December and
January for either breakfast or supper; if the
day is very cold, it may be taken during the
day, for it is very “heating.” For this reason
it is also given to mothers for several days
after parturition.

Turipiti kamata.—This is made with maize
dough and brown sugar. <A quantity of corn
husks is toasted until almost black; this is
ground and added to the atole while cooking.
The resulting atole is almost black and appears
to have ashes in it. The taste is agreeable,
however. Turipiti is usually eaten with naka-
tamales, but it is also eaten at any other time
of the year, being one of the more popular
atoles in Cheran. It is also sold daily at the
puestos in Uruapan, where it is known as atole
de cascara de cacao, “atole of chocolate bean
husks,” although it has not the slightest choco-
late in it.-

Kamata urapiri.—This is said to mean atole
of maguey (or agave). The unfermented juice
of the maguey is used instead of water. The
juice is cooked until foam ceases to form on
top and it is a little thick. Instead of maize
dough, white maize is toasted and ground into
flour, then added to the juice. It is made in the
period before the rainy season, April, May
June.

Srimba kamdta or téri kamdta (srimba,
“cane,” or teri, “sweet”)—The sweet juice of
mature green cornstalks is extracted by grind-
ing the stalks on the metate. The juice is
boiled until it no longer forms foam on top, and
is a little thick. Green corn is cut from the
cob, milled, and added to the liquid and cooked
with water added. This atole is eaten only in
the period green corn is available.

Iusitini kamdta.—This is a variant of nurite
kamata, to which salt and three or four red

52 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

chilesareadded. Everything is passed through
a colander before cooking.

Pué¢iti kamdta.—This is made as is the one
just described, but anis is used as flavoring and
ground green corn is used instead of the ordin-
ary maize dough. Nothing else is eaten with
this.

Tamarindo kamdta.—Maize dough and sugar
are put through a colander and thoroughly
boiled with 5 centavos worth of tamarind or
blackberries. A small quantity of leaves of
black or red maize is boiled; the liquid is added,
giving the atole a blackish color. It is eaten
with bread in the dry season.

Cardkata éardpiti—According to another
informant, this is made the same as tamarindo
kamata, but with ground tamarisk or ground
blackberry added. It is said this is the only
occasion blackberries are used. March, April,
and May, the warm season, is the time for
eating this, as it is said to be a “cold” atole.
When the atole has cooled and thickened, small
portions are sometimes put on the colored maize
leaves and allowed to thicken or harden like
fruit paste. If not eaten immediately, it may
be wrapped in the leaves.

Iduikua kdmata (milk atole).—Ordinary
maize dough atole is made with milk. This is
one of the more common atoles. It is eaten with
bread.'*

Toquera iéusta—Uncooked maize t6quera
(half way between green and mature maize)
is ground on the metate, mixed with brown
sugar and bicarbonate of soda (to prevent con-
stipation), and fried in fat. This is a type
of gordo.

Uaéakata.—This is red or black maize which
has been boiled on the cob and then dried for at
least several months. This is one of the forms
of maize preservation; the maize may be kept
as long as 2 years. When desired, it is soaked
for a day and night and then boiled. It is used
ground for atole or is boiled with brown sugar.

RICE FOODS

Arroz kamdta, rice atole-—Well-cooked rice,
milk, sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and a little

It is reported that in Zamora and Purepero, both old Mestizo
towns, the favorite atole is made of mesquite. The beans are
ground on the metate and cooked.

wheat flour or maize dough for thickening are
all passed through a colander and boiled.

AMARANTH FOODS

Cdapata kurinda.—This is a tamale made
from amaranth, bledos or alegria (paari),
which is cultivated both in gardens and in the
fields. The seed is ground with brown sugar,
with water added to make a dough. It is then
wrapped in maize husks and cooked.

WHEAT FOODS

At harvest time the heads are toasted on the
comal and eaten. A kind of oval wheat flour
tortilla is made just after wheat harvest, espe-
cially in May and June.

Semitas, or round wheat breads.—These
are made primarily in the town, partly for sale
in Uruapan or Paracho on market days. The
wheat is usually ground on the metate, but there
is some variation in the coarseness of the flour.
Semitas are made with yeast, shaped, and set
on boards to rise. They are baked in the dome-
shaped Spanish oven. If the baker does not
own an oven, she pays one bread for each board-
ful she bakes.

Tri kamata.—Wheat is dampened and ground
to flour, with water added to make a dough.
The dough is dissolved in water and cooked
with an herb called epazéte (chile cascabel)
and salt. It is strained before boiling. It is
eaten alone without bread or tortillas.

Gordos.—Ground wheat is mixed with water
and made into flat cakes. They are fried in
deep pork fat, and are pretty greasy.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

Cabbage is the most common vegetable. It
is always eaten cooked, usually with meat.
Searcely a house in Cheran does not have a
small plot of cabbage. People who do not
have their own, buy cabbage from house own-
ers who do. Cabbage is not sold in the market.

Chayotes constitute an important food during
the season. Children munch on them all day.
Cooked chayotes are sold on the streets at
2 to 5 centavos, depending on size.

Chayote roots, which are dug up every few
years, are boiled and eaten. They resemble a
very good baked potato in flavor.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 53

Peanuts are often on sale on the streets.
They and cooked squash are the only refresh-
ments accessible to the very poor. Generally
about a handful may be purchased for 1 centavo.

Chilacayote is a member of the squash family
with watery white flesh. It probably is closest
to what we call pie melons in the United States.
It is much liked. The young, immature fruits
are boiled with a little milk and, if it can be
afforded, a little cheese.

As mentioned previously, mature chilacayotes
are eaten all year but mainly in the spring.
If placed in the sun daily for some time during
dry weather, they will keep for some months
in storage. They are sometimes coated with
ashes mixed in water before storage. To serve,
they are cut in pieces and boiled. Usually,
cooked pieces may be bought on the street for
a centavo.

Atapakua is made of squash blossoms and
sliced immature squash, cooked with chile and
a little flour or maize dough for thickening.

Nopal (prickly pear) is used as a vegetable.
The tender leaves are skinned, cut in small
squares, boiled, and then usually fried very
lightly in lard.

Squash greens (the tender tips of the run-
ners on the vines), which are commonly eaten
in many parts of Mexico, are rarely eaten in
Cheran. An informant had “heard” that those
people who did eat them boiled the greens, then
cooked them lightly with lard.

Green beans are not eaten. Informants did
not even know a name for them. Dried beans
are boiled, usually with a very little salt. They
are often not very well done because of the
altitude. They are watery and tasteless to an
outsider, although relished by the residents.
They are scarce, as there are few suitable soils
near Cheran and most beans are imported from
the Lake Patzcuaro region.

Fruits are eaten rather sparingly in season
in accordance with the economic status of the
family. Locally grown fruits are eaten rather
more than imported fruits. Children and
young people appear to eat rather more fruit
than do adults. Nearly every Cheran lot will
have at least a pear, peach, apple, or cherry
tree. Tunas, the fruit of the prickly pear, are
also eaten as fruit.

BEVERAGES

Milk is drunk to a limited extent in season by
those few who have cattle. If purchased, it is
used mostly for cooking.'§

Te de naranja is sometimes drunk. It is.
made by steeping the leaves of a particular
member of the citrus family, either fresh or
dried. The leaves must be imported in Cheran.
In some other villages this is a regular break-
fast drink, but in Cheran it is only an occasional
drink.

Coffee is rarely drunk by the Tarascans.
Most stores in Cheran do not carry it at all.

Aqua miel (urapi, urapiti, ‘“white’’), the
unfermented juice of the maguey or Agave
americana, is liked by some but is not very
popular. It is usually available in quantities
only in May. It is often drunk with sections of
peeled orange, pieces of chile, and sliced onions
sprinkled with ground red chile and salt. Fer-
mented pulque is not at all popular, and what
little is produced is mostly sent to Uruapan.

Aguardiente (caranda) is the most common
drink. This is simply unflavored sugarcane
gin.

Amargo, a popular Cheran drink, is made by
putting ground cinnamon bark, sugar, lemon
juice, and lemon rind in a bottle of aguardiente
for 2 or 3 days. It is taken before breakfast
as a remedy in certain diseases (rewmas, bilis,
espantos).

Honey is produced to some extent. It is
used mostly in making atole blanco or white
atole and also as a treat for the children.

SOME FIESTA FOODS

Capata is made by grinding black amaranth
into dough and mixing with brown sugar.
The blackish paste is spread on banana leaves.
It is sold without cooking.

Mole of squash seeds is a luxury dish made
only by the most wealthy and by the carguero
ef Natividad (Christmas). The sauce is made
of ground squash seeds, chile ancho, tomatoes,
spices, and bread for thickening. Beef or pork
is the meat served in the sauce.

Beer is sold in some stores, but it is not a
common drink.

%In Chilchota no cheese or butter is made. Local milk is drunk

or made into jojoke, milk thickened by heating. Cheese, butter,
and other milk products are imported.

54 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Carbonated drinks with artificial coloring
and flavoring are sold, particularly at two
stands in the plaza where the buses stop.
Lemon, orange, cherry, pineapple, and banana
are the common flavors. The drinks are
brought from Paracho or Uruapan and sell for
5 centavos a quarter-liter bottle. Consumption
is small; the stores may have six or eight
bottles for 6 months.

A refreshment of water, fruit flavorings, and
sugar is also sold in the plaza. Ice is usually
available only on Sundays. Only men of the
town buy these refreshments when they are in
funds and want to try something exotic. Most
of the trade is with passersby in the buses,
fortunately for the health of Cheran. Water
ice is sold from door to door by one or two
vendors. It is made locally whenever the
dealer can secure ice from Uruapan. Home-
made ices are sometimes made when the water
in the troughs or streams freezes in the winter.

QUANTITIES AND COST OF FOODS

A mere list of foods and recipes has little
meaning unless quantities are ascertained.
Potentially the Cheran inhabitant has an ade-
quate diet, but most of the population probably
suffer from some dietary deficiency, either be-
cause of poverty or because of improper dis-
tribution and preparation of foods. Vitamin
deficiencies probably are subacute to acute in
many individuals. Qualitative and quantita-
tive data of great accuracy were difficult to
secure, but enough were obtained to be of some
value as guides to dietary problems. Below
are given some diets collected:

One of the poorest families in town, con-
sisting of 38 adults and 2 children, eats 214
liters of maize daily, which costs 10 centavos.
Once a week the family spends 5 to 10 centavos
in chiles and every 3 or 4 days 3 to 5 centavos
in cheese. On rather rare occasions, if the
family is relatively prosperous for the moment,
one-third to one-half liter of beans is purchased
at a cost of 5 to 8 centavos. Eggs, meat, and
some other items are almost never eaten. It is
probable that some greens are eaten from time
to time which were not noted by the reporter.
Total food cost could average as little as 8114
centavos per week.

A poor family, but not in such desperate

straits as the one mentioned above, would prob-
ably spend, in addition, 1 or 2 centavos daily
for sugar, consumed in cinnamon tea, or 3 to 6
ounces of brown sugar for use in atole blanco.
Atole would occasionally be made of milk, 3 to 5
centavos worth being bought. Such a family
would drink milk only in case of illness, when a
sick person might get a pint or a little more
each day.

A “middle class” family, consisting of 8 per-
sons (2 adults, 6 children aged 4 to 16), eats
about 314 liters of maize daily, about 314
pounds of meat (a peso’s worth) a week, and
10 centavos worth of cheese daily. In addition,
about 25 centavos a day would be spent for
other foods. (The data on the three diets given
above were all collected by Sra. Silvia Rendon.)

What appeared to be two reliable quantitative
records, covering 2-week periods, were obtained,
the first for a wealthy family and the second
for an average family. They are as follows:

Diet records of two families for 2-week period

1. Wealthy family, Don Hilaro Xhemba (10 persons in

household) :
Maize 111 liters
Meat 13 pounds
Cheese 2 pounds
Fruit : 1$ 2.54
Milk 1.54
Chiles (about 4% dozen) .03
Bread (15 pieces, whole wheat, about 4%

inches diameter, 1% inches thick) ny
Beans (brown or red; little less than 3

liters)" 2.25. Mee ic Pr 41
Fish (probably about % pound dried fish) . . 21
Total expenditure .. HOC OE $12.50

bo

Average family, Melquiades Romere (2 adults and
5 children) :

Maize 75 liters
Meat 12 pounds
Fruit . 2$0.96

1 This amount seems high. It would be the cost of 50 to 75
oranges, small to medium size, but undoubtedly it was not all
spent for oranges; in fact, it was much more probably spent for
bananas, pears, and perhaps apples or peaches.

2Perhaps spent for 20 to 30 small to medium oranges, but
probably mostly for bananas, peaches, pears, and apples.

In both cases recorded above, vegetables un-
doubtedly came out of the family garden and
are not listed. Probably, from the distribution
of purchases, this would mean cabbage daily,
perhaps half a leaf per person, boiled with the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 55

meat. At this time of year there may have
been a few meals with immature squash or wild
herbs from the woods, stewed with perhaps a
little milk or cheese and lard.

Evelyn Payne Hatcher kindly consented to
attempt an analysis of the diet of Cheran.
The results are full of guesswork, but they
are at least suggestive. The results show
that if yellow maize was used almost exclu-
sively, the diet of a wealthy family would con-
tain no outright deficiencies and in many re-
spects provide more than the usual recom-
mended minimum amounts of various vitamins
and proteins and calories. A very poor family,
on the other hand, would show a striking de-
ficiency in vitamin B, and an inadequate caloric
intake. Both diets would give a marked de-
ficiency of vitamin A if white corn were used
instead of yellow corn. Despite the inadequacy
of the data, there seems little reason to doubt
that in some cases, particularly among poor
families, deficiencies in the diet are sufficiently
large to have a pronounced effect upon behavior
and cultural participation (Beals and Hatcher,
1943).

COMPARATIVE NOTES

Some interesting comparisons are afforded by
data from other towns. The most complete
information was secured from Chilehota in La
Cafada.

Chilchota is a Mestizoized Indian town, i. e.,
the bulk of the population is of Indian descent
but a number of Mestizos have meved in, the
native language is scarcely spoken any longer,
and the people regard themselves as non-Indian.
Customs are closely similar to those in the near-
by Indian towns, however. Following are some
menus collected by Silvia Rendén (for Cheran
menus, see Beals and Hatcher, 1943) :

Chilchota menus

Luncheons (taken about 10 or 11 a. m.; no breakfast in
this case):

Average household:

Broiled beef
Boiled beans
Black atole
Chile sauce
Tortillas

596569—46

5

Chile sauce
Tortillas
Coffee (black)

Broiled beef
Chile sauce
Tortillas

Poor household:
Chile sauce
Tortillas

Broiled beef
Chile sauce
Tortillas

Very poor household:
Greens of wheat plants (boiled)
Tortillas

Wealthy household:
Pork cooked with chile
Fried beans
Tortillas

Fried pork
Boiled beans
Milk
Tortillas

Pork cooked in chile sauce (mole?)
Fried beans

Tortillas

Black coffee

Dinners (2 p. m. or later):
Average household:
Meat broth with cabbage (cooked)
Meat (beef) from which broth was made
Boiled beans
Tortillas

Meat broth with cabbage
Boiled beans
Rice, cooked in water

Pork broth (with rice and bitter twnas or
prickly pears)

Rice boiled in water

Beans

Tortillas

Fried rice with tomatoes
Pork in chile sauce
Tortillas

Poor household:
Broth
Meat from the broth
Beans boiled with chile and silantro
Tortillas

Wealthy household:
Meat broth
Meat (different from that from which broth
was made) cooked with chile
Beans
Tortillas

56 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Suppers (about 7 o’clock in the evening) :

Average household:
Boiled beans
Chile sauce
Tortillas
Boiled beans
Chile sauce
Tortillas

Boiled beans
Whole-wheat bread
Black coffee

Boiled beans
Tortillas
Milk
Very poor household:
Beans
Posole (hominy, probably with a little boiled
meat)
Tortillas
Wealthy household:

Boiled beans
Tortillas

Chile sauce
Whole-wheat bread
Black coffee

Boiled beans
Tortillas
Chile sauce
Broiled meat
Milk

Fairly common suppers are tamales (with
or without meat) and atole or coffee or a piece
of bread (a whole-wheat bread slightly sea-
soned) and a cup of tea made from the herb
nurite or a type of orange leaf.

In all cases quantities are probably small,
except of tortillas. Rarely would more than
one piece of bread be eaten, perhaps 2 to 3
ounces at most; perhaps half a cup to a cup of
beans; meat, if broiled or boiled, two pieces
about 114 inches in greatest dimension—if in
sauce, perhaps a couple of tablespoonfuls with
the sauce.!®

With substitution of different foods, these
would represent Cheran menus on the whole,
although there would not be so much meat with
breakfast-luncheon, but rather atole, while
the meat broth and meat would more commonly
be served together.

At the Indian town of Sopoco in La Cafada,
the following midday meals were observed:

Boiled broadbeans
Tortillas

Eggs cooked on the comal
Fried herbs with chile sauce
Tortillas

Boiled broadbeans
Boiled beans
Tortillas

Further comparative notes (collected by
Silvia Rendon) —Possibly because Capacuaro is
a smaller village with extensive woods close by, -
more wild animals are used for food. These
include doves, hwilotas, bird eggs (kuaSanda),
rabbits, flying squirrels, squirrels (kuinikes),
deer, gophers (khumas), wood rats (heyaki),
peceary, jackrabbits (apacis) , foxes, armadillos,
bee larvae, larvae of a ground dwelling bee
(jicoteras), worms from unidentified plants
(talpanal), fresh water crawfish (Gapus), wild
crab apple worms (kauaS), and tlacuache
(takuaée). It is to be suspected that in Cherdan,
where persons closely associated with the woods
are not often in the town, our list of wild
animal products eaten is much shorter than it
should be, although it probably represents the
common diet.

Two meals a day are eaten, at 11 o’clock in
the morning and in the evening at varying
times. In one house the morning meal was
tortillas and beans; in another, coffee and bread;
in a third, coffee and tortillas sweetened with
brown sugar; in a fourth, atole nurite and
tortillas; in a fifth, chile sauce, boiled greens,
and tortillas. The second meal most commonly
consists of squash or chayotes, meat broth with
cabbage, meat and chile, and tortillas.

Special dishes not already reported include
the following:

Tamalitos de Gapata, small tamales of black
amaranth seeds (¢apata; the plant is pudri),
made to sell in Uruapan at three for 5 centavos.
The seeds are ground and cooked in maize leaves
like tamales.

Iéuskata, gordos filled with beans, for sale in
Uruapan at 5 centavos each.

Yurtricuskatas, gordos made of maize dough
mixed with brown sugar. In cooking, a num-
ber of pebbles are put in the comal and the
gordos are placed on top of these so they cook
more slowly.

Toasted tortillas (haripukata), eaten fre-
quently at meals.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 57

Maize stalks, chewed as a sweet to a greater
extent than in Cheran.

Salt-rising bread made by one baker once a
week. It sells at 10 centavos a piece.

The daily adult consumption of corn was
estimated at three-eighths of a liter.

In Angahuan, a large, isolated, and conserva-
tive western sierra town, two meals daily are
also the rule. The usual hours are 10 a.m.
and 6 p.m. Children and sick people may also
eat tortillas or cold kurundas at other hours.
Tortillas are made by only a few women, the
kurtnda taking its place. The kurtnda here
is not wrapped in the maize leaf (k‘an) but in
the husk of the ear (Sarakata).

The beef broth (éuripo) is made for prefer-
ence from slightly spoiled meat or dried meat.
(This is also true at Paricutin.) As there are
no butchers in Angahuan, butchering is done
at home. Some of the meat is sold; the rest is
cut in strips, rubbed with salt, and dried on
the house roofs.

The agwakata tamale is made with beans
like that of Cheran. It is eaten only for the
fiestas of Candelaria (February 2), Carnival,
Santa Cruz (May 3), Corpus, and at weddings.

Maskuta is a posole made of boiled black
maize (¢irans), boiled beans, silantro, and chile.
A little dough of ground black corn is added as
thickening. This is served to guests at New
Year’s and at the fiestas in December and July.
At New Year’s the posole is accompanied by
huge kurundas weighing about 2 kilos.

Little milk is consumed. However, the town
produces enough cheese for export.

Agua miel is consumed in season. Pulque
is little liked. A common drink is ‘‘tepache”
(carape), which is slightly alcoholic.2° It is
made of barley, boiled in water and left in the
water for a week. Carbonate and sweetening
are then added.

Papaya juice is drunk and the seeds are
toasted and eaten.

Men working in the fields or woods often
carry maize on the cob which they shell and
toast by a fire. This is called ‘“esquite”
(guanito). They also carry “esquite’’ from
home already prepared and mixed with brown
sugar.

2In Oaxaca, “‘tepache’ is pulque reinforced with brown sugar
and is more than “slightly”? alcoholic.

In times of famine, acorns are cooked like
maize for nixtamal (boiled with lye or wood
ashes), ground, and made into gordos.

A special “bread” of maize is used as an offer-
ing at the house altar. ‘ This is made of maize
toquera (halfway between green and mature
corn) cooked like niatamal, ground, and shaped.
Itis cooked first on the comal and then hardened
by placing it on embers. This bread is never
eaten but is hung from strings in front of the
altar. The shapes include quadrupeds, both
with and without horns, crescent moons, and,
most interesting of all, hearts represented in
pre-Hispanic style.

In Paricutin a few divergences may be noted.
Most people eat atole flavored with nurite,
without sugar, salt, or chile every morning.
The wild crab apple is not eaten at all. The
diet of many poor people consists almost wholly
of atole and tortillas with chile sauce; this is
spoken of as “eating dry,” “se come a secas.”

In San Juan Parangaricutiro, the Mestizoized
cabecera for Angdhuan and Paricutin, the
favorite atole is atole de grano, made of tender
green maize, seasoned with green chile and an
herb called anisillo. The atole is colored green
with ground squash leaves. This atole is made
especially during Holy Week. (Because of the
lower elevations, the region of San Juan has
green maize much of the year.) Wheat bran
is used to make a type of gordos. Pulque,
mixed with chile sauce, is drunk during the
rainy season. Agua miel without flavoring is
drunk also.

EATING CUSTOMS

Eating habits seem to vary little from town
to town. In Cheran food is served on tables
only on special occasions by the more sophisti-
cated, especially when an outsider is present.
Usually, the persons being served sit on low
stools or benches, holding the main dish in their
hands. ‘Tortillas, tamales, salt, and other foods
or condiments are placed in baskets or dishes
on the floor.

Generally the women eat last, but this is pri-
marily due to the necessity of constantly warm-
ing or cooking tortillas rather than to any
feeling of propriety. If there be more than
one woman in the household, one or more may
begin to eat with the men after the rush of

58 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

serving and preparing tortillas is over. Ordi-
narily, the only utensils are spoons and these
are used only when coffee is served. Food is

taken in the fingers or, more commonly, in a -

piece of tortilla.

In fiestas, separation of sexes is more pro-
nounced. The men are seated in two rows on
beams or planks. Each is served a bowl of
éuripo. Tortillas, tamales, salt, and water are
placed at convenient intervals between the rows.
Male children are served later in the same way.
All serving outside the cooking place is done by
men. Women and female children eat apart
with less formality, often in the cooking place.

The only possible trace of ceremonial habits
relating to eating is the habit of always leaving
a little water when drinking. This is poured
on the ground after drinking. No reasons were
advanced for this procedure.

In Mestizoized Chilchota, according to Silvia
Rendén, men are always served first. At wed-
dings, however, unmarried girls are served

first, then the men, and then the married
women. When in the fields or woods, Chilchota
men make the fire, heat the food, and serve the
women. However, they always turn the tor-
tillas on the fire with long sticks; turning the
tortillas with the fingers would be womanish.

Changes in food habits at Cheran probably
have been marked in recent years. Old people
say that “anciently” the major diet was cabbage
and tamales. Lard was disliked so much that
people could not eat it. Although the change
in Cheran is attributed to the highway and the
entry of Mestizos, probably the large-scale
migration from Cheran to other places had
much to do with the change. Although it is
difficult to point out specific changes without
comparative data from conservative towns, the
major differences seem to be the displacement
of tamales by tortillas and the eating of fiesta
foods on ordinary occasions. Soft drinks,
cookies, and other manufactured foods are also
becoming more common.

ECONOMICS

The techniques of raw material production,
manufacting processes, and utilization of prod-
ucts have been discussed in the preceding pages.
Under the heading “‘Economics” I wish now to
consider problems of production, consumption,
and exchange of goods and services apart from
the technologies involved. Such a separation
is artificial, although perhaps no more so than
is the segregation of any two aspects of a cul-
ture, but separate consideration is suggested
both by the complexity of the subject. and by
the tendency in many ethnographic studies to
consider discussion of technology to be a suffi-
cient treatment of economics. Special discus-
sion of economic problems also seems desirable
in view of the present great interest in altering
the basic economics and living standards of
laree areas of the world and the long-continued
Mexican efforts to incorporate native groups
more fully into the national economy.

The study of Tarascan economy is facilitated
by the fact that many of the exchanges of goods
and services are made on a money basis. More-
over, the convenience of money as a measure of
value has so impressed the Tarascans that ex-

changes on a barter basis are often calculated
in terms of the money values of the goods or
services involved.

The fact that Tarascan economy is a money
economy signifies more than ease in the study
of exchange; it also indicates at once that
Tarascan economy is far from primitive as that
term is usually understood. Actually Tara-
scan economics, like the rest of Tarascan cul-
ture, is strongly influenced by European cul-
ture. It does not necessarily follow, however,
that Tarascan economics is not distinctive.
The long period of assimilation and reintegra-
tion that characterized all of Tarascan culture
occurred also in the economic field, and the
result is a hybrid. Nevertheless, Tarascan
culture is more European in origin than is that
of most Mexican Indian groups. Moreover,
especially in recent years, the economy of the
outside world has impinged increasingly upon
the Tarascans so that in 1940 there were indi-
viduals whose livelihood had been seriously
affected by the outbreak of war and who, fur-
thermore, were quite aware of their relation-
ship to world markets.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN ViILLAGE—BEALS 59

Recognition of the interrelations of various
economic activities in different regions is not
a new idea to the Tarascans. The economy of
the region tends toward individual and local
specialization with a consequent high develop-
mentof trade. While undoubtedly the majority
of the Tarascans are members of self-sufficient
family groups so far as the bare necessities of
existence are concerned, very large numbers
are partly or wholly dependent upon employ-
ment, manufactures, or trade. Consequently,
the internal economy of a Tarascan village not
only is complex by primitive standards but also
fits into tribal and extratribal patterns of even
greater complexity. Quite apart from rela-
tions with the national economy of Mexico, and,
through it, with international economy, large
numbers of Tarascans have been traders and
middlemen on a large scale. Not only have
they carried local products from Tarascan vil-
lage to Tarascan village, or outside the Tara-
scan area; they have bought goods in non-
Tarascan areas to sell in other non-Tarascan
areas. The study of Cheran economy, then,
must be considered an incomplete picture of
Tarascan economy just as the study of the
economics of a single small town would inade-
quately describe the economics of the United
States.

The following tabulation gives the units of
measure used in Cheran.

CHERAN UNITS OF MEASURE

Dry measure
1 litro = 1 liter, or 0.908 quart
1 medida = 5 litros
1 fanega = 20 medidas, or 100 litres, or 1 hectalitro

Weight1
libra = 1 pound
kilo = 2.2 libras
arroba = 11.5 kilos
carga = 161 kilos or 14 arrobas
burro load = % carga (approx.), 7 or 8 arrobas
mule load =1 carga (approx.), 14 to 18 arrobas

Bee eee

Capacity
1 cuartillo = 1 pint or ¥% liter
1 litro=1 quart (approx.) or 1 liter
1 decalitro = 10 litros

Square measure

1 hectarea (hectare) = a piece of land about 10,000 sq.
paces or 10,000 sq. m.

1The beam balance is widely used for determining weight.

Cubic measure (used in masonry)
1 barra =i yd. X1 yd. xX 16 in.
1 metro=1m.xX1 m. x 50 cm.

PRODUCTION

Production in Cheran depends more directly
upon the land than it does in most other Taras-
can villages. Although the land ultimately is
the source of all Tarascan raw materials, some
industries require relatively few of such ma-
terials. In some cases—for example, the straw
hat industry—all the raw materials are imported
from outside the Tarascan area. Even more
numerous are instances where the raw mater-
ials are secured from some other Tarascan
town.

While Cheran economy is primarily self-
sufficient in character, it is less so than are
most Indian economies of Mexico. Cheran
does supply most of its own basie food and
housing needs, but it does not supply its own
clothing. Moreover, many foods every Cheran
resident desires are not produced locally.
Numerous Cheran families also depend on
wages more than upon their own direct exploi-
tation of the land or upon industry. Finally,
Cheran produces many goods for export, al-
though to a far less degree than neighboring
Paracho.

LAND

Tarascan land is of three main types: farm,
forest, and residential. To these might be
added public roads, water courses, and mineral
deposits. The latter are relatively unimpor-
tant. Public roads and trails of course serve
communications and do not enter directly into
production. Water courses are also mainly in
the public domain. Virtually their only use is
to supply drinking water for man and beast and
for washing purposes. Public lands also sup-
ply the small requirements of sand, clay, and
building stone.

All permanent farm lands are privately
owned. The only exceptions are occasional
temporary fields cleared from the forest on
lands too steep for cultivation for more than a
few years. On the farm lands the major prod-
ucts are white or yellow maize and wheat.
Beans, squash, fruits, oats, and barley are
produced only in small quantities.

60 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

The value of farm land is startlingly low, al-
though accurate figures on either the amount
of farm land in the municipio or the amount
owned by any individual were impossible to
secure. The tax rolls of the town are an inade-
quate guide. A very large number of lands
are not listed and in many cases the area given
is much smaller than actual size. A number
of farmers admitted this fact. The tax rolls
show only 303 farmers, although most men in
town own some land. The total parcels listed
number 759 with a total area of 1,948! hec-
tares (a hectare is 2.47 acres) with a value of
$259,620. Community-owned lands are listed
as 1,667 hectares valued at $100,000. This
would total slightly less than 9,000 acres, or
about 14 square miles. This is probably less
than half the total area of Cheran.

The average holding according to the tax
rolls is 2.5 pieces of land, totaling 6.41 hectares
valued at $856.86. This average is misleading,
however, possibly through an error on the part
of the tax collector’s office staff, or perhaps
because a few large landowners hold high-
priced lands. From $80 to $100 per hectare
is the most common valuation. An average of
one page of the tax roll listing 58 farmers gave
2.62 plots per person, averaging 5.1 hectares
valued at $377.07 or $74 a hectare. The largest
holding on this page was 32 hectares, valued
at $2,560; the smallest was one-half a hectare,
valued at $50. Bearing in mind that these
figures represent taxable values, actual values
probably average around $150 a hectare.

Data from individuals probably are even
more unreliable, yet show surprising uniform-
ity. The average value is $77.08 per hectare,
Estimates from six landowners are as follows:

Area (hectares) Value
74 $140

4 350

16 1,280

a) 40

14 1,080

8 : 640

441, $3,530

The surprising closeness of owner evaluations
to the average assessed values suggests that
farmers are well aware of the latter. Infor-
mation from more individuals is desirable but
is difficult to obtain. Even good friends nor-

mally either refuse information or obviously
lie about the size and value of their holdings.
The only further evidence available on this
point is an actual sale observed in which a
price of $40 was paid for about one-half hectare
of wheat land. This piece was already planted
to wheat and would yield about 2 cargas. On
the other hand, $400 was being asked for a
hectare of the best maize land.

Residential lands almost always include a
garden plot as well as a building site. Only in
the center of town is this not true. Prices of
residential land, however, vary sharply with
location and, to a lesser extent, with the depth
of the lot and the quality of soil. In the center
of town shallow lots may be valued at as much
as $25 a meter frontage, while on the outskirts
the price may be as low as $10 a meter. The
garden plot produces blue maize, vegetables,
fruit, and sometimes wheat. Probably a num-
ber of persons who were said to own land in
Cheran actually own only a large residential
plot, but this point was not investigated.

Forest lands are owned by the community.
They serve as the source of firewood, lumber,
and other forest products such as shakes and
charcoal, and provide grazing for livestock; as
sources of game or wild vegetable products
their value is negligible.

The use of forest lands formerly was open to
all who paid a small fee to aid the community
to pay the Federal taxes on the land. Persons
using the forest only for firewood paid less
than did charcoal burners, lumbermen, or
shakemakers. In recent years a permit from
the Federal Department of Forestry has been
required for any but household use, and efforts
were being made to limit rights to members of
a cooperative organization.

LABOR

The sex division of labor in Cheran bars
women from most productive pursuits. Wom-
en’s activities conform closely to the ideals laid
down recently by a notorious central European
—children, kitchen, and church. Women per-
form all the household duties, such as cooking
sweeping, and washing, care for the children,
make most of the clothes, carry water (but not
firewood unless they have no close male rela-
tives), and take food to their men at work.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

They may gather herbs, make embroidered
women’s garments or paper flowers for sale,
do the marketing for the household, and also
most of the selling. If a woman’s husband
hires out as a laborer during harvest time, she
gleans behind him in the field. There is no
strong feeling against a woman who in emer-
gency helps at her husband’s work; but women
actually have very little spare time.

Most productive activity in the ordinary
sense, then, is performed by men. Men do all
farm work, look after animals for the most
part, do all forestry, and make most of the
manufactured articles that enter into commerce.
Distant trade is also carried on by men, al-
though they may be accompanied by their wives,
and women may go to Paracho or even Uruapan
to sell herbs, fruit, vegetables, bread, tamales,
or other prepared foods.

The bulk of the population of Cheran falls
into two overlapping classes, farmers and
laborers. Only a small minority utilize all
their labor on their own land; even smaller
is the number of farmers who employ no labor.
Farmers, furthermore, may be divided into
landowners and tenant farmers.

Farmers may also be storekeepers, traders,
forest workers, or artisans in their spare time.
In addition, they may hire out as laborers when
they have free time. Indeed, most laborers
have land or at least a garden plot. The labor
supply of Cheran, in fact, is inadequate, and
laborers are hired from neighboring villages,
especially Nahuatzen. The standard wages are
45 centavos a day, but harvest hands receive
50 centavos a day plus the right to have their
wives and children glean behind them, appar-
ently a not insignificant factor, as the proposal
of several large landowners to raise the harvest
wage to $1 a day and eliminate the gleaning
privilege was rejected by the workmen. Varia-
tions in wages are discussed in connection with
specific activities.

Bearing in mind that most men have some
land, the list of occupations in Cheran is exten-
sive, as shown in the following tabulation:

PRODUCTIVE OCCUPATIONS
Men Fy

Farming
Hired labor
Shoemaking (few)

Hat making (few)

Plank making

Shake making

Cutting railroad ties

Charcoal burning

Blanket weaving (few)
Broom-handle making (rare)
Gathering raiz de paja (few)
Wild-honey collecting (few)
Bee keeping (few—one woman)
Baking bread (one making pan dulce)
Ice cream making (one)
Brickmaking and tilemaking (rare)
Carpentry (few)

Wood turning (rare)
Blacksmithing (rare)

Masonry (few)

Brush making (few)

Painting and plastering (rare)
Fireworks making (one)
Tailoring

Twine making (few)

Women
Embroidering
Belt weaving (few)
Paper-flower making (rare)
Herb gathering (rare)
Gleaning
Cloth weaving (one)
Baking bread
Tailoring
Mat making (rare)

DISTRIBUTIVE OCCUPATIONS

Men
Storekeeping
Trading
Selling at markets
Butchering
Transport
Women

Storekeeping (helpers)
Local food selling
Selling at markets

SERVICE OCCUPATIONS

Men
Grain threshing
Operating nixtamal mills
Barbering (few)
School teaching (few)
Billiard-hall operation (two)
Marriage managing (few)
Water carrying for pay (rare)
All political offices!
All formal church offices!
All public works!
Mayordomias!
Musician
Rezadores (men who pray)

61

62 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Ritual dancing?
Sorcery
Women

Midwifery

Domestic service (rare)

Curing

School teaching (rare)

Minor church services!

Ritual dancing (pastorela only!)
Sorcery

1 Occupations without pay; some involving outlay of money to
participate. Women’s household duties are not listed. Elsewhere

the distribution of women’s time is discussed (p. 197).

Information from day laborers on the whole
was unsatisfactory. Not only are they sensi-
tive about their position, but there is some con-
descension toward them on the part of land-
owners despite the lack of explicitly drawn class
lines. When an older man jestingly suggested
that one of our local assistants should get in
practice to carry a harvest basket, the young
man replied that he didn’t intend to carry a
harvest basket, or plow either. ‘That is what
you have peons for,” he said.

Information about day laborers indicated a
return of from 40 to 50 centavos a day, depend-
ing on season and labor. Some workers also
do work by the job. Men employed to thresh
wheat will sometimes get about 114 centavos a
liter. The most accurate-sounding informant,
a man from Nahuatzen, estimated he could
thresh 80 liters a day, a return of about $1.20
a day. This seems high, but one informant
produced estimates which would have him earn-
ing $25 a day.*!

Unemployment for laborers usually comes
about the same time as the slack season for
farmers, January and July. Often workers
will take a vacation in this period. The more
energetic will seek work at this time—bring in
building stones, work in the woods, try for odd
jobs about town, bring in firewood for them-
selves or for sale, or fatten a pig for sale. One
of the storekeepers evidently will pay $2.50 a
dozen for building stones delivered at his store
for later resale. Pine firewood can be sold
usually at four sticks for 1 centavo, oak at
three sticks for 1 centavo.

“In Angahuan, Rendén found similar situations. Building fences
pays 50 centavos a day without meals. Other field work, however,
is never paid in money. Harvest workers receive three medidas of
maize, and breakfast and dinner. Ox-team drivers receive two
medidas of maize and reals.

Low as wages are, Renddén collected an
account which indicates that wages were only
12 centavos a day within the lifetime of elderly
men. The informant stated that he preferred
to work at Nahuatzen because meals were in-
cluded in the wage, which is not the case in
Cheran. This requires verification, as Nahuat-
zen normally has a larger labor supply than
Cheran.

In addition to paid labor or labor for one’s
own account, men are required to perform
certain public services. These include main-
tenance of the aqueduct and improvement of
roads and trails. Young men may also be re-
quired to do certain work in connection with
fiestas, particularly the fiesta of the patron
saint and the Day of the Dead. There is also
obligatory assistance of relatives in connection
with ceremonials and house moving. These
requirements are dealt with later.

No data were secured on the relation between
labor demand and labor supply. As indicated
by the presence of labor from other towns at
some seasons, it is believed that at peak periods
there is an undersupply of labor in the town.
Much of the year, however, there probably is a
labor surplus in the sense that many farmers
often have time free which they could use in
some other employment were it readily available.

CAPITAL

Efforts to define capital for Cheran meet
with the same difficulties that are to be met
with in our own society. Money used for pur-
chasing food ordinarily is not considered capi-
tal; yet insofar as it makes the individual
capable of producing additional goods or ser-
vices through which his wealth is increased,
such money, or stores of food accumulated for
this purpose, might be considered capital.
Money accumulated to buy land for the produc-
tion of food for sale or export would usually be
considered capital; is the land purchased to be
so considered also? In the case of Cheran, I
think it is, for, although most farmers would
not so regard it, a considerable number of
Cheran men have bought land for the express
purpose of increasing wealth, not through their
own efforts, but through those of a tenant
farmer.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 63

Ownership of livestock similarly poses ques-
tions. The wealthy man who keeps a consider-
able number of bulls whose main use seems to
be to enhance his social prestige by having the
bulls selected for riding at a fiesta may also sell
them for beef if he needs money for productive
enterprises. Sheep are capital in much the
same sense that land is capital. A yoke of
oxen or a burro may be used to aid production
and are also rented. A horse, on the other
hand, is close to a “conspicuous expenditure.”

Probably the minimal capital required in
Cheran is for the production of certain services.
A water carrier needs only two 25-liter oil cans,
a bit of rope, and a piece of wood to make a
yoke. A tabla maker (one producing heavy
hewn planks or beams) needs only an ax and
some oak wedges he cuts out himself, and 10
pesos to join the cooperative (formerly he
would have needed only enough to pay the tax
for use of communal lands). A digging stick
and a knife would suffice to gather raiz de paja,
while herbs need only a bit of cloth to tie them
in. At the other extreme are the owners of
threshing machines, nixtamal mills, or trucks,
the latter requiring a cash outlay of between 8
and 10 thousand pesos.

For the farmer, aside from land, very few
capital goods are necessary. Ox teams and
plows may be rented and paid for out of the
crop; even land may be secured on a sharecrop
basis. A special machete for weeding is, in
fact, the only indispensable tool. Such farm-
ing, however, will bring a relatively small
return, probably little, if any, more than could
be earned by a hired laborer.

At the other extreme, a landowner, farming
his own land, should own an ox team, yoke,
plow, machete, burros, and nets for transport-
ing the crop, adequate storage facilities, and
sufficient cash to hire labor at crucial periods
such as planting and harvesting. A man so
situated will reap the best possible return from
his labor.

The major investment of a farmer is in land,
storage facilities, and livestock. -His ox yoke
and plow he may make himself, and the few
metal tools needed are not costly. In general,
the investment in tools and equipment is much
less than that required in manufacturing or
some service occupations. A sewing machine

596569—46—6

is more costly than all the farmer’s tools, espe-
cially the heavy type required to make hats.
Even the sandal maker’s lasts, hammers, and
knives probably are more expensive than farm
equipment.

CREDIT, LOANS, AND INTEREST

No organized credit facilities exist in the
village, but money loans are sometimes made.
Storekeepers are perhaps the only group who
consistently make use of credit and who alse
often make loans if they have capital. The
major use of credit by storekeepers is to buy
goods, especially cloth. Sometimes a down
payment is made on cloth, the balance being
paid when the cloth is sold. This facility seems
to be extended primarily by wholesalers in
Purépero. Most ordinary store transactions,
whether buying or selling, are for cash.

One storekeeper also makes cash loans, main-
ly to butchers and nixtamal operators, who are
apt to need considerable sums for a short time.
The reported interest rate is 10 percent a month.

Other credit transactions are of two kinds.
Most significant is the lending of money for
which lands are given as security, known as the
empeno de terrenos. In this type of transac-
tion, the lender takes possession of the lands
and utilizes them until the debt is repaid. The
owner in the meantime must pay all taxes on
the land. In other cases the lender does not
take possession of the lands unless the debt is
not repaid at the end of a term agreed upon.
In either case, should the land have a standing
crop at the time the lender takes possession,
the crop is divided equally between the bor-
rower and lender. There are some cases, al-
though relatively few compared with the situa-
tion in many parts of Mexico, where lands have
been held and cultivated by the lender for many
years.*?. The owners have been unable to pay
the debt but have continued year after year
paying the taxes, in hopes ultimately of redeem-
ing the land.

“In some parts of Mexico this is an extremely common form of
exploitation. I have been told of regions where families have
acquired control of large areas by encouraging small landowners
to go into debt to them. The lenders have, in effect, established
haciendas, but have been overlooked in the general agrarian reforms
because the lands appear on the government records as belonging
to numerous small owners. Often, ironically enough, the land-
owners are hired laborers working their own property in a futile
effort to redeem their debts, but they never succeed in doing more
than maintaining a large estate tax-free for the wealthy hacendado.

64 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

In addition to the above-described types of
loans, there are also loans at interest for which
normally no security is offered. These loans
are usually made by persons within the village
and rarely exceed $100 in amount. Interest
is normally 10 percent per annum. In some
cases it is stipulated that the debt is to be can-
celed upon the death of the debtor. In other
instances the debt becomes a charge against
the estate of the debtor. If the possessions of
the debtor at death are insufficient to pay the
debt, it is not transmitted to his sons. How-
ever, according to Pedro Chavez, the sons prob-
ably would make every effort to pay such a debt
because of the strongly held belief that a person
dying with debts cannot rest in peace until the
debts are paid.

All transactions involving loans are in writ-
ing, although they are not registered at the
municipio.

COSTS OF PRODUCTION AND INCOME

Some further insight into production prob-
lems may be gained by detailed studies of
specific activities. These data throw light
upon the relative profitability of such activities
and also provide information on income. Not
all activities are covered in the ensuing discus-
sion, nor are the data equally reliable in each
category. Such activities as witchcraft or
midwifery are not included; the labor factor in
beekeeping or fruit growing is impossible to
ascertain. An activity followed by only a few
individuals merits less attention than one fol-
lowed by many.

Not only is the treatment of topics uneven,
but the income data are subject to misinterpre-
tation. It must be emphasized that virtually
no one in Cheran, except a few “rich” farmers
or storekeepers, has only one occupation. Con-
sequently, any effort to establish annual income
on the basis of figures in this section would be
grossly misleading. Finally, it should be noted
that not all the activities discussed below are
productive. Because of the problem of income,
I have considered a number of “service” occu-
pations in this section.

AGRICULTURE

Maize.—Data on farm production were diffi-
cult to obtain. On no other subject is there so

much secrecy or misleading information given.
Three sources of information were used: (1)
Data from farmers about their own activities.
All this information is suspect, even after
eliminating obviously false answers. (2) Data
from Agustin Rangel, who was interested in
establishing himself as a farmer and probably
was a good and relatively unbiased observer.
(3) Observation of farm practices and partici-
pation in harvests on roughly measured fields.
Actual measurement of fields was undesirable
and would have caused trouble.

In table 1 are given the various data collected
on farm yields. The average of figures given
by farmers is about the top figure given by
Rangel for average land in a poor year. It is
slightly above the figure for the yield of aver-
age land in a poor year as secured by participa-
tion in the harvest. The cross checks suggest
the figures given by farmers are on the whole
plausible although probably low. The figures
given by any individual farmer, however, may
be quite incorrect. This should be borne in
mind throughout the discussion.

TABLE 1.—Estimates of maize yields. in Cherdn
ESTIMATE BY OWNERS

; ; | Yield (per hectare) in—
Number of hectares i ,
cultivated Value of crop
Cargas Fanegas
EM Fe, Sra ieeshd we wags wis ear Ee wet A 40 30
10 M4! 180 135 ae
wy. , 2 54% .
ys | 20 15 $90-110
3 10 7% 60- 70
43, 5 334 25
ys... Ae 10 7% 65
143 (early-frost area)....... 3 24% a
Aorta < Rehuecute Sexe ect eee 90 70 350-400
Di vexove eiscoveraisiere'a(cmeiaitarstatsrerers 10 7% 40
Ge cance granttiea cpa ahr e 10 7% 40
y.. 12 9 55
lg 12 9 55
Average. 4 * bake cas

ESTIMATE BY AGUSTIN RANGEL

Average yield per hectare

Type of land and year | i 7
| Cargas | Fanegas

Jest land: |
Average year..........| 40 30
Bad Wearugs coccsseas | 15-25 1114-1834
Average land:
Average year........ H 30 22%
Bad year.......... . 5-20 | 334-15
Poor land); . sistas naitves | eres 143
1An exceptionally rich ‘“joya,’’ a fertile depression in the

mountains fertilized by drainage from surrounding slopes.

2 This is a stupendous yield, if true, but the land is said to be
exceptionally located, with fertilization from adjoining slopes.

® Data in this line are typical of information from owners. One
area given as Y hectare yields a crop to be expected of a full
hectare; on inspection, it proved to be nearly 8 hectares.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 65

TABLE 1.—Estimates of maize yields in Cherdn—
Continued

ESTIMATE BASED ON OBSERVATIONS AT HARVEST

Type of land Yield in fanegas | Remarks

- | per hectare

Poor to average land........ 3 Maize badly damaged
by early frost.

Average land.............. 12 Maize slightly damaged

| by frost.

In addition to securing data on yield, i.e.,
income, for maize, an effort was made to secure
data on production costs. General statements
as to the amount of time put in on farm work
proved worthless. Usually the time given
would scarcely provide for a single weeding.
The best figures were secured by breaking
down the different steps and getting exper-
ienced farmers to estimate the time necessary
for cultivating 1 hectare. A summary of such
data gives the following:

Labor of owner: Days
Hirst PLOWING aac. wade soe Pe eine sas 10
Second plowing (at right angles)........ 10
PSO) (20 0) =e eee ee s APRA det Grate fy ott 3
First cultivation (with plow)........... on - 4
Second cultivation (with plow)............ a
First weeding (with sickle or machete) 3
Second weeding (often omitted)......... 7 3
ETAT CS eee eis eee ieee fone cole as ra hed Spacer shows , al
Carrying maize to house (estimated average) 5

LO Gellar aeons Set tee anaes axa 42

Hired labor:

MOWING «(26 DEONS iets c.cls ses eistish seals s os 3

Harvesting’ (3: peons) . 2255.02. 0000 ee ea ns 1

Costs:

Owner’s labor (42 days valued at $0.45 a
day outside of planting and harvesting

LLIN eG) ce cues eis ae. Ghd dat ena ule $18.90

ZepeCONS LOLS GAYS: «cus os eee esse ese ; 3.00

8 peons for 1 day....................... 1.50

MOtalpee py ucmceeiees saree eee. es $23.40

On the assumption that a man will own
sufficient land to require hired labor, the sum-
mary given above includes 9 man days of hired
labor at a cost of $4.50 or a total of 51 man days
of labor worth $23.40. To this must be added
$30 for hire of an ox team if one is not owned,
probably $1 in taxes, and $2.50 for the value of
the seed corn (one-half fanega), ora total of
$56.90. Ifthisis about an average piece of land,
the yield will be 15 to 20 fanegas of shelled

maize, for which the farmer should receive from
$75 to $120, or a profit of $22.10 to $63.10.
From this, intheory, should be deducted interest
on the investment in land and equipment as well
as a depreciation allowance on the equipment.
If the land is worth $90 (above average), it
would seem fair to allow at least $11 for these
charges, which still leaves a profit of $11.10 to
$52.10.23

As will be seen in later discussions, this
makes maize farming on average or better land
probably one of the most worth-while businesses
in Cherdn. Obviously there are elements of
risk. Farmers on poor land, moreover, prob-
ably get no profits at all on this basis, for labor
and expenses would be reduced very little rela-
tive to reductions in yield. The second weed-
ing and part of the harvesting expenses might
be eliminated. But if the yield is as low as
114 fanegas (as has been reported) a man
would get virtually no return at all. If he had
his own ox team and did all his own work
(with the help of sons or his wife), he might
get $4 to $5 worth of maize for his effort after
deducting the costs of seed and taxes. From
the standpoint of our economy, there is obvious-
ly a very considerable net loss.

To view the agricultural situation in Cheran
only from the standpoint of our economy, how-
ever, would be grossly misleading, for to do so
does not take into account numerous cultural
factors. The Cheran point of view does not
reckon agricultural activity in terms of interest,
profits, and wages, but in terms of maize in the
storage house. I have already mentioned that
harvest workers refused an increase in wages
from 50 centavos to $1 if the right to glean
were rescinded. Most observers agree that the
amount of maize obtained from gleaning in a
day is less than can be bought for 50 centavos.
At $1 the workman could therefore buy more
corn than his wife could obtain by gleaning.
The large farmers would get a more thorough
harvest and would not have to employ super-
visors. On a bookkeeping basis, everyone
would benefit. But the harvest hand would
not have a load of maize, small though it might
be, to carry home from a day’s work; he would
have only an inedible silver peso in his pocket.

*3 Charges for animals to carry the erop and for watchmen and
storage facilities are not included.

66 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

In the case of the farmer who slaves at pro-
ducing a scanty crop on submarginal land,
similar considerations are important. The
farmer does not count interest and wages; the
measure of his effort is maize in the storehouse
to feed his wife and children. It is useless to
point out that he could earn enough wages for
the same amount of labor to buy two or three
times as much maize as he can produce, for he
will not be convinced.

Even in the case of the average or somewhat
better than average case cited in detail, the
calculations made on the basis of our economic
viewpoints are relatively valueless. Profits, in-
terest, depreciation, and wages do not enter
into the farmer’s calculation (with the excep-
tion of a few large farmers). Rather would
the typical farmer calculate that the maize
obtained in this case would, with a family of
not over five, feed the family for a year by
exercising due care. If he had two pieces,
each of a hectare or a little more in area, in two
locations to plant alternate years, he could
count with some security on feeding his family.
If, in addition, he had a bit of wheatland, he
would probably sell enough wheat to meet the
essential cash outlays for his family. Any in-
come from livestock, work in the forest, or as
a hired laborer would then go into essentially
luxury spending or savings to buy more land.
It is wheat that is a money crop, it should be
noted, and not maize. Only the wealthy sell
maize, and only the poor or improvident buy it.

Tn case maize is raised for sale on any scale,
however, the farmer encounters new market-
ing problems. The local market prefers yellow
maize, as does Mestizo Purépero. Uruapan,
on the other hand, prefers white maize, while
the Lake Patzcuaro region desires pink, red, or
mixed color maize. As prices may vary in the
different major markets, the farmer’s income
may be affected by the color of maize he has
grown.

From the statements given above it should
not be concluded that the idea of a return for
land ownership, ie., a return upon the capital
investment, is lacking in Cherdn. It exists,
but it is colored by the local attitudes. Thus,
farmers with more land than they can con-
veniently cultivate, storekeepers owning land,
and various others may rent land on a share-

cropping basis. The number of sharecroppers
in Cheran is unknown, but probably is con-
siderable. Small landowners often farm addi-
tional lands on this basis, and some fairly
prosperous families are sharecroppers.

The rental paid by sharecroppers is usually
one-half the crop. In the case of our average
hectare this would mean the owner received
714 to 10 fanegas of maize worth from $37.50
to $60.00. This might well be equal to more
than a 50 percent return on the investment in
land. As even the most exorbitant interest
rates on cash loans from banks would not ex-
ceed 15 percent, it would appear to be a very
good business to borrow money to buy land for
rental on a sharecropping basis. Yet such a
procedure, so far as could be discovered, is
seldom if ever followed. Moreover, persons
with money will lend on land as a security,
receiving only interest, instead of buying land
which would appear to offer a relatively larger
return. (But short-term loans are at a much
higher rate of interest. See p. 63.)

A number of factors still have not been
treated in the foregoing discussion. It should
be observed that the hypothetical farmer could
still further decrease his cash outlay if he
owned his own ox team. Such a team would
be worth from $100 to $120, depending on size.
Ownership of a team would save about $30 a
year in rental in cultivating a hectare. In
addition, there might be opportunities to rent
the team at $1 a day for perhaps 30 days to
work on maize lands and perhaps for another
30 days during the wheat season. As there
is less demand in the latter time, the rental
probably would be only 75 centavos a day.
The returns from rentals, however, would
possibly be $52.50 a year. If the saving of $30
for rentals on the farmer’s own land were in-
cluded the investment in an ox team obviously
would be a very good one.

Ownership of livestock, however, involves the
problem of feed. Mostly the feed is secured
by cutting the rastrojo or corn fodder. Wheat
straw is also fed. Part of the year animals
may be grazed on the common pastures.
Rarely, however, is enough feed produced, and
in a bad year there is always danger of losing
animals during the latter part of the dry sea-
son. Ownership of oxen also increases the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 67

amount of labor. Not only must rastrojo be
cut, but the animals must be visited every 2 or
3 days while in pasture.

The question may be raised why horses or
mules have not replaced oxen to any extent.
Although horses or mules will do at least twice
the amount of work in a day, owing to their
greater speed and ability to work longer hours,
they do not thrive on the corn fodder, wheat
straw, and scanty pasturage. Grain feed is
also necessary, at least during the working sea-
son. In general, horses and mules are more
delicate and require more attention, greater
skill, and better shelter. Finally, their initial
cost is greater and they cannot be slaughtered
for meat, as are oxen, when they have outlived
their usefulness as draft animals.

Wheat.—Although wheat is the primary cash
crop of Cheran, it is seldom grown on lands
which will produce good maize. Wheat is often
grown on inferior land, often on slopes, but
never on really bad lands. Farmers using
good land for wheat usually have a surplus of
maize lands.

The cultivation of wheat takes a little less
labor than does that of maize. Plowing is the
same or perhaps a little less (the second plow-
ing being shallower). Broadcasting of seed
and harrowing equate with maize planting,
but it is a one-man job and requires no oxen if
the farmer owns a burro. The primitive har-
vesting with a sickle would seem to eall for
more labor, but estimates were fairly low. A
summary of estimates for cultivating a hectare
follows:

Labor: Days
Hirsh Plowing e.g s6acescsssaeses -: 10
Second plowing .................. 10
Sowing and harrowing........ 2 (or less)
IAT VES INGE csoisickers oe wien oun ee 4%
MotalWabor eee cies as nace. 26%
Costs: ee

Labor (26% days at $0.45, value) $11.92
Rent of oxen (20 days at $0.75,

VTL) Tewetes TOO ets ees cs oct aay 15.00
DAR CSc oAKGA id whenivserPe seca 1.00
Seedia iat: scm, Meta ts £6, Sa cal 1.00

Total production costs...... $28.92
Interest on capital invest-
ment 11.00

Total cost of cultivation.... $39.92

The best wheatland produces about 2 cargas
of wheat per hectare; lands producing less than
1% cargas are seldom cultivated. The wheat
must then be threshed before sale, and this will
cost $2.50 a carga in the mill and about the
same if threshed by hand. The wheat will sell
at from $22 to $30 a carga, depending upon the
market ($26 in 1941).

The return in cash, then, is between $33
(1% cargas at $22) and $60 (2 cargas at $30).
The net profit in terms of our calculations would
vary between minus $10.67 and plus $15.08.
This figure does not count the labor of carrying
the wheat to the house and thence to the mill,
or winnowing; neither does it include the value
of the straw (used as feed). Again, however,
the Cheran farmer who received $33 for his
year’s work on a hectare would count himself
relatively fortunate.

The return from wheat is less than the poten-
tial return from maize cultivation on average
land. In general, however, wheat is usually
grown on lands giving a poor maize yield.
Moreover, the demand for wheat appears to be
more stable, and in days when transport was
all on pack animals the greater value of wheat
per volume and weight made it much more
attractive as an export crop. The opening of
the highway may alter the situation, as it makes
bulk transportation of maize feasible. On the
other hand, the highway has opened up new
markets for wheat. Trucks from the large
flour mill at Morelia now come to buy wheat in
Cheran and even penetrate to mountain villages
such as Pichataro. Consequently, a much
wider market is available than the regional
mills that could be reached in a day or a little
more with burros. Of course, similar expan-
sion of markets is available to maize growers
and producers of other products. It is still too
early to predict the effects of improved com-
munications on the agriculture of Cherdn, but
some additional considerations are discussed in
connection with trade.

Another way of disposing of wheat is to sell
it at a flour mill in a Mestizo town or convert
the wheat into flour and sell the flour. The
price paid at flour mills is about $4 a carga
above the Cheran price. Mills charge an 18
percent discount if the farmer chooses to have
his wheat milled. This covers waste, bad

68 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

wheat, and the milling charge. A carga pro-
duces about 14 arrobas, or about 250 pounds
of flour, of which the mill takes 214 arrobas, or
6214 pounds. The farmer receives 18714
pounds of flour. Hither of these procedures
involves the labor of transporting wheat to the
mill and, in case the farmer has no burros, the
rent of pack animals or trucking charges.
Mills are at Jacona (regarded as the best),
Purépero, Tanataro, and Carapan.

Yet another way of disposing of wheat is to
grind it at home or in a nixtamal mill and bake
bread for sale in the market towns and at
fiestas. Only relatively small quantities are
used in this way.

One agricultural activity for which few data
were obtained is fruit growing. No informa-
tion was secured on yields of trees or on labor.
The main labor cost is harvesting, usually done
by the family at a time when there is little
other agricultural activity. Fruit may be car-
ried to markets, or it may be sold to traders.

Another view of farming activity may be
gained by examining the income of individual
farmers. These data are probably somewhat
unreliable, for, as previously indicated, there is
a tendency to minimize wealth and income.
Table 2 summarizes the available information.

Case 1 is a school teacher with a small
family who rents his land. Probably his share
in good years supplies most of his family re-
quirements of maize. Case 2 is a storekeeper
who also rents his land. In years when his
land lies fallow, he must have to buy a little

maize. Case 3 owns a store run by his chil-
dren, but he regards himself as a farmer by
preference. Even without his store, he would ~
be well off by Cheran standards, although not
a “rich man.” In 1940 he produced nearly
enough maize for his family and sold over $300
worth of wheat. In 1941 he probably was
able to sell not less than 85 fanegas of maize
above his family’s food needs (less if he raised
pigs or fattened beef for butchering). Case
4 is a widow. Her land is cultivated by a
nephew, but under what circumstances is not
known. If the nephew lives with her, the
amount of maize is a little inadequate; on the
other hand, if she lives alone, the quantity is
more than enough for one person.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

It is virtually impossible to secure useful
data on labor costs or profits in relation to
animals. Under agriculture I have mentioned
some of the facts about oxen. No data were
collected on chicken raising; probably no one
in Cheran knows how much grain he feeds
chickens or how many eggs a year he gets.
Prices vary from 2 to 6 centavos per egg. The
situation about pigs is little better.

Virtually everyone keeps pigs; no one has
any idea of the total amount of grain fed
except during the fattening period. Shoats
have little value and are frequently given away.
Data on labor are lacking, yet the labor cost
cannot be negligible when the animal is being
fattened and its pen is cleaned frequently. A

TABLE 2.—Data on farm income
{Data for 1940, claimed; for 1941, estimated.]

| . :
Land cultivated | Yield Value of crop! Total income for year
= : = ——— =a Combined
Case | :
No. Number Number | | Sayre egl
of oO Value | Crop 1940 1941 1940 1941 1940 1941 bs
parcels hectares | |
2 if 2 2 $140 | Maize 20 fanegas a Rides cdiare eect $100-140 eae $100-140 |..........
NN ree do 10-15 fanegas...|.......... 50-100 |... 2s... 50-i00° } $150-240
if 4 350 | Maize 35 fanegas. . Se ee eno 175=200) |; jonees ore 175-200 175-200
oa \ 1 Town lot | Pears 10-100's.... ROO BS aerate arcane f-atanacamee te oral tees te Pa Obl ake ee poetatepe ernie ete nena ae eee
1 8 {Wheat 17 cargas.....|...seceeeecccees 3358-571 |
1 1 | || Mai ¢ 7 14 fane | Ssephovve 4 aprons eves AO? |inee ena 448-561 |......
3 l 1% 1,280 do 71% fane Seer: 40 || 733-1231
| 1 Town lot! | |Feaches 25-100's 25-100's..2...5. 10 LQ ia srers aastiecen 285-670 lila
1 54 | Maize ...... 55-110 fanegas..|......... 275-660 ane Eder) |
rf 4 1) | (Wheat Li CAT Bin. .5 i a.8 54) ceo bore ooo 4 Gatos BB |; Aenttaiececere Ari eaves eae
a ff 4 4% |) 120 |; Maize 9 fanegas.. pen! aaa ay 135
| 1 ly |) | do creer: ie areab ie euaca 9 fanegas...... Jo. =| BDV | Sacetekveat: 55
1 ! |

1 Values of fodder or wheat straw not included.
2Land rented; crop values represent owner's share (one-half).

® Cost of threshing deducted.
4 Value not included in $1,280.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 69

pig takes from 1 to 214 fanegas of maize to
fatten, valued at from $5 to $7. According to
size, the animal may bring from $30 to $75, a
gross profit on the fattening process of from
$12.50 to $70.00. This would be 5 to 7 pesos
less if the pig was bought. If an adequate
market were developed, or if sales and trans-
port facilities at a distance were to be devel-
oped, pig raising might be a more important
activity, although an increase in the number of
pigs would decrease the amount of foraging
possible and would require more feeding.

Sheep raising is engaged in by only a few.
The reliability of the major informants is sus-
pect, but the evidence suggests that sheep rais-
ing is profitable. The major expense is the
initial cost of the flock and the wages of a
shepherd. Sheep are worth $2.50 to $5.00
apiece. Shepherds’ wages vary with the size of
the flock, but probably rarely exceed $20 a
month plus a fanega of maize and one sheep
for food; most: shepherds receive considerably
less, often only $5 a month without food. Often
several small owners merge their flocks and
hire a single shepherd.

Income from sheep is mainly from wool and
payments to have the flocks bedded on farm
land. Sheep average a pound of wool a year

- (this seems low but the sheep are of poor
quality), which sells for $1 to $1.25. A fair-
size flock of sheep would bring 50 centavos a
night for fertilizer. A few sheep are sold for
meat outside the village; almost no lamb or
mutton is eaten in Cheran. No data were se-
cured on prices. Mortality on sheep is high,
but again no usable data were obtainable.

A flock of 200 sheep studied represents an
investment of $750 in theory although it prob-
ably was built up by natural increase from a
smaller flock. The shepherd receives $20 a
month, 1 fanega of maize worth at least $5, and
a sheep worth, on an average, $3.75, or a total
of $28.75 a month ($345 a year). Wool would
produce $200 to $250 a year. Bedding on farm
lands would produce probably 50 centavos a
night for this flock for. 110 days (estimated)
or $55. Total income from these sources would
be $255 to $305 a year. The natural increase
may safely be assumed to be 75 head. Sold at
$2.50 apiece, they would bring in $187.50 a

year, or a total of $442.50 to $492.50 a year.
Deducting expenses of $345 leaves a return
on the investment of $107.50 to $147.50. As
indicated before, these figures are suspect.
The owner of this flock is not believed to be
very truthful on financial matters. For exam-
ple, he claimed to own 20 sheep; Augustin
Rangel said he had over 200. He is, though,
a hard-headed storekeeper and farmer who
would not keep sheep if they were not profit-
able. The most suspect item in the calculations
is the amount of wool per sheep.

The evaluation of the role of the burro is as
difficult as in the case of oxen. Burros reduce
the cost of numerous operations by saving the
rental of animals, they facilitate such tasks as
bringing in wood (which otherwise would be
carried in by the woodcutter rather than on
rented animals), and they may be rented.
Burros involve little investment—$30 to $40—
but they do require attention while in pasture
and the provision of feed when kept at home.
Although burros not in use are often lent, they
sometimes are rented. Information on rentals
is contradictory; at the harvest season, when
demand is highest, rentals are probably about
50 centavos a day plus feed for the animals.

The ensuing topics are dealt with in summary
form to bring out the essential factors of
capital, labor costs, cost of materials, and
income.

WOODWORKING
Shake making:

Tools: :
Ax, wedges, machete, splitting tool
Product:

¥ irepita (an irepita, or bundle, is 400)

Profits (return on labor, less interest on
Capital, €tc))! fhe0 sheers als se deca sles $2.50

Comment: Shake making is a well-paying occupa-
tion, but profits are less than the data above suggest.
Shakes are made either only to order or are sold in
Uruapan or some other Mestizo center. In the latter
case the man may work regularly, but must spend 1 or
2 days a week taking his product to market. Neither
does the estimated result for a day’s labor include the
time spent searching for a suitable tree. Usually only
a 5-day week or less is worked and the season is con-
fined to the rainy period. As a result, shake makers
must shift to other work, such as plank making, tie
cutting, farming, ete. The term “profits” is loosely used
throughout, as wages are often included.

70 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Plank making:

Tools:

Oak mallet

Oak wedges

Ax

Two-handled saw

Expenses:

Haulage (ox team, horse, or even burros)
Forest use tax (now 10 pesos for membership
in cooperative) :

Production (with good workmen) :

3 dozen planks per week

Gross profits:
$0.85 to 1.25 per day per person
Comment: Sawing planks requires two men, hence

work is done by teams. The gross profits probably are
very nearly all net, as deterioration of equipment is
slight. Maintaining an average income of the larger
size indicated would require 6 long work days a week
for the most skilled workers.

Firewood cutting:

Some men at times cut firewood for sale. A burro
load brings $0.25 to $0.30.

Tie cutting:

Data on this subject seem unreliable and are
omitted.

Charcoal burning:

Beyond the fact that charcoal burners work a 5-day
week, no economic data were secured. The little char-
coal used in Cheran is sold at 2% to 8 centavos a kilo
delivered.

Carpentry:

Tools:

Mallet, saw, chisels, hammer, ax, adz, plane;
value about $20-$30

Products, labor, value:

As each carpenter’s job is unique, only a series
of cases can be given, as follows:

(a) Large door takes 4 days (10 to 12 hours daily),
lumber cost $4, selling price $17, gross profit $13,
daily return (not allowing for interest on capital,
etc.) $4.25.

(b) Average door takes 4 days (6 to 7 hours daily)
lumber cost $4, selling price $12, gross profit $8,
daily return $2.

(c) Average door takes 6 days (but this carpenter
has rheumatism and cannot work steadily), selling
price $5 a door if lumber is furnished, daily return
less than $1.

(d) House building or house moving, $1.50 daily (if
done under contract, as usual).

Comment: As only carpenters with other members
in the family to get wood, do chores, look after animals,
etc. can work more than 6 or 7 hours a day, probably
$2 a day is top income. Moreover, as work is not steady
and as all seem eager to take house building or house
moving jobs at $1.50, it may be assumed that average
wages the year around are less than $1.50.

Wood turning:
Equipment:
Lathes
Saws
Chisels
Product:
Chocolate beaters
Cost of materials:
No data; the small quantity of madrofa
wood used is probably a minor factor.
Labor:
About 25 to 30 beaters are made in a day’s

work. Sale price at 50 centavos per
$1-$1.25

Comment: Considering the costs of materials and the
time involved in selling the product, returns for labor
probably are under $1 a day. Only one man in Cheran
follows this trade.

MINERAL PROCESSING AND USE
Brickmaking and tilemaking:
Labor (per 1,000 tile or brick) :

Days

Getting and mixing clay.............. 2
Cutting and hauling wood............. 1
Shaping ays ap Sse Feathers ek 5
Loading kiln .................. al
POCA aint peas eT eae ane Ly)

Other costs (in kind):
Rent of building and right to dig clay on
public lands (paid to municipio), 10 per-
cent of product value:

Tile; per 1,000. ic... ee $3.00
Brick, per 1,000........... cae ‘O20

Sales prices:
Tole ssper 150004 sea cekee enact hierar $30
Brick, per 1,000. ...............:-.s 32
Gross profit, tile, per 1,000............ 2
Daily profit per worker............... 3

Comment: While brick bring a slightly higher price,
there is a greater loss in firing. Consequently, profits
are about the same as for tile. The demand for brick
or tile is not sufficient to employ two men full time.
The wage return is hence misleading, indicating what
might be possible if demand provided steady labor.
The fact that both tilemakers took jobs on highway
construction crews whenever possible at $1 a day sug-
gests that income over a long period of time is much
less than is indicated. On the other hand, the tile-
makers probably average a higher annual income than
do unskilled landless farm laborers in Cheran.

Masonry:

Equipment:
Trowel (“cuchara’’)
Short shovei
42-pound iron mallet (“marro,” maso)
2-pound sledge with pointed ends (“picadera’’)

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 71

Production:
Less than 1 meter to nearly 2 meters a day
Price:
From 80 centavos a meter to $1.25; about
$1 a meter seemed most common
Average return:
From 80 centavos to $1.50 seems common

Comment: Essentially the mason’s wage is clear
profit. Replacement of tools is undoubtedly a minor
factor. Attractive as the wage is, a mason is idle
much of the time. It is doubtful if masons earn enough
to live on without also farming or working as laborers.
Some masons are also butchers, plasterers, or tejamanil
makers.

Stonecutting:

Tools:
2-pound iron mallet
Chisels
Calipers (value unknown)
Labor:

Nixtamal grinding stones (pair) 3 days
Door bases (pair)
Sales price (gross profit) :
Nixtamal grinding stones (pair) $9
Door bases and sills (each) cease ol

Comment: The figures suggest a $3 a day gross
income, but stonecutters work only to order and do not
work regularly.

TEXTILE MANUFACTURE
Tule mats:

Costs:
Tules at Erongaricuaro, per bundle $0.25
Rent of burro, 3 days................ 1.00
Total cost of 10 bundles of tules (1 burro

LOH) enema tens tree cece ao eeosDU
Labor: Days
Gettinge Gules), csmiees eae os eieeicrets ye eleeneneaetin 3
Weaving 13 mats................. . 6%
Clini SMa CS raven ay ees oes ene a ....24%-3
Average total time...................... 12
Sales price at 60 centavos each........... $7.80

GTOSS PT Olitieme ated ee Oe. one ae a eg eente ees 4.30
Daily profit per worker................

Comment: Except for one woman, mat making is a
side line and only one a day is woven. The figures
given above represent the single case where a woman
spends all her time at mat weaving. Actually, this
woman has a slightly higher income, as her mother buys
the tules. On the other hand, two people are sup-
ported by the work, for the weaver has to rely on the
mother to perform most of the household duties.

Hats:
Cost of materials:
Braid, 3 to 4 bundles at $0.30 to $0.40

mea peaan ce eens $0.90-$1.60

Thread, per hat. ... 2. 3.8.2 seesin 15
Sizing materials for white hats..... Unknown
Total................0.... 1.05-1.75 (2)
Labor, per hat....... 38-9 hours (approximately)
Selling price, per hat.. .. $1.25-4.00

Gross profit, per hat...... $0.20—2.10
Return for labor, per hour. . _$0.0624-0.23 plus (?)
Return for labor, per day............. $0.60—-2.10

Comment: The apparently wide range of returns
for labor is misleading. Few men could work 9 hours
a day every day, owing to the need of getting firewood,
repairing the house, caring for farm lands, ete. The
more expensive hats, giving a much larger return,
require much more skill and are in very slight demand.
Ordinarily they are made only on order.

In addition, hatmaking requires a large capital in-
vestment. A sewing machine of the type required costs
$40 to $50 second-hand, or rents at $10 a month. Hat
blocks last indefinitely, but do involve initial outlay.
Metal eyelets also must be provided for the ventilating
holes. If depreciation, interest on investment, and
minor expenses not calculated were taken into account,
the income of the average hatmaker would shrink still
more.

When it is considered that two skillful hatmakers
claim only 1 dozen hats apiece a week, obviously *the
returns must not greatly exceed those for ordinary field
labor. Only men who consistently produce and sell
hats above the $1.25 price gain real economic advantage
from their trade as compared with other activities.
On the other hand, if the trade is a supplement to
farming and is followed at times when similarly
situated farmers are at leisure, then they realize a very
positive economic gain.

Embroidery, crochet, and drawn work:
Materials, thread from stores, cloth
(estimated) _..
Labor (part time)
Selling price’ 2.2.2....0.s4s cece
Gross profit .................
Return for labor, per week........
Return for labor, per day

$4.00-$12.00
$3.00-$11.00
$3.00

$0.40-$ 0.50

Comment: For part-time work, the daily return
seems, and probably is, high. In most cases the cost
of materials is probably higher than the estimate.

Blanket weaving:
Equipment :*

Cards; life?3" years, s.:0s see. eee $8.00
Spinning wheel, life indefinite........ 12.00
Loom, life indefinite.................. ?

1 Spinning wheel and loom might be made by almost any man
with moderate skill in woodworking. Weavers usually make their
own looms.

12, INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Cost for 6-pound blanket:
Wool, 9 pounds (varying with year and

SCASOTNW atectten erates cadences ls ercon sts $11.25
Labor: Days
Purchase of wool. .... 6.202. .0¢eee een en 1
- Cleaning and washing, actual jahor

(covering 2 or 8 days’ time).......... 1
Carding cscs s Me tiath ad «cis 9-4 oes sie scenle 6 ofeps oe 2
SWIMMING c.5.0 flesertnuey alanine acl aeeiesy ee 2
WeaAVvViIN® acl vcivna dn aeaeiewien baer Bia a eft
TOGA Da. A-sate 1 See Caan, alte De 8

PASIAN OS PLICOs. ¢,acrh Meee @ engines ec cemuet saree $25.00

Average sales price................. 20.00

GrOSs PYOlits..as a:2a 62.2 dilehe wee even cr dio)

Return for labor per day............ 1.09 plus
Return per day for total days spent on

part-time basis -58 plus

Comment: Although involving only 8 days’ actual
labor, the work would be spread over about 15 days.
Weavers usually would have to take 1 or 2 whole days
off to get wood and some days or parts of days when
the weather might be unpleasant. In addition, repairs
to equipment and houses must be made, Paria an
animal must be looked after, and so on.

Belt weaving:

Equipment:
Loom, home-made
Costs:
Materials, thread and yarn.......... i
Labor, part time............ ee 2 days
ASKING? DICE: 2 aie coud ees cal aiee es $1.25
Actual selling price.............. 1.00
Gross profit, estimated 80-.90
Daily labor return (part time, probably
5-6 hours) 40-.45

Clothing manufacture:

Capital investment:

Sewing machine $40.00-150.00

Expenses:
Materials (for work on order) . None
Returns per day (from various workers’
statements) $0.75-$1.380

Comment: Most workers, especially men, are part-
time operators; many work only on order, when daily
income for elaborate garments may be much higher.
Income figures are hence misleading, as they are based
on steady work on low-priced garments.

Clothing made for exchange at weddings usually is
only single-stitched; regular clothing is double-stitched.
Prices for sewing men’s cotton trousers vary from 10 to
15 centavos for single stitching and 15 or 25 centavos
for double stitching. Men’s shirts vary in cost from
25 to 40 centavos (or more for fancy rayon shirts).
Women’s aprons cost 12 centavos.

Some persons make and sell finished garments.
Men’s trousers or blouses require about 2% meters of
material, at an average cost of about 30 centavos a
meter. One woman specializes in children’s garments.
She claims to make 3 to 4 dozen children’s garments a
week, selling them at 80 centavos to $2.50 apiece (in-
cluding materials). Her profits vary. A child’s rayon
dress requiring $1.50 worth of material she sold for
$1.75, while for a cotton dress requiring $0.40 worth of
material she charged $0.80.

All fitted or tailored garments, which are growing in
popularity, are imported. A widely heard comment was
that anyone in Cheran who could make and fit gar-
ments, especially men’s shirts, would make great profits.

MINOR ACTIVITIES

Candlemaking:
Cost of wax (per kilo)..............

Sales of candles from 1 kilo of wax... $2.25-$2.50

Possible profit (excluding labor and
equipment)....... . $0.50-$1.00

Rope making (horsehair):

Horsehair $0.50 per kilo................ $0.37 14

TAD OY bz, paketit 5 oa ore og Seed Meee ees eee 1 day

Salevpriee: 6.40.225..020u nsdmae een ewe eee $1.50

Gross profit per day Sea $1.12%

Comment: Only one man was found who made ropes.
No data were secured on agave fiber ropes made by the
same man, nor on the time taken in marketing and
securing raw materials. As all the equipment is home-
made and very little capital is needed, the gross profit
probably is close to net profit except for the factors
mentioned.

Shoemaking:
Equipment:
Sewing machine ................... $55.00
JHELSTS cease eo tiai ete a alt anes eee epee us
KIWVGS# y vac ein cacao tonearm ate 2
Labor:

1 cheap pair of shoes per day is produced by a
shoemaker and 2 unpaid apprentices

Value of product (per pair) $3.00-7.00
Estimated gross income:

PSEsOaY cree ni a aeettccisace an oleae eee 1.50

Per “pain of shoes: .. eae aerate 1.50-3.50

Comment: No clear picture of the economics of this
industry was secured. The selection and purchase of
hides involves knowledge of tanning, size, and quality
of the hide. Guarache makers apparently earn as
little as 20 centavos a day, but there are no full-time
professionals in town. All local manufacturers make
guaraches to order and in claiming they make only one
pair a day, they probably mean they do not attempt to
make more than one pair a day.

Tanning:

Charge per cowhide................ $5.00-$10.00
Charge per sheepskin............... 50
Average daily return............... 1,25

_

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 73

Comment: The average daily return is an estimate,
based on the assumption the tanner is busy all the
time. The only full-time tanner buys hides, tans them
on his own account, and sells them outside the village
when he is not occupied with commissions. Con-
sequently, his income is probably fairly steady.

Lacquer:
Weekly income about $5

Comment: Only one woman lacquer worker is found
in Cheran. Her entire output is sold locally. The
figure given is her estimate of her weekly income.
Some of the lacquer materials are fairly expensive and
the wooden trays used as a base must be purchased.
Probably net income is much less than $5 weekly. The
main lacquer industry is in Uruapan and is mostly in
the hands of Mestizos.

Bakers (commercial) :
Cost of materials (per week):

Flour, 1 arroba (25 pounds).. $3.50-$3.62
Vaan ee i102 2 Sebi ote ersens cele be 1.50
SUSAaAT. OOS ys ya easyer teal 1.08

Total $6.08-$6.20
Labor:
No precise data; bakings per week,
USUALLY wcree s haius ne ene ae a)
Sales:
Gross returns per week,
estimated ... . $10.00-$12.00
Profits:

(Estimated after deducting any
rental costs for use of oven) $3.80-$5.92
Comment: Sustained sales at the reported levels

would produce slightly better than average wages.
Despite the lack of definite data on hours of labor, a
baker certainly works fewer hours and less strenuously
than a laborer. Much time is probably consumed in
selling; this may be done by a wife in the case of pro-
fessional male bakers. Selling time is not included in
the estimates. It should be remembered that a number
of women bake occasionally; some bake regularly for
the Sunday market in Paracho.

Bakers (home):

Aside from the professional baker of pan dulce
recently established in the village and from whom no
satisfactory information could be secured, there are a
number of women who bake bread. Salt rising bread
(pan de sal) is sold at two for 5 and one for 5 centavos,
depending on size. If pan dulce is made, it sells at 1
centavo or at three for 5 centavos, depending on size.
In most cases the baker owns her oven, but in some
eases an oven is rented. The rental is usually one
bread for each “board” (on which the bread is placed
to rise).

Threshing machine:
Equipment:
Woodburning steam-driven threshing machine.
Cost unknown, but probably several thou-
sand pesos.

Charges for wheat threshing (a carga)... $2.50
@apacity daily i 3 Jee) gene e noect a nen 12 cargas
Income daily ................ 00.000 cues $30.00
Operating expenses (daily):
WOO died eigen ace oe eee $2.00
Hired’ labor 22 4. i2.2.2-. 2.00
Water carrier 1.00
Total ee eee Pare $5.00
Operating season (June 20 to Oct. 25,
period worked in 1940 estimated) : Days
SUING) te acsea cate nieve heart ara ee 8
SUEY: hes ¢ 2 oar aks ca cate Se ah ee, ee 25
PATI SUSU sou, 2 oo teaspallagsnette: Giese ne eae ee 25
MGTDET DEI ate eta es Ae eee eat ee . 20
WGtODE Tee eee eee eae ee 15
FOCAL Ae sx 73 ccc taevpoertos «Hee. teases 93
Total business (1,116 cargas, estimated, at
DeeDO ACORN Oa ta cene miss Syosend eee ee eee $2,790
Net profit annually before deducting re-
pairs, wages for owner, interest and
depreciation, approximately ............ $2,365

Comment: Probably the threshing machine has the
largest peso volume of business of any enterprise in
Cheran, although one of the nixtamal mills probably is
a close second. The threshing machine also represents
the greatest capital investment except for some indivi-
dual investments in real estate. High repair costs
probably reduce the true net profit considerably, while
depreciation in this case cannot be ignored. Add to
this the time and skill required of the owner, and it is
probable that this is not the most profitable enterprise
in town even though it be the largest. Certainly, other
families of farmers or combination farmers and store-
keepers show more outward signs of prosperity.

Niaxtamal mills:

Cost of equipment
Costs daily:
Gasoline and oil

$300.00-$1200.00

for gas engines : 2.00
Charcoal for producer gas
equipped engines .... 1.20
Labor, 1 man............. 80-1.00
Gross income at 1 centavo per
kilo of maize ground (daily) 13.00-15.00
Net income (daily) 10.00-12.00

Comment: Mills work only half time; i.e., by agree-
ment only half the mills operate any one day, so net
income should be halved. Even so, this gives a sizable
income, but probably the life of the equipment is short.
Cost of repairs and the replacement of grinding stones

74 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

($9 every few weeks) is also an item not included.
Some engines are equipped to saw wood, when not
driving mills; pine logs are cut in lengths suitable for
splitting into box lumber. The blocks are shipped in
trucks to Uruapan, where they are split to make crates
for shipping fruit. No data on costs or sales were
secured on this minor business.

Barbers: .
Prices:
Haircuts:
Weekdays $0.15
SUNGaVS: sau - 8 bak sees ee oe .20
Shaves.... 10-15
Number of ‘‘jobs” daily:
Except Saturday ec 4-8
Saturday...... 10-15
Income (a week)yac5 o224 450022 sen oe $6.00-$7.50
Comment: Average income is probably under $1.00

a day. One of the two full-time barbers (with the
smallest income) supplements this by card playing.
One barber works only on Sundays and makes shakes
during the week.

Musicians:
Wages:
For 2-day fiesta a Pramas 6 Shere patea~ LO
For wedding

Number of engagements (individual cases) :
(a) 6 fiestas, 15 weddings, in 9 months 90
(b) 5 fiestas, 5 weddings, period
ALTA LEH OWED Cy cesses. cereus yey = Ssleepems eeelce > 60
(ce). 10: fiestas: in 1 year.a. oe 2. as se eae 100

Comment: The musicians obviously do not make a
living from music. All have other sources of income;
some are farmers, storekeepers, barbers, etc.

Painters, plasterers:

Daily wage ....... $1.75-2.50

Comment: Painters and plasterers have only occa-
sional demands for their skills. Only a few stone or
adobe houses are plastered, and fewer still are painted.
Most jobs are by contract.

Billiard parlors:

Equipment $1,500-$1,700

Rent (monthly) 10-20

Charge per game _ .05
Comment: No estimate of the amount of business

was received. It is evident, though, that the enterprise
is profitable, to judge by dress and other characteristics
of the owners.
Butchers:

Prices paid for beeves on hoof........ $80-$150

Prices reported paid at wholesale for
beef weighing:

15 arrobas (875 pounds)..... ... $90

14 arrobas (850 pounds)......... 65

16 arrobas (400 pounds) ........ 92
Retail price (per kilo)................. -70
Gross profit on beef (per kilo)............ -40-.45
Price of ‘pigs..-o22525252 +4 30.00 and up
Gross profit, per week...... Slee cottage chee ae 7.00-8.00
Gross profit, per pig................. 3.50-8.00

Comment: Returns to butchers are slight on the
basis of meat sales. Generally the profit consists of:
(a) Meat for the family at no cost, and (b) sale of
the hide, usually for $10.00. Most butchers handle beef
only, but one who specializes on pork, butchering one
or two a week, claimed a profit of 7 or 8 pesos. An
item unaccounted for in the figures for beef is a tax of
$5.00 on each animal killed. It is also widely believed
that some butchers deal in stolen cattle at a consider-
able profit. Few butchers lack other sources of income,
however, which argues against great profits. Butcher-
ing also varies in profitableness at various seasons;
when cheese is abundant the demand for meat falls off,
and the butcher may have to dry part of his meat and
sell it at a lower price.

Field watchers:
Wages:
In maize .. 1 row in 30

Average income for 6 weeks to 2 months (cash
WANE (OL INAIZE) ay «eye's clei ieee $60—-$65

Comment: Field watchers (veladores) must be men
of good reputation. Usually they watch 20 to 25
pieces of land. Although wages seem high—$1 a day.
or more—the work is seasonal and involves staying day
and night in the fields.

Water carrying:

Charge for two 25-liter cans............... $0.06
Comment: Only one man engages in this work
regularly. He works fairly steadily, but no data were

secured on his income. Presumably it is as good or
better than he could earn as a laborer.

Beekeeping:
12 hives produced:
15 liters of honey at $0.60 $ 9.00
3-4 kilos of wax at $2.25-$2.50 6.70-10.00
Wax:
1 kilo makes 10-centavo candles
WOT LIN 10.590 0, taky i asec eee 3.00— 3.25
3—4 kilos make 10-centavo candles
VOU UNS costs, tacyave. eee ee Aors 9.00-13.00
Potential income from 12 hives if
owner makes candles. .._.. 18.00—22.00

Comment: In all cases bees are kept as a profitable,
but not extremely important, sideline to other activites.
Fireworks making:

Figures from the one fireworks maker in Cheran

proved inconsistent upon analysis. The following facts
seem reasonable.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS tis

Materials and prices: Per kilo
INTER ALOS oc. audse. jroag oie seisne . $1.70
Olona terete es Acer vtec ee 5.00
SUSIE separ Santa fopels alee whe inane : pb 80
Der SELIN Pees criss 2 a,c eee, ene alts)
Shakes, cane, etc................- Nominal

(Shakes are $5 a bundle of 400, but the
number used is small; 3 or 4 per dozen
cohetes, for example.)

Comment: Cohetes are made to order and sell at
$3.00 to $4.00 per dozen. Castillos or set pieces are
done on contract. Gross income from this source was
at least $400 in 1940. Between times cohetes were
made fairly steadily. Probably the fireworks maker’s
income is above average.

DISTRIBUTION

The problem of distribution affects primarily
those goods which are exported from Cheran
and those things which are imported. Only a
small fraction of the materials produced locally
are sold locally; in the main each family pro-
duces the local products it consumes and sells
its surplus for export.

The export goods of Cheran consist almost

wholly of forest products and farm products.
The first are usually sold on contract or are
transported by the producer to market. Rail-
road ties, for example, are always cut on con-
tract. Charcoal is mostly sold to dealers from
‘Zacapu and is delivered to the nearest spot
where it can be picked up by trucks. However,
there is some small local sale, mostly for opera-
tion of producer gas generators for nixtamal
mills, and a little is carried on burros to such a
town as Uruapan. Similarly, planks and beams
are mainly sold, either to dealers who pick
them up in trucks for export or locally on con-
tract to someone building a house. In towns
close to Uruapan, Zamora, or other centers,
much of the sale of such products as charcoal,
planks, and beams is direct, the maker carrying
the goods to town on market day.

The major exception to the marketing
methods for forest products described above is
tejamanil, or shakes. For the local market,
the shake maker usually works on order. For
the export market he usually takes his product
on burros to some nearby Mestizo town. These
expeditions may be combined with other trad-
ing operations. Thus, shakes may be taken to
Turetan via Nahuatzen, Tingambato, and Zira-
cuaretiro, a full-day trip with burros from 5

a.m. to 8 or9 p.m. As Turetan is considered
the source of the best bananas in the region, a
return load of bananas frequently is purchased.
Tejamanil may also be taken to Uruapan,
Zamora, or Zacapu.

Marketing of farm produce follows several
patterns. Bulk crops, such as maize and wheat,
are today sold mainly to dealers who come to
town with trucks to carry off their purchases.
Maize and wheat are sold as far away as
Morelia. While large farmers may sell quan-
tities directly to such dealers, the storekeepers
also play a considerable part by their purchases
of small quantities of corn or wheat. Most of
the purchases in this case are of one or two
almuds at a time when the family happens to
need a few centavos. Nevertheless, some wheat
is carried to the mills by the owner on burro
back, and corn may be taken to one of the
larger markets. Individual small-scale buyers
also occasionally visit the town, mainly to pur-
chase eggs, chickens, or even small pigs. To-
day they arrive by bus, as a rule, and put in the
day going from house to house, generally taking
their purchases to Uruapan for sale.

Some local vegetables and fruit are also taken
for sale to Paracho or, more rarely, to Uruapan.
Bread, atole, or tamales may also be carried to
market by the women. The most important
fruit export, pears, is often carried consider-
able distances into Colima or into Guerrero.
Sometimes the owner will carry his own pears,
but more frequently a regular trader or viajero
will buy the fruit. Other exported fruits in-
clude tejecote, cherries, apples, and quinces.

Another aspect of distribution, naturally,
is concerned with the supplying of imported
goods to the inhabitants of Cheran. Prac-
tically all manufactured goods used in the
village are imported. This applies not only
to machine products but to household indus-
tries as well, for the specialists of Cheran
in no field supply all the local demand. Three
principal agencies of distribution exist: First
are the stores, specializing primarily in machine
products; second, are the local markets, al-
though for everything but foodstuffs the princi-
pal occasions are when fiestas occur; third,
are the arrieros or viajeros, the traveling
traders of Cheran who bring back products
from as far away as the Balsas Basin in Guer-

16 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

rero or even from the Pacific Ocean. Even
men who are not regular traders will go on
local market. Finally, it should be noted that
individuals often visit markets, especially those
in Paracho or during fiestas at nearby towns,
and make purchases of needed goods. Espe-
cially since the highway has brought bus service
to the town, for important purchases a man
may even go to Uruapan. It is not uncommon
for well-to-do men, for example, to have gar-
ments made to order by the tailors in Uruapan.

It is impossible to compile from present data
a complete list of the products imported into
Cheran. The list extends from chile and beans
to horses and sewing machines. Many articles
are available only on special occasions. For
example, the almost universally used type of
water jar in Cheran is made only in Patamban,
and is offered for sale only on the occasion of
the fiesta of the patron saint in October. House-
holders must anticipate their yearly needs of
these fragile (but quite long-lived) articles at
this time; otherwise they are forced to attend
a fiesta in some other town and pick up a differ-
ent plain style of jar made in Uruapan or La
Canada.

Nearly all goods sold in the stores are im-
ported (except occasional local products such
as clothing). A considerable list of these goods
is given in the discussion of price (p. 88).
Tarascan products imported include -fish and
tules from the Lake area; hat braid of palm
straw, chairs, tables, beds, and various wooden
objects from Paracho; pottery from Santa Fe,
Quiroga, Patamban, La Cafiada, and the “hot
country,” or trerra caliente (the last is non-
Tarascan) ; axes from Tingambato; knives,
machetes, plow points, and jewelry from Na-
huatzen; oils, garlic, spices, and vegetables from
Zacapu and the Lake region; rebozos and cloth
from Paracho, Nahuatzen, and elsewhere; pigs
from La Cafiada; beans from the Lake region;
chiles from various places; and a variety of
fruits. The latter include bananas, coconuts
(from non-Tarascan sources), sweet and sour
lemons, oranges, guavas, mameys, plums,
mangoes, watermelons, cantaloups, avocados,
zapotes of all sorts, and cherimoyas.

From non-Tarascan sources, but still outside
the more conventional commercial channels, are

to be mentioned pottery from Guanajuato (and
even from Oaxaca), dried meat from tierra
caliente, cattle, and horses. Machinery and
tools made in industrial establishments include
axes, saws, hoes, hatchets, plow points, engines
(for nixtamal mills), sewing machines, flat
irons, and, quite rarely, radios, phonographs,
typewriters, and trucks. The functioning of
the principal distributive agencies will now be
examined in some detail.

TRADERS

A fair number of men in Cherdn who engage
in trade are known as arrieros or viajeros.
Whether there is any distinction between the
two is uncertain. The impression received—
and it is no more than an impression—is that
originally the arrieros traveled to distant places
outside of Tarascan territory, while the viajeros
traded among the local villages. At present
the two terms seem to be used as synonyms.

In the town voting register a number of men
are listed as arrieros. Nevertheless, so far as
could be learned, none of them dedicates all his
time to trade. At the same time, there were
numerous other men listed as farmers or labor-
ers, yet who make fairly regular trading trips.
The main distinction seems to be that a man
listed as an arriero ordinarily makes about
three long trips a year, while other men may
make only one. Some men who make fairly
regular short trips are not listed as traders.
For exarnple, one man who carries palm leaves
regularly to the Paracho market is not included.

The main season for trading is from late
fall until June, that is, the dry season. The
principal routes followed for long trips are to
Guerrero, Coaleoman, and Colima. <A good
many shorter trips may be taken to local fiestas,
especially the great fiesta and market at San
Juan Parangaricutiro. In addition, some men
go to Guadalajara and Celaya for goods to ear-
ry to Guerrero. Finally, a long trip usually
involves a number of short local trips around
Cheran, either to purchase goods for transport
to the tierra caliente or to dispose of merchan-
dise brought back,

The arrieros are all men, with a single ex-
ception (reported but not seen). Wives, how-
ever, frequently accompany their husbands.
Sickness is the greatest hazard. Women are

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS ite

believed to be move resistant to the illnesses of
tierra caliente, and tales are told of women who
saved their husbands by nursing them or by
bringing them back to the healthful highlands.
For this reason, traders rarely go alone, al-
though large parties are rare. The major
disease appears to be malaria. Insects, espe-
cially one attacking the feet, are mentioned as
a great bother.

Robbers are also a source of danger; how-
ever, the most traveled route—that to Guerrero
—is said to be entirely safe. Some of the
greatest dangers on the route to Coalcoman or
Colima seem to have been in Tarascan territory.
The village of Capacuaro had a particularly
evil reputation at one time.

Goods are ordinarily transported by burros.
A poor man may have to carry goods on his
back. The arrieros never ride except when
seriously ill. An exception is that journeys to
Celaya are made on the train, while nearby
trips may sometimes be made by bus since
construction of the highway.

The first step in a trading expedition is the
assembling of goods for the trip. These may
consist of pears from Cheran; apples from
Pichataro; wooden products (“tornillo”) from
Paracho; sweetpotatoes from San Francisco;
fine pottery (not cooking ware) from La
Cafiada, Guadalajara, or Quiroga; oils and
spices from Patzcuaro; dolls, pottery, and other
goods from Celaya. Most of the goods carried
by Cheran traders, however, are local in origin,
i.e., within the Tarascan area. In such cases,
trade goods either are assembled by one or
more short preliminary purchasing trips or
are bought en route. Guadalajara pottery re-
quires a 7- or 8-day trip each way with burros.
Celaya goods, as stated, involve a trip by train.

On the return trip various products are
brought. From Guerrero come dried fish, dried
beef, gourds, gourd containers, coconuts, and
cheese, the last being most important. Few
data were obtained on the products brought
from Coalecoman, as few Cheran traders make
this trip, but cheese and dried beef are prob-
ably the most important items. However, the
one trader to give specific information bought
beeswax. Chiles are brought from Colima.

Generally the goods brought back are not
sold until Cherén is reached. Then they are

sold locally (usually a minor part) or taken to
the weekly Paracho market or to fiestas in
nearby towns. Often goods are kept some
weeks if there is a prospect of a scarcity devel-
oping, or an important fiesta is scheduled.

The majority of the long trips are to Guer-
rero, usually to Petatlan, where the fiesta of
Hely Week attracts the greatest number of
Cheran traders. The length of the trip taken
depends to some extent on the rapidity with
which goods are sold; once stocks are ex-
hausted, traders turn back. One trader re-
ported having reached Acapulco on one of his
trips.

Some typical trips follow:

M. F. goes on Sunday to Paracho, where he
awaits his trading partner from another town.
Monday the two go to San Francisco and buy
sweetpotatoes. Thursday they arrive in Tepic
(Colima) and sell the sweetpotatoes. Friday
they go to Guajuya (Jalisco) and buy chiles.
Monday they return to Tepic and Saturday
M. F. reaches Cheran. The trip involves 12
days’ traveling and 2 days’ resting, buying,
and selling.

The schedule in detail is as follows:

OUT GSe eee eee reese te cee eee Paracho
Mondayeearasaeh tt ae San Francisco
TERIA yaaa on os eee ...Periban
Wednesday................ Buena Vista
AUGER ER renee er cis eerie te Tepic
STL CSL Varner te evel einer Guajuya
Mondays acca estec Gesu eee Tepic
Muesdaye. sce ses see ake sete Buena Vista
Wednesday ..............ecceeees Periban
PAUTSAAY share chee stereo x oar San Francisco
MPId ay sia ceiet ct oaee a os ay aele & Paracho
DALULGAYs somite aeccPeieie clei Cheran

Some traders go to Colima proper by way of
Zaragoza, but details were not obtained. It is
17 days’ travel each way.

M. F. also goes to Coaleoman, carrying pot-
tery from La Cafiada which he buys in Cheran
or Paracho. The route is the same as far as
Tepic. Thence he stops at Obregdén, Las
Parotas, and Coaleoman. The round trip takes
83 weeks, of which 18 days are spent in traveling.

On his trips to Petatlan, Guerrero, M. F.
buys wooden toys from Paracho and pottery
from Santo Tomas. Starting on a Thursday,
he goes to Pichataro. On Friday (market day)
he is in Patzcuaro and buys garlic, oils, and

78 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

spices (marjoram, pincente, etc.) The trip to
Petatlan takes a total of 18 days (see itinerary
below); San Gerénimo is 5 days farther. A
round trip usually takes about 6 weeks.

J. G. also leaves on a Thursday. Leaving his
burro at Patzcuaro, he goes to Quiroga to buy
pottery (probably on the bus, as he does not
take his burros). Returning to Patzcuaro, on
one trip he bought 500 strings of garlic, 15
liters of oils at $1.50 a liter (salad oil, olive oil,
aceites de razar, malza mantequilla, canaldo,
mastral, and verbena), and spices (pimiente,
rosemary, mandruje, flor de azalco, and manza-
nilla boraja), and 214 dozen wooden spoons of
assorted sizes.

At Paso de la Vaca, J. G. began to sell a
little, but only enough to buy food (he had run
out of money). His itinerary is similar to that
of M. F., but he made one more stop. On his
return he loaded one burro with dried meat
and rode the other because he was sick. For
the same reason he spent 8 days at one place.
The two itineraries follow:

Arrive M. F. J. G.
PIGHALATO?.. san os wears « Thursday......Thursday
Patzcuaro ..... Friday. .. Friday
Santa Clara ... Saturday..... Saturday
Ario de Rosales........Sunday..... .. Sunday
Alinonzita ..Monday . eee
Corral de Piedras ake . Monday
DAN ACOK crac Oi cist sure, Ou Tuesday Tuesday
Guadaloupe............ Wednesday Wednesday
Rio de las Balsas...... Thursday Thursday
Paso de las Vacas. . Friday. . Friday
(began to sell)
MG IMLONI ererepen ayy a eters Saturday....
(began to sell)
DUOC etme 2 hea eta ce hak iat ale Saturday
Tepehuaje............. Sunday..... Sunday
Colmenaros............ Monday.... Monday
Ma eAIMIGN. 2 os ek deans Tuesday Tuesday
La Onia (close to
Pacific from here on) . Wednesday Wednesday
etl eee ae Thursday... Thursday
Puerto Sijuatanejo..... Friday... Friday
MSUNCHE VEL oo anpeaine. ees cance F ...... Saturday
San Geronimito....... Saturday Sunday
PGE CLAN s Gores ateye'esaveeyts Sunday... Monday

San Gerénimo is 5 days’ traveling beyond
Petatlin; Acapulco is 6 days’ traveling from
San Gerénimo.

Another example is C. S. C. who makes only
one trip a year, a visit to Holy Week in
Petatlan, Guerrero. He carries woodwork from

Paracho and brings back coconuts and dried
meat. He normally travels only a half day.
(However, his half day would mean a dawn
start and continuing normally until midafter-
noon.) His stops are as follows: Pichataro,
Sirawén, Ario, Las Palmas, La Playa, Cayaco,
Guadaloupe, Las Balsas, Corcoles, La Limon,

Tepehuaje, Colmeneros, La Unidn, Pantla,
Puerto Sijuatanejo, San Geronimito, and
Petatlan.

Arrieros probably have superior techniques
for handling burros. Criolina is carried for
treating saddle sores, and burros are shod
“when the burro catches cold in his feet.”
Dysentery (“posicion”’) is the most frequent
cause of loss of burros on trips.

Arrieros also observe special ceremonies. A
candle and prayer are offered to San Antonio -
before going on a trip, and thanks are rendered
on return. The arrieros also maintain a
mayordomia for San Antonio, which is de-
scribed elsewhere.

In general, knowledge of the economics of
the arrieros’ activities is unsatisfactory. It
would be extremely difficult to gain an accurate
idea of the amount of goods exchanged by this
method or to discover the monetary or other
rewards obtained by the arriero.

The importance of the arriero class un-
doubtedly will wane rapidly with the extension
of highways and truck trails. Already the
importance of the arriero in the Coaleoman
region has greatly diminished as a result of
truck trails opened up in recent years. When
a direct connection is made between the high-
land and the developing truck trail system in
the Balsas Basin, the arriero probably will
rapidly disappear.

TRANSPORTATION

As has been indicated at various points in
the preceding pages, the burro is the most com-
mon means of transportation still, supplemented
occasionally by horses or mules. Poor traders
may even make long journeys carrying their
goods on their backs. Nevertheless, a revolu-
tion in transportation is under way in Cheran.

One alteration in the transportation picture
is the truck which picks up bulk goods in Cheran
for markets that formerly were closed to these
items. As much as 4,000 kilos of wheat has

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 719

left in a single load. As yet, though, the most
important influence of the highway is the fre-
quent bus service. The regular buses, con-
necting with buses for Guadalajara, and going
directly to or from Morelia, and Mexico City,
pass through to and from Uruapan about once
an hour during the day. In addition, smaller
buses from Uruapan to Purépero and Nahuatzen
pass by several times a day. As a consequence,
individual vendors often go to market by bus.
Women take foodstuffs or herbs to Uruapan for
the Sunday market regularly. Others may
visit the market at Paracho merely as a
recreation. Not afew in the village have made
a trip or two to Mexico City.

Modern transport has even reached into
Cheran itself. Three of the more well-to-do
men in the town have purchased a 114-ton
truck, which éarries freight to Uruapan or
Morelia at 114 centavos a kilo. On Sundays it
also operates as a “‘wildeat” (i.e., unlicensed)
bus to Paracho. The fare is 25 centavos plus
a charge for bulky bundles; for example, 20
centavos for three bundles of palm leaves.
Although trucks are not supposed to carry
passengers, a satisfactory working arrange-
ment has been made with the traffie police.

STOREKEEPERS

Cheran is unique among large Tarascan towns
in that virtually all storekeepers are natives.
A few of the storekeepers are large farmers
whose families run a store on the side, but most
of them made their start as storekeepers al-
though they may now also be farmers. As one
of the successful storekeepers explained, less
capital is required to start a store than is needed
to buy adequate farm lands. According to this
same informant, if a man has fifty pesos, he
can get a hundred pesos worth of goods, and if
he has a place to operate, he is established in
business. Moreover, the work is not as hard
as farming. In addition, as people in Cheran
have the same idea of living standards, busi-
ness volume in most stores is small, so small
that it is said not to have attracted the Mestizos.
It is asserted that only those accustomed to
Tarascan living standards and ways can suc-
ceed in making a living as a storekeeper in
Cheran.

The more able storekeepers not only sell

goods, but may make buying trips in person to
Purépero for cloth or to Uruapan for groceries.
Some storekeepers make clothing in their spare
time or have sewing machines for rent. In
addition, storekeepers may add to their income
by buying corn, wheat, or eggs in small quan-
tities. It is no uncommon thing in some stores
to see a small girl arrive with some wheat tied
up in one end of her rebozo and perhaps one
egg, and bargaining with the storekeeper for
some small purchase. It is noteworthy, though,
that the transaction is not on a barter basis.
First the sale of wheat or eggs to the store-
keeper is completed and the money paid over.
The seller then indicates what she desires to
purchase.*!

Time did not permit the making of a detailed
study of the functioning of Cheran stores. It
would be of considerable interest to do so, and
if the cooperation of the wholesalers in Uruapan
and Purepero could be secured, probably a
fairly accurate idea of the movement of goods
into the Cheran market would be possible. In
the discussion of price some idea of the range
of goods carried is given (p. 88).

Although not forming an important item in
Cheran trade, it should be observed that women,
children, and occasionally elderly men, sell some
goods on the streets, usually at a street corner.
Perhaps half a dozen corners always have one
to three vendors selling such things as cooked
squash or sweetpotatoes, fruit, peanuts, and
other things which are purchased primarily as
golosinas, or between-meal snacks. Similar
vendors appear in some numbers at harvest
time, often out in the country, at which time
their stock also includes ¢haranda (sugarcane
alcohol and water).

MARKETS

An important mechanism of exchange among
the Tarascans is the market. In a great many
towns markets are held only on the occasion of
a religious fiesta or, if present at other times,
are small and relatively unimportant. Taras-

*4 An hour in the store of M. S. is typical. A small girl brought
1 liter of shelled maize, two ears of maize, and one egg for which
she received 11 centavos. Several other persons came in, bringing
single liters of wheat or corn. One person brought 20 liters of
beans (this is unusual as Cherdn raises less beans than it con-
sumes). In addition to a number of sales of less than 5 centavos,
the following sales at 5 centavos were made (there were none
larger) : one cake of soap, criolina, castor oil, lime.

80 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

can economy is also linked with the national
economy through the markets. The Sunday
market at Uruapan, for example, is an impor-
tant occasion for the disposal of Tarascan goods
and for the purchase of supplies. The Uruapan
market, however, is primarily a Mestizo market,
and the Indian part in it is minor and far from
obvious.

Quite otherwise is the market at Patzcuaro.
Although it is perhaps even more of a Mestizo
town than Uruapan, the markets at Patzcuaro
on Fridays and Sundays are predominantly
Indian markets. The Patzcuaro markets are
probably the most important agencies of ex-
change to be found in Tarascan territory. They
would well merit intensive study.

The Sunday market in Paracho is the only
large, regular market in the Sierra Tarascan
area. While numerous Mestizos participate,
the bulk of the vendors and almost all the
buyers are Tarascans. Although subject to
fluctuation in size from week to week, the
Paracho market compares favorably at any
time with the occasional large markets held in
other towns on the occasion of a fiesta.

Cheran does boast of two weekly markets in
addition to the infrequent affairs on the occa-
sion of important fiestas. These markets, how-
ever, are merely insignificant reflexes of the
Paracho market. Traveling salesmen or via-
jeros whose route to Paracho leads through
Cheran often set up shop in the Cheran plaza
on Saturday afternoon. In the evening or
early the next morning they move on to Para-
cho. If they have not sold out their goods in
Paracho, they may stop Monday morning in
Cheran for a few hours. The number of ven-
dors and the amount of goods sold, then, are
relatively insignificant. Fresh vegetables are
the main items, and housewives who do not
expect to go to Paracho the following day may
stock up for the week.

The Saturday market at Cheran usually gets
under way about 1 o’clock in the afternoon.
Vendors continue to arrive, however, until as
late as 4 o’clock, and the main activity of the
market is between 5 o’clock and dusk. The
market occupies the street on the south side of
the plaza in front of the municipal building.
The vendors form two facing lines on opposite
sides of the street. Only on unusually busy

days do the lines extend the full length of the
plaza. The Monday morning market is much
smaller.

TABLE 3.—Products sold in the Cherdn market, 1940

Number Product sold on—
of vendors
selling
product
on Sept. 7

Product
Nov. 9 | October 6

(fiesta)

Agua fresea (sweet Water) a o.ccc csi -ccc]/ cd vice ete welll palates aes
MAMI OB (TITIES) ore asapaiesrsira rahe wiey Saree aie | lke oversustepelstel | Meteta eae
Ajo (garlic). ......... . . Ra hr | x
Aretes (CArringS) 06.526 s ce we Se eon eae
BAGO: Sac nccrectcc'eeae cena |
Ayates (carrying nets)
Bateas (wooden bowls)
Cacahuates (peanuts)
Cahetes (jellies)... ...

XX

Camotes cocidos (cooked sweetpota-
toes). — See
Camotes ‘(sweetpotatoes). . ae 5
Canastas (flat baskets)............ |
Carne seco (dried meat)..........
Cebollas (onions)..............- E 4 x
Changungas. £1 suxtel ds teemaetel| verte
Chayotes cocidos (cooked ‘chayote i
Cherimoya..............-
Chiles. .....
Chiquihuites vee sad
Cocos (coconuts) .
Col (cabbage). ....

ee
» &

x

x

Cundas (harvest baskets) .

Dulces (sweets).............
Dedales (thimbles
Dardenistas.....

x xx: x: XKXKX

Fajas (sashes).............-.200085
Frijoles (beans)................06- nt
Guayabas (guavas) occ cca as
Habas cocidos (cooked broadbeans)..
Helotes cocidos (cooked green corn)
FAS BO (GES) seiresreccuinsetets sete ss sin wes arevFlane
DUCATABA ihe coe eralae eran chae- a aeayere Aer ohanat
Jitomates (tomatoes). .
Juguetes (playthings)
Lena (firewood). .
Lenteja (lentils). .
Limas (sweet lemons)
Loza de Oaxaca (pottery from Oaxaca)
LiO@a: (HOCCEFY) x: < fete ovate ins. s:0icue's.c.e0s.0eis6
WESUELOB cya acca sroutbe = srousatassig1 ¢ictetetetoans
Manzanas (apples)...............4.
Mecates (ropes).........-.-.-0e008
Morales: (bags). «cie~ siescisw se cee sae
Mufnecas (dolls)................-..,
Naranjas (oranges).............+.45
Nieve (ice cream) .
Pan, blanco y moreno (bread, uitie
and dark)... 7 *
Pan dulce (sweet bread) .
Pan de horno (cookies) .
Pastura (fodder)........ dat
Peras' (pears)! .cis.ee.</2s.c.0: s\eaie ieee says
Pescado (fish, several kinds)?........
‘Petates’ (mats) ssrs-0/s-s¢ca'evs ss the srsieraines
Platanos (bananas)...............6-
Pitsekuaetsc etsis series sisinte &.aicstere.s sales
Papas (POtktoes) eaciiyuse senses cme 2
Queso (Cheese) is cecicvei iss 2) avens-d.cicterauarae
Rebozos (shawls).............
Religion (crosses, medals, etc.)
Ropa heché (clothing)
Sanhorias (carrots). .
BilantrOnvcseaene ote
Serapes (blankets)... zee la
SombreroOg: (HAS) hiscecis cise awanins see
Tascales (baskets for tortillas).......
Tela (cloth) <\..t:<cmcsich. ssceoy ceclee ot
Tomates (husk tomatoes)...........
Tunas (prickly pears)..............
Velas' (candles): iis 5.255 <s.<:5:5 0, 2 bate sie. oi| Soca a arere. 0(g.e'| sabeta aparece abs
Vidrio (glass)......
Yerbas (herbs)... .
Zapatos (shoes)

ao ond

XXXKX

1 Black and red chile from Querendaro; green chile, large and
small; red chile, large and small; chile pasilla ancha; chile guajillo;
chile mirasol; chile verde ¢irapsi.

2Chara (kuéfepo—small, dried, from Patzcuaro;
fresh, from Pdatzcuaro).

3 Small, black fruit like green tomato in taste.

turuci—large,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

On the occasion of a fiesta, the market occu-
pies the entire plaza and overflows onto side
streets. The variety and quantity of goods on
such occasions exceed that at the regular
Paracho market. Table 3 shows this clearly
in the market held for Octcber 6, 1940, the
fiesta of the patron saint. Only two weekly
markets were checked in any detail, as the
fluctuations in the market simply reflect those
occurring at Paracho the following day. Table
83 gives a list of the articles on sale in Cheran
on three different dates, and for September 7
the number of vendors of each article is given.

TABLE 4.—Place of origin of products and vendors in
the market at Cheran, Saturday, Sept. 7, 1940

Origin of vendor! Article Origin of article
Chapala......... SNS Spires chase tere tteicave eres tin | Chapala.
Cherdn.......... POLEETY srciaics erento aurioae een | Huancito.

DOs \ eee. ecevad's Ample <5.% occ dogs eftn Serene | Pichataro.

Do Pears. . eres | Cheran.

DO) eiaces sare ss Pottery...... .........| Huancito.
Cherdn (4) anarahites Wood.... Seat ene cs axtorera herdn.

herain Apples. ... Pe iti | Do.

BDOW tx awsewu = Apples.... et ..| Pichataro.

NO) «st aviaate's ove ears..... bites | Cheran.

ON cranes ..| Cheese... Se eee sare Tierra caliente.
Pdtzeuaro....... Vom ek. ee } Patzcuaro.
GHGritisies aes cee PONE. sation nine Uricho.

Wricho (2).3...:. (0 ellow Ree Revs
Onions, chile... . o
Patzeuaro....... Resinennse Deeneb ar cege ; .....| Pd&tzcuaro.
Tr ‘ellow chile...... eh
MTIGHO. «.sya.6.¢2 oe \tomAtoss aan : a5 Uricho.
Buses ae Onions, cabbage. . ..| PAtzcuaro.
reiets Onions, cabbage, tomatoes... Do.
wehos geste wales Chile, onions, tomatoes. San Francisco.
Zacapu.. .| Onions, tomatoes....... ..| Zacapu.
Pitzeuaro....... Potatoes, beans, tomatoes. ,..| PAtzcuaro.
Pandicuaro. .| Sweetpotatoes (purple)... Zipiajo.
Villa Jimenez....] Beans............0.005 Villa Jimenez.
Zunapario....... Chile 2 ene akon ecoesies Zunapario.
heran... : Breeds peaches....... Cheran:
ROSTANCO 6. nt cteeteiail) COUC.. <i. cistege-e a aie%s)2 San Gabriel, Jalisco.
San Francisco... . Chile, tomatoes...... .....,) San Francisco.
Zacapu...... .| Onions, tomatoes............ Zacapu.

DOGS ios ctats capei|e DOMALOCK sic. 0c-< ats oO.
Cherdn....... Tomatoes. wi... - 6s. 338 Cheran (?).
Pandicuaro. . Sweetpotatoes...............| Pandicuaro.
OR SrA G accents o (OC CDUG. ates 5 sarees a aryero nee e Cherian (?),
Mitucuaro. ss is...) Lentils. c.c2 0c 08805 Etucuaro.

El Tiere. Penney rae, L@ tucnatenereterers ceteris cuscanetercis E] Tigre.

Zacapu.. Tomatoes........ Zacapu.

Lasalga. . Sweetpotatoes............... Purépero,
Pandicuaro (2). do Pe Sere Ak Zacapu.
@huesndiro... 06. ] GO. obsess en aden Zacapu (San Simon).
San Pedro Caro. . Diied sek ASRS oe caine . Hacienda de la Luz.
Gsrapans.ce: cs os) LOMONs oc cence ea es ......| Carapan.
C@hapala.... 2.5... Cente dried fish.....:...... Chapala.

1 Numbers in parentheses indicate number of vendors if more

than one.

Tables 4 and 5 show the places of origin of
products and vendors in the market at Cheran
and at Paracho in September, 1940, and table 6
gives the products and number of vendors at
the Paracho market on various dates in 1940.

About 70 to 80 percent of the vendors in the
Paracho market on September 1 (table 5) were

81

TABLE 5.—Places of origin of products and vendors in
the market at Paracho, Sept. 1, 1940

Vendor
AL |
: Origin of Num-
Product product bar ovat
Place of origin | from | gelling,
oe product
Agua fresca (sweet
WAtEL) cy cet cece es Paracho....... Paracho,..... 1 1
Aguacates. (avocados) ..| Caiiada....... LY) eyes eOyentiy toss 1 1
Anillos (rings). .... ..| Patamban ..| Paracho ul 1
Aretes (earrings)... . . Nahuatzen.... Git -stecra sn 1 1
Bagas (burden ropes)..| Paracho....... (: (cree 2 2
Bordada (strip of em-
broidery)......... Nahuatzen....| Nahuatzen. 1 1
Caldo (broth)....... Paracho....... Paracho... i 1
seg ae agin ‘ fe Azarca. . La Azarea.....| 1
Rca ed Bweetpova~ | | Cafiada, 2... <|'Catiadasas ois 1 6
POET =k FSS apne aoe Purépero, . .|{Purépero...... 2
\Paracho.......| 2
Cebollos (onions)......| Paracho... OR escacrneae 2 2
‘erezas (cherries)... Kinseo........ Kinseo........ 2 2
Cestas (baskets) . Pand{cuaro. . Zacapu........ 2 2
Chabacanos (apricots) . Pichataro......| Pichataro......] 1 1
Chalecos bordados
(embroidered vests)..| Nahuatzen....| Nahuatzen.. . 1 1
Changungas......... Tierra caliente .| Uruapan,.... 1 1
(Paracho (?)....| Paracho 5 )
Chiles (peppers)..... Cherian (?)..... Cherian 1 }} 9
Patzcuaro (?)..| Patzcuaro 3
@Coll (oabbhawea) ts sae tee cece tetera erator cuata'|io gales cere Sie | eee
Coliflor (cauliflower)! |i aso s/asise ce wis |ecews'ce ons cau :
Dulces (candy)...... Paracho....... Earns fas ate 1 1
Pichataro,...5.) 0 GO" Saale san 1
Cheran....... Cheace 6
Duraznos (peaches). . Pichataro...... Pichataro. 8 20
| Kinseo. . Kinseo: : 5.50% 2 sf
|Cheranéstico CheranAstico oF
Uruapan...... Uruapan..... 1
Tierra caliente... eo ae 2
Fibra de palmas pale (1 woman, Paracho.. . 1 os
leaves)........ as maybe all, |Patzcuaro. . . 1 ‘
carried it up) ||Barsi....... 3 |
Patzcuaro..... Patzeuaro... 1 |
San Gerénimo..| SanGerénimo..| 2
Frijoles (beans)...... Carapan.......} Carapan...... 2 8
)Tirindiro...... Tirindiro..... 1 :
Cafiada....... Canada... 1
Tangancicuaro.| Tangancicuaro.| 1
Site hen (guitars)....| Paracho....... Parachoeccce: 1 1
Habas (pulse or broad- = 9
beans).......-.... Cafiada....... eee pele 3
Helotes (cooked green |(Paracho....... Paracho....... i}
GOLD) fix, cre cen : Cheranastico...| Cheranastico...] 1 3
eran ies s'. sie-e QOherant 2.7.20 1
Higos (figs)...........| Cafiada....... (eae 1 9
Cafiada....... 1 =
Huaraches (woven
sandals) ...... : ade SHETO. sc cee Purépero... 1 a
Jicamas:(root) <<. .c2cec|) Cleese aac nee Paracho... 1 1
Lechuga: (lettuce)! sc. |ece nce o.aisieedo cco] scasa care sis «cases Br adc
Limas “(gweet lemons).. ‘Chilchota. . Chilchota...... 3 8}
Paracho (ae Paracho....... 1 )
Limonas (lemons)... ..{;Chilchota (2). Chilchota..... 3 5
Tierra caliente . Guanajuato....} 1
Guanajuato... Purépero...... 1
Huansito...... Huansito......| 1
Patamban..... Patamban..... 3
Losa (pottery)....... 4 etl! vsrasiare sere Nuri6....6..+. 1 9
Quiroga....... Zacapu iT
Paracho (?)....| Paracho....... 1
Quiroga....... Tzintzuntzan..| 1
Manta iarcsiaistasisasins Nahuatzen....} Nahuatzen....| 1 1
Mandils (aprons)..... Paracho....... Paracho....... 4 4
Pichataro...... Paracho....... 2
Gin serelessierere Pichataro...... 13
Manzanas (apples)....|)Cherdn........ Cheranicsiccss ai 18
Pichataro Om neater ents 1
Kinseo.... KGNS€0} 002 0s 1
Manzanas-chatas (crab |{ Pichataro Paracho....... 1 4
APPLES) sin ic ctes ni cteecenere Uruapan...... Uruapan..<.... 3
Mostacillos (?) Goad) Guadalajara LO vaiscacian ace 1 1
Muebles (furniture)... Paracho....... OR ce siarsiecse 2 2
(1) pafareliosrata De:-0% Paracho....... 1
Naranjas (oranges)....|\Tumenen. 22/[ Lamon @).0c0-] 1 {| 8
eee ae eens pole daa mada) ve
CLAN G6a's sexe Cheran........ it 9
Nuezes (nuts)........ Pichataro..... Pichataro...... 1 *
Pani (bread)\<;<,2.2 5.46) « PAN RCO. siaisrsisran TRATIC CO lcrsattbetels 2 6
Pancdulées cs os ses Cherantf... sas Cheran........ 4
Papas (patatas) (pota-
EOCB) ciaieiesesc\araiars'e aes Nahuatzen....| Paracho....... 1
1No data.

82

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

TABLE 5.—Places of origin of products and vendors in
the market at Paracho, Sept. 1, 1940—Continued

Vendor
Origin of Num- ‘
Products product ber uot
. Place of origin | from selling
ae product
Paraguas de paja (straw
raincoats) , Arantepacua..,| Arantepacua...| 3 3
Pichataro... Go" Si ituees 4
- Cherdn..... Cheran........ 4 |
Peras (pears) Pichataro... Pichataro...... 9 | 18
Pescado seco (dried MO, Goce soe east Cherafn........ 1
HBB) vs. veae anes shits
Platanos (bananas)....| Tierra caliente. re acho.......| yi iy ve ;
Uruapan. . 4
Queso (cheese)!.......]... 0.005 ale Fartare ctarays fel Ske hk tease
Rebozos.... Paracho..... Paracho 4 4
Serapes. . . do GO: ) sieeee ei 2 2
Sigras (large, lemonlike
citrus fruit) Chilchota......| Chilehota...... 1 5
: Pe Cafiada....... Cafiada....... 1
Silantro seeds, . (Chnehots ere Chilchota.... 1 } 2
Sombreros (flat-top,
white hats). : Paracho.......: Paracho. 0.0. 1 Z
P&tzcuaro..... P&tzcuaro..... 1
Paracho (?)....| Paracho....... 5
Tomates (husk toma- |] Nahuatzen (?) . GOs Stic 4 oe 1 10
(1) —:) ar Cherdn (?)..... Cheran........ 1
Morelia (?)....] Paracho....... 1
: Chern (?)..... OO Ae he iaayars 1
Toronja (grapefruit)... .| Chilchota... Chilchota......)..... 2
- . . {Tanaco. Tanaco........ 3
Tunas (prickly pears). \Purépero......| Purépero..... 1 2
Uakinikin (a long nut).| Chilchota..... ee ane 1 1
7 Sree {Los Reyes Paracho....... 1
Uikumu (yellow fruit?) \Cimotlan. . Cimotlan,..... 1 z
ela (ClOtH) 3,6 ssi axe ec Paracho. . Paracho, . 2 2
Violin. .... QO: iss ome DOE ns, haseo 1 1
Yerbas (herbs). Cheri, . sien. Cherfn....... al
Yerba buena (mint t 2
leaves) . son at] CDUChota, i532, Chilchota..... | 1 )
Zapatos (shoes, orange;
also white) . .....| Paracho (?)....) Paracho...... 1 1

1 No data.

interviewed. The number of vendors

articles sold, by classes, are as follows:

Articles:
Fruits

Vegetables
Prepared food (including pesaal
Wearing apparel
Baskets and pottery
Furniture

and the

Number of
vendors

Ornaments and musical instruments... .

Palm fiber for hats

52

Most vendors not interviewed were engaged
in the sale of fruits or vegetables, mostly

vegetables.

Another example of an unimportant market
is given by Rendon for San Juan Parangari-

cutiro

The main articles sold were small

quantities of tomatoes, chile, jicamas, onions,
cabbage, silantro, garlic, limes, oranges, guavas,
cherimoyas, peanuts, and sugarcane.
sons sold candies from Zamora, two booths sold
sweetpotatoes, one each sold pottery and shoes,

Two per-

TABLE 6.—Products and number of vendors in the
market at Paracho, 1940

Product

Number of vendors oa—

Sept.

29

Sept.

Oct.
201

Nov.
3

Nov.

24

Agua fresca (sweet water).........
Aguas gaseosas (pop).............-
Aje (pigment)
A Os (EAR) IG) xt. sas ae ercvets Sree ones :
Aguacates (avocados)..............
Anillog (cimgay'. oo cow ectenepstara ety eae
Aretes; collares e arrings; necklaces).
Atole (maize Bruel)... ceca evecres

Aivates (Nets) cicis cisice.siccewjaven eg oe ea ;

Bagas (burden ropes).............

Batea para lavar ropa (washtray). . .|.

Bateas (wooden bowls)... . -
Bordada (strip of embroidery)......
Borrega (mutton) . eit
ea ahuates eet
Cal (lime)....
Caldo (broth). . pada eum & stislogre le ws :
Sty ibacitos (small squash).........
Calabazo ecocido (cooked squash)
Calses (cakes) F is
Camas (beds).
Camotes (swee tj
Camotes cocidos (cooked sweetpota-
toes) .
Cafia (sugarcane)...
Canastas (flat baskets).
Carne de puerco cocido (cooked pork)
Carne seco (dried beef). ........
Cebollos (onions)................
Cerezas (cherries)................
Cerezas secas (dried cherries)... ..
Cestas (baskets)..............05-
Chabacanos (apricots)... ....... a
Chalecos bordados (embroidered
WEBUS) error attains eieretaiele, mara reie *
Changungas (a fruit). .............
Chayotes. .
Chayotes cocido (cooked imines
Cherimoyas (a fruit). :
Chicahuites (harvest bask ets).
Chicharos (peas) .
Chicharos cocidos ‘(cooked peas)
Chiles (peppers) .
Chiles, large wide, red.
Chiles, large long, red. .
Chiles, small, red... ...
Chiles, ve erdes (srcen). .
Chile, negros (black)
Cintas (belts)
Ciruelas (plums) .
Cocos (coconuts)
Col (cabbage) .
Coliflor (cauliflowe' or).
Ps orbatas (neckties)...
Cucharas pene) Pee
Cracklings.
CUBEATO:, itn. saitesscacgMtic tact sasetarentutyee seve
Dibujos y arte 5 , flores .
Dovighinits, 200.6 desis eave once es
Wulces: (candy). «asc neacciers arcsssie one
Dulces de membrillos (fruit paste)...
Duraznos (peaches)... . .
Escobas de palma (brushes ‘of ps ulm).
Hscobas de paja verde (brushes of
FIUESTAS UTA Wh) arate char sia tayatar a alatetarea tars
Iespinaca (spinach)................
Fajas (sashes). .........0 002000
Vibra de palma (palm leaves for hats).
Floreras (flowerpots)
Flores (OWers) is socsjs.s.aseiao chasp iets
Flores de papel (paper flowers) .
Frijoles (beans). .
Gorditos (fried maize cakes).
Granadas (pomegr: eras
Guavas. .
: ras (uitars) .
(broadbe. ans).
abas verdes (green broadbeans)..
Helotes (green corn on cob)
Higos (fies) .
Hoja de bet: abel (chard) .
Hoja de limones (lemon le
Hoja de naranja (orange
Huaraches (woven sandals)... .
Ixtle (maguey halters)
Jalatina (jelly)
Jicamas (a turniplike root)
Jitomates (tomatoes) .
Juegos de naipes (ecard games) . wae es
Juguetes (playthings, e.g. dolls).

* oN

2 Di Mlhewieta’y
7 4 3
apes
Blanes
2 15 11
yA areca, 1
mots |\sumrasete 1
2 3 1
1 eal Res
1 gat oe
sei 3 cae
ae hbo
"9°53" | 33"
Fel ome
14°] "10°
2 | ee
saan 1
0 era
ae eal lls i
foipre pe
1
20 22 1
rl Pry benno
‘oe
: 2 2
7 5 one
ap otis
ile a6.
ms oe aes
3 1 mr
Pa ere Ba
Dil caullnere
aed 3 os
5 DI) \ oman
: Dal cesan
1 1 4
5 LLM lta are
Bul herd ican
pleas

‘pau

oe

S woSananae

2 bow:

eee

meh:

: pe:

De TOME: !

Chie tiecucone

1 Fiesta of Santa Ursala.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 83

TABLE 6.—Products and number of vendors in the
market at Paracho, 1940—Continued

Number of vendors on—

Product } |
Sept.| Sept.| Oct. | Nov.| Nov.| Dec.
| 1 | 29 | 200] 3 | 2

Jugetes de losa (pottery figurines)...|..... Sis CE | ee el ee
Lana (wool).....- Soeneaiciere Sye)| aiefokeralllanttesos'| latevers ell saataieva al |- we
Lechuga (lettuce) . enrate a Pl oreratevallia tars: st] ainaie
Limas y iodes (iemons and limes) . 8

Loquats.... She wastes er = apralemteree ahs ae -
Losa (pottery)... aoe 9 Eve | Oe 5 2
Macate (maguey fiber string). ra renee ihren | Tolate ez ois Heaty
Mandils (aprons).. Byarenevt aieia eis |
Mantas (blankets) . Pa anete war
Manzanas (apples)......

Maize (corn)......... : : | : |
Macetas (flowerpots)..... Pretec con ereteverasl eiercvela | orecetall lateral | ae
Madrofo berries....... See ere ae a a eee 1
Mamey (a fruit). ....... z es] 1
Mascaras (masks)........ : BA eee 2 1 [eters
Maza (maize doug zh) PACT pe ites 1

Mazorca (m alge 2g

19 4 S~ hi
Molineros (chocolate beaters Bed Caines! Meee :
Morales (bags).............5-- ey Panes real oietes 1
Mostacillos (beads)..........
Muebles (furniture).......
Naranjas (oranges)......
Nieve (ice cream)........
Nuezes (nuts)..........- wastnnes we : A
Orange plum............... . Pe Poe fears 1 :
Palma tejida (hat braid)?. Bercy! (aie acl eae | 1 |
Pan’ (bread)... «02.2 nbc oie os . ; 6] 26 28 | 29 28 17
Pan de huevo (cake)........... ; Pete litters ase 2
Pan con miel (bread with honey)..../.... ats 10
Pan dulce (cookies)............- : peel eee
Papas (potatoes)......
Paraguas de paja (straw rai ee rk
Peluqueros (barbers)... . es aA ee ; 6
Peras (pears)....... sdihaie wale tae 18 14 |
Pescado (fish). ..... Sibi, boars iat araey 12
Petates) (Mats)... s.ci0idiewicceeoede dec Nes 1
Platanos (bananas? ...... eek 5 4

co! ator
=
to

on

" NRO: -

Plumas (pens). sae stheis
Pulque.......... ‘ ante Pe Paar Ret oe
Queso (cheese).

Rebozos (shawls). .... heregor 1

Rede (mets) si2....0 2» eae watt set il en) Eee eee
Serapes (blankets)... ae 2 4 ‘

Servietas (napkins)... .. Vissi grad siace'|are eee slsvanaip May Sha
Sigras (a fruit). 1 ue ae
Silantro semilla (seed for flavoring) . 2 5 1 4 | 4
Gillas (chairs)........0..seeeceee3s ean! brine ieee Bi lieaen
Sombreros (hats); - occ: osiceree ca ws 1 2

Sopladores (fire fans)..............]..... i

BIW CA UCLE ts ofa cseiy cise wisi sieraliwss, # eee ve/ayexer's|ivhsleany« Bo sa eal orate af se
Plier cleR rere oerarerelow sere, creme ays eis aterr eal | me etre 19 ssvalf Asai fie eras
Tejecotes (wild crab apples)........ Ay 5 sere ee al
Tela (cloth and clothing)........... 2 er ora eee tal Lae |
Tela de lana (wool yardage)..... Sisied| oreerstalf-c assets | |
Teaquisquite.......2ccceeenees J oar PAY Peer
Tomates (small husk tomatoes). . . 10 36 | 26 19 8
Toronja (grapefruit).............. DG) La Se cme
PGT ILE yg, 2a 2 Gleicya ate ai wom siarers yar eas iota [sane heen |

» NORE

He OOo
a"

Tunas (prickly pears)
Uakinikin (nut)
Violina (violin)
Velas (candles) . savas
Yerba buena fnint ke leaves). ........ He EL era i
-Yerbas (herbs). . Sere acale ous | pL PRP OPes bearers frie aa 1
BV) O WPS EUNG oie rates co.o gre cvs corneas eiorass eeierall @ laliercerertiL Sl
ANIBE aarctnis oie ass we erste roe .

Zanhorias (carrots). . Eelate anaysye'|farsnars 1
Zapatos (shoes)..............- ned st roe ae

1 Fiesta of Santa Ursala,

2An obvious error. Braid vendors were present every Sunday,
but had no stands.
and three sold dry goods. A line of women
sold atole and kurtindas, the yellow Tarascan
tamale.

The Mestizo town of Chilchota has a market
on Sunday which is not notably different from
a medium-size Tarascan market. Indeed, as
this is the market town for La Canada, prob-

ably a majority of the attendants are Tarascans.
Rendon, who collected the data, observes that
there is a fairly clear sex division in market
activities. Prepared foods are always sold by
women. Sugarcane, medicinal herbs, pulque,
and ocote (pitch pine) are almost always sold
by men. Such things as lime, sweetmeats, and
pottery are usually sold by women, although
men may sell them. Vegetables are usually
sold by women, while fruits may be sold by
either sex. In genera', selling is done mostly

the women. Buying, on the other hand,
seems equally divided between men and women.
Merchandise sold on two different market days
(dates not given, but probably in February
1940) is shown in table 7. The organization of
the market is shown in figure 11.

TABLE 7.—Goods sold at two markets at Chilchota

Number of vendors in—
Goods sold 7 ——— =

| Market A

Sugarcane..............-.. F : .| J
Cooked agave (mescal)........... |

Green tomatoes............ : : pare |

Ripe tomatoes............ 5 |

Green chile
Drwobileseisscyot.accens eietnGrd eee
Cabbage: ccciccamisa dena Pe |
Cooked chayote........ : ..|
Cooked chayote root.... : :
Cooked squash........... ase crepes rare 24]
Cooked sweetpotato. .. .

Dried meat............ eine’ ate
Greens........ S reiaeeal ; .|
Limes and oranges
Cherimoyas and other fruit
Peanuts aenms

| Market B

~

Onnn
HK ORR NARODWROWMNNOOCHKHARNWOUSN

~

CONE E REN ANONEARWORWWHODNN

Sw eets.

ra
=

Flour tamales. .
Regular tamales (kur
Medicinal herbs

-

Soaproot.) 2 scisss4 son os ncn

Salt and lime...............-.

Piteh pines scasisc a. 3 AOC ee

POLbeny cietey are ccaieiiern wetness wee | if 1
Total ye craue suena ance Raetsies lentes 130 123

CONSUMPTION

The most important type of consumption in
Cheran is that occurring in the family. Ob-
viously, the consumption of raw material
and semifinished goods in manufactures is
Significant, but the essential data regarding
this have already been presented in the
previous discussions. Likewise, there are
many aspects of consumption related to various
cultural activities dealt with in later discus-
sions. Special types of consumption occur in
connection with the life crises, especially mar-

84 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

riage, and to a lesser extent with birth and
death. A very significant consumption of
goods occurs in connection with religious activi-
ties, particularly in relation to the mayordomias
Less important, perhaps, is consumption in
connection with governmental activities. All
of these, nevertheless, are subordinate in im-
portance to consumption by family groups.

‘A
ASUGAR JCANE

4
+ AFRUITS
* JAVEGETABLES
ABREAD AVEGETABLES
ABREAD AVEGETABLES

ATAMALES

A SUGAR CANE
ASUGAR CANE
ASUGAR CANE

AVEGETABLES
AMEDICINAL HERBS

tities may be consumed in connection with any
festal occasion. Consumption of any other
items will depend upon the amount of money
available.

The major food consumption of the family
has already been analyzed (Beals and Hatcher,
1943). In monetary terms it has been shown
that great differences exist. Food expenditures

ABREADS.APOTTERY ASOAP ROOT

ATAMALES

APOTTERY

APOTTERY AWURITE

APOTTERY

Ficure 11.—Market at Chilchota, showing the location of the vendors.

The major product consumed by the family
is maize. In the vast majority of cases most
of, if not all, the maize consumed is produced
by the family. The same is true of a number
of supplementary items in the diet such as
fruit, cabbage, and other vegetables. On the
other hand, beans, meat, cheese, and fish, im-
portant constituents of the diet, are usually
purchased. Maize consumption is about one-
half liter a day per person (averaging the
consumption of all ages). Much greater quan-

vary from 11.6 to 17.8 centavos a day per
person. In general, a very poor family with
its own maize supply will spend 5 to 10
centavos in chiles a week, 3 to 5 centavos in
cheese every 3 or 4 days, 1 or 2 centavos in
sugar or brown sugar-daily, and perhaps occa-
sionally 5 to 8 centavos in beans. Unless the
family is quite poverty-stricken, about 2 cen-
tavos a day is spent in having the maize ground
ina nivtamal mill. Among families in slightly
better circumstances, about a peso a week is

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 85

spent on meat. Families not regarded as poor
might spend as little as 60 centavos a day on
food for a family of six (two adults and four
children). Checked in several ways, although
obviously the quantitative data are inadequate,
it appears that most prosperous (but not
wealthy) families with sufficient land to pro-
duce all their own maize may spend less than 1
peso a day. It is estimated by some that this
amount also includes the cost of all clothing and
some maintenance of buildings but would not
include special expenses, such as replacing
animals, giving fiestas, holding funerals, etc.
Frankly, this seems hard to believe.*°

An approach to consumption (in terms of
peso values), based on such quantitative data
as it was possible to collect, indicates a much
higher consumption rate for the normal Cheran
family. Taking, for convenience, a family of
five, the following seems a reasonably close
approximation of consumption and expenditure:

Home-produced goods consumed: Per day Per year
Maize, 2% liters daily.... $0.15 $54.75
Vegetables and fruit......... eeek Ouse .a0700
PMNG WOOO. tikes cele esas oom. FUE ee 29.20

Totalvalue .....h....5--. .. .$120.45

Goods requiring cash expenditure:

Expenditures at store and
butcher*shop) < sr acs aes oe se: $1.00... .. $365.00
Man’s clothing (a rough estimate
of minimum requirements for
work clothing plus some “dress”
CLOGHITIO; ere tes oes oithone cas mare Ss 27.00
Woman’s clothing (one typical
woman’s outfit of Tarascan
type clothing, plus a couple of
cotton dresses a year)........ 60.00
Clothing for 3 small children. ... 15.00
Total cash expenditure a year ....... 467.00

Total value of goods consumed a year $587.45

In addition to the above ordinary expendi-

*5In Mestizo Chilchota, Rendén collected the following data:
For a family of two adults and four children, 6 to 22 years, food
expenditures were said to be 75 centavos to 1 peso daily, mostly
for meat, the remainder for beans, lard, pitch pine, chiles,
tomatoes, salt, lime, and other things. The maize consumed is
grown. Another family of four adults and one child of 5 years
spent about a peso a day. Another family of four adults and
three children, 8 to 14 years, spent a peso to a peso and a half
daily. In all cases the major expenditure was said to be for meat,
with beans coming second. All grew their own maize. Unlike those
in Cheran, all these families consumed coffee once and sometimes
twice a day.

tures, there will also be less frequent ones. In
the life time of the average family, a house and
kitchen will have to be bought or built. By
usual Cheran standards, this will mean a capital
expenditure of $170 to $450. Animals must be
replaced from time to time, an item difficult
to estimate, but probably involving capital ex-
penditures of around $200 every 10 years as a
minimum.

Periodic expenditures will also include a
blanket every few years at about $20, reroofing
of house and kitchen every 10 years or so ata
cost of about $40, an occasional mayordomia,
and the expenses of weddings, births, and
deaths. Finally, there are taxes on property
and contributions to the church. All these are
impossible to estimate accurately with the avail-
able data. A mayordomia, for example, may
vary from an outlay of perhaps $15 or $20 for
Mass, candles, and ornaments for the altar in
the house to a cash expenditure of about $500
for the mayordomia of Nochebuena plus exten-
sive use of maize and butchering of animals
etc. belonging to the mayordomo. Weddings
likewise may vary enormously according to
economic resources, but may run up as high as
$500 in cash outlay. In addition, there are the
innumerable occasions when one must partici-
pate in weddings, roofing or house-moving
fiestas, etc., each of which involves more or less
expensive gifts aside from possible contribu-
tions of labor.

The above factors suggest that a Cheran
family of five in about average circumstances
makes a total outlay on consumption goods of
not less than $500 a year if such capital ex-
penditures as housing are allowed for. This
does not include the value of home-produced
foods. Many families unquestionably have a
much smaller cash outlay than the amount
suggested, but, equally certainly, some families
spend more. Furthermore, these estimates
assume that the family has inherited all the
land it needs and is not making any expendi-
tures for land purchases.

The preceding considerations suggest that
insufficient attention has been paid to the
quantity of exports and the movement of money
in Cheran economy. Such data are difficult but
not impossible to secure, although a consider-
able margin of error must be expected.

86 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

The motivations of consumption appear
several. Primary is the need of food, shelter,
and clothing. For very poor families, this is
virtually the only type of consumption. Food
requirements are intimately linked with pro-
ductiveefforts. Thebasic necessities by Cheran
standards are mostly produced by the family
unit, and the processes are apart from the
system of commerce and exchange. Any family
unit regarded as meeting Cheran standards of
living will also have other consumption motiva-
tions. Participation in the social and religious
life of the community is perhaps the second
most important consumption motive. Crisis
periods, especially marriage, and the possession
of a mayordomia are occasions for consumption
of goods, often on a very large scale. Such
consumption, however, comes not entirely in
the category of “conspicuous expenditure” but
rather as the fulfilling of a social duty. It is
true that the wedding ceremony is designed to
emphasize public display of the consumption
involved; nevertheless, failure to give as elabor-
ate a wedding as the means of a family justified
would suggest to the inhabitants of Cheradn
either that the family was stingy or that the
family disapproved of the match. Yet another
interpretation might be that they did not regard
the girl as socially acceptable, either because of
the poverty of her family or because of her
reputation. In one case observed, the bride’s
mother, a poor widow with few relatives, pre-
pared to finance part of the wedding herself
when she found the wealthy family of the groom
was planning a modest ceremony. In this case
the threatened action of the bride’s mother
precipitated so much gossip and unfavorable
comment that the groom’s family at the last
minute greatly increased its expenditures for
the wedding (and the bride’s mother, incident-
ally, did not have to carry out her threats).

In general, wealthy people do not display
their wealth ostentatiously except through
undertaking the more expensive mayordomias
and giving the most elaborate weddings. Often
the houses of wealthy persons are less pre-
tentious than are those of the middle class.
A man of the latter class with a large family
may well operate a much more elaborate estab-
lishment than the wealthy man with a small
family. The wealthy are apt to be envied in

Cheran, it is clear. Memories of the more
violent revolutionary days are close enough
that people conceal their wealth rather than
display it. That this was not always the case
is evidenced by the considerable number of
ruined stone buildings, homes of the wealthy
before the revolution. Today wealthy men live
modestly. Their table differs primarily in
quantity rather than in quality from that of
the poor. Wealthy men dress like others, unless
they are going to Uruapan or Zamora. Their
wives wear better quality clothes, as a rule,
than do other women, and on special occasions
they display more and better jewelry. There
are few servants in Cheran, and their place is
taken by dependent relatives or orphans who
are members of the family.

The major methods of conspicuous expendi-
ture acceptable in Cheran are quite stereotyped.
Perhaps most common is to be sponsor of a
moro dancer or to be responsible for some phase
of a fiesta, posts assigned by the municipio
rather than sought after by the individual.
The ownership of cattle which can be used for
cattle riding in the town fiesta is another
socially approved method of ostentation.
Ownership of a horse is also permissible, but it
is considered that only a few wealthy men really
need horses—men with distant lands or herds
that must be visited frequently. The man who
buys a horse without really needing it is con-
sidered to be “showing off.” In the main, the
methods of ostentatious consumption not only
are communally recognized and approved but
are restricted to specific social occasions. In
ordinary life there is little to distinguish one
Cheran man or family from another, if one
except the very poor.

VALUE AND PRICE

The values of the major commodities and
services in Cheran are expressed in monetary
terms. Perhaps the only significant exceptions
are the services rendered by relatives and com-
padres in connection with house moving and
various fiestas, services rendered the commu-
nity, and the goods which are exchanged at
betrothals and weddings. In the latter case,
wholly fictitious values are placed on the goods
exchanged, but even here the equation is ulti-
mately made to money values. With these

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 87

exceptions, it may perhaps fairly be said that
prices are the expression of Cheran values with
respect to goods and services. Moreover, the
major price determination at Cheran is not by
local standards but in terms of fluctuations in
Mexican economy as a whole. It is not supply
and demand in Cheran which determines most
prices, but supply and demand (and Govern-
ment controls) in the surrounding regions.
The extent to which this is true is a measure
of the degree to which Tarascan economy is
linked with that of Mexico, a relationship that
is much closer than is ordinarily recognized by
Mexican students.

The prices of the most important commodi-
ties produced in Cheran, corn and wheat, are
determined by what will be paid by purchasers
from outside the town. In similar fashion, the
prices of most imported goods are determined
by the wholesale prices existing in centers such
as Uruapan, Purépero, and Patzcuaro. The
price of labor is likewise determined, although
to a somewhat lesser degree, by the price labor
can command in markets outside of Tarascan
territory.

It is interesting to observe, however, that
this influence does not extend far out of
Michoacan. The Government, in building the
highway with local labor, is reported to have
paid only a peso a day, somewhat less than the
legal minimum wage. As it was, the high
wages (by Michoacan standards) tended to dis-
rupt the local wage structure.

Within this major framework of price deter-
mination, of course, there are subsidiary excep-
tions. The price of pears, for example, will
fluctuate somewhat in relation to local supply
and demand, and the same is true of other
fruits which have not yet found wider markets.
Similar conditions obtain with respect to cheese
and fish. Land prices in general seem to bear
little relation to productivity and yield, al-
though here our analysis may be at fault.°°
The preference for exercising gleaning rights
in the corn harvest in place of higher wages
also shows that in some areas of Cheran
economics, nonmonetary values operate.

In general, the coming of the highway is
bringing higher prices for local products.

28Tt is possible that a more adequate analysis of lakor costs
might show our estimates of net yields from farming are tco high.

596569—46——7

Tables 8 and 9 give the prices of some goods
and products. Although little evidence is yet
visible at Cheran, at Chilchota in La Canada,
where the highway has been in use longer, it
was said that the price of chickens had risen
from 50 centavos to $1.50 with corresponding
rises in other products.

TABLE 8.—Prices of some important goods and products
in Cheran

Goods or products Number or quantity Price

Maize (shelled)........ PENS eres entearanean 30 .04-$0 07

\Fanega 5.00-— 7.00
Wheat. . | Medida. . 5 55

Carga.. F 23 00-27 .00
Beans Liter... 15-26
Squash : Each... .25- 50
Cabbage : | do 038-08
Pears. . | Per 100 | 2.00-13.00
Peaches. | do . | 40
Honey. . : Half liter 30
Wax... setts Kilo. 2.25- 2.50
Bread.. aoe 2, small, 05

\1, large... F .10
Raiz de Paja.. a oat s| ESD Oes races BA 2.25- 2.50
Beef. ; : ' AG aac | 70
Pig (fattened for butchering) 1 (live)..... 40.00-75.00
Sheep aa | do. | 2.50- 5.00
Charcoal. . ; | Kilo... : | .02— _.03
Planks ef DOZEN 5 oe: F 6.00- 7.00
Railroad ties (Oak, pine, or fir)....| Each | 60
Shakes (5 cuartas long) Bundle (400) 4 5.00 and up
Handwoven wool cloth... . scuake:|, ATO ar her 1.00

‘In Zamora or tierra caliente.

WEALTH AND PROPERTY

The major wealth of Cheran is forest and
agricultural land. As has been indicated pre-
viously, all lands capable of permanent cultiva-
tion are privately owned, the remainder belong-
ing to the community and being open to the use
of all community members. One informant
mentioned a possible exception to this state-
ment, saying that the one large land holding of
prerevolutionary Cheran has been taken by the
Government and offered for sale to Cheran
residents. The informant believed some lands
in this holding were still unsold, but no further
information was secured. In any case, the
incident does not alter the fundamental pattern
of Cheran land holding.

In terms of individual wealth, the basic
Cheran concepts are those of rural Mexico.
Wealth is primarily land and silver. Cattle
loom less important, partly because they are
not owned in large numbers, partly because the
revolutionary period taught the people of
Cheran that cattle are a less stable form of
wealth. The man who owns sufficient land,
however, has an essentially inalienable resource
by which any losses of less stable types of

88

property may be made up. Even silver is less
safe, for someone may find the buried hoard

and steal it.

In addition, it is not productive.

He who harvests from 50 to 100 cargas of maize
is wealthy; while the man who harvests from
8 to 15 cargas may regard himself as a typical

Cheran citizen.

TABLE 9.—Prices in Cheran

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

them, houses are essentially portable property
like furniture, tools, or cattle.
Little exists in the way of incorporeal prop-

erty in Cheran.

Perhaps the most important

instances are the possession of knowledge of
dances or of the texts for the dialogue in such

performances as

stores in winter of

the pastorela. Theoretically

1940

Commodity

Amount spent or quantity
usually purchased

Unit upon which

Price of commodity in store —

price is based

Salt......
Maize....
Beans. .
Sugar... as
Chocolate. .

os ep eee:
Soap. .
Brown sugar

Candles. .

CRE SE eects OOS Bate G Scacsiefahet er tvalget akin sac avs?
Canned: chile... 25.0068 scie ocais oadlelas segue ed ee
Memetable: Only siete foie vader bceacd osteaes alec tawtvel:
OU GROW oc Secelne Ste aude pete ee ware we ayaeie ky isc
Creosote... .... sea ae
Wax miatches 6 iio acins 0 3-<c5-4watse taeda uied tale
BO PIeH FRI G cra ispe races Acme aceecne tick une teas? :
Soda pop
Orange RETA ee ee go! bi 6.2 Aovco uate alee peclatoreaesta®
“Spool” thread:
White: asics ise 5
Colored . ‘
Small fine, colored. .
Ball thread

Aguardiente. . .
Ponchos... .
Blue jeans. .
Brooms. ...
Ribbon:

Indian Head...

Boreado....

Anzulas. . .

Ganital (for shirts) .
elas,

Tonos (for plea

Flat silk...

Package. ;
Each...

1 Depending on type and quantity.
* Price per weight not ascertained.
8 Quantity not ascertained.

Houses and buildings are also a form of
wealth. The traditional type of house is owned
apart from the land and is frequently bought
and sold apart from the land. This is not true,

of course, of stone or adobe buildings.

Except

for the somewhat greater difficulty of moving

* Quantity not ascertained; probably 1 per centavo from opened

can.
® Depending on size.

anyone might pick up this knowledge, but there
seems a tacit understanding that this should
not be done without the permission of the

owner.

Such knowledge is valuable, as such

persons are paid by the mayordomos to teach

the performers.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 89

Other types of incorporeal property possibly
are the knowledge of the herb gatherers, mid-
wives, and witches. However, there is no sense
of property in Cheran concerning this know-
ledge, and the idea of buying or selling it was
not encountered. Such knowledge seems not
to be differently regarded from the knowledge
of how to farm or to care for animals or make
bread.

A unique type of property right is the owner-
ship of certain images of saints and of mayor-
domias. Two cases were encountered. One is
tlie ownership of the mayordomia of the Three
«ings (Los Tres Reyes), January 6. Several
men were instrumental in starting this mayor-
domia, formerly celebrated only by the dance
of the Europeans (danza de los Europeos).
Not only did these men put on the first mayor-
domia, they put up funds, aided by contribu-
tions, to secure a fine set of images for the
mayordomia. In subsequent years they decided
who should receive the mayordomia each year.
As one of them said to me, “It looks like this
mayordomia is going to be a good business.”
However, he spoke in figurative terms, for, so
far as could be learned, the ‘owners’ of the
mayordomia expected to receive only spiritual
rewards and perhaps community approbation.

The second case is the ownership of a miracu-
{ous saint. The owners found the saint, erected
a chapel, and receive contributions from wor-
shippers. The owners claim that all gifts go
to clothe the saint properly and care for the
chapel, a statement that is open to doubt
although there is no evidence to the contrary.

The distribution of wealth in Cheran appears
to be relatively equitable. Certainly there are
no really wealthy men in Cheran and there are
relatively few impoverished individuals. So
long as wealth is measured in land and most
families in Cheran have a reasonable amount
of land, this condition will continue. It is true
that people in Cheran talk a great deal about
los ricos (the rich men). In practice, almost
no one can readily identify the rich men.
Partly, of course, this is because rich men,
in order to avoid envy, are careful not
to flaunt their wealth. But it also is an
indication that really wealthy men are probably
scarce, if not absent. One of the regular assis-
tants, Pedro Chavez, talked constantly about

the rich. Repeated efforts to pin him down
resulted in the identification of not a single
individual as a rico and the assertion that any-
one who harvested 50 to 100 cargas of maize is
arich man. As this means a cash income from
this source of around $300 to $600 or $700 a
year, the standard is not high, although prob-
ably wheat, cattle, and other sources add to
such income. It is worth observing that al-
most no storekeepers are classed as wealthy—
they usually do not have much land.

The inheritance of property in Cheran is
normally from parent to children. Should an
individual die without formal disposition of his
property, the municipal officials would endeavor
(subject to whatever influences might be
brought to bear on them) to divide the property
equally among children without regard to sex.
Normally, however, the heirs would make the
division, and it would merely be submitted to
the municipio for approval. In this way in-
equalities often creep in through domination of
one heir by another and the desire to avoid
a fight.

It is quite common in Cheran for the property
to be disposed of by the owner before death by
making a will or, more commonly, by making
a statement of intention to a reliable and trusted
friend before witnesses. Such decisions will
be respected and enforced by the municipio.

Property owned by women will ordinarily go
to their children. However, should a couple be
childless, the spouse does not inherit. There
are numerous cases in Cheran of well-to-do
couples where the bulk of the property is owned
by the wife. Although the husband uses and
administers the property, he has no rights in
it unless it is formally made over to him by his
wife during her life time. Similarly, a widow
does not inherit except in special cases. This,
again, involves a will or making over of the
property during the life of the owner. Usually
such an act is taken by a man only when his
sons are rebellious and unfilial.

There are frequent cases where men do not
leave property equally to all children or where
they leave it to some other relative. In rare
cases, there may have been some assignment
of property to children before death. Then the
child, usually the youngest, who has cared for
the parent in old age, receives all the remaining

90 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

property, a form of ultimogeniture. Such
cases are understood and usually cause no
friction. Other instances sometimes give rise
to bitter feelings. Cases. were recorded where
children had broken away from parental
authority and had become established through
their own efforts. Sometimes the elderly per-
sons were cared for by a niece or nephew, or
even by some person not related at all, who
received all the property. Resentment is
generally felt by the children, even though they
may have well deserved such treatment.

If properties are small, the daughters are
sometimes slighted. If a lot, for example, is too
small to divide and there are a son and daugh-
ter, the son will get the lot. On the other hand,
if the lot is large, it will be divided between
them. Often, however, the brother will take
advantage of his sister, who, to avoid a quarrel,
will accept an unfair division but will lose no
chance of getting even. An example that came
to attention was a division of a lot in which the
brother took the part containing most of the
fruit trees. When the brother went on a 3-day
trip during pear season, his sister and her
husband cut all the pears and sold them. The
brother hesitated to do anything about it be-
cause it would have brought out the unfairness
of the original transaction.

Frequently, the division of personal and mov-
able property is unfair. Children who are away
from home are apt to get nothing. However,
their land rights are usually more or less re-
spected. Even so, on their return, they may
appeal to the municipio, which will force the
other heirs to make a proper settlement.

Various adjustments are made to meet special
situations. Often an expert in property values
is called in to make the division. For example,
a man with two children may have left a lot
and a piece of farm land too small to divide.
The expert decides the value of each and the
one receiving the least valuable parcel is reeom-
pensed through sale of personal property.
Where a lot cannot be divided, a piece of land
may be sold from the estate to buy a lot for one
of the children.

Conflicts also arise from transactions entered
into by the owner before death without inform-
ing the heirs. For example, Agustin Rangel’s
father bought a house from his own father.

The grandfather died while the Rangels were
living in the United States, and a brother moved
the house onto his land. The Rangels returned
some 27 years later and claimed the _ house,
producing papers to show that it had been
purchased. This was the first the brother had
known of the transaction, and he was not only
angry but refused to surrender the house until
forced to do so by the municipio. This did not
smooth family relations.

Other instances illustrate and bear out the
assertion that most of the conflicts in Cheran
are over inheritance. For example, a woman
on her death bed divided her property as fol-
lows: <A lot and certain lands to each son,
three lands divided among her three daughters
(one married, two small), and a house (‘“‘troje’’)
to be sold to pay the marriage expenses of the
unmarried daughters. A few years later a
brother tried to sell the house, and the girls
appealed to the witnesses. The witness spoke
to an uncle, who forced the brother to give up
the idea.

Even in those few cases in Cheran in which
sons remain in the family group and which
function as joint families, the group dissolves
immediately on the death of the father. In-
formants were unanimous and positive on this
point, despite the fact that before the father’s
death the elder brother usually will have been
handling the communal treasury and acting as
head of the family.

All inheritances are supposed to be registered
at the municipio. This is certainly done where
an outsider is called in to make the division.
Then each heir is required to sign (or someone
signs for the heir before witnesses) a statement
that he accepts the division. Evidently most
property transactions of any sort are so regis-
tered. It should be noted that registration of
a property transaction in the municipio is quite
apart from registering lands with the tax col-
lector and there is no connection between the
two offices. Land not registered for taxes may
be sold and the sale recorded by the municipio.

Even though many details of the economic
system of Cheran are still not known in detail,
some observations seem possible. The Cheran
economic system has important relations within
a general Tarascan economic system and also

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 9]

with the larger national economy. Some of the
deficiencies of this report spring from the fact
that study of these larger economic systems
has not yet been made. It is apparent that the
Cheran system functions in considerable part
as a money economy and that in many respects
it is essentially a European type economy.
Nevertheless, there are some differences of
possible significance. Despite the fact the
economy may be studied in monetary terms,
wealth concepts do not revolve wholly about
money and its values. Land itself has a sur-
prisingly low money value, yet it is the major
basis for evaluating individual wealth. Maize
also occupies a higher position than its money
value would indicate. Money is valued after
maize, not before it, and the man who has
money but no maize is apt to be regarded as

poor indeed if there should be a maize shortage.
Even in normal times, the man who has to buy
maize is pitied, even though he has plenty of
money.

Although further analysis might be desir-
able, it also seems that the emphasis on non-
productive expenditures is higher in Cheran
than in our own culture. The outlay in cash
and goods involved in religious festivals, wed-
dings, and similar events, seems much higher
proportionately. Men often forego material
advantage also for the spiritual rewards of
offices connected with the church, an aspect
which has not yet been discussed but which will
be described later in detail. It seems doubtful
if the motivations in these cases correspond
entirely to those of the ‘‘conspicuous expendi-
tures” of our own society.

THE COMMUNITY

The community of Cheran may be viewed in
several ways. There are, first of all, the physi-
cal attributes of the town, its layout, subdivi-
sions, and boundaries. There are the objective
characteristics of the people who occupy the
area, their numbers, demographic characteris-
tics, and groupings. Yet other aspects of the
community are the bonds which hold it together
and the groupings within which the individual
functions as a part of the larger entity—the
family, the kinship group, the various institu-
tions such as the compadrazgo. The organiza-
tion of the community politically is also of great
importance: the structure of government, its
management, organization, functions, and
obligations. Finally, there looms important
in Cheran the ceremonial and religious organi-
zation. Although logically forming a part of
this section, discussion of the latter is deferred
for a separate treatment.

THE MUNICIPIO

Cheran is, first of all, a municipio, an admin-
istrative unit, smaller than the usual county in
the United States but having somewhat similar
characteristics. The ordinary municipio in
Michoacan consists of a cabecera or head town,
somewhat similar to our county seat in func-
tions. In most Tarascan municipios about half

the population live in the cabecera. Subordi-
nate to the cabecera ordinarily are a number of
tenencias, villages of several hundred to more
than a thousand population, and rancherias or
other small units. All these subordinate units
are administered from the cabecera through
local, appointed delegates, the jefes de tenencia.
Theoretically the residents in the tenencias and
other units play an equal part with the inhabi-
tants of the cabecera; in practice, government
is controlled from the cabecera.

Cheran differs from the usual pattern in that
the municipio consists of the cabecera and one
small rancheria. Cheran, the town, is thus
about twice as large as most Tarascan cabeceras,
although the municipio has about the same
population as others. Formerly the situation
was somewhat different, with the tenencia of
Cheranastico forming part of the municipio.
As the result of circumstances to be related
later, the people of Cheranastico withdrew from
the municipio of Cheran and now form part of
the municipio of Paracho. Had the population
of Cheranastico been sufficiently large, it might
even have become a separate municipio. The
withdrawal of Cheranastico emphasizes the fact
that cabeceras and tenencias have their respec-
tive boundaries within the larger limits of the
municipio.

92 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO, 2

The general.situation of the municipio has
already been discussed in the first section of
this paper. That discussion and maps 1, 2, and
3 indicate the main features, and no further
amplification seems necessary.

The municipio has fairly well defined boun-
daries, although there are usually disputes with
neighboring communities. Thus Cheran cur-
rently has disputes with Cheranastico and
Arantepacua. The boundaries are marked in
various ways. In the cultivated areas the
boundaries are marked with stone walls.
Where water courses form the boundaries, no
markers are placed, but in the woods, a strip

4 or 5 meters wide is cleared along the
boundary. This is done by communal labor,

and when the line needs clearing again an
assembly is called and a day fixed for the work.
Every male is supposed to go. The Municipal
Representative (described later) is supposed to
lead the party.

THE TOWN AND ITS SUBDIVISIONS

Cheran is a compact and essentially urban
settlement with a population of about 5,000.
Few North Americans, unfamiliar with the
concentrated settlement forms of Mexican
towns, would imagine it contained anything like
this population. There are no suburbs and
very little straggling out of houses from the
main center. Around the outskirts the lots are
a little bigger and the density of population is
less but the transition from town to open fields
is nevertheless abrupt.

The layout of the town is undistinguished.
A central plaza with a fountain, portales or
sidewalks covered with arches about it, the
municipal building, school, priest’s residence,
and church may be duplicated in hundreds of
Mexican towns. The plaza is not today the
center of the settlement geographically. Un-
doubtedly the town has grown since the time of
its founding, and because of the deep barranca
to the north, expansion has been in the other
directions, leaving the plaza north of the pres-
ent center of town by two or three blocks.

Radiating from the plaza is a network of
streets laid out in a rectangular grid which
makes only minimal concessions to the irregu-
larities of the terrain. The enclosed blocks or
manzanas are utilized as administrative divi-

sions of the town. This feature will be dis-
cussed later.

A larger subdivision than the block is
furnished by the barrio as indicated in maps
4 and 5. These divisions function in relation
to elections, office holding, and certain munici-
pal and ceremonial obligations. Barrio No. I
is to the northwest and is known as Jalikutin,
or in Hispanicized form Urtkutin. This name
is said to mean ‘‘something on edge” or ‘‘some-
thing in a small corner,” apparently referring
either to its position on the edge of the largest
barranca or its position against the small hill
on the northeast edge of town. Barrio No. II
is called ‘“‘Keiku,” “down,” or the lower barrio
(barrio de abajo), and is the southwest barrio.
The southeast barrio, No. III, is “Kalakua,”
“up,” the upper barrio (barrio de arriba).
Barrios II and III are usually known by their
Spanish terms, and not everyone knows the
Tarascan names. The fourth barrio is Paricu-
tin. This means “to pass to the other side”
and refers to the position of the barrio on the
other side of a barranca.

The barrios show very few differences.
Paricutin is less populated, has larger lots, and
is said formerly to have been more isolated and
backward, with fewer people speaking Spanish.
The staff of the investigation all had the im-
pression that this is still true to some extent,
although little concrete evidence could be
secured. Certainly, as the staff can well attest,
the dogs of Paricutin are far less socialized
than those of the remainder of the town.

Membership in the barrio is based entirely
on residence. Property owners who reside in
another barrio have barrio obligations only in
the place of residence. There is no rivalry
between barrios nor any instances in which
barrios act as units on their own initiative.
All the functions of the barrio appear to be
derived from the municipio. There is no evi-
dence whatever that the barrio has anything to
do with regulating marriage or other social
relationships. Even barrio chapels are lack-
ing. In all probability the subdivisions are of
Spanish origin and the only reason for suspect-
ing otherwise lies in the mention of barrios by
early Spanish writers in nearby areas.?7

27On the other hand, as Silvio Zavala has shown fairly con-
vincingly, Bishop Quiroga, first bishop of Michoacan and great

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 93

THE POPULATION
The total population of Cheran in 1940 was

about 5,000 as indicated by voting lists. Data
from other censuses follow:

1900 : . . . .4,3895

1910 .....8,908

1920 Byhy4

1930 FT eee Not available

Information concerning the age composition
of the Cheran population is limited. The only
source of adequate information is provided by
the voting lists for the 1940 election for two
barrios and interviews. This information
applies only to men of voting age. A summary
of this information is given in table 10. The

TABLE 10.—Age and occupational distribution of
Cheran males

Distribution of males in barrio—
Age and occupation and other | at =
classifications I Il ; |
| (partial) | (partial) | NI | IV | Total
Age group:
18-30 (17-30 for barrio III).. 29 16 62 86 193
1S phate ins minh eer Sioa 24 13 85 35 157
AY BO ia Sratais cdi shee sasidia diese 17 15 62 62 146
Ba HOE errsarevsiarrisss care aie netsGetele 15 10 27 18 70
TSAO Savers eyejaytl va tintceieen ard 7 12 26 15 60
oO kage ont neeatey actress terataie te aes 7 i) 0 0 a
Age not listed......... 2 6 5 1 14
Motally isiovsd se otee.cets “| 101 72 267 | 227 647
MWnmarried <5. 5 eiscc esa ccs ce ws 3 6 2 0 ll
Able to read... 25 40 51 29 145
Occupation:
Agriculturalist.............. 73 47 124 63 307
Laborer... .. 6 5 | 119] 133 265
Merchant (traders and store- |
keepers)....... : | 10 5 7 1 23
Hatmaker..... Fipsast Sets il sav ectes 1 3
Mason...... i leer ee . 3 2 6
Carpenter... . ee 2 2 3 3 10
Barber ....52.. 1 2}. bee 3
Musician..... 1 1 2 4
Maestro......... A Gl exoraiats:< Rtas Ile 1
Shoemaker................./.2...005 al 6. 1 8
Tilemaker............ omeiesoed tare : 1 : 1
Various or none given..... 4 7 | 2 3 | 16
| | |

data on ages is probably more reliable than
that from most primitive groups but still is not
completely accurate. An analysis of the
original data shows that a very great majority
of the ages given end in “0” or “5,” clearly
indicating that they are guesses. Interviews
showed the presence of a tendency to increase
the ages of young men, and a decrease in the
ages of elderly men is suspected.

Additional incomplete but interesting data
on the population are provided by the study of

evangelist of the Tarascans, was much influenced by Sir Thomas
More’s Utopia. The Utopian cities were divided into four divisions
which served administrative purposes (Zavala, 1937; More, 1923,
p. 54).

the municipal records, which probably are rela-
tively complete and moderately accurate. The
data have been worked up into tables 11 and 12
by Dr. Emmanuel Palacios, of the Departa-

-mento Autonomo de Asuntos Indigenas, one of

the collaborators in the study.

TABLE 11.—Births in Cherdn, 1936-891

Year and month Total id Percentage, Percentage
of birth births Boys Girls of boys of girls
1936
January 9 6 3 1.7 0.9
February 15 7 8 2.0 2.3
March.... 9 4 5 1.2 L8
April... 10 | 4 6 1.2 iy 6
May. ee 11 3 8 9 Pee
June. P 26 11 15 3.2 4.4
Julys «2: sake 23 | 11 12 3.2 3.5
August as 21 12 9 325 2.6
September 5 15 ft 8 2.0 2°3
October. . . anna} 9 2 rf 6 2.0
November. aaa) 12 | 7 5 2.0 1.5
December... . 1 | 5 | 3 1.5
1937 |
January 3 2 1 6 | 3
February . zarliges ie Jicteesxaieve, sc : ie . are
March... AvH|| 15 5 10 45) 2.9
April. . 15 7 8 | 2.0 2.3
May... el 9 4 5 | 1.2 | 1.5
June. . be | 19 13 6 | 3.7 Lea,
Dulyice...< ated 21 9 | 12 | 2.6} 3.5
August , oe 13 6 7 ale 2.0
September : 10 4 6 Ti Ry /
October....... 12 6 6 Ven | i =y
November.... : 13 7 6 2.0 Lid
December..... eat 22 9 13 2.6 3.8
1938 |
VANUATV Schr ees)s s 13 8 | 5 2.3 | 1.5
February. “ 18 11 7 3.2 | 2.0
March..... . 6 3 3 9 9
April... | 24 14 10 4.0 | 2.9
May. RG retell| 9 | 4 5 1.2 | 1.5
June..... - 4 5 3 2 | 9 6
July..... st 11 5 | 6 1.4 | 7
August elven | 22 10 12 2.9 | 3.5
September a ayes 10 | 7 3 2.0 | 9
October. ........ | 12 5 <, 1.4 2.0
November. =e 10 3 7 9 2.0
December. ........| 18 | ll i 3.2 2.0
1939
January... . re 14 8 6 2.3 | Leh
February... . A 13 | 5 8 | 1.4 2.3
March.... 20 | 9 | 11 | 2.6 Bars
April... .. | 23 | 13 | 10 | 3.7 2.9
May. ae 24 13 LE 3.7 3.2
DUNE H. eu. os euen st 18 16 2 4.6 | aa
Tulyin | 22 13 | 9 Ris 2.6
Atiguist ics cic ars | 18 rit vf 3.2 | 20
September . 15 4 11 | 1.2 3.2
October... . are 16 9 7 2.6 | 2.0
November...... 17 7 10 2.0 2.9
December......... 14 | 8 | 6 2.3 1.7
Total ci c.ceate 690 347 343 100.0 100.0

1Data prepared by Dr. Emmanuel Palacios, Departamento
Auténomo de Asuntos Indigenas, Mexico.

Birth records are probably correct for all live
births. There is some possibility that many
stillbirths were not reported either in the birth
statistics or the death statistics. Although a
fine is levied against persons known to have
buried a still-born child without registering the
fact in the municipio, the fine is nominal, and
municipal authorities believe that probably the
majority of stillbirths are not reported.

94 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

For the years 1936-39, inclusive, there were
690 registered births in Cheran. The sex ratio
was very nearly 1:1, with 347 male births and
343 female births. The distribution is shown
in table 11. It is of interest that great excess
of female births occurred in 1936, reaching a
peak in June of that year, while a considerable
excess of male births occurred in 1939, also
reaching a peak in June.

TABLE 12.—Marriages in Cherdn, 1937-391

Married men | Married women
Age of married person | = —

Number) Percent | Number!] Percent
13 3 | 2.0
14 . | 1 | 0.7 23 15.4
15 2 Lid 49 | 32.9
16 12 | 8.1 26 | 17.4
17 8 | 5.4 9 | 6.0
18 39/1 91.5 6 4.0
19 12 | 8.1 2 13
20 15 | 10.1 | 3 | 2.0
21. 5 | 3.4 | |
22 10 6.7
23 5 3.4 | 24 1.3
24 | | 2 | 1.3
25 9 6.0 5 3.4
26 Ball <Bs4) | 1 | Ri
27 | 1 7 |
28 | 5 4 | 2.0
30 3 2.0 | 2 | C2
31 1 7
32 | Z| 1.3 |
35 | 4 2.7 2 | 1.3
37 2 | 1.3 | 1s] 7 3
38 1 | 7 |
39 | 1 ‘

ah
Noo
Roe
robs
aon
wre
ow

ee hoe
NNoNS

Total | 149 100.0 149 | 100.0

1Data prepared by Dr. Emmanuel Palacios, Departamento
Aut6nomo de Asuntos Indigenas, Mexico.

Data on the 149 marriages for 1937, 1938, and
1939 are shown in table 12. The age data are
subject to the same probable inaccuracy in age
estimates as is the case with the data on adult
men. However, inasmuch as many Cheran
residents are today sensitive about the early
age of marriages and it is known that the ages
given for young persons about to be married are
often exaggerated, the data underscore the
early age of marriage. In round numbers, 2
percent of girls married were only 13, 15 per-
cent were 14, 32 percent were 15, 17 percent
were 16, and 6 percent were 17. Only 2 per-
cent of girls married were aged 20. It is
significant that no marriages were recorded for
girls aged 21 or 22. In all probability all, or
nearly all, marriages recorded after this age
were remarriages.

The earliest age recorded for married males
is 14, this age group comprising 0.7 percent of
the total male marriages. However, there is
reason to believe that the age of males is falsi-
fied at marriage more than that of females.
Most marriages, according to the statistics, take
place at 16 or after; 8 percent of males marry
at the age of 16. Five percent were married
at 17, 21 percent at 18, 8 percent at 19,
and 10 percent at 20. None were married at
age 24, but 6 percent were married at 25.
Some marriages listed at this age are probably
remarriages, and certainly few first marriages
take place after 25. The emphasis placed upon
marriage as a normal state is indicated by the
considerable age of some persons married.
Two women and two men are shown as married
at 60, while one man is shown as married at
80 and another at 82.

No particular season of marriage preference
is evident if marriage frequencies are analyzed
by months, despite assertions that most mar-
riages take place in the winter after harvest.
Evidently marriages take place when people
have resources, regardless of the time of year.
The fluctuations from year to year probably
could be accounted for in terms of variable
economic conditions. It must be remembered
that the month of marriage reported is the time
of the civil registry and church wedding.
Probably the majority of marriages are con-
summated before these events.

In addition to the statistical data, even earlier
marriages are believed to take place. One girl,
whose age was alleged by several people inde-
pendently to be only 15, had four children.
Gossip told of another case of a girl of 10 years
who was “half married,” that is, the groom’s
parents did not yet permit him to sleep with
his wife. But at the age of 14 the girl was
said to have had two children. Before the
Tarascans are censured for the practice of such
early marriages, it should be born in mind that
Bishop Quiroga, who had so much influence on
the Tarascans, in his ordinances authorized the
marriage of boys over 14 and girls over 12
(Arriaga, 1938).

Data on family composition and fertility
were obtained by interviews with 53 families
where the wife was 47 years of age or older
and had not borne children recently (table 13).

TABLE 13.—Il'ertility of Cheran women’ .

Number
of
women

Female
children
living

Number
of
women

Male
children
living
per woman

Number
of

MrRUOAROSO
= A

Female
births
per woman) women

MNO HOON D

Number
of

ooooconrtsS
Awe

births
per woman; women

Male

IN OD HIN Orn

of
women

THNAAIMAN A
i

Deceased | Number
children

OmNS TIN ON

NOnRODMON
= Ss

Number
of
per woman) women || per woman

privat
| Ng
| og
| BS
ag CoN mn OR ge
33 ai
3 =
eal
me
& § BNO Re Scot Ort
hiss os]
ZF oF
ey
nad |ANmtwennacon SE
S83 i Sy
cacy >o
Eas Se
Zs
a

596569-—-46—-8

In the data on male and female births, the sex of 3 children was not

th 53 women past child-bearing age.

iews wi

interv

1 Based on
remembered.

TABLE 14.—Deaths by age groups in 1936, 1938, 1939, and 1940

MONTHLY DEATH RATE

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

Ne)
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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

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OT6T PUM ‘6E6T ‘8S6T ‘986T Ut Yynop fo sasnnjQ— OT ATAVL

96

TABLE 17.—Death causes by summation groups of causes in 1936, 1938, 1939, and 1940

MONTHLY DEATH RATE

‘

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

| BO. 2
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97

The data again are not entirely reliable because
of a tendency not to count deceased children
until urged. Almost always emotion was
manifested upon recalling a specific child.
Women were more commonly able to supply the
names of deceased children. It is the impres-
sion of the interviewers that the data presented
are fairly accurate for all children baptised but
that stillbirths and perhaps death before baptism
were not counted.**

Although most Cheran informants believed
families were small through the small number
of childbirths, the data indicate an average of
5.2 births per woman. No case of a childless
woman was encountered in interviewing, al-
though some exist in Cheran. If the failure to
report stillbirths is taken into account, it is
probable that Cheran women would rank fairly
high in fertility. The small family size con-
sequently is due to deaths rather than to lack
of births. Data from the same families indi-
cated only 2.7 children living at the time the
data were collected, indicating nearly half of

-all children born had already died. The data

are summarized in table 13.

Data on deaths for the years 1936, 1938,
1939, and part of 1940 are given in tables 14,
15, and 16. As might be expected, the highest
death rate is in children under 1 year of age
(probably higher than shown when unrecorded
stillbirths are taken into account). The second
highest rate is in the period from 1 to 9 years
of age. For adults, the periods from 30 to 39
years and 60 to 69 years appear to be the most
critical. Again, however, ages are only esti-
mates and must not be considered as accurate.

The table of deaths by causes (table 16)
should be considered primarily of interest in
showing the disease concepts prevalent in
Cheran. There were no doctors in Cheran at
the time these data were collected. Generally,
the cause of death was provided by the relative
registering the death, at the insistence of the
Secretary that he had to put down something
for his records to the State authorities.
Epidemics of whooping cough and smallpox are
clearly recorded, however.

28In taking a house census at Sevina, a neighboring town, the -
interviewers called attention to the fact that a babe in arms had
not been included in the household total. Said the grandfather:
“That one is too new. One hardly knows yet whether it lives or
dies, so we do not count it.”

98 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Possibly (although not necessarily) of more
significance is the summary in table 17. This
summation was prepared in the belief that the
general class of cause was perhaps more
accurately known; in other words, diphtheria as
a cause of death very likely is an incorrect
diagnosis, but very possibly a pulmonary disease
was involved. Particular attention is called to
category 3a, bilis. It is not at all certain that
an intestinal disease is involved. Bilis is the
catch-all of Cheran medicine. Whenever one
is “under the weather,” he is apt to say he has
bilis, and very possibly the concept is a recepta-
cle for whatever beliefs of supernatural disease
causation still exist in Cheran. The problem
will be elaborated on in the discussion of disease
and curing.

Knowledge of emigration is necessary to
understand the Cheran population situation.
Virtually all the emigration has been to the
United States; relatively few persons appear
to have emigrated either to other parts of
Mexico or to other Tarascan towns. Impres-
sionistically, it would appear that a very con-
siderable portion of the Cheran population has
been in the United States. Probably very few
families either have not been in the United
States or do not have some fairly close relative
who is or has been in this country. Too small
a sample was taken for statistical data on this
point to be valid, but of 28 males interviewed
specifically with reference to emigration, 25
had been in the United States. Discussion of
the motivations, character, and personal signifi-
cance of this migration will be given later.

Although many Cheran residents have emi-
grated, few persons have immigrated. <A tan-
ner from Aranza and a butcher from Chilchota,
two tilemakers, two school teachers, the secre-
tary, and the tax collector are the only persons
known to have settled in the town in recent
years. Of these, only the first two regard
themselves as permanent residents. Most out-
siders are treated as citizens, and there is no
bar to purchase of land by outsiders. However,
if land is for sale, owners are expected to offer
it first to local residents.

If the Cheran population continues to in-
crease to the point that land becomes scarce, it
will be interesting to observe whether an emi-
gration pattern again develops. The present

war may well have caused a new migration to
the United States, for many persons were
eager to return if they could be sure of
employment. Such a movement, however,
would not have the sociological significance of
a movement arising more directly out of local
conditions. There is no tendency as yet to
develop primogeniture in farm holdings.
Should farm holdings become so reduced in size
as to be indivisible from the Cheran viewpoint,
though, it is possible that some such pattern as
that of the Irish peasant or the French Canadian
might develop the more readily, in view of the
already existing tradition of migration.

Class or caste stratification is almost un-
known in Cheran. There still remains much
of the tradition of town unity so characteristic
of Mexican Indian and, to some extent, of rural
Mestizo towns. There is much talk of rich and
poor but, as indicated in the discussion of
economics, a rich man is one who harvests 50
to 100 cargas of maize. <A list made out by
a “radical” informant contained 14 names, and
several people to whom the list was shown
agreed that it was approximately correct.
Fourteen “‘“ricos” in a town of some 5,000 is
hardly a class, particularly when the standards
are so low. Formerly these wealthy men would
have tended to occupy most of the town offices,
but today this is not the case. As one infor-
ment put it, “We now elect moderately poor
people as persons who know work and necessity
better and who will thus better discharge the
work of their office.” Wealthy men are still
accorded a modicum of respect and relatively
little envy. Only two of the rich men are con-
sidered to have inherited all their property,
and the others are believed to have reached
their present state either wholly or partly by
their own efforts. This fact also probably
limits envy and dislike. The only occasion
when the wealthy form a group is at State and
national elections, when, with the storekeepers
and a few others, they are apt to be on the more
conservative side.

The most influential group at present in
Cheran is probably not the wealthy, but the
middle class—people who were valiant in fight-
ing against the. psuedo-agrarians who once
dominated the village, who help the village with
money when things are needed, and who “think

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 99

and speak better.” As a matter of fact, the
leader of this group is relatively poor.

The informant who was most class-conscious
admitted in casual conversation that the divi-
sions existing in the town were essentially the
result of individual likes and dislikes and per-
‘sonal ambitions. In this unguarded conversa-
tion, he admitted that class and ideological
differences were of very little importance.

To the outside observer, however, the situa-
tion is not so simple. Even though class
distinctions are of little significance, neverthe-
less persons with little or no land who work as
laborers or sharecroppers receive much less
respect in conversation. It must be admitted,
however, that so far as our information and
observations went, they are never disparaged
to their face. In addition, there are two men
who seem to be pariahs to whom no one pays
attention. They work as professional water
carriers and porters for the most part and seem
very poverty-stricken, sometimes begging at

nant
mamak ‘ert
abuela

, ahue/o (a)

abuelo (a) . siege
PY buelo

houses for food. Little could be learned about
them either in conversation or from others.
Nevertheless, their isolation may not be inten-
tional. One of our assistants had apparently
never paid attention to them; after we pointed
out their peculiar position, the assistant always
made it a point to speak to them whenever he
passed them on the street, although no one
else did so.

The nearest approach to class groupings is
that persons seem to associate mostly with indi-
duals who are their own age mates and of the
same economic class. Circumstances were not
favorable for detailed studies of association,
but there is little doubt that this subjective
impression would be verified by such a study.
Across this class grouping are at least two
others. One centers about the division into
progressives and conservatives, words not used
in the town, but quickly adopted by our aides
when we explained their significance. There
seemed little difficulty on the part of anyone,

abue/o (a) tatita , ranita, , abuelo (a)
PYabuelo | abucla

primo (a) uct EGO irene rime (2
hermano MALE SPEAKING Termana a (@)
brit brits hijo* * ‘ y
sobrinu sobrinu “Jo hiya sobrinu sobrinu
uage uUage
nieto (a) Atyo(a)* Ayo, (a)* mieto (a
nimadkua PES) PETA hima Mee 4
* kK ert means “BiG* oR “GREAT ack aetna rc vmrR

FiGuRE 12.—Cheran kinship, male speaking.

In general, the first form given is that most frequently used

except where the form is vocative.

100

once he understood the words, in classifying
the people he knew in these categories. The
second major division is a relatively new one,
that between the cabildo or aces in charge of the
church mayordomias and their followers, and
those who oppose this group. The details of
this dispute will be given later. Other classi-
fications are essentially those of kinship and the
compadrazgo system.

KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY AND

BEHAVIORS
Spanish kinship terms are in common use in
Cheran, with very little difference from

standard Mexican usage. Many of the Taras-
can terms have been forgotten entirely. The
few Tarascan terms still remembered are rarely
used and no one person knows all these. The
terminology secured was obtained by getting
several genealogies. After these had been com-
pared and collated, Pedro Chavez spent several
weeks in casual inquiries, as a result of which
he added several Tarascan terms, most of which
are used with the same meaning as the more
commonly employed Spanish term. In the
charts of the terminology, both terms are given.
In a few instances, different terms are em-
ployed in the vocative and in indirect discourse.
In this case, the vocative term is indicated by
(t). The Cheran Tarascans have very little
interest in kinship and the data are presented
with little confidence in their significance (figs.
12 (see p. 99), 18, 14, 15).

A @ O

7 ving onthua
hérmana

EGO
FEMALE SPEAKING

(orweRS AS maie)

FicurE 13.—Cheran kinship, female speaking. This
chart shows only the differences from the terms
used by the male. For all relatives not shown the
female uses the male terms.

hermano

The nomenclature as it exists today is abso-
lutely bilateral. There are alsu no distinctions
based on relative age. In the Tarascan terms
a few distinctions are made in the sibling group
based on the sex of the speaker. The brothers
of parents are occasionaly called papd; this was
once more common. No such practice was
recorded for the sisters of parents. The term
“abuelo” (a)2° is extended to the brothers and

°° The ‘‘o” ending is masculine, the ‘a’? feminine.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

sisters of grandparents, but the other grand-
parent terms appear to be confined to the actual
grandparents. Of some interest in the descend-
ing generation is the fact that ego’s own grand-
children are called by the same terms as ego’s
children in Spanish discourse, while the chil-
dren of nephews and nieces are called by the
Spanish grandchild terms. In Tarascan dis-
course, however, ego’s grandchildren and the
grandchildren of ego’s brothers and sisters are
all called by the same term regardless of sex.

In the affinal terms, survival of a Tarascan
term for sister-in-law (woman speaking) may
be noted. Puzzling (and possibly incorrect)
is the reappearance of the term for brother
(man speaking) in the term for daughter-in-
law. The parents of a child’s spouse are re-
ferred to as compadre and comadre; in this
connection it should be observed that they
actually become compadres and comadres as a
part of the wedding ceremony, along with most
of the other close relatives of the spouse. The
terms pdli and mdli applied to brothers and
sisters of a child’s spouse are simply terms of
respect or appreciation which may be applied
to one’s own children or to a completely unre-
lated person.

Two terms not appearing in the charts should
bementioned. Tarambarefers to the daughter-
in-law of a third person, that is, of neither the
person speaking nor the person addressed.
Similarly tarampiri refers to father-in-law
of a third person. In Spanish discourse, first
cousins (children of parents’ brothers and
sisters) are sometimes referred to as primo (a)
hermano (a).

In addressing or speaking of any person be-
yond the range of the charts, usually the terms
tio(a) and primo(a) would be used, depending
upon age. All persons with whom kinship
obligations are recognized would be so called,
even though neither person could remember
the degree of relationship or trace the connec-
tion. In general, an individual regards the
cousins of his uncles and aunts as pretty remote
relatives, although he will call them tio(a) and
their children primo(a) and usually will be
able to trace the relationship. It would be
unlikely for the children of such distantly
related cousins to maintain the kinship address,
even though of the same family name. How-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 101
ee papa*| mama * tio tia
Certat: tarashua Cernant: tardskua

bitede cunrado nF SO. | esposa cufado cuhada humba | komeére
Compadre | comadre
Awa”,
f sees tardshua eal ree
VOCATIVE FORM VITR

Figure 14.—Affinal relatives, male speaking.

ever, should the parents happen to have been
close friends, they might continue to call each
other primo(a) and continue to observe the
appropriate behavior.

The major kinship obligation is to attend at
certain functions and to assist with labor under
certain circumstances. All close relatives must
be greeted by relationship terms when encoun-
tered on the street or in the house, but this
greeting may not be given to persons who still
have reciprocal obligations such as distant
cousins.

Parent-child behavior.—Parents are expected
to look after the material needs of children,
provide the necessary education, seek the proper
godparents for them, and aid them to have a
proper wedding. Children are expected to be
respectful and to aid parents in their old age.
If they do not conform to expectations, they
may be disinherited.

Behavior of siblings.—The ideal pattern of
Cheran evidently expects siblings to be close
friends and to help one another. To a certain
degree this behavior exists. Only for brother
or sister would a man give monetary aid or
give free labor at any other time than a house
moving. Nevertheless, numerous cases were

AO AO e-

curfiado Oe

cunada FEMALE

encountered of bitter quarrels between siblings,
usually over inherited property or property
transactions. In some cases this extended to
refusal to assist in traditional ways in which
the aid even of remote relatives is expected.

Avuncular-nepotice relationships.—Data on
behaviors in this category are inadequately
documented. Evidently boys often have close
relationships with their uncles. This relation-
ship is evidenced most clearly in the fact that a
boy often tells an uncle when he has “stolen”
a girl and may take his fiance to live in his
uncle’s house, while the uncle first breaks the
news to the boy’s father. In general, boys
seem to turn to their uncles in crisis rather
than to their fathers. There likewise seem
close relations between girls and their aunts
and uncles. Cases are known where a niece
rather than a child has cared for old people
(and in some cases inherited the property).
Comfortably situated families with few chil-
dren may care for a niece from a poor family
with many children, feeding the child well and
often buying new clothing. In return, the child
will help, running errands and doing house-
work. In at least one case, the niece really
took the initiative. Invited to spend the day,

a are:

Ca ~
esposo tuiska cunado
cunada

(oTwers as mace)

Ficure 15.—Affinal relatives, female speaking. This chart shows only the differences from the terms used by

the male.

For all affinal relatives not shown, the female uses the male terms.

102

she simply did not go home except to visit.
She said, simply, that her aunt fed and clothed
her better than her parents and there was less
work. The girl’s parents fully approved the
step; friendly, and possibly affectionate, rela-
tions continued.

General behaviors.—All more distant rela-
tives are expected to take part in any “labor.”
This refers not to ordinary activities, but to
such affairs as a wedding, house moving, death,
or mayordomia. For such affairs each family
wishes to have as large a crowd as possible, for
prestige values are involved. On such occa-
sions the husband’s relatives attend, but only
the closer relatives (and the compadres) will
ordinarily assist actively. The one exception is
in a house moving where the husband’s male
relatives do all the labor. Relatives of the
wife also are expected to attend all functions.
The males do no labor, but the wife’s female
relatives assist in the cooking and serving.
Attendance at such affairs is expected even of
relatives so remote that they are not called by
kinship terms. If they cannot come, they must
send an adequate excuse (illness or business
out of town alone are adequate) and send a
small gift such as they would have brought had
they attended. Failure to appear would cause
bad feeling and refusal to attend “labors” of
the offending relative. Roughly speaking, the
obligation extends to anyone addressed or re-
ferred to as primo or prima and to any children
or parents of such persons. It also extends to
all compadres and their children.

Another occasion in which kinship obliga-
tions are apparent is when a family returns to
the town after a long absence. Then all the
relatives and friends come and spend a day
with the family (usually at the house of a close
relative). There are also many invitations to
meals. Augustin said when his family re-
turned to Cheran he ate scarcely a meal at home
for several weeks.

THE COMPADRE SYSTEM

Fully as important as kinship in Cherdan is
the system of compadrazgo. Ordinarily this
could be translated as simply the godparent
system, but at Cheran the relations between
parents and godparents are often as important
as those between godparents and children and

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

may be entered into in some cases without
children being involved. In many parts of
Mexico, both Indian and Mestizo, the compa-
drazgo is an extremely important aspect of
social relationships and it has taken on many
special localized forms. As yet, the only ade-
quate study of the institution is that made by
Spicer for the Arizona Yaqui.*°

The following account of the compadrazgo
was written by one of the Tarascan assistants,
Pedro Chavez. Additions to the original
Chavez manuscript are in parentheses.

The compadrazgo is very common among the Taras-
cans and is highly respected. All compadres and
comadres, when they meet on the street, must salute
each other with the phrase “Buenos dias compadre”
(good-day) or “Buenos dias comadre,” or its equivalent
in Tarascan “najeranku kumbao (or koméri).” This
obligation is especially strong between comadres or
compadres. de pila, as are called the compadres .of
baptism of a child. In this case it is obligatory to
shake hands in sign of a certain mutual respect the
two maintain. (These obligations endure for life, even
though the child may have died long since.)

Classes of compadres: Among the compadres exist
the following classes:

1. Compadres of baptism.
Compadres of confirmation.
Compadres of the crown (corona) or cir-
cumcision.
4. Compadres of marriage.

ww bo

The degree of mutual respect and appreciation be-
tween compadres is approximately in the order in which
they are given. (It should be noted that there are
really two classes of compadres of marriage. There are
the godparents of the bride and groom, usually a mar-
ried couple, and the relatives of the bride and groom
who become compadres as described below.)

Duties: The main duties are those of compadres of
baptism. Immediately after the act of baptism (in
which the infant is carried to church and the small
fee paid by the godparents), they say to each other
“comadre” or “compadre” or “koméri” and ‘‘kumba,”
which are the same as the Spanish. This is the first
duty and the first occasion it is said. From this arises
the duty to care for the godchild, for example, to treat
it as nearly like a son as one’s resources permit. The
godparents have the duty of giving the godchild some
kind of clothing, such as a hat, shirt, or trousers,
whenever they can afford to do so. This can be done
as often as the godfather wishes. The father of the
boy or girl has the duty of educating the child, telling
him that he has the obligation to speak to the god-
parents with the words “pagrinitu” or “magrinitu.”
(If the godchild dies before the age of 10, the godfather
must provide the burial clothing.)

380 Spicer, 1940, p. 91 ff.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 103

The compadres both have the duty of visiting one
another when one of them is sick or has encountered
some difficulty and, if it is possible, help him in some
form. When one of the compadres has a duty (that is,
a wedding, funeral, mayordomia, house roofing, house
moving, or fiesta duty), it is the duty of the other to
accompany him as many days as may be necessary.
(The same mutual obligation exists between godparents
and godchildren.)

When a godson kidnaps a girl with intention of
marrying her, it is the duty of the father of the youth,
before all else, to go to the house of the godfather of
the youth, that is his (the father’s) compadre and give
him the news so that they may present themselves to-
gether in the house of the bride. This is a duty of the
godfather. This duty (the father) has toward the
three godfathers, of baptism, confirmation, and crown.

The duties of the marriage compadres are limited
solely to accompanyfng each other when one has some
obligation (such as wedding, mayordomia, etc.), the
moving or termination of a house, and the duty of
saluting each other with the name of “compadre.”

Method of selecting compadres. In selecting the
compadres some of the following characteristics are
taken into consideration:

1. When a family wishes to have compadres, in
general if it is rich it endeavors to find compadres in
the same category.

2. If the family is poor, it tries to have a compadre
in its same category, as it has been seen that sometimes
when a poor person seeks a rich man as compadre, the
latter accepts but afterwards he is ashamed to say
“compadre” to the other who is somewhat poor. For
this reason the latter (rich compadres) are not common.

8. Many times they (the parents) try to find a
compadre who knows how to read. They say this is
with the object that the infant will also be intelligent
and know how to read. This is a belief among many,
but it is not universal.

4. On other occasions efforts are made to find a
compadre who is distinguished as a valiant person, in
the sense of having bravery or, better, to be bold to
fight when occasion offers—this, in general, indicates
what among us is meant when a person is called
“valiant’’—with the object that the child will grow up
and may be equally valiant as his godfather.

5. There are also cases in which a godfather is
selected because he has done a favor on some past
occasion or because of hope to receive some favor in
the future. In general, this is the method of selecting
a godfather. All usually try to find their compadre in
an equal (social) category with these exceptions al-
ready noted.

The marriage compadres: In order to recognize one
another as compadres of marriage, it is necessary to
perform a certain act or ceremony in the moments when
the last act of the marriage is about to terminate.
This act takes place in the house or the kitchen (usually
the latter) of the bridegroom. Present are _ the
t‘arepiti diosv uandari (marriage manager), the parents

of the bride and groom together with all their brothers,
sisters, and first cousins, in short, all the people the
bride or groom may call aunt or uncle. Only these
have the right to become compadres. Inside the build-
ing a mat is spread on the floor. The parents of the
bride and groom enter first and kneel on the mat, where
they remain during the ceremony. The others follow.
They also kneel, but before kneeling they embrace one
another, saying “In the future you will be my compadre
(comadre) of Heaven and I pray God that we never
offend one another. Buenos tardes, compadre.” One
after the other repeats the same words. Sometimes
they are in Tarascan: “Kumbéskari ka audndadu
anapueskari ka uéke didsa éskaksa no méni ambé ar-
ijperoka. Na Gtskuskid kumba.” Meantime the
t’arépiti is iterating that all have the right to be
compadres, that is to say, the aunts and uncles. (The
language used by the marriage manager is not a fixed
speech.) When this act is completed, all have the right
to call each other compadres in the future.

To the preceding account a few additions
must be made. Relatives may be sought as
godparents of a child, especially of baptism,
but only rarely is this done. The reason
usually is a desire to save money, as between
relatives there need be no ceremony or expense.
Compadres of confirmation are selected to
accompany the child to church at the time of
confirmation. Compadres of the crown or cir-
cumcision are normally sought when the child
is between the ages of 6 months and 10 years.
The child is taken to the image of any saint
wearing a crown (the mayordomia saints kept
at private houses are used, not those of the
church), and the godmother places the saint’s
crown on the child. She says an “Our Father”
and burns a candle. When she has finished,
she hands the crown to the mayordomo or his
wife to replace on the saint and pays from 6 to
25 centavos. Normally only one compadre of
the crown is sought.*!

In some parts of Mexico—for example,
among the Mayo of Sonora—if a child dies, the
same godparents are sought for the next child
born. The Tarascans are more apt to seek
another godparent, believing that the death of
the child was from the “luck” of the godparents.
Any request to be a godparent may be refused.

In view of the fact that the duties of god-

1In other towns, a godparent of the crown may be sought at
any time, especially if a child has been sickly for some time, or
merely because the parents like someone. I received requests to
be godfather of the crown in other towns where I visited very
briefly; I never received a request to be a godfather of any type
in Cheran.

104 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

parents and compadres are taken seriously in
Cheran, it is obvious from the description given
above that the compadrazgo obligations are
nearly as important as those of kinship, if not
more so. Scarcely a person in Cheran does not
have at least 10 or 15 compadres. Most people
have 20 or 25 or more. Don Luis Velasquez, the
oldest of the marriage arrangers, who also says
prayers at funerals, stated that he had more than
100 compadres of baptism alone. When it is
considered that usually one acquires most of his
compadres through weddings, the total number
possessed by Don Luis must be enormous. He
declined even to make a guess at the number of
compadres he had of all classes. The obliga-
tions of compadres of baptism are as great or
greater than those of relatives, with the excep-
tion of the immediate family (parent-child and
possibly sibling obligations), while those of
other classes are at least equal to those of cousins.

Some use of the compadrazgo is made by the
church on special occasions. When a new
image is blessed in church, for example, people
are invited to become godparents of the image.
They kneel behind the image when the priest
blesses it. For this they are expected to pay
from 1 to 5 pesos. In such cases the partici-
pants do not call each other compadres, nor do
they have any relationship with the owner of
the image in case it is a household saint.

GOVERNMENT

The governmental system of Cheran on the
surface and in its organization is not obviously
different from that of any other Michoacan
municipio. In its functioning, however, it pos-
sesses many unconventional features. Even
elections, ostentatiously conducted according to
legal forms, may actually be conducted very
differently beneath the surface.

The major governmental agency is the
ayuntamiento of five persons and five alternates
or suplentes. These serve a term of 2 years
and are alternated in office, two being elected
one year and three the next. Elections are
made by barrio. Formerly Cheranastico elected
one of the five; since this tenencia has become
associated with Paracho, I could not discover
what device was used to elect the fifth member.
Whether the situation is still not resolved or
whether there was a purposeful vagueness about

procedures I could not discover. One of the
members of the ayuntamiento automatically
serves as mayor, the office rotating from one
barrio to another each year.

In addition to the ayuntamiento, there are a
secretary and a treasurer, both chosen by the
ayuntamiento; a sindico, who is one of the mem-
bers of the ayuntamiento; an elected judge and
suplente and a secretary of the court.

Certain other duties are performed by
comisionados, that is, persons commissioned by
the ayuntamiento or by the mayor. These in-
clude the 4 barrio chiefs and the 45 block chiefs.
Comisionados may also be named for special
duties in connection with fiestas or public
works.

In addition to the above officials, there are
other groups with special duties. The repre-
sentative of the people, representante del
pueblo, and two assistants are named by the
town. The representative is confirmed in office
by the Governor of the State and stays in office
until deposed. His main duties are looking
after the public lands. Finally, there is the
reserva, headed by the jefe de defensa. The
reserva is a group of armed men, 11 in number,
authorized by the State military authorities,
and, at the time of the study, headed by the
real political boss of the town.

The nature of these offices will now be de-—
scribed in more detail.

Ayuntamiento.—Five proprietarios and five
suplentes make up the group, serving 2 years.
Those from odd-numbered barrios are elected
one year, those from even-numbered barrios the
next year. Cheranastico was classed as an
odd-numbered barrio; what is done now is not
clear. One of the members of the group serves
as mayor, the other as sindico. The remaining
members participate in policy decisions and in
the naming of certain officials. Otherwise they
have few duties. The suplentes apparently
sometimes participate in discussion, but they
have no real function except in case of the
death or absence of their proprietario. Mem-
bers of the ayuntamiento receive no pay. Nor-
mally they meet once a week to discuss muni-
cipal affairs.

Mayor or Presidente Municipal.—In years the
odd-numbered barrios elect, if the mayor is to
come from barrio I, the sindico comes from

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 105

barrio III. Cheranastico, when classed as
barrio V, apparently never filled either office.
Similarly, if the even-numbered barrios elect,
the mayor will be from barrio II, the sindico
from barrio IV. The following 2-year period
the situation will be reversed. Although the
mayor is elected for 2 years to the ayuntamiento,
he serves only 1 year as mayor. The second
year he is merely an ordinary municipe or
_regidor, that is, an ordinary member of the
ayuntamiento.

The mayor has the most important duties in
the government, for upon his ability and initia-
tive depends most of the success of an adminis-
tration. It is he who initiates most activities,
the sindico who carries them out. Not only
does the mayor preside at town meetings or
juntas and meetings of the ayuntamiento, but
he settles minor disputes and levies fines of less
than 1 peso, orders temporary imprisonment,
supervises and orders most municipal expendi-
tures, appoints most of the comisionados, and
sees that public works are initiated. The
mayor alone of all the officials must be present
daily in the municipio. If not present, he must
have his suplente present. (In 1940, the mayor
rarely was in the municipio, leaving adminis-
tration to the swplente. If anything of crucial
importance arose, however, the mayor would
be called in.)

As a minor judicial official, the mayor settles
many small cases involving thefts, drunkenness,
minor assault, rape, debt, or fraud. In some
cases, brief jail sentences are imposed; in
others, fines are assessed, all fines below a peso
going into the pocket of the mayor as his only
salary. The mayor also gives orders about
minor improvements, such as cleaning the plaza
or painting the benches. In case expenditures
are involved, he may advance money out of his
pocket for supplies or labor, later getting a
receipt which he presents to the treasurer for
payment.

Sindico.—The sindico supervises most public
works and may initiate minor work. He is in
charge of streets and the repair or reconstruc-
tion of bridges, and sees that many undertak-
ings ordered by the mayor are carried out.
With the help of a veedor, he oversees com-
munity affairs, such as the adequacy of the
water supply and clandestine illegal activities.

He is in charge of the slaughterhouse; the col-
lection of proper taxes and prevention of “black
market” slaughtering are his responsibility.
He supervises all questions of inheritance and
the properties connected therewith, seeing that
the heirs receive their due share of property.
In cases of quarrels over inheritance, wounds
inflicted with knives or pistols, and murders,
the sindico makes the initial investigations and
prepares the papers for submission of the cases
to the judge. The sindico receives no pay.

Secretary.—The secretary is named by the
mayor with the approval of the ayuntamiento
without a fixed term being set. His duties
are to make all classes of documents and to
maintain the municipal archives. These in-
clude the birth, death, and marriage records
of the town. The secretary is paid $1.50 a day.
He may augment this sum by preparing private
documents for a fee. The office is fairly new;
in the childhood of fairly young men there was
no secretary. The present incumbent is not a
native of the town.

Veedor.—The veedor is named by the sindico
with the approval of the mayor. He is sup-
posed to see that the water supply is function-
ing properly and to report any illegal acts.
Apparently he receives no pay.

Treasurer.—The treasurer receives all the
town funds from various sources, including
fines above 1 peso, taxes, assessments, and
funds from State and Federal sources. He is
responsible for the collection of the small tax
on vendors at the markets. He pays all bills
of the municipio and must keep detailed ac-
counts which are inspected by State officials.
The office of treasurer is also new. His pay is
25 percent of the income. There is no term to
his office.

Judge——The judge and his suplente are
usually elected every 2 years but if the office is
satisfactorily filled, the election may not be held
for3or4 years. The judge hears all cases certi-
fied to him by the sindico. He may order brief
imprisonment or fines, which are paid to the
treasurer, but all serious cases are referred to
the district court at Uruapan after a prelimin-
ary hearing. This is particularly true of
murder cases or serious crimes. The judge
reviews all cases of inheritance in which quar-
rels arise, and all land sales must be authorized

106

before the judge. In such cases he may dis-
cover falsified documents, and will levy fines
against the guilty party. Disputes over land
ownership may come before him also and usu-
ally will be settled without reference to higher
authorities. An example of the latter type of
case occurred where a person occupied lands
belonging to Aurelio Ceja S., which the latter
had registered for 20 years. The intruder was
sentenced to return the land, pay the owner 10
percent of the value, and all costs of the
litigation.

The judge receives no pay, but he is assisted
by a secretary who is paid $1 a day by the
municipio. The secretary may collect fees for
preparing private documents. More detail on
judicial cases will be given later.

Police——Two (later three) men were em-
ployed as police in 1940-41. Their main duties
were not actually police functions, however, but
rather the running of errands and carrying
messages for the mayor, sindico, and judge.
Most real police functions are carried out by
the sindico, veedor, and the ronda. The police
receive 75 centavos daily; all are persons in-
capacitated in some way for heavy work.

Comisionados.—There are many kinds and
classes of comisionados. Perhaps most impor-
tant are the four barrio chiefs, the jefes de
cuartel, appointed by the mayor each year.
These men, together with the previous officials,
are exempt from any other service during their
year of office. The barrio chief commands the
block chiefs and also the ronda. He transmits
instructions of the ayuntamiento to the block
chiefs when necessary.

The block chiefs are also appointed by the
mayor for 1 year, and they have no other duties.
On instructions from the barrio chief, the block
chiefs notify the residents in their block if any
communal labor is necessary, such as repairs to
the water system, road or bridge work, clearing
of town boundaries, or work in connection with
a fiesta etc., and they see that each person does
his duty. Special block chiefs may be named
for unusual events such as the taking of the
census. Such special block chiefs serve only
for the time necessary to complete their special
assignment.

The ronda is a “voluntary” night watch. The
town is patrolled every night by a group of 8 to

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

12 men under the orders of the barrio chief.
The latter has the duty of notifying individuals
when they aretoserve. Each barrio provides the
ronda for a week in turn, and each individual
serves a week every time he is called. Theoreti-
cally, every adult male is expected to perform
this service, but the men over 40 or 50 years and
persons of some distinction are seldom if ever
asked. One of the assistants in the project,
member of the committee in charge of com-
munal property and a school teacher, had not
been asked to serve for several years. Neither
do the storekeepers serve; instead, they give a
package of cigarettes or some 10 centavos to
those who do serve. There is no obligation,
nor any regularity, about this gift. The average
man who is asked to serve probably is called
on four or five times a year.

Comisionados may also be named if funds
are to be raised for some special municipal
purpose. The purpose may be to send a delega-
tion to Morelia or Mexico City to look after the
interests of the town in some affair, or to pur-
chase material for some public work for which
funds are not available in the treasury, such
as the materials for the water tanks. This may
happen twice in a year or may not occur at all.
The comisionados are charged with collecting
the monev in their barrio or whatever area is
designated.

There are many comisionados in connection
with fiestas. For the fiesta of the patron saint
in October, some 70 comrsionados are named
to raise funds for music, fireworks, and other
expenses of the fiesta. A group is named by
the mayor for each barrio, and it has the re-
sponsibility of raising money through taking
up a collection (or members paying out of their
own pockets), conducting negotiations with
musicians or fireworks makers, and seeing that
the work is completed. In addition, four men
are commissioned each to provide a moro
dancer. The comisionado has to seek out a
dancer, pay for his food and costume, and take
care of him during the fiesta. Finally, at least
40 young men (10 or more from each barrio)
are commissioned to provide poles for building
the bull ring. The total for this fiesta is not
less than 114 comisionados.

For the fiesta of Corpus, eight comisionados
are named for each barrio for each occupation

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 107

represented in the fiesta. Each major tradi-
tional occupation is required to hire a band, and
the comisionados must raise the money by tak-
ing up a collection or by paying out of their
own pockets. A separate set of comisionados
is named to take up another collection to hire
music for the celebration of the Octava. Vol-
untary service is also given by the bee hunters.
The total comisionados for this fiesta probably
reaches 250. Comisionados for a fiesta often
put in many days of labor.

One final type of comisionado should be men-
tioned, the men named to do communal labor.
Probably every eligible man has to put in 2
or 3 days a year on such work. This may
be for work assigned to a barrio, or it may be
some community-wide program such as cutting
poles for the erection of an electric light system.

At a rough estimate, probably each man
eligible for commissions gives about 14 days or
nights of service a year to the community, if it
be taken into account that about half the adult
males are exempt for reason of age or service
such as office hoiding, school teaching, store
keeping, etc. However, the work is probably
very unevenly distributed, for there is no sys-
tematic method of assignment. A person who
raises many cbjections or who is not in proper
economic condition may evade many commis-
sions. For example, no right-minded mayor
would commission a poverty-stricken man to
bring out a moro. Consequently, persons who
are conscientious and do not complain are apt
to receive many more commissions than others.

Reserva.—The reserva consists of 11 men
armed by the Government (State or Federal?)
with modern weapons and, in 1940, captained
by the real political boss of the town, Moisés
Valencia. Although all were agreed that the
11 were chosen by the people, no one seemed
to have any idea of the mechanism of choice.
In all probability the group was chosen in the
same way Valencia was chosen political boss,
through aggressiveness in defense of town in-
terests and personal popularity. Even a town
the size of Cheran does not need formal elective
machinery at times in order to express popular
will, as will be seen in the discussion of elections.
During the disturbed period in Michoacan dur-
ing the installation of President Camacho, the
reserve received instructions from the military

district commander to arrest all strangers and
send them to Uruapan. So far as I could learn,
nothing was done.

Representative of the people-—The represent-
ative of the people or representante is named by
the people at a town meeting along with two
other persons, forming an administrative com-
mittee. The representative is the presidente of
the committee, another is a secretary, and the
third is an ordinary member or vocal. The ap-
pointments are confirmed by the Governor and
last until the people elect new ones at another
junta or town meeting. None of the members
receives any pay but the work is not onerous.
Usually signing a few papers is the major duty.
The reward, according to one member of the
committee, is in being selected as one of the
best ‘“‘elements” in the town.

The collection of funds for use of the forest
lands is done by the inevitable comisionado
system. With the approval and, if necessary,
the backing of the mayor and ayuntamiento, the
committee names the comisionados who collect
28 centavos from each householder every 2
months for the right to cut firewood on public
lands. This money is used to pay the Federal
taxes.

At present no one is supposed to cut wood
for lumber, charcoal, posts, etc., without secur-
ing a permit from the forestry service. (As
indicated elsewhere, efforts were being made to
concentrate all activity in the hands of a
cooperative. The description here is of condi-
tions before organization of the cooperative.)
To prevent unauthorized exploitation of the
forests by Cherdn residents, or poaching by
persons from other towns, a forester is em-
ployed to patrol the woods. The source of pay
of the forester is obscure, but he is entitled to
make use of a certain amount of fallen timber
on his own account and if he encounters
poachers from other towns (such as Zacapu,
Carapan, and Purépero), he may either con-
fiscate their products and sell them or charge
the poachers 20 or 25 centavos for each burro
load. The proceeds are kept by the forester.

The institution of the representante is rea-
sonably old; at least it has been in existence as
long as men now living. While the representa-
tive apparently has no official responsibility, if
things go wrong he is blamed. In 1939, a

108 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

forest fire damaged a considerable area and the
forestry engineers called the representative
down severely for not having been more effi-
cient in fighting the fire. This attitude was
hardly justified in view of the strong Tarascan
tradition of burning the pastures in the winter.

Illegal exploitation of the forests is also
blamed on the representative. Two major
cases occurred during the period field work was
under way, one involving illegal cutting of rail-
road ties, the other, illegal sale of lumber.
Responsibility for failure to prevent both in-
fractions was laid to the laxness of the repre-
sentante. In connection with one of these
cases, a town junta was called to discuss what
should be done, but no decision was reached and
the matter was finally dropped.

It was evidently felt that the representante
would be involved in boundary disputes if they
affected public lands. The two disputes exist-
‘ing in 1940, however, apparently affected only
lands in private ownership. The dispute with
Arantepacua was in process of settlement
with a compromise being made between the two
claims. As there was only a question of which
town would get credit for the taxes paid, the
dispute was not bitter. The quarrel with the
former tenencia of Cheranastico, however, was
much more prolonged and bitter. Apparently
Cheranastico claimed some of the best agricul-
tural lands of the lower plain as community
property. It was, however, owned in individ-
ual holdings by owners who all had registered
titles. Consequently, Cheranastico has accom-
plished nothing, but every time there was a new
governor or other governmental change, the
people of Cheranastico made another attempt.

BARRIO FUNCTIONS AND COMMUNAL
IMPROVEMENTS

In addition to the function of the barrio or
cuartel as an administrative device as described
above, certain public improvements are made
through the barrio mechanism. In this the
barrios do not act independently but merely as
instrumentalities of the municipio. No infor-
mant had ever heard of a barrio doing anything
on its own initiative.

The major duty performed by the barrio is
the maintenance of the water system. Each
barrio has a section of the aqueduct within the

town (not the pipe line to the edge of town but
the system of hollowed logs which conducts
water to the center of town) for which
it is responsible. Upon notification that re-
pairs are needed or that logs must be
replaced, the barrio chief notifies men in his
barrio of the work needed and the time.
This notification may come from the sindico
(or his veedor), or any person noticing some-
thing wrong may report it to the municipio.
The barrio not only provides labor but must
raise funds if equipment or materials are
needed. Barrio I is responsible for the section
from the cement water tanks to the street called
Arista. Barrio II is responsible for the section
from Arista to Pensador, barrio III for the
section from Pensador to Olvide, and barrio IV
for the section from Olvide to the pipe line.

The work is done under the direction of the
sindico. Usually 24 comisionados are named
for each log trough needed. Eight men are
responsible for cutting the log and hollowing it
out; 8 more bring the log down from the moun-
tains, and 8 others put it in place.

In addition, each barrio has responsibility for
certain other public works. For example,
barrio III is responsible for maintaining two
bridges on the road to Zacapu.

Still another barrio duty is cleaning the
graveyard of weeds and brush in preparation
for the Day of the Dead. The cemetery is
divided into four squares corresponding to the
four barrios, and the young men from each
barrio are assigned to a section. In 1940, in
barrio III, having the most numerous popula-
tion, each youth had a strip 4 paces wide by 65
paces long to clear, while youths of other
barrios had strips from 6 to 8 paces wide.
Barrio IV, although having a population as
large as barrio II and larger than barrio I, took
a half day longer to do its part and the young
men were teased about it.

The maintenance of the pipe line is a sore
point, evidently. The original pipe line was
installed by the State or Federal Government.
Some maintenance is done by the municipio,
but the line was in bad condition in 1940 and
needed replacing. Even more interest, how-
ever, was shownin replacing the present wooden
aqueduct with a pipe line and perhaps extend-
ing it to some other parts of town. It was

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 109

estimated that the project of merely replacing
the wooden aqueduct would cost between $2,500
and $3,000, and efforts were being made to get
the Federal Government to provide the money.
Actually the job could have been done by an
assessment little larger than that called for by
the two main fiestas of the town, but such an
idea had not occurred to anyone. This feeling
that major improvements should be made by
outside agencies is a common one in Mexico.

This attitude was somewhat reinforced by
the action of the Federal Government in ex-
tending a power line to the town and supplying
’ it with street lighting. In this case, it is true,
the town was required to provide the posts for
the power system. Comisionados were named
who cut the posts and charred the ends under
the direction of the sindico. However, this
involved expenditure of labor rather than of
money.

A number of road repair jobs are undertaken
from time to time. In 1940, in preparation for
the harvest, the community repaired part of the
road toward Nahuatzen. A new entry into
town was made which avoided the necessity of
crossing a bridge over the southern barranca.
The existing bridge was in bad repair, and
replacement was thus postponed.

ELECTIONS

Elections in Cheran ostensibly follow regular
legal forms. Extensive and nearly complete
lists of voters are prepared by the municipal
officials. Some 2 or 3 weeks before the election
the mayor calls a town meeting to nominate
candidates. The mayor asserted that everyone
was invited in 1940 but that very few attended.
Most of those, he insisted, had been rounded
up by the police. Others felt that only the most
influential people in town were invited. In
either case, apparently only about 50 persons
attended. As at the 1940 election barrios II
and IV were to elect members of the ayunta-
miento, two tickets were nominated. These
tickets were forwarded to the State offices of
the PRM (Partido Revolucionario Mexicano)
in Morelia, and the second of the two tickets
was approved as the official PRM ticket. This
must have been an act of prestidigitation on the
part of the State officials, for there was nothing
to choose between the two tickets and the State

officials could have had no basis for selection.
Actually, the swplente in barrio II was one of
the reactionary members of the community,
leader of the aces. He was chosen solely to
stop his constant criticism of the administration.

The election was held on December 1, 1940.
In theory, the first Sunday of December is the
usual day. A commission, named by the mayor
15 days before, conducted the elections. Two
ballot boxes were placed at opposite ends of the
corredor in front of the municipio, one for each
barrio. Only 45 votes were cast in barrio II
and only 25 in barrio IV. The result of the
election was to select the official PRM ticket in
barrio II and the “opposition” ticket in
barrio IV.

The procedure resulted in the mayor for the
succeeding year, the successful candidate for
barrio II, being elected by the majority of the
45 votes cast in that barrio. The mayor-elect
promptly got very drunk and paraded from
saloon to saloon for 2 or 3 days, shouting, ‘“‘Yo
y Avila Camacho—I and Avila Camacho.”
(Camacho was about to be installed as Presi-
dent of the Republic.) Murmurs of protest
about the new mayor began to be heard on
every side, becoming louder and louder. By
the end of the month rumors of violence at the
installation of the new ayuntamiento on Janu-
ary 1 were heard on every side. Loudest to
complain were those who had attended neither
the nominating junta nor the elections.

On January 1 very few people attended the
installation of the new officers. The new
officials went at the head, the new mayor in the
middle, on his right the new sindico, and on his
left the judge. The mayor carried a bandera,
a round disk with the national colors in three
vertical stripes, while his two companions car-
ried ribbons hanging down from the bandera.
Behind the new officials came the reserva, then
a relatively small group of males. At the rear
came the band. The procession made a circuit
about the plaza and streets of the central part
of town. Cohetes were fired off as the proces-
sion started and at each corner where it changed
direction.

On the return to the municipio, the new
mayor made a speech, received with a scattering
of handclaps. The jefe politico, Moisés Valen-
cia, made another speech, urging cooperation

110 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

with the new officials and the betterment of the
town. He stressed especially fixing up the
plaza and planting trees. His remarks drew
more handclaps than did those of the mayor.
This concluded a remarkably tame and peace-
ful affair.

On the surface, all the rumors had come to
nothing and an uninformed visitor might have
thought the talk had been nothing else. But
the mayor who was inducted at this ceremony
was not the elected mayor. In fact, he had not
even been a candidate. The same was true of
the suplente for the sindico. Obviously, ex-
planation is called for.

Actually, the matter was simple. The talk
and complaints had resulted in action. Appar-
ently no one, on sober thought, wanted the
elected mayor. So the ayuntamiento picked
out someone they thought would be satisfactory
and installed him as mayor. The choice seemed
actually an excellent one. The new mayor was
one of the best-educated men in town, a sober,
honest, and conscientious man, fairly prosper-
ous but not rich. None of the investigators
found any objection or any tendency to question
the action. According to the retiring mayor,
one man, an Almazanista (that is, a follower of
Almazan, the defeated presidential candidate)
with little following had raised some objections.
But the retiring mayor pointed out that the
objector had never bothered to come to the
nominating junta or to vote, although the mayor
had personally invited him to do so and had
asked him to make a house-to-house visit to all
his followers, urging their attendance. Legal-
ity was to be maintained, however, and the
State authorities received proper election re-
turns certifying the election of the men installed.

Did this represent corruption and the break-
down of democratic methods as would be the
interpretation of legalistic minds deeply steeped
in the proprieties of parliamentary procedure?
None of the staff of the investigation in Cherén
felt it was. The persons finally inducted into
office were capable men. They seemed highly
acceptable to the bulk of the population, where-
as the duly elected candidates were not.
Rather, it seems that a truly democratic result
had been obtained for a people who are un-
familiar with and distrustful of parliamentary
procedures.

Persons who are shocked at the procedures
at Cheran should seriously contemplate the
difficulties in carrying out a formal election
with written ballots with a population which
is very largely illiterate. In this case economic
limitations and lack of imagination prevented
carrying out the system used in national elec-
tions where the candidates each select a color
and separate ballots are printed in the different
colors. The voter then asks for his ballot by
color and drops it into the ballot box. Not
secret, and lending itself to ballot box stuffing,
the method is at least an attempt to deal with
the problem of an illiterate electorate. In a
town such as Cheran the method followed in the
election described seems equally efficacious—as
long as the officials are responsive to public
opinion.

That unconventionalities are frequent in elec-
tions is further illustrated by the presidential
elections earlier in the same year. Many
months before the election a group of Almazan
followers organized and began an active cam-
paign in the town. The followers of Camacho
(the PRM group) remained inactive. At the
end of 2 or 3 months a PRM delegation waited
on the Almazan followers and pointed out that
there had been no interference with their cam-
paign but that nevertheless the bulk of the town
favored Camacho. The facts were apparently
indisputable, and when the PRM group stressed
the fact that further campaigning could only
result in creating divisions and dissensions in
the town, the Almazan group ceased its cam-
paign. At the election, Cheran cast a unani-
mous ballot for Camacho.

Two things of interest emerge from this
account. The first is the power of the argu-
ment against disunity in the community.
Particularly in the Indian community, unity is
prized almost above all else. Sophisticated in
some ways as Cheran is, this argument is still
one of the most potent that can be made. The
second point of interest is the bearing this
sequence of events has on interpretation of the
national election returns in Mexico. What
happened in Cheran probably happened in
hundreds of other towns in Mexico and helps
partly to explain the one-sided results usually
reported in Mexican elections.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS a Gk

In relation to external politics, most Cheran
inhabitants have little interest. There are many
people who are willing to take a free ride to
some big rally for one or another presidential
candidate, eat heartily of the free meal, and
cheer the candidate’s speech enthusiastically.
The following week they are quite as ready to
accept the hospitality of the opposing candidate,
and at election time be too disinterested to vote.
Not only is interest lacking, but there is con-
siderable cynicism about the external Govern-
ment agencies. As one humble farmer re-
marked, “Almazdn 0 Camacho, jque nos im-
porta? Aqui siempre estamos en la riata—
Almazan or Camacho, what does it matter to
us? Here we are always in the noose.”

Some interest is also awakened by the dis-
covery of the Indians as a colorful adjunct to
ceremonials. At the inauguration of Camacho
as president, some Federal agency (probably
the Departamento’ Autonomo .de Asuntos
Indigenas) took the town officials, the band, and
a group of moro dancers to Mexico City. The
Cheran citizens lucky enough to get such a trip
are always pleased, but it is doubtful whether
they are much interested in the reasons.

FISCAL SYSTEM

Just as the economy of Cheran in general is
partly a money economy, the governmental
system is also based partly on money. The
presence of hired officials immediately requires
some form of cash income for the town. This
income is derived from the following sources:

1. Taxes on each beef slaughtered.

2. Taxes of $1.15 on each bill of sale for an
animal.

3. Fines.

4. Business licenses. These are collected
by the State tax collector, who remits 40 percent
of collections to the municipal treasury.

5. Registration of brands. Every cattle
brand must be registered and the registry re-
newed in the first 3 months of each year. This
is the biggest source of income for the muni-
cipio. Three pesos are collected by the muni-
cipio, which also collects and remits 30 centavos
to the State government and 15 centavos to the
Federal Government for each brand.

6. Market tax (piso de plaza). Every
vender in the plaza on Saturdays and at the

fiestas (except Corpus) must pay a small tax
based on the amount of space occupied. In-
come from this source averages $5 or $6 weekly.

7. Certification of documents. This is
rather rare, consisting of charges for copies
of documents, marriage or birth records, etc.

8. Taxes on forest products. All forest
products sold outside the community are taxed
by the Federal Government and must be accom-
panied by a certificate of origin. Dealers in
the large centers pay the tax, surrendering the
certificate of origin. The Federal Government
then remits 30 percent of the tax to the State
government and 20 percent to the municipal
government.

It should be noted that real estate taxes in
Mexico are a monopoly of the Federal Govern-
ment and there are no local taxes. Ten percent
of all local collections other than the registry
of brands is paid to the State government and
5 percent to the Federal Government.

The income from all these sources varies.
In the first 3 months of the year it may exceed
$300 a month. At other times it may be as
low as $125 a month. In the year Pedro
Chavez was treasurer it totaled about $1,800.
In 1940 it must have been considerably higher,
but the investigators were already sufficiently
on sufferance to be unable to demand access to
the current town records.

Expenditures against income are as follows:

Per month

Two policemen at $0.75 (a third

policeman was added in 1941) $45.50
Municipal secretary 45.00
Court secretary 30.00

Treasurer (25 percent of income
at an estimated $150 monthly

average) 37.50

Monthly average $158.00

In addition, there are some occasional small
irregular expenditures, for instance, painting
the plaza benches for a fiesta etc. These are
small, for the regular expenses pretty well use
up the regular income. The treasury usually
has only 2 or 3 pesos in it at the end of the year
and often shows a small deficit of 10 or even 20
pesos. For this reason, unusual expenditures
are financed by a collection.

The treasurer is required to make three types
of reports, one to the Federal Treasury Depart-

el INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

ment, one to the State treasurer, and one to the
general accounting office of the State. The
first two deal with income payable to Federal
or State government, while the third deals
with all the municipal accounts.

UNOFFICIAL ORGANIZATIONS

The functioning of government in Cheran is
often affected by unofficial organizations and
informal groups. At the time of the study,
the most influential of such groups was one
cffiliated with the CTM (Confederacién de
Trabajadores Mexicanas). Probably this same
group also functioned as a local branch of the
official government party, the PRM (Partido
Revolucionario Mexicano).

The actual functioning and organization of
these groups was quite informal. Consider-
able difference of opinion existed in the town
as to the desirability of such organizations,
many holding that they are disruptive in
character. Others, the so-called progressives,
felt that such organization is necessary if the
town is to receive its fair share of Government
aid. Between these conflicting viewpoints
could arise violent disagreement. With great
reasonableness, however, the “progressives”
organized only informally. Those who felt the
town should be organized in the fashion men-
tioned, named officers and got themselves recog-
nized by the State branch of the CTM. When
documents arrive which need action or signa-
ture, the members of the group talk them over
informally in house-to-house visits and send
the necessary replies. There are no meetings
or overt evidence of the organization. From
the standpoint of union and party officials in
the State capital, the town is organized; from
the standpoint of the majority of the inhabi-
tants of Cheran, it is not.

The development of this informal organiza-
tion grew out of another and earlier organiza-
tion that had gotten the town a bad name.
In 1940-41, within a short time any investigator
soon heard of the zafarrancho, the disorder or
riot. Evidently a landmark, many events were
dated by reference to this affair. To learn
about it, however, was not easy. Many people
refused to talk about it at all; others suggested
that it was unwise to talk about it. Only after
many months was the story finally secured in

confidential talks, and even then it is doubtful
whether all the details were abstracted from
unwilling witnesses. The story as learned does
not seem to call for all the secrecy involved,
and this gives weight to the suspicion that the
truth of the underlying factors was not secured
and that these factors are more operative today
than anyone would admit.

At the height of the agrarian movement in
Michoacan, the control of the municipio was
secured by a group of some 30 men calling
themselves “‘agrarians (agraristas).” Every-
one seemed agreed that there was no genuine
agrarian problem in Cheran and that the mem-
bers of the group had no desire for land but
only for power. Perpetuating themselves in
office, members of this group at first were toler-
ated but gradually became more and more over-
bearing in their attitude. When people finally
began to show signs of discontent, the “agrar-
ians” asked the State authorities for aid on the
grounds that the people were rebellious. Asa
result, a detachment of soldiers was stationed
in Cheran under the command of a lieutenant
to enforce order and the authority of the muni-
cipal officials. The young lieutenant apparent-
ly soon saw that his troops were perpetuating
an illegal and unpopular group in power and
tried to get his superiors to make a real inves-
tigation, but with no success. The tyranny of
the ruling group now became unbearable.

The climax came when a drunken member of ©
the group began firing his revolver on the
main streets and threatening people. One of
the soldiers endeavored to arrest the man and
was shot and killed. The lieutenant now suc-
ceeded in having the situation thoroughly in-
vestigated, and as a result the detachment of
soldiers was withdrawn. The following day
occurred the zafarrancho. Some 10 to 12 of
the “agrarians” were killed and the rest fled
the town. In 1940, they were still living in
exile in nearby towns.

For a time following this, Cheran was
governed by a presidente militar, an appointed
army officer. Technically, this was true in
1940, but the commander rarely even visited
the town and all troops had been removed some
time before. The present “progressive”
government has effectively been in power since
the affair. This is also the group which has

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

organized the local branch of the CTM, no
doubt a factor in securing the withdrawal of
the always unpopular military garrison.

The leader of the progressive group is a man
who has not held any official office in the town,
Moisés Valenzuela, commander of the reserva.
An orphan as a child, Valenzuela was aided by
a woman he calls his aunt. According to
Valenzuela’s own story, he left Cheran at 16
and tried to go to the United States. Refused
admission for some reason, he fell into bad
company and became involved in smuggling
liquor across the border during prohibition.
Eventually the activities of the group extended
to narcotics, Valenzuela was caught and held
about 18 months in a Texas jail, after which he
was deported. He then entered an army school,
learned to read and write and received some
further education, eventually becoming some
sort of officer. Returning to Cheran during the
time of the agrarians, he organized and led the
resistance to them, and quite informally arrived
in the position of being, as one informant put
it, “head man” of Cherdn. Locally he is re-
garded as an influential person over an area
extending as far as the State capital, Morelia.

So far as evidence could be found, Valenzuela
is an honest man, well-liked in the town. He
talked several times of the necessity of going
away and earning some money. According to
his story, he did not mind giving most of his
time for the town, but the time had come when
he should look after his wife and children better
than he was able to do in Cheran. Certainly
he did not live in a pretentious house, and his
customary clothing was overalls. His dress, of
course, could be assumed for political reasons,
but when he made trips to Morelia or Uruapan
on community or private business, he certainly
dressed little better. It is, of course, quite
possible that persons with a different view of
Valenzuela were afraid to talk freely. He him-
self deprecated his position and seemed some-
what amused that the townspeople accorded
him as much respect as they did. His own
story of his arrest and jail sentence in the
United States was told with a somewhat rueful
and artless good humor. On the many occa-
sions he was seen with others, he always seemed
ready to listen to other points of view and to
advance his own without any attempt at domina-

113

tion. It was, indeed, difficult to imagine him
as the leader of a bloody riot.

As a final footnote on the affair of the
“agrarians,” one of the first acts of the new
government installed in January, 1941, was to
send letters to all the members of the agrarian
group, inviting them to return to Cheran and
guaranteeing their safety if they refrained from
political activities. This was done with the
approval, if not at the actual instigation, of
Valenzuela.

An entirely different type of organization is
the cooperative. Essentially an economic or-
ganization, it deserves treatment here because
it potentially might yet have important political
repercussions. Although not openly opposed
by anyone in hearing of the staff of the study,
comments made by several men while drunk
implied great bitterness on the part of some of
the people in the town. The cooperative, still
in process of formation in 1941, was organized
under the leadership of one Valentin Velas-
quez. Velasquez was not dressed in typical
Cheran fashion, and he had spent several years
in the United States. He speaks typically
Cheran Spanish, however, somewhat in the
manner of the famous screen comedian, Can-
tinflas—he never finishes a sentence and only
after several sentences is it apparent what his
ideas really are. He is an orphan who has
bettered himself economically at the cost of
terrific effort, according to his own story, and
his interest in the cooperative, he claims, is
merely that of a good citizen who feels it his
duty to aid others to better their lot. By his
own admission there is a good deal of opposition
to the cooperative, and he has been threatened
with death several times. He lays this opposi-
tion to ignorance.

The organization of the cooperative would
give it a monopoly on all exploitation of forest
lands except for cutting of firewood for per-
sonal use. The cooperative would charge a
membership fee of 10 pesos, and members
would be required to market all their products
through the cooperative. Only the cooperative
would be licensed by the Forestry Department
and all work would have to be done in areas
designated by the Forestry officials, using care
not to destroy young trees. Members would
receive better prices for their products through

114 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

the bulk marketing and better bargaining power
of the cooperative. In 1941 it was claimed
that a considerable number of the individuals
working in the woods had signed up, as well as
some men in the town who wished to indicate
their support of the idea although not them-
selves forest workers.

Two things were said to be holding up the
completion of the organization of the coopera-
tive. The first was the necessity of raising
enough capital to pay advances to the members
when they deposited their products with the
cooperative for marketing. The second was the
refusal of the representante to sign the necessary
papers. According to Velasquez, this refusal
was not because the representante disapproved
of the idea, but because he felt many people in
town were opposed and he did not wish to sign
the papers counter to their wishes. As the
signature of the representante was not abso-
lutely essential, the organization probably was
completed without his approval.

It may be noted that the cooperative had
nearly come to grief in its early days through
an action by the presidente militar imposed
after the 1937 zafarrancho. The military
governor had ordered posts cut for the installa-
tion of the electric lighting system without
securing a permit from the Department of
Forestry. The Forestry officials had blamed
this on the cooperative, levied a thousand peso
fine, and threatened to revoke the permit of the
organization. This had been cleared up, and it
was rumored that the former military governor
was going to have to pay the fine—which may
very much be doubted.

A number of other organizations of a relig-
ious nature exist and will be dealt with later.
Potentially most influential in political matters
are the church societies such as those of the
Sacred Heart, the Third Order of Saint Francis,
and others. In Cheran in 1940, it was difficult
to learn much about these. The meetings were
private, and secrecy had been impressed on the
members. There is very little doubt that a
new priest who took over the parish late in
1940 was utilizing these organizations to under-
mine the existing liberal political order in

Cheran. Trouble was brewing in Cheran
on the religious and_ political front and

there is little doubt that it was being con-

sciously fostered by some elements in the
Church, probably the same groups fostering the
Sinarquista movement in the adjoining region
of the Bajio north of Tarascan territory.*”
Additional data on the change in attitude of
the church in Cheran will be presented under
religion.

CONFLICT AND LAW

The people of Cheran are very reticent about
conflicts within the town. Efforts are made
to convince the outsider that the town is a
harmonious unit, and it is very difficult to
secure data to the contrary. The impression,
after many months in Cheran, is that a great
deal of hostility underlies the apparent har-
mony. In part, this is apparent in the pre-
valence of witchcraft and some of the evidence
is presented under that heading. Interfamily
and intrafamily jealousies and conflicts, how-
ever carefully concealed, cropped up time and
again in casual remarks. Nevertheless, little
definite information could be secured. Any
efforts to pick up the small leads occurring in
conversation were usually adroitly countered.
Consequently, the material presented in this
section consists primarily of the more overt
conflicts which, under certain circumstances,
lead to official interference.

A great variety of minor conflicts constantly.
reach the office of the mayor. Many of these
never pass the stage of discussion and informal
settlement. For example, a man had _ been
drunk all week, insulting people indiscrimin-
ately. One man finally struck the drunkard.
The case was discussed at length. Some
argued that the drunkard should be arrested.
Others claimed that both should be arrested.
Ultimately, nothing was done, but as anyone
present in the municipio could enter the dis-
cussion, word probably got around to both
parties. The drunkard’s relatives’ probably
restrained him and the man giving the blows
kept out of sight.

Another ease illustrates the handling of
minor offenses. A woman was brought before
the acting mayor (the mayor’s alternate),
charged with stealing a blanket from a man
while he was drunk. The woman was accused
vigorously by the acting mayor but denied the

82 Evidence for this statement cannot be given at this time.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS LS

charge with equal vigor. Finally the acting
mayor ordered that she be locked up, and,
despite voluble protests against injustice, the
woman was conveyed forcibly to the jail. The
whole procedure seemed very high-handed, but
when the woman was out of earshot, the acting
mayor turned to me mildly and remarked that
he would not have acted that way on the man’s
word alone but there had been two witnesses
and there was no doubt of the woman's guilt.
He was trying to frighten the woman into a
confession and restitution of the blanket, with
which he would be content to dismiss the case.

Several drunks on the morning of October 3
created a commotion. Two got into a fight
and were locked up. The rest were not
molested.

On another day, two women were noticed in
the jail. One said the other had thrown a
gourd at her head. The second accused the
first of stealing something from her lot. They
were both thrown in jail to cool off.

A little girl was “horsing around’’—to use
the phrase of Augustin Rangel—near one of
the street-corner vendors. The woman told
her to go away, but the girl’s mother did not
interfere. In the mother’s absence the girl
broke some pottery. The two women began to
quarrel and finally went to the mayor’s office.
After discussion, the woman with the pottery
was advised to be more careful of her goods
when there were children around.

Three men walked down the street, in vari-
ous stages of drunkenness. Two began to
quarrel and the drunkest of the three picked up
a rock and threatened one of the men. The
third man interposed himself, talked soothingly,
eventually got the rock away from the drunken
man, and they continued their walk.

One drunken man kept saying to another
“You are rich and can do everything you want
and I have nothing.”” The second man ignored
this. After a while the first man said, “TI don’t
care if you are rich, you ,”’ and
then began commenting on the man’s mother.
The second man said, ‘‘Take back what you said
about my mother.’ The first man_ said,
“Never.” Then they began to fight. Nothing
was done about this.

The cases given above represent conflicts
which resulted in no official punishment. Con-

flicts and illegal acts which brought official
action were few (outside of property suits,
which are not considered here). The following
is the calendar of cases placed on the records
from October 9 to December 3.

October 9. A man knocked down a child and
hurt her head. He was placed in jail overnight.

October 12. A man was drunk and disor-
derly. He was placed in jail (no term in-
dicated).

October 15. A man was drunk and disor-
derly.’ He was placed in jail overnight.

October 16. A drunken man broke onto a
house. He was placed in jail until the
eighteenth.

October 22. A. woman was “disobedient”
(probably disorderly conduct of some sort).
She was placed in jail overnight.

November 3. A man raped a young woman,
his second offense. He was placed in jail until
the 10th. It should be observed that according
to Cheran ideas a properly brought up girl
whose parents looked after her as they should
would never have been in a situation where
rape would be possible.

December 3. A man ‘‘abused confidence’ by
trying to register a piece of land as his own
which actually belonged to his mother-in-law.
He was put in jail overnight.

The above cases do not include those which
involved fines of less than one peso nor cases
which came before the judge.

Despite the fact that Cheran has a bad repu-
tation in other towns for violence, there seem
to be relatively few serious fights. Drunks
often fall to fisticuffs, usually ineffective, but
knife fights are rare and the use of firearms is
even more unusual. In ordinary times there
is probably not more than one killing a year.
However, a very serious affair occurred shortly
before the close of the study.

At a wedding the new priest appeared after
the drinking was well under way. He reproved
the people soundly for their excessive drinking
and urged them to go home. One of the men,
who was already very drunk, took the priest’s
words to heart and started home. Crossing the
bridge to the barrio of Paricutin, he was shot
from ambush and killed. That night the ronda
went from house to house asking for certain
persons, but up to the time the study closed

116

nothing had been done. Probably more than
personal motives lay back of the killing, but it
was impossible to discover them.

Marriage customs are another frequent
source of conflicts reaching the mayor. Or-
dinarily a boy “kidnaps” the girl he is going to
marry. The kidnapping is public and usually
nothing is done about it, but the boy may be
forced to marry the girl if he does not go
through with the ceremony in a reasonable
time. Occasionally, though, the girl’s relatives
make so much commotion that the mayor has
toact. Ifthe kidnapping has been “legitimate,”
that is, the boy intends to marry the girl,
usually the men participating in the kidnapping
are thrown in jail for 2 or 3 hours and released
with an admonition, almost certainly given
with tongue in cheek.

In other cases the matter may become more
serious, especially if it is exploited by the girl.
One example will illustrate the situation.

A boy stopped to talk with a girl of dubious
morals. When he left, she followed him, say-
ing she was going home with him. The boy
ran away and hid. Later in the day the girl’s
parents came to the mayor and claimed the boy
had kidnapped the girl. The boy was ordered

RELIGION AND

Religion in Cheran revolves about the church
and the formalized practices and beliefs asso-
ciated with it. In addition, there is a lively
belief in witchcraft, plus a body of miscellane-
ous and unorganized beliefs and customs. In
the main, the organized ceremonials, aside from
those associated with life crises, which are dealt
with in another section, are linked with the
church and are group or community affairs.
The ceremonials and rituals connected with
witchcraft and miscellaneous beliefs are pri-
marily individual in character and are not
organized in any way, although there is a cer-
tain gradation between the two types of cere-
monial with respect to organization.

The church ceremonials and rituals are of
four types. Central to the system are those
church rituals and ceremonies which follow
more or less conventional Mexican Catholic
lines and are wholly under the direction of the

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

to marry the girl by a certain date. He failed
to do so, as he wished to marry another girl
and knew also that the girl laying the charges
visited a house of assignation. He was thrown
in jail. Later, his mother went his bond and
he was released. The boy fled town and had
not returned several months later. His mother
was put in jail overnight but was released the
next day.

The preceding discussion is a very unsatis-
factory treatment of conflict situations and law.
Information on the unformalized personal and
familial conflicts is very scanty. Intimate day
to day knowledge of households which would
produce such information is extremely difficult
to secure in Cheran. On the other hand, not
enough detailed material was secured on the
types of conflicts reaching the municipio to
make possible any adequate statement regard-
ing legal concepts. In theory, the law in
Cheran is Mexican law. Enough examples
have perhaps been given to indicate that much
of the justice dispensed in the municipio is
according to informal and generally accepted
rules. Only observation of a very large num-
ber of cases would permit abstracting the prin-
ciples on which action is based.

CEREMONIAL

priest. The Mass, Rosary, confession, baptism,
confirmation, and so on all fall in this category.
A more or less conventional church organiza-
tion headed by a priest is almost solely respon-
sible for these ceremonies. Associated with
this part of the religious organization are the
various societies, such as those of the Sacred
Heart, Daughters of Mary, Apostles of Saint
Joseph, and the Third Order of Saint Francis.
Linked with the church organization in part is
the cabildo or the aées.

Forming a mixture of church and community
ceremonials are the fiestas. The organization
of fiestas is related to the political organization
and, aside from the Mass and strictly church
rituals, the fiestas are essentially secular cele-
brations centering round a religious object.

The mayordomias are the third important
type of religious ceremony and are connected with
the church through the carguero system and

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

dance groups dominated by the cabildo or the
ates. Although a Mass in church is involved,
the ceremonies are conducted primarily by lay-
men. The aces are related to the church organi-
zation proper on the one hand, and control the
carguero system on the other.

The fourth and final type of ceremonial con-
sists of mayordomia and dance groupings which
are not under the control of the aces. In some
cases connection with the church is maintained
to the extent of paying for a Mass, but neither
the priest nor the aées have any real control.

THE CHURCH

The physical aspect of the Church is repre-
sented by the church building, the priest’s resi-
dence, and a chapel called the calvary. Form-
erly the physical structures were more
extensive, including a second chapel at one side
of the church, an extension of the priest’s
residence, and the hospital, now in ruins. As
all the church property today belongs to the
State, under the administration of the muni-
cipio, parts of these buildings and associated
grounds have been taken over for other uses.
Part of what was formerly the priest’s resi-
dence now is used for the Federal rural school.
The second chapel is used only in emergencies.
It was employed as the church at a time when
a new roof was being put on the church. At
the time of this study it was rented to the
tilemakers. The church building is reverenced
to some extent: men lift their hats as they pass
in front of it on the street.

Maintenance of the structures still used by
the church organization and the priest depends
upon voluntary contributions by the faithful.
The municipal organization spends no funds on
repair or maintenance of the church structures,
although it may spend money on the parts used
for the school. Some of the extensive patios
formerly associated with the church are used
for recreational areas; others are still used by
the priest and are cultivated by him. Two
wooden structures occupy part of the grounds,
one used as a storehouse for certain ceremonial
equipment and one used by the kéyi, an official
of the cabildo or aées, as a residence.

The church building has obviously undergone
a number of major alterations in its history.
Originally the church did not front on the

calye

plaza but upon an atrium facing the opposite
direction. The change of entrance probably
was made more than 50 years ago. At about
that time the walls of the church were raised
considerably and a row of windows placed near
the top of the walls. During the revolution
the roof was destroyed when the town was
burned and was replaced sometime during the
1920’s.

The cost of these changes and repairs, as
indicated, is borne by voluntary contributions.
The labor is paid for and there is no voluntary
labor for the upkeep of church structures and
property, although there is considerable volun-
tary work in connection with the ceremonials
and the care of the altars and images. In the
case of small improvements, the priest asks for
donations of some 10 centavos, usually making
an announcement from the pulpit. For larger
and more extensive repairs or improvements,
comisionados are named by the priest who go
from house to house soliciting larger contri-
butions.

A new idea was introduced, however, by the
priest who left Cheran in 1940, an idea which
has had interesting economic repercussions.
With the completion of the reroofing of the
church, many other necessary improvements
still remained. With some funds at his dis-
posal, the priest succeeded in rebuilding the
pulpit. The priest then announced an inau-
gural ceremony and issued invitations to become
godparents of the pulpit. The invitations were
written or printed and stated that the persons
were being invited as honorable persons who
led good lives. Acceptance involved a payment
of not less than 1 peso nor more than 2 pesos.
Practically all those invited accepted the invita-
tion. The priest had prepared a large quantity
of pottery banks in the shape of pigs, made of
the attractive Black ware of Quiroga and Santa
Fe. At the inauguration, the priest announced
that additional improvements were being plan-
ned and that each person should take one of
the banks and put a 20-centavo piece in it every
15 or 30 days. Moreover, the person who first
“fattened” his pig, that is, filled it with 20-
centavo pieces, would be put in a position of
especial sanctity. With this incentive, many
people filled their banks rapidly in order to be
the first and even those who did it more slowly

118

accumulated a substantial contribution without
feeling the drain on their finances. In this way
the priest accumulated enough money to rebuild
the altar and the choir loft as well as make
other improvements.

This procedure would have amounted to little
more than a clever money-making scheme had
not the priest projected it much more deeply
into Cheran life. At the same time he gave the
pig banks to the adults, he gave smaller banks
to all the children. The children he instructed,
not to save money for the church, as one might
expect, but to accumulate their centavos so that
when a fiesta came along they would have
money to buy what they wanted and have a
good time. The result of this procedure was
that today the majority of Cheran residents,
both adults and children, each has his bank, in
which he accumulates small change, and the
habit of saving, usually for some specific end,
has become quite common in the town. A
regular part of the pottery stocks brought to
Cheran at fiestas are pottery banks, now made
not only in the shape of pigs but in the shape of
many other animals, with a frequent touch of
the fantasy and caricature which characterize
Tarascan modeled pottery.’

THE PRIEST AND THE CHURCH
ORGANIZATION

The priest, of course, is appointed by the
Bishop in Zamora. At the time the study
began, the resident priest had been some years
in Cheran and evidently was popular and well-
liked. Shortly afterward he was transferred
to another parish, and considerable efforts were
made to persuade the Bishop to change his
mind about the appointment. A petition was
also circulated and taken to the Bishop. Con-
siderable feeling was generated by the Bishop’s
adamant stand on the matter, and for several
weeks no request was made for a new priest in
hopes of getting a return of the former priest.
When the old priest returned for a visit and to
settle some business affairs, the entrance to the
residence was ornamented with flowers and pine

33 The pig bank, as is well known, was introduced to Mexico by
the wife of the late Ambassador Morrow. Those interested in
making anthropology a predictive science might well be somewhat
nonplussed by the devious, even fantastic, route by which the pig
bank and the savings idea were transmitted to Cheran and became
a part of Cheradn culture.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

branches, and large numbers came to visit him.
Despite these efforts, a new priest arrived some
2 weeks after the departure of the old priest.

The household and assistants of the priest
vary somewhat. The mother of the old priest
served as his housekeeper, and there were
several servants. The old priest relied pri-
marily on the cabildo or aces for his aides in
church. The new priest brought a household
whose exact composition I did not learn. In
addition, he brought a sacristan and one or two
other assistants, who took over several of the
functions of the cabildo. In general, the new
priest adopted a much more aggressive atti-
tude. Not only did he immediately get into a
bitter quarrel with the cabildo (to be described
later), but he interfered with customs on every
hand, wore his priestly dress in publie and per-
mitted people to kneel in public and kiss his
hand, and mixed in political matters. Con-
siderable numbers of Cheran residents resented
his attitude bitterly, including many of the
devout members of the community.

The support of the priest is based on volun-
tary contributions, but in Cheran the priest is
aggressive. Formerly, the cabildo kept the priest
informed as to the amounts of harvest, and the
priest, often personally, at other times through
one of his assistants, directly asked for ‘‘alms.”
The amount suggested is the traditional tenth;
in some cases people give him this amount, but
many give less. The payments are mostly in
kind, usually wheat or corn, which is brought
to the priest’s residence and placed by him in a
storehouse in charge of the kéyi. It was re-
ported that the priest normally sells corn and
wheat to needy local residents at about 1 peso
a bushel below the market price. The facts in
the case at the time of inquiry were somewhat
obseured by the quarrel with the cabildo.

The functions of the priest in Cheran are
numerous. Not only does he say the obliga-
tory Masses, but he also celebrates special
Masses in connection with every fiesta and
mayordomia. All weddings are also celebrated
with special Masses. He also arranges for such
special events as visits of the Bishop for con-
firmation.

The Bishop paid one visit to Cheran during
the time of the study. The priest appointed
four comisionados in each barrio to gather con-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

tributions. For some time before this visit,
rockets were fired off at noon and at 3 p. m. and
the church bells were rung about 3:45 p. m.
This was to call people to confess in anticipation
of the Bishop’s visit.

Another activity, about which little is known,
is in connection with the various societies. As
indicated previously, there seems to be a degree
of secrecy about the functions of these groups;
undoubtedly they are primarily religious. For
example, on January 3, the day of the Sacred
Heart, members of the Society of the Sacred
Heart spent the day in church. They wore red
bands about their necks with ornaments of red
ribbons and spent much of their time kneeling
and in group prayers led by a maestro or lay
reader. There is also reason to believe that the
new priest, at least, used these groups for
political purposes. Scarcely a day passed with-

.out one group or the other being summoned to
a meeting at church by means of special signals
on the church bells.

The majority of the people in town belong
to one society or another. Rarely or never do
they belong to two. The societies of Saint
Joseph and of Mary are for boys and girls,
respectively ; when they marry they are dropped
from membership. Adults belong to the other
societies. Membership is by invitation only.
Each society has a board of directors (mesa
directiva) which issues the invitations. All
meetings are held in the church or in the priest’s
quarters.

There can be little doubt that Cheran is a
strongly Catholic community. During the
height of the conflict between the Church and
the Government, when priests were forbidden
to officiate and the churches were closed,*4
Cheran residents underwent considerable risk
to bring a priest to the town periodically.
Many of the services were held in a private
house belonging toacertain Cheran resident who
was later in bitter conflict with the new priest
who arrived in 1940. The minority in the town
who were opposed to Church domination in
political affairs did not dare to speak openly.
Quotation of a statement given me by one of

It will be recalled that this restriction was imposed when the
Church refused to permit priests to obey the new laws requiring
them to register. The real point of the conflict, of course, was in

those aspects of the laws which prohibited Church schools and
stripped the Church of all economic rights.

596569—46——_9

119

these men illustrates the situation clearly, par-
ticularly as it came to a head in 1940. That
the informant had no violent anti-Church senti-
ments is indicated by the fact that he previously
deprevated the rumors that a school was to be
established, pointing out that it would merely
be a sort of religious seminary primarily for
the girls, who were not being sent to school in
Cherananyway. His statement was as follows:

The priest (referring to the new priest in 1940) is
entering into political matters and speaks from the
pulpit about them. In the meetings which he calls, he
speaks much more directly. In one which I attended,
he said he was sent to put himself in front of the
people to guide them on the road they should follow.
No one, he said, could molest him nor interfere with
him. Even though there were some misguided persons
in the town who spoke against him, he would not per-
mit them to prevent his arriving at his ends, and if it
proved necessary, he himself knew how to manage pistol
and rifle and knew how to fight in the forefront of his
people for their rights.

This speech was received with great enthusiasm and
applause and I had to remain silent. That is one of
the unfortunate things here that no one can say any-
thing against the priest or practically the whole town
turns against him. As the people have always the
idea that the priest is a sacred person and that a town
without a priest is not a town with a complete life, the
priest has only to say that a certain person is against
him and the whole town will attack the person.

I believe that this priest is very disruptive (muy
divisionista) for the town. He wears his clerical garb
in the town very proudly, receiving homage in the
streets, a thing that the priests have not done before.
The priest who left here was somewhat that way when
he arrived, but when, as a friend, I indicated to him
that he had spoken of political matters from the pulpit,
he said it was a slip which he would not repeat. With
the old priest one could speak reasonably about any-
thing and discuss the affairs of the town and the
attitude he should take, but with this one it is impossi-
ble to say anything. He will not permit the slightest
criticism.

Some of the minority faction in the town
who are inclined to be anticlerical are un-
doubtedly affected by their experiences in the
United States. A former mayor was very out-
spoken in his objections to the behavior of the
local priests. Many of the priests, he said, are
guilty of much opposition to the Government
and especially to the schools. He asserted that
the priests seem not to wish people to read and
write and are responsible for many fathers not
sending their children to school. For this
reason there is much unnecessary ignorance in

120 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

the town. Continuing his remarks, the former
mayor also said that the priests seem not to
want people to understand the prayers and
rituals. He then went on to point out how
different conditions are in the United States,
where he had spent some years, and entered
into a discussion of the reasons for the
differences.

RELIGIOUS FIESTAS

The most important rituals and recreational
events at Cheran are the fiestas. They are not,
however, intimately connected today with the
Church. It might be fair to say that the saints’
days are the excuses for holding the major
fiestas. All the large fiestas are accompanied
by special Masses, but the extent of church
connection is perhaps less than that involved
in the mayordomias. Essentially, the fiestas
are secular events with religious overtones.
All the major fiestas are conducted by the
municipal authorities, rather than by the
church. They are important commercial events
in the town, especially the fiesta of the patron
saint. They also provide a great deal of enter-
tainment. In general, they offer occasions for
making the major purchases of the year, show-
ing hospitality, overdrinking, and for the excite-
ment of large crowds and release from routine.
Only a few people find the religious aspects of
importance, even though they may attend the
Mass.

In some towns the fiestas are in disrepute
and have been abolished. In Cherdan there is
no opposition to the fiestas on religious grounds,
but primarily on grounds of drunkenness. As
one solid farmer remarked—

The bad part of the fiestas is that people get so very
drunk; you have seen how the women become more
disorderly than any (I had not observed this as a
general thing, by any means). The worst is where the
fiesta is too large, as in Cheranastico, where three bands
are employed although the town is small. People there
have to pay 13 to 15 pesos per family. Also bad is
when cargueros have to pay the entire cost of the
fiestas. Here the fiesta costs only 1 or 2 pesos per
person (family).

Such views are unusual in Cheran and, except
for efforts to introduce such novelties as basket-
ball games, the progressive administration
takes pride in perpetuating the conduct of the
fiestas on a grand scale.

-after October 4.

FIESTA OF THE PATRON SAINT

The fiesta of the patron saint, San Francisco,
is held for 4 days, beginning the first Sunday
Usually after the Fiesta of
San Luis in Nahuatzen August 25, comisionados
are named by the mayor (on August 20 in 1940)
and are notified by formal letters delivered by
the police. Only persons out of town or those
providing very good reasons may refuse to
accept the post. The major duties are distri-
buted by barrio, and for each barrio a head
commissioner is named who selects a group of
from 5 to 15 assistants. The duties in 1940
were distributed as follows: Barrios II and III
each had to provide a band, barrio I provided
the fireworks or castillo, and barrio IV provided
the wax (la cera). The barrio IV duty really
meant that it paid for the Mass and for the
special candles burned. These duties are
rotated so that in the course of 4 years, for ’
example, each barrio will have provided the
fireworks. The commissioners collect a sum
varying from 80 centavos to perhaps a little
more than a peso from each householder in the
barrio, which they may use for their expenses.
Anyone refusing to pay may be thrown in jail.
The costs are not entirely equal for the differ-
ent barrios, and, owing to the discrepancy in
size of the different barrios, the individual con-
tributions demanded also vary. The commis-
sioners seem to have complete responsibility
for collecting and expending funds, but if
expenses are greater than the amount collected,
the commissioners must make up the sum out
of their own pockets.

In addition to the commissioners named for
the above purposes, young men are commis-
sioned for each barrio who have to provide
poles and posts and reconstruct the bull ring
or toril. Finally, four commissioners are
named for the moros or dancers connected with
this fiesta. Each commissioner has to find a
dancer, provide him with his costume, and feed
and look after the dancer throughout the fiesta.
The duties of the commissioners will now be
discussed in more detail as they functioned in
1940.

The commissioners for the barrios in 1940
were Mateo Ocampo, barrio I, fireworks; Flor-
entin Rafaél, barrio II, music; Fernando

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 121

Duran, barrio III, music; Marcelino Guerrero,
barrio IV, wax. Each of these men had a
number of assistants. Marcelino Guerrero, for
example, had eight. This group first estimated
their expenses at about $125 to cover the cost
of candles and the Mass. As late as September
17 they were not sure how much the wax
would cost, because they had not yet talked with
the new priest to find out what he would think
necessary. Ordinarily in the past about 14
kilos of wax had been used, made into candles
weighing a half kilo each. Smaller candles
are also provided. The large candles have
decorations of white paper. Formerly the
candles were taken to church in a procession
with music, but now there is no ceremony.

In addition to estimating expenses, the com-
missioner and his assistants made up a list of
all the men in the barrio and set a quota for
each contribution, varying from $0.50 to $1.25
per person, according to their economic condi-
tions. About September 17 the commissioners
visited all the houses to inform people what the
quotas were and to warn them to be ready to
pay their contribution. The following Sunday
they made their actual visits for contributions.
In 1940 they had some difficulty, because maize
was scarce at the time and numerous people
were having to buy maize.

Mateo Ocampo, commissioner for the fire-
works, and his group had made up their
accounts by September 12. At that time esti-
mates were that the main castillo would cost
$150 and would be 20 yards high. The individ-
ual contribution averaged $1.25. (On October
1, Ocampo was still collecting money.) The
fireworks maker had been engaged from
Paracho. In addition to collecting money, the
commissioner and his assistants had to cut and
bring the poles for the castillos. The commis-
sioner also had to feed the fireworks maker and
his assistant for about a week.

The commissioners for the music functioned
similarly. Their task was more onerous, for
the musicians are the most expensive of the
obligations. Fernando Duran, for barrio II,
had arranged for the band of Nahuatzen at a
cost of $270 for 4 days, Sunday to Wednesday.
In addition to this, the commissioners had to
feed the musicians for this time. If any funds
were collected more than the amount needed to

pay the musicians, these might be employed to
help pay for the meals. Usually the commis-
sioner and his assistants were each responsible
for serving one meal at his house. When a
band is invited, usually 5 or 10 pesos are paid
in advance and a written contract is signed,
stating the amount to be paid and the time the
music is to play. It is customary always to
invite a band from outside, although sometimes
the local band is hired. In 1940 the two bands
were from Nahuatzen and Pichataro.

One commissioner for the moros is named
from each barrio. He has no assistants and
does not collect money, paying the entire ex-
pense out of his own pocket. The commissioner
finds a young man who knows the dance and
persuades him to dance. He does not ordin-
airily pay the dancer (who receives gifts from
storekeepers and others during the fiesta), but
he must feed him breakfast and dinner (but
not supper) throughout the fiesta. The com-
missioner also must assemble the costume,
usually renting the more expensive parts, pro-
vide a horse with a good saddle, and attend on
the moro all the time he is dancing, looking
after his needs and making any necessary
adjustments or repairs in the costume. The
shirt, trousers, and shoes are bought and are
presented to the moro.

In 1940 only three moros appeared. The
fourth commissioner was a forest worker away
from home during the week. On investigation,
it developed that the policeman delivered the
letter to the man’s wife, who claimed she mis-
laid the letter and forgot to give it to her
husband. No one believed her, but nothing
could be proved otherwise. Certainly the
family’s prestige in Cheran went down, for
everyone was annoyed that only three moros
appeared.

The four commissioners for the bull ring are
all younger men. The commissioner for barrio
I, Placido Romero, had four assistants. None
of these had to provide services but aided in
seeing that the other young men complied with
their obligations. Each barrio had to provide18
long peeled pine trunks and 7 stout posts. In
most barrios each young man had to bring
either a post or a pole, but in barrios with
small population, such as No. I, it was necessary
to bring two. When the materials are all

122

assembled, the young men have to rebuild the
bull ring. Anyone not doing his part or pro-
viding his materials, as Romero put it, “rests
in jail.”

The bulls for the bull riding are sought by
the mayor or by a member of the ayuntamiento.
Different persons provide bulls for each of the 3
days they are ridden. On the Sunday the fiesta
begins, the mayor or one of the councilmen
takes a bottle of charanda to the house of the
person to be invited to provide bulls. If the
person accepts the bottle of charanda, he is
obligated to provide his bulls for riding (only
a few people in town have suitable bulls). The
owner of the bulls then invites others to help him
bring in the bulls or, if they own bulls, to bring
theirs as well. If they accept, he gives them a
drink of charanda. The same routine is fol-
lowed for the bulls to be ridden the other 2 days.

Sometimes bulls are brought from another
town. If the relations between the towns are
friendly, usually the bulls will be lent, if not,
it may be necessary to pay rent for the use of
the animals. The rent is paid from the muni-
cipal treasury, using some of the money col-
lected from vendors in the plaza.

One other obligation exists which should be
noted. The one rancheria of Cheran, Cosimo,
provides a chirimia band each year (the
chirimia is an oboelike wind instrument). In
1940, the band was said to be from Carapan.
The men from the rancheria also act as police-
men during the fiesta.

The sequence of events leading up to the
fiesta and the fiesta itself will now be described.
As already indicated, the first preparations
began with the naming of the commissioners
by the mayor on August 20. Obviously, the
actual notifications on this date were preceded
by discussion of suitable persons and the prepa-
ration of the letters. The commissioners then
sought their assistants, began estimating costs,
making up the lists of contributors, and col-
lecting money, at the same time making
arrangements with fireworks makers, musi-
cians, and candlemakers. The commissioners
for the moros began hunting for dancers.
Meanwhile, every Sunday, the young men
practiced bull riding on the tame bulls kept
near town. They also began to bring in logs

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

during September. Each barrio piled its logs
somewhere in the barrio as they were accumu-
lated and took them to the bull ring only when
the number was complete.*°

On September 27 lengthy discussions took
place concerning the erection of a grandstand
for spectators. This is usually done, but there
appear to be no set arrangements. In the
discussion, it developed that one year the seats
had collapsed because the posts were not well
set and no cross bracing was employed. One
person was hurt; the only reason more were
not hurt was that the entire stand went over as
a unit instead of one end collapsing. It was
agreed that cross bracing should be used (but
it was not).

It was finally decided to persuade individuals
to take responsibility for putting up the seats.
There was some difficulty about this, as the
persons approached were suspicious that they
would be taxed so heavily that any profits from
admission charges would be wiped out. When
told that the municipio would not tax the con-
cession, the builders at first refused to believe
it and kept asking to be told in advance what
the tax would be. Moisés Valencia, the town
“boss,” finally had to persuade them. Intense
activity now started on the part of the builder
(one man finally undertook the task of erecting
all the stands) and his assistants, collecting
materials and hauling them to the bull ring
behind the church. Boards were borrowed
from some dealers in town for making the
actual seats, but logs had to be cut and hauled
for the framework.

On September 28 carpenters began erecting
the first stand or booth on the plaza. Several
wooden booths were erected in the following
days, mostly for selling soft drinks or ice cream.

On October 1 the transportable parts of the
castillo or fireworks were brought in two lots.
Rockets were fired off upon their arrival. The
fireworks maker and an assistant set up shop
in part of the old chapel used by the tilemakers.
Later, when the pole for the big castillo or set
piece was brought in, part of the operations

3% About 8 weeks before the fiesta a great deal of activity began
in painting, plastering, and furbishing up houses, especially those
on the plaza and on nearby streets. This went on right up to the
time of the fiesta. The mayor took some part in suggesting im-

provements, but most of the householders made them on their own
initiative.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

was transferred to the arcade on the north side
of the plaza.

On October 3 (Wednesday in 1940), men
brought their ox teams and plows into town,
and all agricultural work ceased until at least
Tuesday of the following week. On this day,
also, people began arriving in numbers for the
fiesta, including the first of the vendors.

Three or four, indeed, had arrived the day
before, including three women with ‘a little
religion”—medals, rosaries, votive offerings,
pictures of saints, ete——who had expected to
stay in the house of the priest, but after learn-
ing of the change of priests, had to seek lodging
in a private establishment. In addition to
these women, there were the following: <A
street vendor, shouting “Milagros, milagros de
plata, muy barata,’”’ who offered votive offerings
of various parts of the human anatomy made
of what he claimed was silver; a seller of
Guanajuato pottery; a few sellers of cloth;
another seller of religious articles; and a num-
ber of hard-faced women preparing to open
food and drink establishments. These were all
placed together on a street a long block from
the plaza. Some or all of the women evidently
make a business of following fiestas, as I
recognized some of them from fiestas at other
towns. Their reputation in Cheran was very
bad.

‘Some street cleaning began on this day.
Trash was burned in the streets and the streets
were swept. This is done voluntarily by the
owners of property on the streets. The munici-
pal authorities had the plaza swept and all sur-
plus dirt and rocks from recent construction ac-
tivities carried out of sight. The borders of the
plaza walks were whitewashed and the benches
painted a bright green. The benches were also
repaired and set more firmly. The paid police
did most of the work.

October 4, Friday, was the actual Saint’s day.
Rosary and Vespers were celebrated together
the evening before from 7:30 to 9 o’clock. The
big bell of the church was rung for about an
hour afterward. At midnight of the 3d the
Cheran band began to play and continued inter-
mittently through the night. The members
either were calling at the houses of persons
named Francisco, who had to feed all visitors,
or were hired by such persons to play a piece

123

or two. The big bell also began to ring about
midnight and was rung intermittently all the
rest of the night. Early in the morning there
was a Low Mass and at 9 a.m. a High Mass.
These were performed by the priest as part of
his duties and were not the special Masses paid
for by the town. About noon a few members
of the Cheran band gathered in front of the
priest’s house and played for a time, continuing
intermittently the rest of the afternoon.

Much activity was under way in the plaza,
although the main market day would not be
until Sunday. Vendors of shoes, clothing,
cakes, candles, candy, apples, peanuts, chiles,
dried fish, and painted wooden bowls in Quiroga
style were added to those already present. A
gambling game was set up. The booths for
the liquor and food shops were mostly set up on
this day. Comments implied that the girls
running the booths were all prostitutes, but
all the booths were completely open. In any
case, the booths are the center for most of the
drunkards and most of the fights and disorder
associated with the fiesta. The castillo was
nearly complete (pl. 6, upper left). On this
day also, the church was cleaned up and decor-
ated. A few began working at the bull ring,
digging up old posts and clearing away weeds,
while others transported new posts and logs
from the various barrios.

All day Saturday vendors arrived. Most of
them merely located their space and unpacked
their animals, but did not unpack their goods
(pl. 5, upper left). A great many people
arrived, and the plaza and nearby streets were
crowded. A large carousel or merry-go-round
was set up in a patio behind the municipio,
while a smaller one was placed on one of the
side streets.

In the evening, shortly before dusk, the com-
missioners and their assistants went to the
calvary, the chapel at the east edge of town, to
meet the bands coming from Nahuatzen and
Pichataro. The bands had not arrived by dark,
when one of the most violent thunderstorms
anyone could remember deluged the party. It
was said there were no ceremonies of greeting
ordinarily and that the commissioners merely
greeted their band and led it to one of the
houses for supper. Certainly, there were no
ceremonies that night.

124 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Somewhat later, after the storm had subsided,
the chirimia band arrived. Four or five players
on an oboelike wooden instrument (with a
double reed mouthpiece and a number of finger
stops) played in unison, accompanied by a
drum. They played for some time in the arcade
before the municipal building. The shrill
music, played with great verve and noise,
seemed vaguely familiar and finally became
recognizable as the “Beer Barrel Polka.” It
remained the favorite and almost only piece
played by the chirimia band throughout the
fiesta.

Sunday the market was in full operation, and
the plaza and adjoining -streets were jammed
with people (pl. 4, lower right). Not only
were most of the residents of Cheran on the
streets, in some cases making extensive pur-
chases (this is the only time of the year that
pottery is sold in Cheran, for example), but
there were hundreds of visitors. The bands
played early in the morning. The young men
were busy working on the bull ring.

The High Mass was celebrated about 10
o’clock, with the church filled to overflowing.
About 12 o’clock the first moro appeared on
horseback, followed in a short time by the
other two. They rode slowly around the plaza,
followed by one of the bands. After a short
time the moros went to lunch without dancing.
Many people invited guests home to eat with
them at this time, often issuing invitations well
in advance. To a lesser extent, guests may be
invited on other days of the fiesta. About 3
o’clock the moros returned and sat on their
horses in the plaza in front of the church while
the bands played. The moros then went to the
municipio, dismounted, and danced in front of
the building. Remounting, they returned to
the church and danced in front of the church.
Many people were openly critical of them for
not dancing first in front of the church. After
the performance in front of the church, the
dancers went on foot down the main street,
dancing in front of various stores until about
6 o’clock, when they went to eat again. During
the afternoon a basketball game was played
between Cheran and Paracho. It aroused little
interest.

In the evening the big castillo or fireworks
set was to be burned. Not until after dark

were attempts made to raise the structure,
various volunteers working under the direction
of the fireworks maker. The commissioners
for the fireworks had kept their promise to
bring in a 20-meter pole, and great difficulties
were encountered in trying to raise it. The
climax of several abortive efforts came when
the pole snapped about halfway up. By some
miracle no one was hurt, although it appeared
to fall in a dense crowd.

The collapse of the pole cast a damper on the
whole fiesta, for the burning of the castillo is
one of the high points of any Mexican fiesta.
Sonie violence was threatened the fireworks
maker, so he was promptly arrested by the
authorities, partly to protect him from the
crowd. He pointed out that he was not re-
sponsible for furnishing the pole and that the
commissioners had brought a pine pole instead
of a fir pole of similar size. The fireworks
maker also argued that there was a smaller
castillo, planned for the following night as a
surprise; if he were arrested, he would be
unable to put the finishing touches on that
castillo and there would be no fireworks at all.
Finally, he promised he would salvage a large
part of the damaged castillo and the following
night it would be possible to have two castillos.
When the crowd quieted down, the fireworks
maker was released and succeeded in carrying
out his promises. :

The threats of the crowd were not idle, by
any means. The fireworks maker is always
held responsible for any failures and cases are
known where the maker has been badly mauled.
In any case he is usually jailed and often
heavily fined. In the present instance the
municipal officers were all reasonable men, and
no drastic measures were taken. The fireworks
maker did not, however, receive the full price.

Monday morning the market continued. The
first band appeared and began to play about
11 o’clock. The second band appeared with
the moros about an hour later. The moros
dismounted in front of the church and went
into the priest’s residence, dancing before him.
Then they went down the street dancing before
the stores again, finally stopping for dinner.
About 2 o’clock it was rumored that the bulls
were about to be brought in. Actually, they were
being held in a meadow in the barranca below

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 125

town and were waiting both for the proper
time and for the last finishing touches to be put
on the bull ring.

About this time the chirimia band appeared
again and played in front of the municipio. It
then started on a round of the stores, with
special attention to the saloons.

The bulls were brought in about 3:45. This
was a high point for many of the crowd but it
was somewhat of an anticlimax, for the animals
seemed a somewhat cowed and meek lot. The
moros followed the bulls down the street on
horseback, accompanied by a band. When the
bulls were finally in the ring, the moros de-
parted to remove their costumes. A band was
placed in each grandstand. The municipal
officials were seated in a special reserved section
of one of the band stands, each carrying a
bunch of flowers. The grandstands were soon
filled. Those who did not have the admission
price or who could not find a place, sat on the
railings of the fence or peered between them.

The man in charge of the bull ring is always
the owner of the bulls being used that day.
He is assisted by a number of volunteers, some
mounted and some on foot. The first act is to
clear the ring and get the bulls in a pen at one
side. Then one bull is let out into the ring
and the performance starts.

The object of the performance is not to fight
the bull but to ride him. For this, a front foot
and a hind foot of the bull must be lassoed and
the animal thrown (pl. 5, lower left). Before
this is accomplished the bull is teased and
played for atime. A few men and boys imitate
the actions of bullfighters, using blankets in-
stead of capes to persuade the bulls to charge.
Several men on horseback also try to lasso a
foot; they usually fail and often the bull is
goaded into charging. This is mightily pleas-
ing to the audience. Usually the lassos are
actually placed by men on foot.

When the bull is thrown, several men hold
him down while a rope is wound tightly
several times about the bull’s chest and knotted
securely. The volunteer rider has heavy spurs
fastened to his feet and mounts the bull while
it is still held down. He takes a firm grip on
the rope and hooks his spurs under the rope
also. When he is ready, the bull is released.
It rises and endeavors to throw the rider (pl. 5,

upper and lower, right). By the end of 2 or 3
minutes either the rider is thrown or the bull
gives up. In the first case, men with blankets
rush out to attract the bull’s attention so he
does not gore the rider. In the second case,
the crowd cheers lustily and the band plays the
bullfighter’s triumphant flourish, the “Diana.”
The performance is then repeated until the bulls
have all been used or darkness puts a stop to
the performance.

The bull riding at Cheran is carefully super-
vised, and drunken men not only are forbidden
to attempt to ride the bull but are excluded
from the ring. If they manage to get in, they
are quite literally thrown out by a couple of
husky helpers. In this respect Cherdn differs
from many places. I saw bull riding at the
Paracho fiesta, and not only were drunken men
permitted in the ring but were permitted to
ride. Serious injuries are said often to result
in such cases, although I saw no mishaps.
Even at Cheran it is not uncommon for two or
three persons to be injured, although serious
injuries are fairly rare. One boy’s front teeth
were knocked out on the third day of bull
riding in 1940.

The procedures described above were re-
peated on Tuesday and Wednesday. In theory
this ended the fiesta, but the musicians by now
were so much in the spirit of things that they
did not go home Wednesday night. Thursday
a group of young men got permission from the
municipal authorities for another day of bull
riding and paid one of the bands an extra 10 or
15 pesos to stay and play for the affair. On
this day, the good bulls all having been ridden,
the young men borrowed bulls from residents
who had more or less tame bulls nearby. Bulls
are not ridden at any other fiesta.

While the market continued to some extent
throughout the 3 days of bull riding, some
people left even by Monday. By Wednesday
the majority of the vendors had departed.
There were no special closing ceremonies for
the fiesta.

THE FIESTA OF CORPUS

The fiesta of Corpus in May is apparently
the most interesting of the Cheran fiestas. It
was not observed, and the notes which follow
are based on accounts of informants. There

126

is no bull riding and the market is unimportant.
In place of the market there is a mock market
conducted by the persons who have some special
occupation.

While all the occupations in the town are
represented in the fiesta, only the more impor-
tant ones take official part. These are the
arrieros or muleteers, the traveling merchants
and storekeepers, the agriculturists, the shake
makers, the board makers, and perhaps others.
For each of these groups, eight commissioners
are named for each barrio, or a total of 32 for
each occupation involved. The commissioners
are obligated to provide a group of musicians
for their occupation. They are privileged to
take up a collection from other members of the
occupation, but contributions are strictly vol-
untary and payment is not enforced by the
municipio as is the case with the fiesta of the
patron saint. The merchants usually nomi-
nate their own commissioners, transmitting the
list to the mayor; this may be true of other
occupations also.

Other occupations, such as the breadmakers,
the weavers, the butchers, the storekeepers,
and the honey collectors, are also participants
in the fiesta, but they are not obligated to pro-
vide a group of musicians, although they some-
times do so. The honey collectors, however,
have special duties.

Some 15 days before the fiesta, the honey
gatherers take the two images of their patron
saint, San Anselmo, to the rancheria of Cosimo.
They usually make a camp in the woods, where
they have music and drink a great deal in the
evenings. During the day they collect bee
nests or panales. These are brought to Cheran
shortly before the fiesta, and two structures,
katarakua, are prepared. These are made of
two poles crossed at one end to form a V
Cross pieces are fastened to these and the whole
well covered with shakes. To the shakes are
fastened the honeycombs collected, held in place
with a large net similar to the fish nets of Lake
Patzcuaro. The two largest honeycombs are
placed at the top of each structure. In this
fashion they are paraded around the plaza on
the days of fiesta (some say only on Tuesday).
After the fiesta they are sold.

The panaleros or honey gatherers also stage
a greased-pole climb near the calvary on the

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

east side of town. At the top of a smooth,
well-greased pole are placed cigarettes, hand-
kerchiefs, etc. These are called the panal or
“honeycomb” and form the reward of the first
man to get up the greased pole. The honey
gatherers also often hire musicians, but this is
voluntary on their part.

The fiesta begins on Monday and ends on
Saturday, but the main events take place on
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On these
days all the persons following different occupa-
tions assemble in the plaza, and there is a mock
market. Each person exhibits the type of
goods he has made or the occupation he follows.
Shake makers split shakes on the plaza and
the plank makers saw planks. In addition,
miniature shakes and planks are made and
offered for sale. The carpenters make minia-
ture houses. The farmers (and possibly the
restaurant keepers) set up tiny tables with
miniature dishes and serve miniature portions.
They offer tiny tortillas about 2 or 3 cm. in
diameter and other things, including the dishes,
in proportion. When people partake of the
food they ask, “How much?” The reply is
“One hundred pesos” or some fantastic sum.
The purchaser, however, usually gives a piece
of chewing gum, candy, or some other small
object. The blanket weavers and belt weavers
offer miniature blankets and belts for sale as
well as tiny woven wrist bands. Agricultur-
ists exhibit all the seeds they grow, and in pro-
cessions scatter seeds over the crowd. The
arriervos or muleteers exhibit the goods they
carry, such as salt, rice, brown sugar, and other
basic necessities. They also make atole in the
plaza, with a man grinding the maize on a
metate. The traveling merchants and store-
keepers exhibit notions such as thread, chewing
gum, and dry goods. The breadmakers make
quantities of miniature breads about an inch
and a half in diameter. These are used as
money by everyone.

About 2 o’clock in the afternoon of Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday, those exhibiting their
wares carry them about the plaza, giving a
special high-pitched cry used on no other occa-
sion. At first they say nothing, but then they
use special Tarascan words, also employed on
no other occasion. ‘“Arijeta,’’ they shout,
meaning ‘‘Come quickly everyone,” followed by

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

“Séjeta (look at it)” and “Pidjeta (buy it).”
Mock trade is carried on, using the small pieces
of bread as money. This procedure continues
until about 7 o’clock in the evening.

Often a group of young men will ask per-
mission of the municipal authorities to collect
the “pisos de plaza,” that is, the tax on mer-
chants for using the plaza (which is not col-
lected by the municipio on this occasion). No
one pays the young men in money, but instead
in produce—miniature breads, miniature
planks, a few bananas, etc. Other. young men
may secure permission to be the “bandits,”
los asaltadores. Both groups then arm them-
selves with wooden pistols and rifles. When
the first group has collected the “tax,” it is
assaulted by the second and the two pretend to
fight, ‘‘shooting’” at one another until the
bandits have taken away part of the things
secured by the tax collectors.

The Mass for this fiesta is celebrated on
Thursday. I could not find out definitely who
pays for the Mass, most informants hazarding
the guess that there is a carguero or mayor-
domo for this. On Monday, Wednesday, and
Saturday there are no public functions. The
musicians play in the houses of the different
commissioners. There is no castillo, nor is
there any bull riding.

FIESTA OF LA OCTAVA

The Octava occurs a week after Easter
Saturday and is held on Saturday and Sunday
only. It is primarily a commercial fair, re-
sembling the fiesta of the patron saint on a
smaller scale and without castillo, dancers, or
bull riding. Five to eight commissioners are
appointed for each barrio and they raise enough
money to hire one band. The cost of the band
is divided equally among the four barrios.
No data were secured on the way in which Mass
is paid.

The major feature of the fiesta is cock fight-
ing. Usually a group interested in cock fight-
ing hires a house near the center of town, puts
up a ring and some benches, and conducts fairly
organized matches. However, there are many
other fights on street corners and in the patios
of private houses. Bets are placed on the
fights. Cocks are specially raised for fighting,
but the Octava is the only time there are any

596569—46——10

127

organized fights or any considerable amount of
betting. During 8 months I neither saw nor
heard of cock fighting except in connection
with the fiesta.

CARNIVAL

The Tuesday before the beginning of Lent,
everyone fasts until noon. After breaking the
fast, the young men go about the streets,
some with musicians and some without. The
girls sit at the doors of their houses with
baskets of elaborately painted eggshells filled
with confetti which they have been saving for
several months. The boys buy the eggs from
the girls and then break them over the girls’
heads. The boys and girls also throw confetti
at one another and sometimes the boys get such
things as oranges and throw them at one
another. This is repeated on Wednesday and
is the only celebration of carnival.

LENT AND HOLY WEEK

Most of the population fast part of Lent.
Some people fast until noon every day. Others
do this only two or three times. On Fridays
most people abstain from meat but otherwise
do not fast especially.

Before Palm Sunday, the collector (an official
of the cabildo) visits the fathers of boys of
suitable age and selects a boy from each barrio.
When the boy and his father have accepted,
the boy picks a girl to assist him, usually his
sweetheart. The collector then visits the girl’s
father and gets his consent. The boys now
make a trip to the hot country to bring back
green palm leaves for use in the church on
Palm Sunday. Before leaving, each boy gives
the girl about half a hectoliter of maize, 5 liters
of black maize, and some brown sugar. The
girl toasts the regular maize well, grinds it,
and makes large balls of the ground maize, or
pinole, and the brown sugar. These are
wrapped in leaves painted with many colors
with analine dyes. The black maize she makes
into gorditos, a sort of fried tortilla.

The boy also provides a wooden cross some
5 feet high. To this are fastened the balls of
pinole along the upright and the arms of the
cross. At the top of the cross and on the arms
are also hung many fiber bags (morales) and
small cloths used to wrap up tortillas. The

128

latter are given to the girl by her relatives.
Her father and mother present her with 1 bag
and 1 cloth, but the rest, as many as 20 of each,
are presented by her grandparents and cousins.
At the top of the cross and at the end of each
arm are fastened small sprays of green palm.
On Palm Sunday this cross is carried by the boy.

The girl carries a stick, usually of oak, about
2 yards high. Hung to this is every kind of
fruit, especially tropical fruits, all provided by
the boy. These may include a bunch of bana-
nas, some coconuts, and perhaps a watermelon.
Or the girl may carry a watermelon, together
with some honeycombs, on her back. Often
she can searcely carry the load.

There is much competition between the
barrios in this regard (the only hint of barrio
competition secured). Each looks to see which
girl is most laden with things, which girl has
been able to make the largest balls of pinole
and decorate them best, and which has the most
grandparents and cousins (and hence the most
bags and tortilla cloths).

On the afternoon of Palm Sunday all go to
the little rise in the road toward Nahuatzen (the
road to the hot country) beyond the bridge at
the edge of the town, and from there all go
together to the church. The boy and girl from
each barrio have their companions, all rela-
tives. Those relatives of the girl who have
given a bag or a cloth and those relatives of the
boy who have given a honeycomb for the girl
to carry are adorned with the gorditos. The
four boys together will have hired musicians,
and many others come to see and hear. About
4 o’clock they all reach the church; they go
inside for a moment and then return home,
where they divide the things among the rela-
tives who have helped them or accompanied
them. There is no special ceremony in the
church on this day.

During Holy Week a Mass is held every day
in the church. The Tenebrae are also repre-
sented. All the candles are put out. Sulfur
is burned and bombs are exploded to represent
the lightning. Then the candles are relighted
with an ordinary wax match.

Thursday the image of Christ is placed in a
cage of bars. It is guarded by a number of
persons representing the Jews, who are dressed
in common-colored women’s dresses and hats

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

of catucho (a word I have not identified) and
are carrying spears.

On Friday, the three times that Christ falls
with the cross are represented with a cross
and the image of Jesus of Nazareth. The cross
is very large, but it is made of light materials,
so it weighs little. The figure carrying the
cross is put on a table, and it is manipulated
from beneath the table te make it fall slowly
and rise again. While the figure falls, the Jews
pretend to beat it and mistreat it.

The Crucifixion is represented at a velorio.
Three crosses, one bearing a crucified Christ,
are placed upright in a corner of the church.
The Jews pretend to beat the figure and injure
it with their lances. Later in the same service
the figure is lowered from the cross and placed
in a special box. This represents the Holy
Sepulcher and is guarded by the Jews.

On Saturday morning, 12 boys are placed in
a corner near the altar. One of these washes
the feet of the others. This act (obviously out
of place in the chronology of events) is the only
representation of the Twelve Apostles.

Some 20 years ago a somewhat more elabo-
rate representation was given which included
the portrayal of the garden of Gethsemane.
Persons representing Pilate, Herod, and the
Jews went about the plaza asking for Jesus.
One, representing Judas, went up to a Christ
image surrounded by branches and kissed the
image. Jesus now answered, and the whole
group fell down. Then they tore down the
branches and took the image prisoner. Judas
went around showing people the money he had
received. On two occasions in the past the
apocryphal incident of Veronica was also repre-
sented in connection with the three falls of
Christ. After one of the falls, a girl pretended
to wipe the face of the image with her hand-
kerchief.

The activities in connection with Easter
week are carried on by the persons attached
to the church and the various societies.
Nurukata, laurel, is brought from the moun-
tains in large quantities and is used to decorate
the church during the week. After it has been
“sanctified” it is taken home and kept in the
houses. It may later be used for medicinal
purposes. A special food for Easter week is

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 129

tamales of black corn mixed with layers of
boiled beans milled on the metate.

MINOR FIESTAS

A number of calendrical church affairs re-
ceive minor attention. The day of San Juan,
June 24, boys ride about the streets on horse-
back. Girls fasten live pigeons with cords, and
men of the family raise and lower them from
the housetops. The boys try to catch the
pigeons. If they succeed and the pigeon sur-
vives, they take it home. If pigeons are not
available, chickens of similar size are used.
Christmas, New Year’s, and the Day of Kings
also receive special attention. As these func-
tions are carried on by cargueros or mayor-
domos, their description is left until later. The
Day of the Dead is also in some measure a
community celebration. As has been noted,
the municipio requires the young men to clean
up the cemetery for this occasion. The actual
ceremonies, however, are individual and are
described in connection with the death rites.

SECULAR FIESTAS

A number of minor fiestas appear to be
celebrated which have no religious motivation
connected with the church. These are patri-
otic affairs and are not taken very seriously.
On May 5 there is a procession with the band.
The bells of the church are rung and cohetes
are fired. On September 16, Independence
Day, there are usually a parade, music, and
perhaps a speech or two. <A great many people
get drunk over the week end, but there is little
formal celebration. In 1940 the Cheran band
went to Chilchota for the fiesta, and there was
even less celebration than usual.

HOUSE-ROOFING FIESTA

Although most private fiestas are described
elsewhere, the fiesta celebrating the roofing of
a house is described here because the data
on house construction have been published in
another paper (Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle,
1944). A house-roofing fiesta is celebrated
whenever the shakes are put on a new house.
The following account describes the fiesta held
by Pedro Chavez.

The house-roofing fiesta is virtually an obli-

gation on the part of the house owner. He is
s

always assisted by various relatives, who also
put pressure on him to hold the event. For
the Chavez fiesta one of the wife’s cousins pro-
vided the music. A relative of the husband
provided atole; other relatives of the husband
supplied charanda or aguardiente, as did one of
the con-padres of the husband.

A day or two before the fiesta, the house
owner gives cigarettes and matches to the
master carpenter. The latter offers cigarettes
to various relatives and compadres who agree
to come and help with the roofing. During the
actual work, the relatives of the house owner
hand up shakes and nails to the workmen but
do not put any shakes in place. The shakes
are put in place and nailed by the master car-
penter and his relatives and compadres.

In the morning of the house-roofing day, two
cohetes are fired to notify people that the fiesta
is to take place. The guests assemble in the
late forenoon. The men go to work at the
roofing; the wife’s female relatives assist in the
cooking. When the roofing is nearly finished,
charanda is circulated among the workmen.
The women also make an.arch with flowers.
This is placed over a cross placed on the ridge
pole when the roof is finished. The relatives
and helpers now eat, the men eating first.
Compadres of the husband assist in the serving,
the host merely supervising. The men sit on
two long logs, and baskets of tortillas, dishes of
salt, baskets of tamales, and jars of water are
placed on the ground between the two logs.
Each man is served a bow! of turipo, beef stew
with cabbage and chile (pl. 7, upper left). After
the men have finished, the small boys are fed
in the same way. The women eat in the part
of the yard where cooking is going on.

After the meal was over in the fiesta ob-
served, the musicians (a stringed orchestra)
arrived. They should have arrived before the
meal, but the cellist was sick and it was neces-
sary to send to Nahuatzen for another, who
was late in arriving. The musicians are served
before they begin to play. The women relatives
of the host now bring fruit, which they present
to the female relatives of the wife. Everyone
is then served a bowl of black atole and a
piece of bread. The female relatives of the
master carpenter now arrive. They are seated
on a mat near the space cleared for dancing,

1350

and are served. While all this is going on, a
few women start dancing.

Before the last arrivals finish eating, most of
the women leave with the musicians to bring
the cuelgas and to bring the relatives of the
wife who had been preparing them. The
cuelgas are women’s narrow belts to which are
tied pieces of bread in the shape of animals,
mostly bulls, thin tortillas made of wheat, and
paper flowers. There are also some figures
of animals, such as birds and mules, made of
painted corn husks and filled with pinole
(parched corn flour). The house owner is
decked with several of the cuelgas. Single
cuelgas are also put on some 20 men present,
including the master carpenter and various
uncles and cousins of the house owner. (At the
Chavez festival the mayor and his alternate
arrived about this time.) They are not fed but
are offered drinks. Everyone now starts to
dance. Dancing and drinking continue until
late at night.

The host, on the occasion observed, drank
very little. The following day his relatives
returned with bottles, saying now he had really
to drink with them. He did, for about 3 days.

FIESTAS IN OTHER TOWNS

A few data collected on fiestas from other
towns may be of interest here. None of the
data are complete in any respect, but some
similarities and differences are apparent.
Properly, many of the fiestas described are
part of Cheran culture, for many people from
Cheran attend them either as visitors or as
participants. The band, of course, goes to
many fiestas. Other people go to sell goods,
barbers often go to pick up some business,
and so on.

Like most Tarascans, the people of Cheran
pay special reverence to the miraculous Christ
of San Juan Parangaricutiro, perhaps better
known as San Juan de las Colchas, a former
Tarascan town but now primarily a Mestizo
village some 15 miles west of Uruapan. Many
Cheran residents take vows to make pilgrimages
to the saint on September 14 for various rea-
sons, for example, if they are going on a long
journey. The father of Agustin made such a
vow when he went to the United States. When
he returned safely 27 years later, he kept his

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

vow at the first opportunity. Of course, as all
thrifty Tarascans would, he also made the
event a business occasion, taking advantage of
the big market at San Juan on the day of the
fiesta by carrying several burro loads of apples
from Pichataro. The San Juan fiesta is the
occasion of the major interchange of goods
between the temperate region and the Balsas
Basin.

Pilgrims to the San Juan fiesta come from a
distance of as much as 22 days’ journey, and
obviously many of them are not Tarascans.
Often individuals will take vows to go part way
on their knees, wear a crown of thorns, carry
a sack of cactus on their shoulders, or do other
types of penance on the way. It is believed that
invalids may be cured if they dance before the
image in the church. Those who cannot dance
may be cured by rubbing them with pieces of
cotton passed over the “ulcers” on the Christ
image. Many also dance from the edge of the
town to the church when they first arrive. It
is believed that anyone who laughs at the
dancers will become paralyzed and must him-
self dance in order to be cured. Others say
everyone must dance on entering the town or
he will never be able to dance again.

The fiesta at nearby Paracho on October 20,
that of Santa Ursala, offered some interesting
points. Each side of the path through the
atrium to the church was lined with posts
covered with moss, paper flowers, and palm
leaves. On two strings between the posts were
hung paper flowers and paper candle lanterns
in bright colors. The inside of the church was
decorated with ropes of pine needles and candle
lanterns also.

In the same town, for the fiesta of the patron
saint, celebrated August 11, somewhat similar
decorations were used. The front of the church
was decorated with flowers. In the decorations
there was much use of ropes of flowers from
which various fruits and vegetables were sus-
pended. The images of saints were placed in
cloth-covered booths at the four corners of the
atrium. On the following day, Monday, a
group of little girls danced in the streets,
Gancing once in the office of the mayor about
11 o’clock. About noon a Mass was held, fol-
lowed by a procession moving counterclockwise

about the atrium and stopping before each
6

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 131

saint’s image. At each stop the priest prayed
and there was an alms collection. A band
played intermittently nearby, and while the
procession moved it was accompanied by two
chirimias and a drum. The dancers formed
part of the procession, wearing heavy elaborate
crowns.

On August 10, part of the fiesta was observed
at San Lorenzo. There were four moros, the
last one to enter the large atrium of the church
being preceded by two chirimia players and a
drum. After entering the atrium, the band
played, and the horse of one moro, a beautiful
animal, danced to the music. Groups of men
carried cuelgas to the church. These were long
ropes wrapped about with plants and hung with
fruits and bread. Accompanying the cuelgas
were women with cornstalks and elaborate
paper decorations. At the church a minor
crisis developed when one of the two priests, a
young man, tried to prevent some of the men
from entering because they were obviously very
drunk. “God does not wish it, the Saint does
not wish it, and I do not wish it,” he exclaimed,
quite unconscious apparently of the implica-
tions of the order of his statement. The
groups barred from the church waited patiently
outside until the Mass began and then went
quietly in.

After Mass, the images of the patron saint,
San Lorenzo, the Virgin, and Christ were
brought from the church, decorated elaborately
with the cuelgas and the cornstalks and paper
ornaments. The moro dancers dismounted and
paid their respects to the saints one at a time.
Then they danced in pairs before the images,
mostly walking back and forth in complex
figures between the images and the big stone
cross and clashing their spurs. Women threw
handfuls of small candies over the dancers as
they passed, and they shortly were wading
thigh deep in small children scrambling for the
candies.

The fiesta at Ahuiran, in September, was
visited by many Cheran residents. Quantities
ef atole de caia, atole made with the juice
from the stalks of green corn, is served. The
principal item in the market is pottery, and it
is believed in Cherdn that pottery purchased in
the market at Ahuiran does not break easily.
It should be noted that Ahufran does not make

pottery and the goods on sale are made at the
same pottery-making villages that supply the
other markets.

The fiesta at Cheranastico for the Assump-
tion of the Virgin is considered a large and
important one. Services are held in the church
at Cherdn on this day, and the date is also
observed as a fast day by many Mestizos, in
Uruapan, for example.

At Capacuaro the patron saint is San Mateo.
Small jars of atole are offered for sale and are
purchased, together with the containers, as
offerings to the saint. At Capacuaro it is said
that copal smoke is the food of God and that
when He eats He smells the smoke. For this
reason, it is said, the priests wave the censers
when copal is burning.

The only town visited where no fiestas or
moyordomias are celebrated is Urupichio. All
the fiestas in this town had formerly been given
by ecargueros or mayordomos. People took
their duties so seriously that many sold their
lands in order to give the mayordomias prop-
erly. As a result, a few wealthy people came
to own all the land. When the revolution came,
the town beeame a supporter of Zapata and
later an agrarian town. After the revolution
the lands were seized and divided up and the
mayordomias and fiestas were abolished. The
church, which was burned down during the
revolution along with the rest of the village, has
never been rebuilt. Instead of a religious
fiesta, Independence Day, September 16, is
celebrated with bands and a castillo. The
town is planning to have its own band. What
the effects of this will be cannot be determined,
but if the band is hired out to play at fiestas in
other towns it may serve as the entering wedge
for reviving the fiestas.

Data on the fiestas of a Mestizo town,
Chilchota, are given in Appendix 2. They
afford interesting comparative material.

MAYORDOMIA ORGANIZATION AND THE
CULT OF THE SAINTS

Approximately 13 saints exist in Cheran
which belong to groups only indirectly or not
at all connected with the church. Each of
these saints is in charge of an individual known
as a carguero or mayordomo during a year or
more and is associated with special pivecdsnes

132

and ceremonies. The ceremonies of the saints
are sometimes called mayordomias as they are
elsewhere in Mexico, although the term cargo
is more common in Cheran. The elaborate-
ness and expense of the ceremonies vary con-
siderably. Some are virtually community
functions or minor fiestas but held at the
expense of the carguero or mayordomo. Others
have very little expense attached to them. In
many cases dance groups are associated with
the mayordomia.

So far as could be learned, six of the saints
and accompanying mayordomias “belong” to the
cabildo. Four others are associated with par-
ticular professions (this is also true of some of
the saints of the cabildo) and are “managed”
by principals (principales). Another is man-
aged by a group of principals but is not asso-
ciated with a profession, while the final saint
identified is owned by a private family. The
saints belonging to the cabildo are San Isidro
(of the farmers), San José (of the forest
workers), Santa Inéz (of the cattle raisers),
Santa Nieves or the Virgin of Snows, the Virgin
of Guadalupe, and the Santo Nifo or the Child
Christ. Saints belonging to professions are
San Antonio (of the arrieros or muleteers),
San Rafael (of the merchants), San Anselmo
(of the honey gatherers, with two separate
images and ceremonies), and Santa Cecilia (of
the musicians). Independent of any profes-
sion is the mayordomia of the Three Kings or
Tres Reyes. The privately owned saint has no
mayordomia properly speaking and is usually
spoken of simply as the Miraculous Saint.

The cabildo is also known as the “aées,”
meaning principal persons or things. In
Spanish the cabildo is also known as the prin-
cipales. The group consists of men who have
occupied the offices of colector and prioste
associated with the church. In the past the
cabildo looked after many things connected
with the church, including the collection and
care of the tithes or gifts to the priest, cared
for the saints in the church and the ornaments
and decorations of the church, and brought the
priests to Cherén during the period when
religious functions were prohibited. Members
also had charge of the mayordomias mentioned
above, and considered the saints their property.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

They decided who should receive the mayor-
domia each year.

The method of selecting the mayordomos was
subject to dispute by various informants. The
members of the cabildo insisted that the mayor-
domias were transferred in the order of appli-
cation, although sometimes, if a person were
too poor to care for the saint properly and live
up to the obligations of the mayordomia, they
would not permit him to have it. Lists of
applicants were shown to verify this statement.
Many people, however, claimed that it was
necessary to give lavish presents to the cabildo
over a period of 2 or 3 years before a mayor-
domia would be granted. One mayordomo,
the carguero of the Santo Nimo in 1940, claimed
he had given many gifts of clothing, corn,
wheat, tortillas, tamales, ete., to the cabildo at
the previous Christmas ceremonies and in all
had spent about $250 on them before he was
granted the mayordomia. This man, however,
was active in a campaign against the cabildo at
the time. The cabildo members admitted re-
ceiving gifts, but claimed they were voluntary
and in no way influenced the assignment
of the mayordomias. It was customary, and
the cabildo expected to be invited to the
mayordomia and to be treated as guests of
honor, receiving special large breads, atole, and
gifts of food; the contradictions about gifts,
however, seemed impossible to resolve, arising
as they did out of a PASsiQualc controversy
under way at the time.

The cabildo selects one of its number to act
as head. In 1940 the head was Maximiliano
Ortiz, a noted conservative. Ortiz was sup-
posed to visit the church every day. Despite
the quarrel, to be described, about the cabildo,
Ortiz was elected alternate to one of the
regidores or members of the ayuntamiento ‘‘so
he would no longer be able to criticize.” The
cabildo also invites people to serve as colector
and prioste and thus ultimately become mem-
bers of the cabildo themselves. Others say
these offices are sought. Such invitations could
be refused. People were not invited to become
mayordomos as there was usually a waiting list.

The office of prioste is occupied first. After
one year, the person advances to the office of
colector. The following year he becomes one
of the cabildo. These two officials have the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 133

same duties, but the colector is the superior of
the two, Their duties are to select and super-
vise the kéyi and the matters of the church.
The day-to-day expenses involved they must
pay out of their own pockets (despite the
charges against the cabildo to be reviewed later,
no one denied this expenditure by the prioste
and colector). The two officers receive the
gifts of maize and wheat made to the church
and give them to the priest, who in turn entrusts
them to the kéyi.

The kéyi is selected by the colector. For
1 year he lives in a house on the church grounds
(probably formerly in the hospital before it fell
to ruins), cares for the church property and
the stores of the priest, rings the church bells
every noon, runs errands for the colector, and
does any odd jobs he may be assigned. After
1 year he does not become a member of the
cabildo but retires to private life.

During his year of office, the colector has to
provide the kéyi with the maize he needs for
his family and some money for minor expenses.
Usually the kéyi is a man who has a grown
son or a brother to look after his affairs for the
year. Among the public outside of the church
group it is not regarded as a great thing to be
a kéyi. The church group, on the other hand,
make a good deal of the individual. Moreover,
it is believed that the service is rendered to
God and will bring recompense in the future
life. The offices of kéyi, prioste, and colector
change each year on December 8. The main
ceremonies circle about the change of kéyji.

At one time the ké;i began in the month of
November to visit the cargueros of the saints
belonging to the cabildo every Saturday early in
the morning, accompanied by musicians. The
cargueros served posole. By December 8, the
kéni had visited all the saints, saying farewell
to them. On this date a large lantern was
suspended from a pole outside the house of the
kéni and remained until the ceremonies of
changing the kéyi were concluded.

For the change of office, both the old kéyi
and the new provide themselves with “old men”
or viejos. These are men dressed in an over-
coat and with a cane. They carry a little bell
adorned with flowers, wear a small hat, and a
wooden viejo mask (a wooden mask carved to
represent an old man with a long white beard).

These are the speakers for the two kéyi. Each
kéyi (in conjunction with the new and retiring
priostes) has a band of music. Both the old
and the new prioste invite friends and relatives
to their houses for a meal. The cabildo goes to
both places. .

About 3 o’clock in the afternoon both parties
go to the house occupied by the kéyi in the
church grounds, still sometimes called the hos-
pital despite the assertion of many that the
kéyi never lived in the hospital. The new kéyi
brings with him all the things he needs to set
up housekeeping: new brooms, dishes, a carga
of maize, the head of a beef, ax, metate, mats
and clothes, all carried on burros. Arriving
at the house, he finds all in disorder. The
house is full of trash, the fireplace has been taken
down, and everything has been left in the worst
condition possible. The old kéyi carries away
everything he has used. Even old brooms and
broken pots are saved through the year to be
carried away at this time.

Thetwo viejos or old men now begin to argue.
The viejo representing the incoming kéyi makes
a long speech, criticising the administration of
the outgoing kéyi. The other viejo then re-
sponds, defending the outgoing ké,i and
explaining all the good things he has done.
The two argue for some time. The music then
plays a tune. First one and then the other
dances; they endeavor to outdo one another,
both in their ridiculous manner of dancing and
in making jokes. Each is accompanied by a
woman dressed as an old woman in a very much
embroidered blouse and wearing a hat. Then
the new officials inspect all the patio of the
hospital; the new kéyi enters the kitchen and
takes possession. The old kéyi goes out
through the zaguan or gate with his belongings.
The old kéyi goes to the house of the old prioste
with his friends and they drink until night.
The new kéyi and his prioste do the same in the
hospital after the celebration of Mass.

Sometime during these events the cabildo
elects the new colector. This official takes office
on the 1st of January when he goes to church
to celebrate the Circumcision. The new. colec-
tor and his wife receive the benediction at the
Mass. The wife of the colector carries with
her an outfit of clothing for the Christ Child.
After Mass the two go to the house of the new

134 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

kéyi, who serves them posole. Afterward they
return home. On this occasion, also, the colector
is supposed to sponsor a dance called los viejitos
in which five boys and five girls take part (some
say six of each sex). The girls are said to be
the future uandnées.

Although the new prioste takes office on
December 8, the duties of the prioste do not end
until the mayordomia of the Holy Child, the
Santo Nifio. On this occasion he is obligated
to accompany the wandnées while they dance.*®

The wandnées mentioned above are a group
of young girls selected by the prioste. (This is
contradicted in a sense by the fact that some
parents make a vow for their girls to serve as
uandnées, for example, if the girl is sick when
small.) They act as servants of the prioste,
going every day to the church (usually accom-
panied by their mothers). At church they
sweep, bring flowers for the altars, and help
keep things in order. At Christmas time they
perform a sort of pastorela dance, aided by
other girls. One of the girls is known as the
Sujainda and is regarded as the first or leader.
She is in charge of the incense, the “fone who
carries copal.’”’ The other girls have no special
names.

Frequent references have been made to the
quarrel between the cabildo and the new priest.
The motivations and the exact events probably
were not discovered. In any case, the roots of
the quarrel go far back in time. Ostensibly,
however, the fight started with the departure
of the old priest.

So far as could be ascertained, the first overt
act in the struggle was the calling of a junta on
the matter. While the junta was called by the
mayor, in this he was merely conforming to
the custom of calling such a meeting whenever
it was requested. The request was made by
one David Guerrero, a somewhat surly and
unapproachable person (so far as the staff of
the study were concerned) who ran a small
store and saloon (mostly the latter) not far
from the plaza. Guerrero’s motivations seem
obscure. He was not particularly active in the
church. Neither did he seem to belong to any

36It should be noted that the above account is based on data
from informants. Owing to the quarrel between the priest and
the cabildo none of the ceremonies were performed in 1940. The
data are from musicians who always attended and from members
of the cabildo,

other group, although he was one of the few
active supporters of Almazaén in the previous
presidential election. In the opinion of the best
informants there had existed no movement
against the cabildo until Guerrero undertook
his campaign, although obviously the roots of
the charges and bad feeling were already
present.

At the junta between 75 and 100 persons
were present. Guerrero spoke, charging the
cabildo with demanding gifts from the car-
gueros, stealing from the church, driving out
the previous priest, and being very drunken.
The last charge was what many believed to have
convineed the new priest so that he turned
against the cabildo. An arrangement was
reached in which the assignment of mayor-
domias would be taken from the cabildo and
persons wishing to ‘“‘take a saint’? would ask
it of the priest.

At the first junta everyone agreed with the
charges. A second junta was called. In the
meantime the prioste, one Magdaleno Guerrero
(no relation to David) went to the Bishop in
Zamora and secured a letter (which I saw)
categorically stating that neither he nor anyone
else had attempted to have the former priest
removed. This letter was presented at the
second junta by the representante del pueblo,
who defended the cabildo. (The cabildo did not
attend. Magdaleno Guerrero said for a while
they were afraid they might be killed.) This
made the people less bitter, but they still agreed
to abolish the cabildo.

With regard to the other charges, the prioste
asserted that all the work of the cabildo was
voluntary, while his own expenses as prioste
amounted to between $100 and $200 for the
year. Among his duties was to pay for Masses
on December 8 and December 25. Following
the latter Mass, the cabildo met at the house of
the prioste who served food. To this assembly
came people who wished to ask for a saint.
They brought presents of cigarettes, while the
wives brought bread. These presents, the
prioste asserted, were voluntary and were not
demanded. The names of the persons were put
down on lists in the order applications were
received and each mayordomia was awarded to
the person whose name headed the list.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 135

With regard to the charge of drunkeness,
the prioste asserted that this had been true
“in the time of our grandfathers” but it was
not true today. What gave color to the charge,
he said, was that people brought them many
bottles of charanda. These the cabildo sold
in the stores and returned the empty bottles to
' the donors.

It was quite evident that the prioste was
filled with bitterness over the situation. The
dance of the pastorela, he felt, was especially
the dance of the cabildo and the prioste and one
which gave much pleasure to the people, and
now they would lose it. (Even our most anti-
Church informants agreed that the dance was
the best given in Cheran, partly because it was
unaccompanied by the drunkenness and rowdi-
ness associated with other dances.) The
prioste also said that the cabildo was accepting
the will of the people and was neither speaking
nor making propaganda with anyone. After
all, he pointed out, the cabildo gained, and espe-
cially the prioste and colector gained because
they now did not have to spend their money.
However, he had gone to the chureh and taken
out the large candles and some small ones left
by his wife. This, he said, was custom, for
the old prioste always took the remains of the
candles and the new prioste provided others.
The priest had asked why he removed the
candles and the prioste had explained the situa-
tion. The priest then asked if he was not dis-
posed to leave the candles, but he refused.
After this the prioste scarcely left the house,
and never went either to the plaza or the
church, partly because of fear, partly because
in church he would have to see those who had
thrown him out of office and this “caused him
anger which it is better not to have before the
Lord.”

The prioste suggested that the leader of the
opposition was an ambitious man who was
furthering some devious and as yet undisclosed
project to further his own interests. He also
said the cabildo had made no move to seek a
new prioste or kéyi, which they ordinarily did
by August. He also said he had no idea
whether the priest would appoint new officials
to take the place of the cabildo or go on naming
people to perform their duties from day to day
as he was doing. Incidentally, he pointed out

that never before had the church been closed
when the priest left town.

In addition to the above accounts, which
seem reasonably correct as far as they go, there
were floods of rumors and stories. At one
time I was told authoritatively by several people
that my landlord had been named the new chief
of the cabildo. When I asked him about it, he
was completely surprised and it finally appeared
that no new cabildo was to be named.

With regard to the story told by the prioste
of taking his candles from the church, a much
more lurid version was circulated. One
woman’s account of the quarrel was as follows:

When the new priest came he asked one of the
cabildo to bring him maize from the storehouse. The
cabildo had taken all the maize from the storehouse but
the man pretended not to know this. He went to the
storehouse and returned, saying, “Father, there is no
maize.” “What has happened to it? There is supposed
to be maize.” The priest gave the man money to buy
maize for that day. Next day the priest made in-
quiries. People told him the cabildo had stolen the
maize» He called the cabildo together and accused
them. They denied the theft. The priest said, “Do
you want me to bring witnesses?” They conferred and
said, “No. We took the maize.” The father began to
scold them, and they said, “What right have you to
scold us? We collected the maize and we have a right
to live.” The priest became angry and told them they
could no longer serve in the church. They went away.
For 2 or 3 days they did nothing. Then they came in
a body and began stripping the church of all the altar
cloths, vases, and decorations. The priest interrupted
them. They said, “These things are ours; we bought
them. If we cannot serve here, we will take these
away.” They argued. The priest said, “These things
belong to the community.” But he realized it was not
becoming for him to argue in this way and kept still.
When they finished, he said, “Now have you everything
belonging to you?” They thought and said, “Kvery-
thing but the saints.” At this the priest flew into a
rage and said, “The saints belong to the community.
Now take the other things and leave the church and
do not let me ever see your faces again.”

This is a very interesting tale, but it con-
tains very little truth. The major fact which
seems correct as compared with the prioste’s
tale is that the cabildo did actually remove all
the vases, altar cloths, and other things they
had bought.

One man, regarded as a fairly reliable source
of information, stated that the cabildo had
received the alms given at church but had

136

formerly given them all to the priest. In recent
years, he stated, the cabildo members began
taking half for themselves. When the new
priest came, people decided they no longer
wished the cabildo and spoke to the priest. He
abolished the cabildo and barred the members
frum the church so that alms would now be
given directly to the priest.

Still another man, one who probably gave the
best-informed statement, which gained weight
because he was both an anti-Church and anti-
cabildo man on general principles, pointed out
some of the history of the affair. According
to this informant, when the priests were for-
bidden to function in the church, the cabildo
was responsible for bringing priests to town
secretly and helping them to hold services in
private houses. This involved very consider-
able expenses. (There seems little reason to
doubt these statements, which were verified in
other connections.) In the meantime, inas-
much as people believed it necessary to take
seeds, i.e., maize and wheat, to the church, they
continued their gifts, which were received and
stored by the cabildo. This informant believed,
however, that the quantities were probably less
than usual inasmuch as there was no one to
urge them. Out of this fact probably rose the
real basis of the quarrel. When it began to
appear that there was small likelihood of a
resident priest returning, the cabildo began
selling the accumulated grain, utilizing the
profits to defray the considerable expenses of
smuggling priests into the town. For the peo-
ple it was difficult to tell whether the expenses
claimed were correct or not. When a priest
finally was reestablished in Cheran, the cabildo
presented him with an account of their trans-
actions. Many believed that this account was
incorrect and that the cabildo had been guilty
of defaleation. It was then that the idea began
that the cabildo should be done away with.
However, it is unlikely the cabildo received any
profits after the return of the priests. The
priest made an investigation of the affair and
as a result the cabildo tried to force him to leave
the town. (This last accusation seems ade-
quately disposed of by the letter from the
Bishop mentioned above.) When the new
priest arrived in 1940, he announced his inten-

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLCGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

tion of reopening the investigation and stated
that, as the cabildo would probably try to get
rid of him, too, he had better get rid of the
cabildo right away.

An aspect of the situation which had not
been resolved at the termination of the study
was the effect of the change upon the mayor-
domias formerly in the charge of the cabildo.
It was the belief of many, including the priest,
that applicants for a mayordomia would simply
apply to him. The priest was quoted as saying
that he had no intention of interfering with the
local customs. None of the cargueros consulted
seemed ever to have thought of the possibility
of the change effecting the operation of the
system. The cabildo nevertheless has a pro-
prietary interest in the saints and there were
some indications that the cabildo was willing
to suppress some of the customs. The wandnces
did not perform the pastorela in 1940. The
prioste refused to put up anything for the
dance, or even participate when a cousin offered
to pay all the expenses. The parents of all but
one of the wandnées also apparently welcomed
the excuse for avoiding the expenses involved.
The cabildo also attempted to forbid the
carguero of the Holy Child to sponsor the per-
formance of the negrito dance (described be-
low) although this was a traditional duty of
the carguero. As he was one of those who
attacked the cabildo and claimed to have been
forced to make heavy contributions in order to
get the mayordomia, he sought the permission
of the priest and held the dance despite the
cabildo’s objections.

The progressive element in the town was of
the opinion that the demotion of the cabildo
would mean the early disappearance of the
mayordomias. However, this overlooked the
several mayordomias which functioned outside
the cabildo system, and it is doubtful if the dis-
appearance of the mayordomias will be particu-
larly accelerated by this change. There is some
possibility of this, of course, and one of the
curious features of the situation is that a priest
who apparently is conservative and who does
not wish to interfere with the local customs
should have been responsible for this. attack
upon them and for alienating the most conser-
vative Church group from his support.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 137

MAYORDOMIAS

Mayordomias are undertaken by families
voluntarily. The word family is used advisedly,
for it is doubtful if a man would ask for a
mayordomia unless his wife was in full accord,
for much of the successful carrying out of the
duties depends on the cooperation of the wife.
The motives are definitely religious and the
persons taking mayordomias are always pious
and loyal Catholics. In visiting the various
cargueros and observing the images of the
saints, almost every time the first question
asked of my guide (in Tarascan) when I visited
a house was whether I was one “‘who could see
the saints,” that is, was I for or against the
saints and the mayordomias. However, cer-
tain of the mayordomias are restricted to
specific occupations.

For the most part the mayordomias are
undertaken to secure some future good or to
give thanks for some past good. Undoubtedly
mayordomias are sometimes undertaken to
secure social prestige, but this appears to be a
rare motive. Generally the mayordomia is
sought as the result of a promise, manda. If
aman has no sons, he may promise to seek a
mayordomia if he should be favored with a
male offspring. Sick persons, or families in
which there are sickly children, may also make
such a promise. On the other hand, one who
has prospered greatly may seek a mayordomia
to express his gratitude.

One family, as an example, had a sickly son.
The parents obtained the mayordomia of the
Holy Child, one of the most expensive. As the
mother put it, “The child seemed comforted at
the presence of the Holy Child in the house
and improved.” The following year the parents
sought and obtained the mayordomia of the
Three Kings. As improvement continued, they
added several items to the celebration of the
mayordomia, paying the expenses of the dance
group, which up to that time had been inde-
pendent.

Other types of promises are also made.
Vows to make the pilgrimage to San Juan de
las Colchas (Parangaricutiro) have already
been mentioned, but shrines of other saints may
also be visited. Usually some slight gift, a

3)

candle or a garment, is taken on the occasion
of such pilgrimages.

MAYORDOMIA OF THE SANTO NINO

The mayordomia of the Santo Nifio or the
Holy Child, celebrated December 25, is the most
expensive of the mayordomias of the cabildo.
More than any other it may be undertaken for
motives of social prestige and ostentation.
The carguero in 1940, according to his wife,
did not take the post as result of a vow, but

_ simply for pleasure, “no mas por gusto.”

The new carguero assumes his duties on
December 26. The previous day and night the
image connected with the mayordomia is left in
church. The new carguero takes the image
from the church to his house. Previously, he
prepares a special place for the image with the
help of invited relatives and friends whom he
feeds. Usually the place for the image is the
“troje.” Everything is removed from the room,
a suitably decorated altar is prepared, and often
an alcove is built up of boards and lined with
colored paper. Strips of colored paper are hung
from the ceiling and ornaments are sometimes
suspended from the ceiling as well. Miniature
objects—chairs, metates, dolls, ete—are fre-
quently hung from the ceiling also.

During the year, the carguero has few duties.
He keeps the image in good condition and
always ready for visits of persons who may
wish to say prayers and who often leave a few
alms or burn a candle in honor of it. The
carguero also begins accumulating food and
property for the ceremonies. He plants as
much corn and wheat as possible and prepares
animals for fattening. He also accumulates
cash. If necessary, he may be helped by his
brothers and cousins.

The first act of the carguero is to assemble
dancers to perform the dance of the negritos
(pl. 6, lower left). In this also he is helped
by his brothers, who invite various young men
to perform. The carguero also hires a teacher
to teach the dancers their steps and their
speaking parts, relatos. For about a week

before December 25, the dancers rehearse in

the house of the carguero and food is provided,
at least in theory. In 1940 one of the assist-
ants, Agustin, was a negrito dancer and com-

138

mented that the carguero did not seem to wish
to give even cigarettes. To which Pedro
Chavez, our progressive and anti-Church assist-
ant, replied sagely that this was because the
cabildo had been abolished.

On the evening of December 24, candles are
burned at night before the image in the house
of the carguero, and he, his family and rela-
tives, and the dancers and their relatives sit up
with the image but do not participate in other
activities of the mayordomo. The wandnées
are also present. All are given food by the

mayordomo in the late afternoon before dark. .

About midnight the image is taken to visit the
image of the Child Christ in church and a Mass
is held at the expense of the carguero, who also
provides special candles for the occasion. The
image in the church is put in a reclining posi-
tion in a crib where it remains until January 1.

After the Mass, whch does not end until
nearly morning, the men go home, but return
at an early hour to the house of the carguero
for breakfast. The women remain in the
carguero’s house, assisting in preparing the
meals for the dancers. After breakfast the men
either return home or accompany the carguero
as he eares for the dancers who now go out to
dance in various houses. The dancers perform
the days of the 25th, 26th, and 27th. During
this time food is provided for them and many
people assist in the food preparations. The
dancers provide their own costumes for this
affair, but the music, a band of wind instru-
ments, is hired by the carguero. At the houses
where the dancers perform they are given gifts
of fruits and things that children would like
(because it is a fiesta of the Child Christ).

In addition to the negrito and pastorela
dances connected with the December 25 events,
three other groups of dancers sometimes appear,
the melebris. Neither they nor the pastorela
are connected with the mayordomia. They are
discussed in connection with the dances.

The expenses of this mayordomia are between
$500 and $700. Music is hired for a week (for
part of the practice as well as for the dancing),
an expense of about $200. One or two beeves
usually are killed and about three fattened
pigs. As much as 15 fanegas of maize may
be consumed. Quantities of bread are also
purchased, and charanda forms a considerable

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

item of expense also. A midnight Mass and
candles are paid for, as well as the dance
instructor. Special foods are also prepared
at this time, for example, mole de pepita de
calabaza molida, mole of ground squash seeds,
a very rich food prepared only on this occasion
(see recipes, p, 53).

MAYORDOMIA OF SANTA NIEVES

Santa Nieves, or the Virgin de las Nieves
(Virgin of the Snows), was evidently once the
Virgin associated with the hospital. The
carguero in 1940, as was the case with the
carguero of the Child Christ, had taken the post
“for pleasure.”

The carguero receives the saint August 5.
He takes it to his home and places it in a
specially prepared place. On the day of the
saint, August 5, he is supposed to arrange a
dance, the caballita uardriéa, dance of the little
horses, and to provide a band. This was not
done in 1940 because of the quarrel over the
cabildo. The dancers perform on this one day
only, visiting the houses of the cabildo. The
carguero pays for a Mass in church to which
he takes the image of the saint. The image
is left in church for the new carguero.

MAYORDOMIA OF GUADALUPE

The mayordomia of the Virgin of Guadalupe
on December 12 is also a fiesta of the cabildo.
The carguero gives food to his relatives in his
house and they help him to decorate the church.
The image of the Virgin is taken to church for
the Mass and is left there for the new carguero.
A long Mass is held. In 1940 there were three
priests and the cost was $60. Eighteen large
candles were provided, each with bows of red,
green, and white made out of tin (because of a
shortage, four candles had paper ornaments).
The candles are carried to church in procession
by the helpers (relatives) of the carguero.
Behind is carried the Virgin’s image, followed
by the carguero and his wife. A dance is
supposed to be held, but it was omitted in 1940.

MAYORDOMIA OF SAN ISIDRO

The mayordomia of San Isidro is also con-
nected with the cabildo. The date of the
mayordomia is May 15. Information of this
mayordomia was obtained from the carguero’s

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 139

wife, who was very suspicious and possibly
ignorant. Consequently it is not wholly satis-
factory.

The saint is the patron of those who cultivate
the ground with oxen, but there is no evidence
that only cultivators assume this mayordomia.
The carguero pays for a Mass and probably for
candles. Usually the relatives of the carguero
and his wife are invited to eat at the house,
but this is not obligatory and may be omitted
if the carguero cannot afford it (the carguero
in 1940 was obviously very poor). If the rela-
tives are invited, the wife’s female relatives
aid in preparing the food. The saint’s image
is taken to church before the Mass and remains
in church until the fiesta of Corpus, when it is
removed by the new carguero.’ The carguero
in 1940 had taken the saint because of a vow,
but the wife said she did not know what the
vow was.

MAYORDOMIA OF SAN JOSE

San José is a patron of the shake makers and
the plank makers. The carguero is usually of
one of these occupations. He begins his service
on the saint’s day, March 19. At the fiesta of
Corpus he takes the image to church and pays
for candles. He also provides meals for the
commissioners and musicians of the wood-
workers at the fiesta (for the entire fiesta
according to one informant, but this contra-
dicts other information given in connection
with the Corpus fiesta). In the following year
on March 19 the carguero pays for a Mass,
candles, and cohetes, taking the saint’s image
to the church where it is left for the new
carguero. On the 19th, if the carguwero wishes,
he may invite his relatives to the house for food
and have music, but this it not obligatory.

MAYORDOMIA OF SANTA INEZ

Santa Inéz, also a saint of the cabildo, is
regarded as one of the virgins. She is patron
of cattle and pigs. Formerly there were cows
belonging to this saint, but they were lost.
About 15 years ago a cow was presented to the
saint. Now she possesses two cows, two bulls,
and two young steers. The carguero looks
after these animals. He may use the milk
from the cows, but he is not supposed to sell
any of the cattle.

The saint’s image in this case was kept with
special elegance in a large case with glass on
the front and sides. Inside the box were small
images of a cow, a steer, and a pig on the left
side. The box stood on a table decorated with
paper flowers and supporting an _ incense
burner, a basket of copal gum, and a candle.
The table in turn rested on a mat on the floor.
The wall behind the box was decorated with
colored papers and chains and paper cut-outs.

The new carguero receives the image of the
saint on April 21. On Corpus the image is
taken to church (and probably candles are
burned). At the end of the year, on the fol-
lowing April 21, the relatives of the carguero
visit him. He has musicians and food for
them. The saint’s image is taken to church
for a Mass paid for by the carguero (probably
with candles). Some cargueros, when they
receive the image, give it a new outfit of cloth-
ing. The image is large and one of the best-
dressed in Cheran. The dress is white with a
blue cape. A gilt crown is on the head and
a necklace of the red glass beads prized by
Tarascan women is about the neck. The altar
is decorated with many flowers and aromatic
herbs.

MAYORDOMIA OF SAN RAFAEL

The mayordomia of San Rafael is not con-
nected with the cabildo. The saint is patron
of the merchants, and apparently the mayor-
domia is administered by a principal or princi-
pals selected by the merchants. The principals
decide who shall receive the mayordomia and
pay an occasional visit to the carguero’s house
to see that all is kept in proper order. This
seems to be the regular arrangement for all the
independent saints connected with mayor-
domias, although specific information is lacking
for some of them.

As patron of the merchants, the image of
San Rafael carries a fish under the left arm
and in his right hand bears a staff (actually
a shepherd’s crook). About his neck is a neck-
lace of sea sheels. In front of the altar are
hung other sea shells and miniature fire fans,
clay fruits, etc. The house and altar are well
decorated with paper flowers and colored
papers. Before the altar are candles and an
incense burner. The merchants visit the

140 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

saint’s image and burn a candle before setting
out on a journey.

The new carguero takes charge of the image
the day before Corpus. He goes to the house
of the old carguero, secures the image, and
takes it tochurch. There it remains in a “box”
during the week-long festivities of Corpus.
On Monday afternoon of Corpus the musicians
of the merchants come to the house of the
carguero and make it their headquarters during
the fiesta until Saturday noon. The musicians,
the commissioners, and whatever people attach
themselves to the group, breakfast and dine at
the house of the carguero during the fiesta. If
he cannot afford this, the commissioners provide
the meals, three or four cooperating in provid-
ing each meal. The musicians of this group also
greet the honey gatherers when they return
from their stay in the woods collecting honey-
combs for the fiesta (on Friday, according to
the carguero; Tuesday, according to all others).

The day of the saint is October 24. The
carguero pays for a Mass (and presumably
candles). In 1940 the Mass was delayed be-
cause the priest was too busy and was out of
town frequently.

The carguero ordinarily is a merchant, but
in 1940 he was a fireworks maker. Because he
traveled from town to town, the principals had
decided he could qualify as carguero when he
asked for the mayordomia. The carguero
sought the responsibility “for pleasure” and not
because of any vow. Incidentally, he is a
native of Pichataro and speaks very little
Spanish. His wife speaks even less. Perhaps
because of this origin they were much the most
open and cordial of the cargueros.**

MAYORDOMIA OF SAN ANTONIO

San Antonio is patron of the muleteers, the
arrieros. The new carguero receives the image
on June 13, the day of the saint, and takes it to

“Those desiring the mayordomta of San Rafael apply to the
principal. The holder of this office in 1940 had occupied it for
18 years, although he had several times tried to resign. Occasion-
ally he calls meetings of the merchants to discuss some expense
relative to the saint, such as new garments or altar table. Some-
times money is collected in the meeting in advance for such
expenditures. On other occasions the principal spends money out
of his pocket and takes up a collection at the meeting to reimburse
himself. According to this principal, the new carguero goes to the
priest during Corpus for benediction. Probably this is true of the
other mayordomias but the point was not investigated.

his house. On Corpus he carries the image to
church and spends money for candles. If he
wishes he may have a fiesta with music and
food at his house, but this is not obligatory.

A few notes on the history of San Antonio,
obtained from one of the principals, are of
interest. The original image was burned at
the time the town was destroyed during the
revolution. For a number of years the mayor-
domia was in abeyance. About a dozen years
before the study, a young man in the house, a
traveler, expressed an interest in having the
saint. The principal borrowed a saint from
somewhere, and they kept it in the house. The
muleteers talked a good deal about the matter,
but did nothing. Finally the principal placed
an order for a new image. A principal of the
old image of the saint, which had been de-
stroyed, assisted, as he knew about such things,
and solicited alms from the muleteers. In
about 2 years they got the new image of the
saint and then informed the priest. He came
to the house to see it and commended them.
Then he said they should seek godfathers for
the image and have it blessed. This was done,
and thus the mayordomia was revived. The
old principal, the informant, and one other who
had recently died had been the principals ever
since. Persons wishing the mayordomia had
to ask them for it. If more than one person
asked, they were given it in order.

Although San Antonio is the patron of the
muleteers, they do not visit the image before
going on journeys. Persons not muleteers may
also receive this mayordomia. In fact, the
principal who served as informant is a mason
who interested himself in the saint because of
the youth living in his house (possibly his son,
although he carefully avoided any suggestion
of relationship).

Some persons not muleteers also make vows
to the saint. The same informant cited the
case of aman named Antonio who made a vow
to take the mayordomia when there was an
epidemic killing many pigs in Cheran. None
of Don Antonio’s pigs died. He sought the
mayordomia and received it. Ever since, he
fattens and kills a pig every year, sells the lard,
and buys something for the saint with the
proceeds.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 141

THE MAYORDOMIAS OF SAN ANSELMO

There are two mayordomias of San Anselmo,
each with its saint’s image. Both belong to the
honey gatherers, the panaleros, and there is a
certain amount of cooperation between the two
cargueros. For example, they share the cost
of the Mass on the saint’s day. One of the
mayordomias is always in barrio III or IV, the
upper barrios, while the second is always in
the lower barrios, that is, I and II. It is
said that oniy honey gatherers can receive the
mayordomias. Although honey gatherers ap-
parently are not numerous, there are a good
many men who occasionally follow the oecupa-
tion. As it is highly dangerous, the aid of the
saint is felt important and there usually are
numerous persons willing to accept the mayor-
domia, especially as it is not a very expensive
one.

The new carguero receives the saint at the
church 8 days after the fiesta of Corpus. The
new carguero presents the saint with a hat,
blanket, palm fiber raincoat, and other minia-
ture items. As the saint’s image is small,
everything connected with it is small. On
April 22 the two cargueros jointly pay for a
Mass, but it is said not to be such an important
Mass as for other saints. The Mass follows
that of Santa Inéz on April 21; it is said that
as the mayordomias of this saint follow after
Santa Inez, one should not spend as much as is
spent for Santa Inéz. San Anselmo is more
humble. The giving of a fiesta in the house on
the saint’s day is optional with the carguero.

Eight days before Corpus both images of
the saint are taken to the mountains when the
honey gatherers go out to seek honeycombs
for the fiesta. The two images are taken to
different places, and the men from the different
barrios accompany the associated saint’s image.
The carguero supplies large quantities of
charanda on this occasion. The men get drunk
and dance every afternoon to guitar music. On
Tuesday of Corpus the images are taken to
church and left there until taken by the new
cargueros.

The choice of the new cargueros is made by
the priest from lists provided by the principals.
According to the carguero for the two lower
barrios in 1940, four principals named by the

honey gatherers determine the list of candidates
for the mayordomia at a meeting before Corpus.
For the upper two barrios, only one principal
was mentioned. In this case the principal was
interviewed and asserted that all candidates
for the mayordomia applied to him. The
real carguero in the lower barrios in 1940
was the 4-year-old son of the household, accord-
ing to his father. The mayordomia was sought
beeause the boy was not growing normally.

On some occasions the principals of the lower
barrios have some expenses. For example, one
year the box in which the saint’s image is taken
to the mountains was partly burned through an
accident. The principals ordered a new box
at their expense.

MAYORDOMIA OF THE THREE KINGS

The mayordomia of the Three Kings, Los
Treyes Reyes, is celebrated on January 6, the
new carguero taking the images the following
day. The mayordomia is relatively new, and
the present images were secured in 1940. The
previous images were small and provisional.
The carguero in 1940 had held the mayordomia
of the Holy Child the previous year. In both
cases the mayordomia was sought to aid the
health of a sickly child. In addition, the
parents had vowed the child to perform in the
dance of the viejos every year.

It is obvious that the carguero in 1940 was
well-to-do to be able to take two mayordomias
on 2 successive years. Moreover, he introduced
an innovation by taking over all the expenses
of the dancers who perform in connection with
the Day of the Kings. Previously the dance
group had been entirely independent of the
mayordomia, raising their own money for ex-
penses and music.

The expenses of the carguero in 1940 were
secured in some detail. They are as follows:

Musiciansy aaa ave stas fs ces $ 70.00
1 pig butchered (estimate) 25.00
1 ox butchered (estimate) 60.00
22 fanegus of maize at

Sup tor4i00 2. Samael : 80.00
40 sugar canes and 40 oranges

for dancers ...... ee ee 2.00
Bread for all (about 200 guests)

at end of dance; three breakfasts

FOL AANCETS s sic. < 6 eyes etd ied were diay 10.00

142

3 liters milk daily )
25 tablets chocolate daily

|
8 or 4 centavos of bread each . 15.00
daily |
Three breakfasts for musicians J
2 kilos of sugar............... -70
8 bottles aleohol (estimate)... . 3.00
Coffee for musicians (estimate) 1.00
Gta ae neiane: Sig ie erie nee $266.70

Ordinarily the new carguero seeks the mayor-
domia from the principals. The carguero in
1940 had some doubts as to what would be done
because of the insistence of their priest that
mayordomias should in future be asked of him.
On the other hand, the principals had no doubt
that the mayordomia was their special property.

The mayordomia of the Three Kings was
definitely a new departure in Cherdn. The
dance group apparently had performed for
many years.

According to the three principals, whom by
good luck it was possible to interview together,
until a few years ago only a group of dancers
performed on the Day of Kings. The dancers
were not organized but each year a group of
volunteer performers got together informally.
There were images of the Three Kings in
church, but none were taken to private houses.
One time the three principals were talking about
the dance when “God sent them the idea” of
creating a mayordomia. From some 15 or 18
others they collected some money. The princi-
pals, however, put in a good deal more than the
others. Then they started with the three small
images which one of them had in his house, in
the meantime ordering the new images. One
of the principals received the mayordomia first.
The carguero in 1940 was the third and those
for the following 2 years had already been
appointed.

With regard to the position of the priest, the
principals remarked that the saints belonged to
them and neither the cabildo nor the priest nor
anyone else had anything to say about the
images. However, the priest, according to the
principals, accepted this situation, for he had
no cause to be angry with them.

MAYORDOMIA OF SANTA CECILIA

Very few data were collected concerning this
mayordomia which was not discovered until

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

shortly before the close of the study. (It is’
quite probable that two or three mayordomias
exist in Cheran which were not discovered at
all; no one in the town appears to know all of
them.) Santa Cecilia is patroness of the
musicians, and the carguero is always a musi-
cian. In 1940 no one wished to “take the
saint,” so the image remained in the same
house, a nephew of the former carguero who
lived in the house taking the responsibility.
The musicians all gather at the house of the
carguero and play all day. (This is how the
mayordomia was discovered; however, no out-
siders were invited in, despite the most obvious
hints.)

THE MIRACULOUS HOLY CHILD

This saint, El] Milagroso Santo Nifo, is not
properly to be included among the mayor-
domias, as it is the property of a single family
and does not circulate among other households.
According to the story told by the owners, the
saint was found by the man of the family some
18 years before, while he was cutting wheat
below the town. Tiring, he sat down, and while
picking idly at the dirt with his sickle he
uncovered the image. He had the image fixed
up (at present it looks entirely like the other
saint’s images with respect to the technique and
painting). With the aid of others, a chapel
was then built for the saint in the yard of the
house. When the image was found it was only
about 30 em. high. It is claimed that it has
grown steadily until it is now between 70 and
80 cm.

The saint first became known as a miraculous
saint when a man from the ranchos (a group
of small Mestizo settlements on the boundaries
of Cheran in the mountains) cut his foot while
alone in the woods. As he was bleeding to
death, he recalled the saint, of which he had
heard, and vowed to take it to his rancho
accompanied by dancers. The bleeding stopped
and he recovered.

Keeping his vow, the Mestizo brought dancers
to Cheran and took the saint to the rancho.
There other miracles occurred. For example,
a child who could not walk and who was dumb
had the crown of the saint put on him; he now
walks and talks very well.

As a result of these experiences, the people

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

from the ranchos came every year with dancers.
They spent 3 days in Cheran, dancing in the
church and in the municipal building. Then
they took the saint to the ranchos and it often
was kept there many months. In 1940 the
owners decided not to let the saint go any more
because they wished to have it with them “as
we have lost much time with it.”

COMPARATIVE NOTES

Material collected from other towns suggests
that other types of mayordomia organization
exist. In Angahuan, Rendén found an elabo-
rate hierarchy of officials, evidently correspond-
ing to the cabildo and the associated organiza-
tion at Cheran. In Angahuan, according to
Rendon, the officials are ranked as follows:
Alcalde, regidor, kambiti, petajpe and biskal,
mayores, kiéni, anyitakua.

In addition, there is a group of elderly men,
corresponding to the Cheran cabildo, who are
known as tarénpenya. These are men who
have served the above offices or part of them.

The alcalde and regidor correspond to the
prioste-colector positions in Cheran apparently.
Thealcaldeisin charge of the church for 1 year.
During this time he has to hold six fiestas.
The first is at New Year’s, when he receives
his post and when he must provide food and
aguardiente. The second is carnival, when he
is aided in the expenses by the “‘cabildo”’ (it
is not clear from Rendén’s notes whether this
means the same as it does in Cherdn). The
third is the day of the Holy Cross when he
must pay for two bands and there is the dance
of the moors and soldiers. The alcalde pro-
vides food for the dancers. The latter dance
in the houses of various functionaries. The
fourth fiesta is Corpus, at which time all the
members of the different occupations take
miniatures of their products and dance with
them before the church and also perform their
offices. The fifth fiesta is that of Santiago
(the patron saint), when there is music,
dancers, and also bull riding. For this fiesta
the alcalde pays for the Masses and gives food
to the dancers. The final fiesta is the day on
which the alcalde is chosen by the elders.

The regidor is the helper of the alcalde and
aids him in every way possible. The relatives
of the alcalde also assist him with food.

145

The duties of the kambiti are to pay the ex-
penses of the Holy Week festivities and to deco-
rate the front of the main altar with fruits from
the hot country, such as bananas, watermelons,
mameys, coconuts, mangoes, and sugarcane.
The fruits are suspended in small nets or are
perforated and hung from strings. The cere-
mony is called uirimutakua, which means ‘‘to
adorn the front of something.”

On Holy Saturday the young people of the
town divide in two groups and go through the
town, the girls carrying an image of Mary
Magdalene, the men one of Saint Joseph.
At strategic points the two groups meet and
have races with the images. Certain young
girls also place themselves at the door of the
church during Holy Week and offer the re-
freshments known as é¢arapes to all comers.
These girls must change the flowers on the
altars during the ensuing year and are known
as cAcAki ja¢irati. All these ceremonies are
regulated by the kambiti.

The petdjpe gathers the young men at his
house in February and feeds them “esquite,”
of the type known as kanita takunji. At this
time he announces the date for cleaning the
spring from which the town gets its water.
The day the spring is cleaned, the petajpe pro-
vides music and rice, beans, and pork for the
helpers at his house. At the spring, many
families go along and take picnic food, singing
and enjoying themselves while the young men
clean the spring. When the spring is cleaned,
they carry ollas of water to their houses, using
it as drinking water in preference to water
from the pipes until it is gone.

There are no data on the office of biskal.
Rendon’s notes suggest that the offices of
petajpe and biskal are the same.

To reach the office of mayor, one must give a
fiesta to the patron saint and appear as a moro
dancer. The moros dance on December 25 and
26 in the houses of the elders. On the 24th
they worship in the church. Mayores must aid
their superiors with firewood and their wives
grind and carry water when the alcalde or
kambiti or petajpe hold a fiesta.

The kiéyi has similar duties to the kéyi of
Cherdn. He is entrusted with the care of the
church and follows the orders of the alcalde
in cleaning and adorning the structure. He

144 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

has under his orders the anyitakuas or
“semaneros.”

The latter are those in charge each week of
the hospital or yuriso. This duty rotates by
street blocks. Each week seven or eight fami-
lies must go to a house beside the church and
one of the group prepares food for the re-
mainder and for any sick persons in the town.
This service occurs about every 3 months.
Those whose service occurs the first 2 weeks
in December must provide a group of pastorela
dancers; those whose service is the second 2
weeks must provide a competing group. The
dancers perform December 24, 25, 26, and 31.
Dances of the “little old men,” viejitos, are asso-
ciated with the pastorelas.

See Appendix 2 for further comparative data.

DANCES

The dances performed at Cheradn are all
associated with some religious festival. Or-
ganization of the majority of them is part of
the duties of the mayordomo, although the
mvoros are connected with the fiesta, while a
number of unorganized independent dances are
given around December 25. At least three of
the dances have spoken parts and are essentially
dramatic performances. All center around the
birth of Christ, December 25, and the visit of
the Three Kings, January 6. The greatest
public interest, however, seems to attach to the
dance of the moros, connected with the fiesta
of the patron saint. Participation in dances is
voluntary, although vows may be taken by an
individual, or a child may be promised to a
dance by its parents.

THE MOROS

The dance of the moros (Moors) is wide-
spread among the Tarascan towns and generally
appears to be associated with the fiesta of the
patron saint. Usually only four dancers
appear. In Cheran, commissioners are named,
each seeking a dancer and providing the cos-
tume and the horse ridden by the moro part of
the time. Good horses are sought and one that
will “dance” to the music is especially desirable.

The moros wear a pair of trousers extending
part way down the calf of the leg and slashed
to the knee on the outside. These trousers
are usually of velvet with rich decoration in

gold braid and ornaments. Underneath is
worn an ordinary pair of cotton calzones. The
lower part of the legs is wrapped in cloth to
represent leggings. A richly decorated velvet
cape is worn over the shoulders, with gold
braid and fringe about the edges and gilt orna-
ments and often small mirrors scattered pro-
fusely over the rest of the cape. Underneath
is worn a bright-colored rayon shirt.

The headdress is a complicated crown of
split cane with a number of upright pieces a
foot or more in height. The crown and up-
rights are decorated in brightly colored papers,
feathers, and bright ornaments, including small
mirrors. The face is almost covered with a
bright rayon kerchief. Shoes are worn. A
pair of spurs, with very large metal disks in
place of the rowels, completes the costume.
The trousers, cape, and headdress are usually
rented for the occasion by the commissioner.
The rest of the costume is purchased and pre-
sented to the dancer by the commissioner.

The moros parade about on their horses a
good deal and also dance, especially at the
stores and cantinas, where they are given small
presents, cookies, cigarettes, money, or drinks.
They usually dance singly or in pairs. The
steps are simple shuffling steps designed to give
as many opportunities to clash the spurs to-
gether as possible. The figures of the dance
are not well defined but appear related to
European country dances. Realizing from pre-
vious experience that without skill in chore-
graphic description (and being unable to
witness the dances closely), attempts to record
steps and figures are of little value, the writer
made no effort to secure details.

THE NEGRITOS

The negritos, turi‘a, appear in connection
with the mayordomia of the Holy Child, Decem-
ber 25. The brothers and relatives of the
carguero invite people to dance. Persons who
accept give a promise and have to appear.
Thirty to thirty-five unmarried young men or
boys are sought, “alert people, good learners,
who can read.” Also, anyone who wishes may
volunteer. In addition to the young men, four
little girls participate. Each dancer picks a
godmother, who is known as the koroniée.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

Usually the dancer picks one of his existing
godmothers whom he likes. The godmother
dresses the dancer and takes care of his cos-
tume, keeping it in her house at night.

The negritos wear a regular “citified,” catrin
costume, that is, dark-colored trousers and a
woolen sack coat and shoes. They wear a
black wooden mask but with European type
features. The mask is decorated with many
silk ribbons fastened to the top of the mask and
hanging down over the head and nearly to the
ground behind the dancer. The ribbons are
about 2 inches wide and are of many colors.
As they are 7 meters long, each ribbon is looped
down and back two or three times. There is
some competition among the dancers to have
the most ribbons, and wealthy young men may
wear as many as 24. “Earrings” are suspended
from the ears, and a number of strings of
beads are worn. Gloves are worn (pl. 6, lower
left).

Ga ee NS
4

P EIS eo |C—P

Po cere «=P

A 7

SS Se

FIGURE 16.—Figures executed in the negrito dance,

The costume is provided by the dancer.
Part is rented and part is purchased. In the
case of one negrito dancer in 1940, the follow-
ing expense was involved:

Mask (rent) ; $0.50
Ribbons (rent) . 8.50
Suit (rent) .. 6.00
Shirt (purchase) : 5.00
Shoes (purchase) 9.50
Necktie (rent) .- : .50

Oud eee ee et sc, ee $30.00

The negrito dance, properly speaking, is not
a dance at all. The group recites a relato or
relation of some length, sings several songs,
and walks through a number of not very com-
plicated figures. Ordinarily, they are in two
files, with one of the little girls at each end.
From time to time, the two files will march
forward or backward or each file will walk in
a circle or one file will make a circle about the

145

other (fig. 16). Occasionally each pair of
negritos will walk to the head of the line and
back while the two recite their part of the
relato.

The teaching of the relato and of the dance
is done by a specialist hired for the occasion by
the carguero. The best-known specialist is
Gregorio Castillo, although he was not hired in
1940. Castillo also teaches the dance of the
viejos, Europeos or Espanoles, as he prefers to
call it, and was hired to teach the group in 1941.
He had been teaching the dances for 28 years
(in 1940). His relatos he wrote himself. He
secured many relatos locally and also sent to
Mexico City and Guadalajara for others, but
he liked none of them. (But several people
said they were very tired of Castillo’s relatos,
which have been the same for 20 years and
which they felt were not very good anyway.)
Castillo feels that the negrito dance is espe-
cially fine and that the negritos of Cheran are

Ns nde Damme re Oe Beak ae
arena REE : - er sort ye
é A A

oe, ep Set,

P indicates pastores.

superior to any he has seen in other towns.
The only time he admits having seen a better
dance than that of Cheran was once when
Aranza borrowed his relato and had especially
elaborate costumes. Nahuatzen negritos have
a better dress than those of Cheran, but they
are no longer trained.

Castillo, perhaps because it is not in his field,
believes the pastorela to be a very inferior per-
formance. It is, he says, merely a lot of
children dressed up prettily but knowing
neither their lines nor their dance. The
negrito, on the other hand, is a nice clear relato,
all divided into acts, and the performers are old
enough to learn their parts.

Castillo’s relatos are, naturally, part of his
stock in trade. While he was cooperative and
willing to permit them to be copied, he would
do so only at a price commensurate with their
value to him. This price seemed more than
they would be worth as documents, particularly

146 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

as it is evident that they contain much literary
echo and perhaps are almost entirely derived
from literary sources. As considerable por-
tions of the relatos were secured from Agustin
Rangel, assistant on the project, who partici-
pated in both dances in 1940-41, it was felt the
expense of securing the complete relatos was
not warranted.

The following is the relato of Agustin
Rangel for the negrito dance (spelling as given,
but punctuation added) :

First act: Music, followed by a song

Tu tienes! oh! Nino, las adelfas y las Rosas,
Aun en boton, con purpura brillante.

Las Azucenas puras y olorosas

Colores en su tallo vacilante,

Las amapolas frescas y pomposas,

Se Abren, Sefor, bajo tu mano amante.

Y del tomillo en las pequenas ramas
Mil flores hermosisimas derramas.

Second act: Music, followed by a song
Second caminata, or walking figure

(during which several speak; Agustin’s
part is as follows:)

Bellisimo Nino de amor y de ternura,

Divina criatura,

Te doy mi carifo..

(Second speaking part:)

Haces crecer el Cedro en las montafas

Y el sauce a la orrilla del torrente,

Do nacen los helechos y las canas

Y las yervas mil en la estacién ardiente

De la tierra fecundas las Entrafas

Con el Calor y el agua dulcemente

Y asi los campos de verdor revistas

Tornando alegres los que fueron tristes.

Third act: Music, followed by a song

Con gusto y con amor a ofrecer passemos
Felices ya seremos nacido el Salvador.

(The following is sung as they pretend to make offer-
ings):
Ante tus plantas postrado
Te ofrece aqui este negrito
Recibe me nifio amado
Este fino Silloncito.

Fourth act: A dance

Fifth act: Music, followed by a song and the “farewell”

Adios, Nino Santo,
Con suelo y amor;
Escucha mi canto
Nino Salvador.
Benedice toditos,

Divino Creador.
Se van los negritos
Y evan tu amor.

TRANSLATION LINE BY LINE

Thou hast, oh Child, the rosebays and the roses,
Still in bud with brilliant purple.

The white lilies, pure and fragrant,

Colors in their waving stems,

The calm and pompous poppies,

They open, Lord, beneath Thy loving hand.
And from the small branches of the thyme
Seatterest Thou a thousand beautiful blossoms.

Act 2

Lovely Child of love and of tenderness,

Divine creature,

I give you my love.

Thou causest the cedar in the mountains to grow,
And the willow at the brink of the torrent,
Where the bracken and the canes grow,

And the thousand herbs of the warm season,
From the entrails of the fecund earth

With the heat and the sweet water,

And thus the fields you dress anew with verdure,
Turning gay those who were sad.

Act 3

With pleasure and with love we go to make
offerings,

Happy that now the Savior has been born fer us.

Prostrate before your feet

This negrito offers Thee,

Receive from me, beloved Child,

This fine little saddle.

Act 5

Farewell, Holy Child,
Comfort and love,

Hear my song,

Child Savior.

Bless everyone,

Divine Creator.

The negritos go

And take with them your love.

Fragments of other relatos remembered by
Agustin are the following (given in English) :
The Holy Child is born in a beautiful arcade in
Bethlehem.
I have come to see your birth and to adore Thee.

Guided by a star, the negritos have come to
witness the birth.

(Following this each told where he came from and
the gift he brought: A little burro, a horse, a saddle,
a dog, and different playthings.)

The main part of the relato is recited by a
person known as el letra and another called
el segundo. These two stand at the head of the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

two files, except for the little girls at that end of
the lines. When the recitation begins, el
letra steps forward alone and recites his part,
returning to his place when finished. There is
then a caminata, the files walking in a circle.
El segundo then does the same, followed by a
caminata.

The negrito dancers begin to learn their parts
about a month before December 25. For
several evenings before the date they meet in
the house of the carguero and rehearse. The
procedures beginning the night of December
24 are described as follows in an account
written by Agustin Rangel:

The negritos started to dance about 9:00 p.m. at the
carguero’s house. There were lots of people and about
10:30 the candlemaker came to sell candles. The
negritos finished dancing about 10:30 p.m. Then they
were given supper and they sat around for a while.
They were waiting for the bell to ring from the church.
The bells were supposed to ring three times, first for
the Holy Child to start for the church, second when the
Holy Child was supposed to be half way from the
carguero’s house and the church, and third, when the
Holy Child was at the door of the church to be blessed
before going inside the church. There was a 12 a.m.
Mass. The priest of the church came over to the
carguero’s house before the Holy Child left the house.
The priest went with the Holy Child up to the church
where he blessed the Holy Child before going inside
the church. Lots of people went to the 12 a.m. Mass.
[Note: There were several hundred persons in the
procession, all with candles. The streets and houses
were all lit up by the candles. In some towns it is
said that pitch pine torches are carried and give even
more light.]

December 25. Today the negritos started to dance
about 9 o’clock in the morning. First they went to
Mass and there they danced after the Mass. Then they
came to the carguero’s house to eat dinner. After din-
ner they went to church again to visit the Holy Child.
Then they went home again to the carguero’s house
where they danced again. Then they went to the night
Mass. After the night Mass they went inside the patio
of the priest’s house and danced before him. After
they finished dancing, they danced in front of the
municipal building before the mayor and _ officials.
After they finished dancing there they went to the
carguero’s house to eat supper. They ate supper and
every one of the negritos was free to go home.

December 26. Today the negritos started to dance
first at the carguero’s house after they had eaten break-
fast. After they finished dancing at the carguero’s
house, they went to the Calvary, where they danced.
After they finished there they went to Paricutin
(barrio IV) where they danced at a house. I don’t
know what saint is there. Then they went to the house

147

of the carguero of the Three Kings, where they danced
in the afternoon. Then they went to eat at the
carguero’s house. After they finished eating dinner,
they danced and then went to the house of the new
carguero for the Holy Child where they danced until
the evening. Then they came back to the carguero’s
house to eat supper. Then they separated after supper.

December 27. This morning they danced at the
carguero’s house and then they went to the house of
the carguero of San Isidro. From there they went to
the house of [the carguero of] San Rafael. Then they
went to the carguero’s house for dinner, after which
they danced. From there they went to the priest’s
house where they danced in front of the priest. Then
they danced in front of Don Emilio’s store where they
were given fruit.

UNORGANIZED CHRISTMAS DANCES

A number of dance groups often appear at or
before Christmas. Collectively they are known
as the melebris, the masqueraders. Formerly,
they appeared about 10 days before Christmas
Eve and then appeared every third night until
December 24. Of recent years they have been
forbidden because the various groups often
arrived at the same house and then they would
fight. In 1940 a few masqueraders were out
but they went mainly to houses in their own
barrio for fear the police might catch them.

Three types of dancers appear. First are
the ¢urikua anapu tusiéa or sakié, “the negroes
who go out at night.”” This group wears ordi-
nary clothing but with the crown of the hat
decorated with cut papers representing ribbons
streaming out behind. Dancers of this group
also wear paper ornaments on the front and
back of their clothing. They have guitar and
drum music and dance a zapateada, that is, a
sort of jarabe tapatio dance.

The second group is the t‘aié aririéa, the
dancing old men. The word “asi” also means a
person who talks too much and who certainly
does not speak the truth. This group dresses
like old men; the members wear a long over-
coat and a black wooden mask with the beard
represented. The masks are similar to those
worn by the negroes of Uruapan. Some of the
dancers are also dressed as women. They have
five or six stringed instruments. No data were
collected on the type of dance.

The third group is the apaéiéa or the salvajes
or negritos salvajes (Apaches, savages, or negro
savages). They paint their faces to resemble
the negrito masks but wear no masks. Rooster

148 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

feathers are stuck in their hair, and they carry
bows and arrows. Their dance is purely leap-
ing about. They form a circle, leap about,
shout, and make gestures with their bows and
arrows. They never speak but make a sort of
buzzing noise and make signs with an arrow to
indicate what they want. They have guitar
and drum music.

The three groups are said to signify that
when the Christ Child was born, there appeared
a star and various persons had to follow the
star, performing their dances in various places.
The three dances represent those of the tribes
of the Three Kings who went in search of the
Child. The Apaches were the last and were
the most savage.

The various groups (and more than one
group may appear for each dance) go about to
various houses where there are unmarried girls
or girls approaching marriageable age, and
especially to houses where one of the boys has
a sweetheart. Usually the girl is warned in
advance (through the agency of some small
boy) if she is to be visited. She prepares
presents of balls of pinole and brown sugar,
wrapped in maize husks, often elaborately
painted. Sometimes some of these are made in
the shape of a rooster or some animal. The girl
gives these to the boy who has been courting
her if she favors him, and the plain pinole balls
to the others. They are also often given food.
One of the surreptitious groups in 1940 at a
well-to-do house were given coffee with
charanda in it and boiled squash. When the
dancers first enter the house yard, they shake
hands with the girl. After eating, they dance
a while. Then they say a word of thanks in
Tarascan, shake hands with the girl again, and
leave. “The idea,” said unmarried Agustin,
“is just to touch the girl’s hand and see how
neat her cooking and housework is.” Obviously
the dances are significant parts of the mating
selection, for on almost no other occasion would
a boy have a chance to see how a girl’s house was
run or have a chance to touch her hand openly.

According to one informant, a burlesque of
the Mass is given by the dancers. This was
not verified from any other source. It is the
sort of thing which might sometimes have been
done, but it seems foreign to the main purpose
of the dances.

THE PASTORELA

The pastorela, or dance of the shepherds, is
also performed at Christmas time. The dance
is particularly connected with the cabildo and
with the prioste. The leaders in the dance are
the wandnées, the four girls (six according to
other accounts) who have taken incense and
flowers to the church during the year and per-
formed other services at the church. Gener-
ally they are about 10 years of age. Usually
the girls have been vowed to the service by their
parents as the result of illness or some other
misfortune threatening the child. The time of
the dance is sometimes called the fiesta of
pajacu (meaning not secured).

The wandnées invite a number of other girls
to participate, 12 in all being needed. The
girls invited by the wandnces have no responsi-
bilities other than dancing, but each of the
uananées must feed the group for 1 day. The
uandnées also select adults to represent the
parts of the devil and the hermit and also select
the teacher. The girls (all the expenses, of
course, are borne by their parents) also have
music to accompany the dance.

For the dance the girls are dressed in the
catrin, i.e. “citified,” style, in white dresses with
straw hats adorned with artificial flowers
(actually the style is not citified, but is rural
Mestizo). Owing to the quarrel between the
priest and the cabildo, the pastorela was not
performed in 1940 and the actual dance could
not be observed. A relato (in this case known
as the coloquio) is an important part of the
performance. One of the songs collected (for
the pastorela of Cheranastico) is as follows
(spelling as given) :

A que noche tan cremoza

Ensillad mi buen caballc

Que en Belen nos conbida de Salvador
Muy lejos tieras bengo

Agosar de una pasiada

Con gusta y contento

A juntar mi ganadito.

TRANSLATION

Ah, what a beautiful night.

Saddle my good horse,

For to Bethlehem the Savior invites us.
To very distant lands I will arrive.

I will enjoy a journey,

With pleasure and content

To bring together my cattle.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 149

Usually the pastorela is given the night of
December 24 and for 2 or 3 days afterward.
The dancers perform first between the church
and the municipal building. Then they visit
the houses of the members of the cabildo and
the various cargueros. At the houses they are
usually given some fruit.

In 1940 considerable feeling was engendered
by the collapse of the pastorela, which many
believed to be the pleasantest of the various
dances, the more moralistic because no one
drank in connection with it. Don Inocencio,
the father of the first wanancée, the Sunanda or
pari, wished to give the pastorela so that he
could comply with the promise he had made
when his daughter was sickly as a small child.
He was somewhat incensed because the prioste
had spoken to the other families first and told
them they should not give the dance. When
Don Inocencio visited the other parents he
found them unwilling to go ahead and disgusted
with the whole situation. Mest extreme was
Tomas Hernandez, who said he would not com-
ply with the obligation, even though it should
mean losing the 10 pesos he had advanced on
behalf of the group to bring the band from
Tanaco. Or, he added, he might be willing to
bring the band, but he wouldn’t give the dance;
instead, he would give a big paranda or drink-
ing party for the benefit of themselves and not
for the town.

Don Inocencio expressed great distress at
this attitude. He already had fattened two
pigs and expressed himself frequently as will-
ing to go ahead with the pastorela if others
would help. He appealed to the staff of the
investigation to speak to the mayor, asking him
to compel the other families to comply with
their obligation; or, failing that, for permission
to take up a voluntary collection. Clearly, Don
Inocencio felt that the families of the other
uandnées were taking advantage of the dis-
missal of the cabildo to avoid their just
obligations.

This suspicion of Don Inocencio’s was quite
correct in some cases. One of the other family
heads stated that the dismissal of the cabildo
canceled the obligation. Although his daughter
had become a wandnée in compliance with a
vow, her father announced he would not help
to give the pastorela even though others volun-

tarily contributed to the expenses. One of the
more cynical assistants in the investigation
pointed out that the attitude was quite under-
standable, as the man owed a debt of $160 to a
woman in the town, who was trying to force
him to pay at least half of it.

The father of another of the wandnées stated
that with the dismissal of the prioste the custom
of the pastorela had ended and that it was
unnecessary to continue. Evidently he did not
care for the custom and remarked, “To me it
seems best that they dismissed the prioste.”

Another case is of some interest. Although
the girl was not a wandnée, her parents had
made a vow that she should appear in the
pastorela. The parents made an arrangement
for her to participate in the pastorela of
Cheranastico. The Cherandstico pastorela
evidently is somewhat different from that of
Cheran. The girl would wear a red dress, a
silk handkerchief covering the lower part of
her face, a man’s hat, and shoes and would be
known as a_ rancherita. She would dance
opposite a small boy partner called a ranchero
(rancher). The pastorela of Cheranastico is
performed January 1.

DANCE OF THE VIEJOS OR EUROPEOS

The dance of the viejos or Europeos (old men
or Europeans) appears in connection with the
Three Kings, January 6. Previous to 1940 the
dance had been given by a volunteer group.
In the afternoons, as men lounged about the
streets and talked after work, people would
begin to mention that the time for the dance
was approaching. Eventually a group would
decide that they should organize the dance.
They would collect money among themselves
and others and hire musicians and a teacher.
In 1940, however, the carguero of the Three
Kings, announced that giving the dance was
properly part of the mayordomia and undertook
to organize the dancers, pay the teacher and
musicians, and provide food for the dancers.

The group in 1940 consisted of 30 viejos (but
not all of them appeared all the time), three
kings, and five pastorcitas or shepherdesses.
(There should have been only four shep-
herdesses; we were unable to learn the reason
for the extra one. Possibly someone asked to
participate after the four were chosen or there

150

were reasons why the carguero felt it would be
politic to ask five different families.) The
viejos were mostly young men, but married men
participated ini this dance. They wore vestido
de catrin, “city dress,” including a long black
overcoat for preference, a felt hat with a colored
ribbon for the hat band and artificial flowers
attached, a muffler, a handkerchief about the
head, shoes, and a well-made white wooden
mask with black or golden beard, the features
being very European.

The kings also wore masks; one was white,
one rose-colored, and one black (one of the
images of the Three Kings is also black).
They also wore a long white wig surmounted
by a crown, each one different; a long, inten-
tionally ragged cape of colored material (really
a smock in 1940); petticoats or trousers of
rayon with cotton trousers underneath; rose-
colored cotton stockings; and shoes (although
they could wear huaraches or sandals). The
kings merely sit or stand and do not dance.
The shepherdesses are dressed in the same
fashion as those for the negrito dance.

The dancers provide their own costumes.
The cost of a viejo costume is as follows:

Mask ($1.50 to 2.50, rent;

$5, purchase) . $ 2.50

13 Ch eee aan ms , 2.00
Overcoat....... ie - ee 3.00
Pants and vest eee 2.50
Muffler ...... LAC 1.50
Incarche (hat band?) Srey rat -50
Flowers ....... eae ; 1.50
Shoes....... .. $6.00-$10.00
Shirteecs Seer eieertee peers 5.00
iNeeltic tx. new ce vere -50
Total (with shoes, $25-$29) $19.00

All the items listed above are for rent except
the shirt, which is purchased. If the dancer
had no shoes, he normally bought a pair.

The local masks are expensive and are re-
garded as inferior. Those from Sevina and
Cheranastico are said to be cheaper and better.
The masks of the kings in 1940 were inferior
local products; good masks had been ordered
from Sevina but did not arrive in time.

The early part of the dance is really a recita-
tion. The viejos form in two files, each with a
shepherdess at each end (two at one end in
1940), with the three kings facing the files at

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

one end. First spoke a letra (in 1940 Agustin
Rangel, assistant in the study), who gave an
introduction (see below), walking up and down
between the files and describing the events of
the birth of Christ and the Three Kings. Then
all made a circuit (fig. 17). After this, every-
one (except the Three Kings but including the
shepherdesses) stepped between the lines in

Figure 17.—Dance of the Huropeos, showing various
dance figures. a, Basie position at start of dance
and in which all figures end. 6, Circling movement.
c, Movements of paired dancers, executed by each
pair in turn, reversing the figure to return to their
original position. P indicates the pastores; the
numerals indicate the Three Kings.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

pairs, speaking a relato referring to events that
had happened in those days. Then they sang
a song, making another circuit. After this, the
Three Kings marched between the files to the
opposite end, where they were met by one of
the pairs, the shepherdesses first. The Kings
returned to their position, followed by the pair
of dancers. Each dancer then spoke a brief
verse, telling what he had brought to the Christ
Child. The Kings answered. The others sang
without words during this event except while
the dancers spoke. This was repeated for each
pair of dancers.

A pair of dancers from each end of the line
now passed down the files until they met one
another. Each pair held hands and danced in
a circle, then reversed to the original position.
The pairs then returned to their position and
were followed by the others until all had danced.
The letra then spoke a closing piece, telling
everyone they should be gay. After this, each
pair in succession danced a jarabe between the
files from one end to the other. If a dancer
performed very well and with much spirit, the
others cried out in a falsetto voice. Sometimes
they did this anyway for pleasure.

The relato of the letra or leader in 1940 was
that composed by Gregorio Castillo and went as
follows (spelling and punctuation as given):

No duda, bien lo Sabeis
Mis respetables ancianos;
El 25 del mes,

De Diciembre en la locacion:
Bajo hay del alto cielo,
Han acer en esta suela
Nuestro Dios de predencia.
Al instante los pastores,
Sabidos del gran portento;
Salen preste en el momento,
A visitar el Senor.

Dejando el campo y ganado
Asi como sus cabanas;

Ven por bosques y montanas,
Y con crecido contento,

van a ver el nacimiento

Del Nino Jesus amado.
Cuando contaba ocho dias
De nacido el Nifo Amado
Fue tambien cir convencido
El verdadero mezias.
Compaferos Veteranos,
Recordar el 6 de enero
Fiesta de la epiphania,

Fue de gloria el feliz dia;

596569—46——11

Del bellisimo lucero,
Fue la manifestacion,
Del Nino Dios y Senor;
Por eso con todo amor,
Vamos a su adoracion.

Canto: 1° caminata

Salid presuros,

Las glorias cantandos;
Al Nino en sal sando
Cantos de amor.

1° Relato

Tambien Los Reyes de Oriente,
Manchan en este momento;

De Dios Nifio al Nacimiento,

A ver a mi portente.

Luz de vina los va guindo

Y van a la adoracion,

En tan feliz ocasion,

La gloria le van cantando.

Ofrecimiento—Canto

Pasad al monto,

Con gusto y amor,

Ofrecer al Nino,

Amor y consuelo.

Ofrece

Te veo en humildes pajitas,

Y me postre en el instante,

Yo te adoro Nino Amante,

Y te ofresco estas conchitas.

(Pide el baile al terminar los
ofrecimientos de todos.)

Baile

Pues todos nos complacemos
Yavimos tu Nacimiento

Y Todos con gusto estamos
Porque felices seremos;—
Nino Dios, bello portento,
En grupo todos nos vamos;
Al terminar la Vecita;
Mas en nuestros corazones;
Todos Fidos te llevarnos;
Jamas, jamas nos olvides,
Hoy te dicen toditos,

Hasta el ano Venidero
Mas todos con Alegria
Vimos ya tus Maravillas:
!Oh! Ninito Salvador,
Permitanos gran Senor,
Que con gusta te bailemos
Unos alegres cuadrillas;
En tan felices momentos
Adios digo companeros,
Toquen ya los instrumentos
Y los sones abajemos—

Despues del Canto

151

152

Musica

Ya nos retiremos,
Del lugar Sagrado;
Llovando nos vamos,
!Oh! Jesus amado.

TRANSLATION

Do not doubt it, well you know it,
My respectable ancients,

The 25th of the month

Of December in the location
There below the high heavens
Has been born on this earth

Our Lord who takes precedence.
Instantly the shepherds,

Knowing of the great portent,
Started quickly at that moment
To visit the Lord.

Leaving the fields and the cattle
As well as their cabins;

They went through woods and mountains,
And with growing contentment,
Went to see the birth

Of the beloved Child Jesus.

When eight days were counted
From the birth of the beloved Child,
Likewise were made neighborly
The true union [meaning unclear].
Veteran comrades,

Remember the sixth of January
Feast of the Epiphany,

That happy day was glorious.
From the beautiful morning star
Came the manifestation

Of the Child, God and Lord;

For this with all love

We go to adore Him.

1st walking interval. Song

Go forth hastily
Singing the glories;
To the Child raising
Songs of love.

1st relation

Also the Kings of the East

March at this moment;

Of God the Child at the birthplace
To see my portent.

Divine Light guided them

And they went to the adoration,

On such a happy occasion,

They went singing the glories.

Offering—Song

Pass to the amount [meaning unclear]
With pleasure and love,

Offer to the Child

Love and consolation.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

The Offering

I see Thee on humble straw

And I prostrate myself instantly,

I adore Thee, loving Child,

And I offer Thee these little shells.

(The dance is asked for when the
offerings are ended.)

Dance

Well, we all are pleased,

Now we have seen your birth,

And all are pleased

Because we will be happy.

Child God, beautiful portent,

Together we all go

To put an end to the visit.

Moreover in our hearts

All faithful we carry Thee.

Never, never forget us,

Today all tell Thee,

Until the coming year,

But all with joy,

Now we have seen your marvels;

Oh, little Child Savior,

Permit us great Lord,

That with pleasure we dance for Thee

Some joyous quadrilles.

In such happy moments,

I say “farewell companions.”

Let the instruments play

And the lowland tunes ... [Meaning
not clear—possibly abajenos is meant,
not abajemos, that is, “tunes of the
low country.’’]

After the song, music is played

Now we take ourselves away
From the Sacred place.
Weeping [?] we go,

Oh! beloved Jesus.

The style of delivery of these relatos was
highly declamatory and monotonous. The
words were spoken in a level tone without
inflection or other interpretation of their
meaning.

The sense of a few of the other individual
relatos was secured. One dancer said he was
very old, so old he couldn’t walk on level ground.
If he couldn’t walk on level ground, how was he
going to walk downhill? Nevertheless, he was
going to the place of the Holy Child anyway.
Another said that if he got tired walking, he
would go on his knees to visit the Child, even
though they were scratched. Yet another com-
plained of his high squeaky voice, but even if
his voice gave out, he still would go to the Holy

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 153

Child. The performer with the latter lines
was the only one who managed to make the
crowd laugh. The remainder were greeted in
silence or by asides criticizing their perform-
ance, especially several who had not learned
their lines very well.

The dancers practiced at the house of the
carguero of the Three Kings on Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday. The carguero provided
food for all the performers. The ceremonies
proper began on Sunday in the late afternoon.
The following is the account of the proceedings
as written by Agustin Rangel.

January 5, 1941. On Sunday we started for the
Calvary from the house of the carguero at about 5 p.m.
The Three Kings went on horseback. At the Calvary
the Three Kings took the star (a star on the end of
the pole). The King in the middle took the star and
the Kings on either side took hold of a ribbon tied on
each side. Then we started for the carguero’s house
where we were supposed to take the saint to the church.
At the church we left the saint where a vespers was
given for it. Then we started for the carguero’s house
where we danced. Then supper was served. Before
we left, the carguero told us that on the next morning
we had to be at his house about 6:30 a.m. [Accord-
ing to one informant, customarily the group should have
danced at the church.]

January 6. I arrived at the carguero’s house about
6:00 a.m. After a little, they told me to go around
on some of the streets with the musicians and tell the
other guys to hurry up and get over to the carguero’s
house. When the bell rang for the long Mass we all
left for church. After the long Mass the priest told
us we could not dance until after the Rosary. We then
left for the carguero’s house where we ate breakfast.
After breakfast we danced at the carguero’s house. We
did nothing all day until after the Rosary. We went
to the Rosary; after we came out we danced in the
priest’s house, then we danced in front of the church.
After that we danced in front of the municipal building.
From there we went to the house of the new carguero
of the Holy Child where we danced and we were given
oranges after we danced. Then we went home (to the
carguero’s house) where we danced before eating sup-
per. Then we went home and were told to be at the
carguero’s house about 7:00 a.m.

January 7. On this morning we went to the church
after the Mass. We were to take the Holy Kings to
the house of the new carguero. We started from the
church and we headed for the new carguero’s house where
we arrived and left it [the images] there. They told
us to sit down and we were given atole de cacao (black
atole). We danced before the atole was served and
after that we left for the carguero’s house to eat break-
fast. After breafast we headed for the Calvary where
we danced. Then we headed for Bruno Gaspar’s house

where we danced and were given oranges. We then
went to the house of [the carguero of] San Antonio,
where we danced and were not given anything. From
there we went to the store of Victoriano Turja where
we danced and were given 1 liter of aguardiente. Then
we left for the meat market of one of the cargueros of
the Holy Kings [he means one of the principals], Don
Ygnacio Duran, where we danced and recited the relato,
the whole works, and were given oranges. From there
we left for the house of [the carguero of] Santa Nieves,
where we danced and were given money, 1 centavo
apiece. From there we went to the house [of the
carguero of] Our Lady of Guadalupe where we danced
and were given limes. From there we came dancing
what they call a carnival through the streets to the
store of Don Hilario (Xhembe) where we were given
sugarcane. Then we left for the carguero’s house to
eat supper. We were told to be early at his house the
next morning.

January 8. The next morning we started to dance
about 9 a.m. from the carguero’s house. We went to
the house of Rosalio [representante or representative
of the town], where we danced and were given oranges.
From there we went to the house of Crescencio
Hernandez where they gave us a 50-centavo piece be-
cause she said [the mistress of the house] that they
had not expected us to come and dance at the house.
Then we went to a house on Galeana and Allende where
we danced and where we were not given anything be-
cause he [the house owner] said he wasn’t expecting us.
Then we danced to one of the carguero’s of the Holy
Kings [meaning principal again] where we were given
oranges. From there we went to the house of [the
carguero of] San Isidro where we danced and were
given oranges. Then we went to [the barrio of]
Paricutin to the place of the Virgin Inéz; there we
danced and were given oranges. Then from there we
went to the house of the carguero of some saint near
the barranca of Paricutin where we danced and were
not given anything. Then we went to the house on the
corner of Rayon and Comercio streets where we danced
and were given oranges. Then we headed for the
carguero’s house to eat dinner. After dinner, we then
went to the house of the Miraculous Holy Christ where
we danced and were not given anything because we
started to grab the oranges from the basket and the
woman got sore and didn’t give us anything. Then
we left for the house of Don Jestis Velasquez (the main
marriage manager), where we danced and were given
oranges. He had invited us to go over to his house and
dance. From there we went to Ricardo Queriapa
where the saint of San Anselmo is. There we danced
and were given oranges. But this time some of the
viejos had separated and some of them had gone to
the plaza. After we finished dancing at that lady’s
house we then danced at the store of Alberto Mufioz
where we were not given anything. Then the Doctor
invited us over to dance in front of his office. After
we got through, the Doctor flipped a peso to see who
would get it. One of the viejos got it and got drunk

154

with the peso. From the plaza we then went west over
to the store of Don Emilio Rojas where we danced and
were given a 50-centavo piece. From there we then
came over to the house of Rafael Castillo, where we
danced and were given two packages of cigarettes.
From there we went over to the store of Benito
Pahuamba, where we danced and were given a bottle
of sherry. From there we went over to the carguero’s
house to eat supper, but before we ate we danced the
whole works. Then we ate supper and after that they
gave each of the viejos a loaf of white bread. But
before, when we were dancing and reciting, the
carguero’s wife began to pass out sugarcane and
oranges and then we went to eat. After supper we
danced for a little while, up to about 11 p.m., and then
we went home. We danced [this time] because that
was the combate for this year’s mayordomia for Don
Aurelio. [The last sentence is obscure. Don Aurelio
was the carguero for the succeeding year.]

Ordinarily the dancers appear again for 1
day at the time of Candelaria, February 2
reciting the same relatos but without the Three
Kings. For 1941 one man had agreed to pay
for the music and two others had agreed to
provide food for the dancers, but for some
reason the arrangement fell through. On the
vespers of Candelaria, people burn pitch pine
(ocote) in front of their lots.

OTHER DANCES

On January 1 a group of children, 6 to 8
years old, dances in the day time. Six boys
and six girls participate and are called taré
sapiratiéa, or the “little old men.” They go to
church very early in the morning and change
the image of the Holy Child, which had been
placed in a reclining position in a crib on
December 25, placing it in a sitting position.
After the Mass the children go to the house of
the colector, where they breakfast and dance.
They then go to the house of the kéyi and dance.
Later they go to some other houses to dance.
At midday they eat at the house of the colector
again. The dance is performed to music
furnished by wind instruments. It apparently
attracts little attention and often is not per-
formed. A former colector stated the girls are
the wandnées for the ensuing year, but this fact
seemed not to be generally known.

In connection with the mayordomia of Santa
Nieves or the Virgin of the Snows, a group of
girls performs a dance on August 5 for 1 day
to music of wind instruments. The dance is

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

known as the caballita uasdri¢a dance of the
little horses. The figures of horses are made
of withes from certain plants, with openings in
the middle in which the girls stand. The head
is made so it can move, and the dance consists
mostly of the girls standing and moving the
horses’ heads in time to the music. Again,
little attention is paid to the dance, and the
carguero often does not arrange to have it
performed.

In connection with the fiesta of the Virgin
of Guadalupe, the carguero ordinarily arranges
a dance known as the uaris. The dancers con-
sist simply of unmarried girls and young
women who dress in the traditional costume
but perhaps with a few more ornaments than
usual. They dance the usual Cheran fiesta
dance in the streets.

DANCES IN OTHER TOWNS

Only a few dances were observed or learned
of in other towns. The pastorela of Capacuaro
was the most thoroughly studied, but the data
remain superficial and unrelated to the cere-
monial setting. The dancers are connected
with the carguero for the December 25th cere-
monies. <A pole is erected in his patio with a
large paper lantern suspended from the top
(this is done by the kéyi at Cheran, but use of
this term was denied at Capacuaro) and a stage
is erected at one end of the patio on which
some of the relatos are given. The house is
also decorated with paper flowers and pine
boughs. <A table altar on the porch has a
creche with miniature figures. The dancers
appear for 3 days at Christmas and again on
January 1. On Christmas Eve it is claimed
that they perform a very long colloquio, lasting
18 hours without repetition, on the stage at the
carguero’s house. Doubt of this statement
seems indicated.

The dancers consist of between 35 and 40
rancheritas and rancheritos, boys and girls of
8 to12. In addition, there were two “hermits”
or hermitanos, dressed as friars with gray robes
and a conical cap. They wore a rosary and
carried a whip, serving, among other functions,
as police (pl. 6, upper right). Two E'wropeos
were dressed in white wooden masks with long
blonde wigs of goat hair, citified clothes, and
boots (pl. 6, lower right). Three “devils” or

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

“demons” were dressed in black, wearing a
crown of feathers on the back of the head,
with a black veil over most of the face. The
devils bore such names as “cunning,” astucia.
Some of the dancers were dressed as ranchers.
Two small boys represented angels (one,
Michael, with a sword), but the majority were
dressed in shepherd’s costumes. The girls
wore loose blouses, fairly long full skirts, straw
hats with ribbons, and shoes. The boys wore
satin blouses and bloomers, stockings, shoes,
and straw hats. Pinks, blues, and whites pre-
dominated in the costumes. Both sexes carried
shepherd’s crooks, decorated with celluloid
animals, ribbons, balls of yarn, and feathers.

The performance begins with a long relato
by the devils in which they talk about a journey
they are going to make, the curious things they
are going to see, ete. Then a ranchera and a
ranchero dance a jarabe. The other rancheros
supervise the two files of children. Then there
is a relato by the dancers. Then the dancers
give their crooks to friends or relatives and
dance. The Huropeos dance about the files of
children alone or occasionally with the hermits.
The devils and the hermits, on the other hand,
constantly engage in byplay, pursuing one
another. Occasionally one or two of the devils
will capture a hermit and force him to dance
along with them. Also, from time to time the
hermits use their whips to keep the children
from crowding in too much on the dancers.

The hermitanos were special buffoons. One
was seen ‘‘praying”’ before the church with his
hands together but with both thumbs to his
nose. Boys threw bits of stick or pebbles at
them; the hermitanos would threaten the crowd
with their whips or if they identified the
offender, would pursue him with their whips—
and sometimes used them if the stones had
been too big.

The dances are performed first in front of
the church before the saints’ images, which are
brought out of the church for this. Then the
dancers eat in the house of the carguero, after
which they dance. Then they go to various
houses and dance. The householders give them
fruit, sugarcane, peanuts, or other small gifts.
Then they return to the house of the carguero
to eat once more.

155

At primarily Mestizo San Juan Parangari-
cutiro on January 7 a dance of Europeos was
observed. The two main dancers were a man
and woman in burlesque of catrin-ranchero cos-
tumes (the ‘“‘woman” was a man dressed in
women’s clothes). The woman wore a straw
hat with artificial flowers, a well-made white
wooden mask of a European woman’s face, a
cloth enveloping all of the head not covered by
the mask, a yellow waist, and a black ranchera’s
skirt with a beautifully embroidered yellow silk
apron, gloves, and a handbag. In her hands
she carried a narrow woman’s sash. The man
wore a white wig with ribbons, white mask
with black beard and attractive features, a
sweater, a moro dancer’s cape (but worn a
little lower than the moro dancer does, so the
mirror was over the man’s buttocks), and
several women’s aprons of silk or rayon hung
from about his neck. About his legs from the
knees down were wrapped numerous women’s
belts and about his ankles were copper bells.
Over one shoulder he carried a stick with one end
carved into a burro’s head, adorned with rib-
bons and with a bell hung from the neck of
the burro.

The other dancers were dressed somewhat
like the male leader, except the cape was black
with an opening like that of a serape although
worn as acape. The lining of the cape was in
brilliant colors of silk or rayon. Ornamenta-
tion of the cape was dene with colored sequins.
Otherwise the costume was the same, but no
stick was carried.

The dance music varied according to various
aspects of the dance, changes being indicated
by the male leader ringing his bell. The
dancers formed in two files, with the male leader
at the head of one file, the woman leader at the
head of the other. When the music began, the
dancers leaped in the air several times and
shouted in a high voice. Then the files per-
formed several circuits; the one headed by the
male making its circuit first, followed by the
other. Following the circuits the dancers per-
formed a sort of jarabe, but remained in one
place. From time to time they leaped high in
the air (individually), shouting in a falsetto
voice. As they came down they spread their
capes wide and, with hair and aprons flying in

156

all directions, they resembled some impossible
bird.

Following this performance, the “woman”
danced alone between the files, taking very
small steps and with her nose high in the air.
The sash she carried in her two hands at about
shoulder height, raising first one hand and then
the other. With her handbag dangling from
one wrist, she was the perfect caricature of a
nouveau riche young lady parading down the
street. Next, the man and woman leaders
danced a jarabe tapatio very well (except they
did not use the hat) although in very restrained
and “correct” fashion. Meanwhile the others
danced in their places and leaped in the air and
cried out from time to time.

The dance is said to be held by the young
men, who organize it themselves and provide
the music and meals. It follows a traditional
pattern, however, in that among the first places
in which the dances were performed were the
house of the priest and the offices of the
municipro.

In Paricutin the dance of the fiesta of the
patron saint is apparently called either sondado
uaran or turi¢auarani. The dancers wear
“citified” or catrin clothes with masks.

Dances are also reported from some of the
Mestizo towns and the ranchos lying along the
borders of Cheran. From Tingambato a dance
was brought to the Eucharist Congress held in
Uruapan which much resembles in costume the
feather dances of Oaxaca. A deer dance is
reported from La Mojonera and Las Canoas in
which the dancers wear striped or checkered
clothing and have the face covered by a mask
of a deer with horns. The dance is performed
to a tin rattle, violin, and guitar of the special
type known as panzon, that is, one with a large
sounding box. The actions of the animal are
represented in the dance.

MUSICIANS

Frequent reference has been made elsewhere
to the musicians. The organized bands are
essentially parts of the ceremonial system; with-
out them no fiesta would be complete, while they
form a significant part of many mayordomias
and dances. They appear for a great many
individual functions also, such as weddings and
house-roofing fiestas. As a public body they

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

also play for some civic events, such as the
installation of new officers, for which they
receive no pay.

In addition to the organized bands, there are
smaller and less well organized groups of
musicians, mainly performers on stringed in-
struments such as violin, violincello, bass fiddle,
and guitar, although a clarinetist may be in-
cluded. Such groups meet and play together
at one another’s houses for their own pleasure.
At times, however, they may be hired for
mayordomias or household fiestas, especially if
the sponsor cannot afford a full band. Such
groups may also be asked to play at some public
function. In 1940 one such group was asked
by the mayor to play in the school in connection
with the final oral examinations and closing
exercises.

WITCHCRAFT

For many miles around, Cheran has the
reputation of being the outstanding center for
witchcraft among the Tarascans. As is often
the case, however, it was extremely difficult to
secure any information about witchcraft in the
town. Enough was secured, however, and
enough significant evasions encountered, to
make it likely that the reputation is deserved.
Even by the informants and assistants on
the study, concealment was practiced, and at
the very end of the study some data were ob-
tained virtually by accident from Agustin, our
United States born helper, which he obviously
told with great reluctance.

Witches, sakuadjpiri, are believed always to
be women. In general, the name of witch is
applied to all ‘““‘women of the street,” that is,
women who live without men. Generally, these
are either aged women without relatives or
women, usually widows, who are believed to be
prostitutes. No one would dare do anything
against such women. Although these women
may live in any part of the town, there is
evidence that they are believed to live more in
barrio I on the slopes of Santidkujakua, the hill
on the northwest corner of the town. This hill
is said to be full of witches and to be a very
dangerous spot to go to at night. Passing along
one of the uppermost streets on the hill one day,
we were asked for a coin by an old woman.
Agustin R. refused to let me give a coin arid

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

hurried us away, obviously much shaken by the
experience and firmly convinced the woman
was a witch.

Despite the fact that several persons stated
all witches are women, a story was collected
that witchcraft was started in Cheran by a man
who found a book. Most power, though, is
said to be obtained by a witch who goes alone
to the summit of Kukundikata, a volcanic cone
a mile or two southeast of town and about a
thousand feet in height. Here the witch calls
the devil, “Sir devil, I ask a favor.” A strong
wind is felt or the sound of a strong wind is
heard and the devil appears before the peti-
tioner. The would-be witch then makes a con-
tract for 20 years, at the end of which time he
loses his life. In the meantime the witch may
teach others, however, who do not have a con-
tract unless the witch makes a_ subsidiary
agreement with them. In any case they are
not as powerful as the witch who secures power
directly from the devil. (Note again in this
account the implication that the witches are
male.)

Witches operate in several ways. The most
common is to secure some very personal object,
a comb, piece of hair, piece of clothing, or even
sweat from a coin (which is why Agustin
refused to let me give a coin, as mentioned
above). A doll of wax or clay is made to
resemble the person and dressed in similar
clothes. The article obtained is used in making
or clothing the doll. If hair of the victim has
been obtained, for example, it is placed on the
head of the doll. Pins are then stuck in the
joints and, if it is desired to kill the victim, in
each temple. The doll is then taken to one of
several places, things are recited in Tarascan,
candles are burned, and each time the pins are
pushed in a little farther.

The places visited are a spot in the barranca
separating Paricutin from the other barrios
or two caves on the slope of Kukundikata.
It was undesirable to attempt to locate the
spot in the barranca, but the two caves were
visited. Neither showed signs of much use.
In one candles had evidently been burned. The
second had been visited fairly recently. Far in
the back of the cave a small trench crossed the
steeply sloping floor and the rocks about it had
been well swept. In a corner were twigs from

157

an oak tree and at one side two crossed branches
of oak. <A cigarette butt and some fragments
of pitch pine, apparently dropped casually,
were the only other evidence of use.

It was reported that a good deal ot witch-
craft had been stamped out and that the muni-
cipal government, acting on orders from
Morelia, had posted two armed guards at night
in the barranca and one on Kukundikata with
orders to shoot to kill anyone they found prac-
ticing witcheraft. It is necessary to kill the
witch, because if the witch escapes the magic
will turn against the person interfering. Any
attempt at verification of this report from the
municipal officials met with such skillful evasive
action that there may be a modicum of truth
in it.

Another way of bewitching is to carry objects
at night to the house of the victim. Bones of
dead persons were mentioned as one of the
objects. Pedro Chavez had also seen a candle
with many holes in it and cut in many places
which was hidden close to the house of an
intended victim. Candles are used because
they are associated with the dead. Earth from
the floor of the jail is also very useful in such
matters, and certain flowers may also be
deposited.

One of the ways of leaving things or of
obtaining a personal object is for the witch to
change into some animal. Witches may change
into cats, owls, dogs, roosters, or burros. In
this guise they may hide something by the
house of the victim or may steal some personal
object. If a strange cat, or even a neighbor’s
cat which has never come around before, should
come into the kitchen and play and try to
snatch personal things it is probably a witch in
disguise. If such a cat is caught by the tail
and held in the smoke of an oak fire it will soon
talk and answer any question asked, such as
the name of the witch, the person sending the
witch, and so on. A friend of Agustin R.
caught a witch cat in this way. He threatened
to kill it if he saw it again. When he released
the animal, it simply vanished.

The animals may also talk softly to the victim
at night. A woman heard a voice outside say-
ing, ‘Sleep, Dona , sleep.” She went to
a good witch and after a period of treatment
was not bothered again. Owls will get in trees

158

outside the house and speak in this fashion.
They do not have to be close by, however, for
a large cherry tree south of town is said to be
a favorite roosting place for owl-witches
engaged in their occupations.

In addition to persons who come to believe
they are bewitched, any sick person who does
not recover after treatment is thought to be
bewitched. The only remedy in cases of be-
witchment is to seek the aid of a good witch.
In some cases at least, the good witches are
persons taught as other witches are but who
refuse to use their knowledge to injure people.
Obviously there is room for suspicion of such
people. Agustin R. knows a woman who is a
good witch (but he refused to introduce us to
her or tell her name). The woman is reported
to have been taught by her mother who was a
bad witch. On her deathbed the mother made
the daughter promise never to use her power
to injure people. The witch is now teaching
her own daughter.

Little is known about curing techniques. In
the account secured, the good witch goes into
an empty house, strikes the walls with a stick,
and calls the bad witch. The latter can hear
even though as far away as Paracho. The bad
witch will come and the two fight. To those
outside it sounds like thunder, and the walls
shake so it seems they must fall down. But if
one has the courage to look inside, everything is
calm and peaceful. After a time the friendly
witch comes out. If she says she lost the fight,
then there is no hope for the patient.

In all probability an important reason for the
departure of the Rangel family from Cheran
for their long stay in the United States was
because of bewitchment. Agustin’s mother
was bewitched before the family left. She had
no specific ailments but felt bad all over and
could not get up. Someone told her husband
that a certain witch was working on her.
Agustin’s father then hid in the barranca until
a woman came with a doll, which he recognized
as his wife. He confronted her, but she did
not speak. In some way, though, she agreed
to give up the witcheraft. Agustin’s father
threatened to kill the woman if she tried be-
witchment again. He took the doll and burned
it. If he had merely thrown it away, the

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

magic would have worked against him. He
was said not to have been bothered after this,
but he warned Agustin in our presence against
giving a coin to a stranger who seemed very
friendly, as he might merely be wishing for
sweat to bewitch him.

The reason Agustin’s father could deal with
witches so effectively was that he had been
immunized against witches. A friendly witch
had wrapped him from head to foot in string
soaked in snake oil and other things. He wore
the string for 2 days and then was told not to
bathe for another week. Agustin knew no
other details, but shortly before the study closed
he admitted that immediately after his arrival
in Cheran the family had hired a witch to
immunize him. Beyond stating that it was
only a temporary and simple immunization,
Agustin would give no further details. Ulti-
mately, it was intended that he have the more
complete treatment.

The fact that the Rangel family left Cheran
after the alleged bewitchment mentioned above
and had the son immunized immediately after
their return lends support to the belief that the
family left town because of witchcraft.

Data are too scanty to form any reliable
hypothesis about the effects of witchcraft in
Cheran. Nevertheless, an attractive theory
might be developed that witchcraft accounts for
some of the personality traits in Cheran and
more particularly for the prevalence of walled
yards and the general unwillingness to invite
strangers or little-known persons inside the
yard gate. Jt should not be overlooked, though,
that the exclusive character of the Cheran
family or household grouping may also be
accounted for in terms of the more urban
character of the settlement.

Two other items should be added to this dis-
cussion. It was reported that some witches
had a white powder which they threw into
people’s faces. The powder instantly dis-
appears inside and the persons become ill.
Good witches may cure this sickness.

Although not considered witches, there are
women who tell fortunes with cards. One
woman in barrio III is said to be able to tell
where lost cattle are and, if they have been
stolen, who the thief is.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

WITCHCRAFT IN CAPACUARO

As is often the case, more specific details of
witcheraft were secured in Capacuaro, which
has no reputation for witchcraft, than in
Cheran. In the course of a brief stay in Capa-
cuaro, Rendén and Carrasco made the acquaint-
ance of a delightful couple who openly admitted
to being witches. The remaining members of
the staff subsequently became fairly well
acquainted with the couple. Their witchcraft
seemed, on the whole, a relatively harmless and
unmalicious variety, which may account for
their willingness to admit to the practice. Per-
haps the most entertaining incident was when
the wife told Rendén under promise of secrecy
that she had secured her husband through
witchcraft and had been able to keep him only
through the same means. The husband told
Carrasco the same story about his wife!

The following are details, mostly collected by
Rendon:

1. Method of winning the love of someone;
of making a wife return to her husband; or of
making a husband return to his wife; or
causing someone who is impassioned without
hope to obtain what he desires:

Secure five candles costing 5 centavos, three of
paraffin and two of tallow. The practitioner must
shut himself in a room without anyone seeing him, but
if he has asked a witch to do the ceremony for him, he
must be present. The candles are arranged in the
following form:

* tallow candle
paraffin candles

* tallow candle

The paraffin candle in the center is known as the
“Candle of the Heart.” The candles must be in the
center of the room and oriented to the cardinal
directions.

Placing of the candles begins with the lower tallow
candle. First the candle is turned between the fingers
in a certain way, saying ‘“‘so and so, come, come, come,
come, come...’ many times. Upon saying this the
necessary number of times depends much of the success
of the ceremony, but there are no rules; the witch sim-
ply feels when it has been enough. The candle is then
lighted and put in position. The same is done with
the other candles, but the order could not be given
unless the investigator had hired the ceremony per-
formed with serious purpose.

The center candle, the “Candle of the heart,” is pre-
viously softened by exposure to the sunlight. Two
fingers are then measured on the candle from the base

596569—46——_12

159

“for your guardian angel, two fingers for the Holy
Spirit, and one finger for your name.” At the point
reached by the five fingers measurement, the candle is
opened and a flower called the “flower of thought” is
placed inside, and the wax is replaced carefully as
though the candle had not been opened.

The center candle is now lighted at the butt end and
placed in position upside down. Great care must be
exercised, however, not to permit the candle to burn
past the point where the flower is located. If it did,
the bewitched person would die and the person per-
forming the incantation would go to the inferno and
suffer throughout eternity.

This ceremony may be performed in any position of
the moon and by either day or night. Nevertheless,
Wednesday is the best day, and night is the best time.
The indispensable prerequisite is that no one see the
ceremony except the person on whose behalf it is per-
formed. Any other person, even though equally inter-
ested in the success of the procedure, would interfere
with the result, while a hostile person who knew, could
intercept the “labor” and even do injury to the witch.

Despite this prohibition in ordinary cases, there are
some circumstances in which several witches or women
“initiated in remedies,” even though they did not know
how to officiate, might perform this ceremony together.
The informant, however, refused to tell how the cere-
mony was performed in this case or the object of the
ceremony.

After the ceremony has been performed, the subject
is observed for several days or a week. If no improve-
ment in attitude is noticeable, the bewitchment con-
tinues in the following form:

Candles are burned again as described above. In
addition, the witch procures a meter of black belting
material, a small stamp of Saint Judas, a bit of red
paper, “flowers of thought,” dahlias or other red
flowers, and a collection of as many kinds of flowers
as can be found. The Saint Judas is wrapped care-
fully and thoroughly in the black belt. The bundle is
then wrapped in the red paper and laid on a cross made
of the miscellaneous flowers at the “head” of the
candles with the saint’s face down, On the bundle is
placed the red flower and the “flowers of thought.”
Then the witch says, “Saint Judas, bring me so and so,
for I have you there prisoner and if you do not hurry
I will burn you.” <A “prayer” is then said in Tarascan
which the informant refused to divulge. The witch
remains in a kneeling position and recites seven credos
until the “Candle of the Heart” reaches the point past
which it myst not burn. (In order to have the candles
burn an equal amount, it is necessary to put out the
others when they reach the same level.)

2. To make someone hate another person;
to make a husband leave his wife or a wife
leave her husband; to make children desert
their parents or parents abandon their chil-
dren; tomakea person feel repulsion for others:

160

The witch or the person who wishes to accomplish
the result secures excrement of the person who is to be
hated. The excrement is dried in the sun from 12
until 3, being careful not to expose it at other hours.
When dry, the excrement is ground to a powder. Each
day at sundown a little of the powder is burned and
clothing of the person who is to hate the other is passed
through the smoke. Thus a witch who wished another
woman’s husband secured some of the woman’s excre-
ment and passed a pair of trousers and shirt of the
man through the smoke. The very next day the man
left his wife and came to live with the witch (and is
now her husband). The deserted wife immediately
went with another man and her first husband ‘‘danced
with pleasure.”

3. To make mischief so that something goes
badly with a person—so that his animals will
die, so his harvest will fail, so he will fall in
jail, so he and all his family will weaken and
catch diseases:

Take about a quarter-liter bottle of alcohol. Mix
this with earth taken from a spot where there was a
quarrel to the death, or where someone had an accident
and died, or where there is a burial of a person who
did not die in Christian fashion, or from the illegal
grave of some recently born child whose parents did
not notify the authorities and buried it surreptitiously.
If no serious injury is to be caused it will be sufficient
to take earth where there has been a quarrel and
bloodshed, even though there was no death. This
earth, after mixing with alcohol, is allowed to dry
thoroughly and is kept in a bottle until it is needed.
When the opportunity offers, a little of the earth is
sprinkled on the back of the person it is desired to
injure, at the same time saying in one’s mind the kind
of injury one wishes will occur.

4. Tocausesuppurating sores on the genitals
of a person one hates:

Buy oil for lamps and let it burn several days before
a holy image. Take what is left and mix it with a bit
of earth recently stepped on by the person it is desired
to injure, or put in the oil something of the victim,
such as hair, fingernails, or some piece of used clothing,
and burn the oil, saying “So and so, you must have
sores on such and such a part of the body.” In addi-
tion, if the person is a man, he must be given a glass
of aguardiente in which an herb from the hot country
has infused a number of days; and if the person is a
woman, a gorda made from maize dough or nixtamal in
which the same herb is mixed. (The informant refused
to name the herb, claiming she identified it only by
sight when the herb sellers came around.)

5. So that a man or woman will “become
tame” and do what one wishes, including mak-
ing a husband permit his wife sexual relations
with another man or a wife permit her husband

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

sexual relations with another woman, and, in
addition, aiding the adulterers to meet:

Buy a new small pottery vessel (ollita); it is best
to buy it direct from the kiln to make sure it has not
been used for anything else. Fill the vessel with holy
water, first fastening a new 20, centavo piece to the
bottom, inside, with campeche wax. Into the water put
a large paraffin candle which has been cut into many
small pieces. Each piece represents part of the
strength (fwerza) of the individual while the holy water
signifies that the strength is broken. In order that the
results will be “‘good,’”’ put in a piece of cane from the
mountains known as otate del leon and a very resinous
splinter of pitch pine. Then cover the top of the vessel
with a thick cap of campeche wax so that no air may
enter. The vessel is then buried beneath the spot
where the person to be bewitched sleeps, if this person
is a spouse. If not, the vessel is buried in the patio
of the house of the person.

6. To make a man lose his sexual vigor so
that he will recover it only with the woman who
has had the magic done:

The witch must first seek a small grass known as
pito de toro and place it in aguardiente to infuse. The
man should drink a little of this aguardiente every day
for 8 days. If he is not a drinking man, then it must
be given in coffee or atole or in some other manner so
that he will not be aware that he is being given some-
thing. After 8 days the woman spies on the man until
he goes to urinate, when she must recover a bit of the
moist earth or, if he has not urinated on the earth,
place earth in the receptacle. The urine-moistened
earth is placed inside a chile ancho of the largest size it
is possible to secure. The chile is then sewed up with
needle and thread so none of the earth can escape and
placed below the spot where the man sleeps with some-
one, or, if he is unmarried, it is buried in his patio as
close as possible to the place where he sleeps. With
this, the man remains incapacitated from having sexual
relations with any woman except the one who has per-
formed the rite.

7. To make a person suffer so that he will
be sad and feel sick, although it will be imagina-
tion and not in reality; so that he will feel he is
going to die; so that everything is revolting;
and so that he will be unable to find tranquillity
at any moment because it will seem something
is about to happen:

Make a small doll resembling the human figure out of
campeche wax and clothing used by the person. It is
important that the clothing used should not have been
washed, but be soiled from wearing. When the doll is
made, stick pins in it all along the part of the spinal
column, one in the crown of the head, two in the tem-
ples, two in the throat on each side, two in the nape
of the neck, two in the umbilicus, and seven on the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

breast (in an arrangement the informant did not wish
to explain). Now place the doll in a cooking pot with
oil for lamps. In front of the figure put a tallow
candle and burn it but not down to the point the flame
touches the oil.

In addition to the above methods of bewitch-
ment, powders brought from the region of the
ocean are extensively used for love potions.
The powders are brought by muleteers from the
hot country and are said to be made by grinding
a tree which grows there. A pinch of these is
taken between thumb and _ forefinger and
rubbed on the clothing, face, or hair of the
desired person without his knowledge.

Methods of prevention and cure against
witchcraft were also provided by the same in-
formant. The following method will immunize
a person against witchcraft and also cure cer-
tain types of sorcery:

Materials needed are oil from a certain poisonous
snake, grease from a certain species of scorpion, oil of
San Ignacio, oil of Vicente, oil of San Aparicio, a little
dry marihuana, and small balls of two herbs sold by
the herb vendors at Uruapan. The marihuana and the
balls are ground and then carefully mixed with the oils
and greases. The witch then anoints the patient’s
body with the mixture.

A person ill of sores (granos) may be cured
by catching certain poisonous snakes, killing
them, taking out the oil, and placing the flesh
to dry. The flesh, when dry, is reduced to a
powder and mixed with the oil. The genital
organs of the patient are then anointed with
the mixture until he has recovered.

Marihuana and toloache (Datura, sp.?) made
into a powder and dissolved in aguardiente
serves to cure witchcraft, taking a little every
morning. Marihuana also aids one to “dream
beautifully.”

To clean someone who is dying of witchcraft,
take fresh toloache, jediondilla (unidentified),
an egg, and jara (cistus or rockrose). Mixing
all this together, clean the patient’s body,
repeating the cure as many times as is neces-
sary and not permitting him to go outside in
the air. It is also possible to cure without
breaking the egg, but passing it entire over the
whole body. (Probably there is more to the
latter method than was told.)

A few general points appear from the data
on witcheraft. It is interesting to note that in

-most of the important “recipes” the informant

161

refused to tell some part; probably omissions
were made in the others as well. It is also clear
that with almost no exception, the witchcraft
is wholly European in origin. This is true of
both the data from Cheran and from Capacuaro.
Despite the fragmentary data from Cheran, a
number of correspondences with the Capacuaro
data are evident. For example, Agustin men-
tioned only snake oil for the immunization to
witchcraft, Capacuaro data show snake oil as
well as other items. While the data are too
scanty to afford generalizations, erotic interests
and anxieties are suggested much more strongly
by the Capacuaro witchcraft data than by data
secured from any other source.

In Mestizo Chilchota exists belief in witches
disguised as owls. The owls call for the death
of their victim, and death takes the call of the
owl as a signal. Such owls cannot be killed by
bullets or rocks, which simply pass through the
bird without making it even change its place.
The only manner in which such an owl may be
driven away is for a woman not wearing under-
wear to throw her skirts over her head in front
of it; at this the owl flees and never returns
to the house.

MISCELLANEOUS BELIEFS

Relatively few superstitions and beliefs in
the supernatural outside of the various aspects
of Christianity and withcraft were encountered
in Cheran. Most common, apparently, is the
belief in the mirijgua, a malevolent spirit
which, according to some, lives in the barrio of
Paricutin. At night, in the fields, woods, or in
the town itself, a person will think he is going
a certain way and will recognize various places,
and then, if the experience is a mild one, he
finds suddenly that he is in some place quite
different. Or the person may be carried off by
the miringua. The most common place about
town for the miri;gua to ambush its victims is
in the barranca between Paricutin and the rest
of the town.

One young man of 25 years recounted his
experience to Rendén as follows: One dusk he
was returning from the fields to his house and
thought he was following the proper road but
he felt very unusual (in a manner he was unable
to explain because of his faulty Spanish).
Finally he felt that someone pulled on him

162

without his being able to see who it was. Then
he became frightened and ran toward his house
(as he thought), but instead he ran faster and
faster in the opposite direction. Eventually
he became terrorized and ran, falling and bump-
ing into things, for it was getting increasingly
darker, until he arrived at a place he did not
recognize. He ran through many nettles which
struck him like pack straps, drawing bicod all
over his body. Finally he found a cave and
took refuge in it, where he struggled all night
with something that tried to strangle him. He
was found in the morning by a search party
which had been hunting him all night. He was
17 when this occurred.

On another occasion a woman was found
dead in a sand cave without any tracks except
her own footprints. She showed all the signs
of strangulation. Before her death this woman
had told her relatives and friends that fre-
quently she would think she was on her way
home and would find herself in the barranca.
She would sit down awhile and make the sign
of the cross and pray. With this, things would
become clear to her and she could retrace her
road.

A youth returning from his field to his house,
felt something pull him strongly toward the
barranca as he crossed the bridge. He resisted,
and then it seemed to him he was going toward
home when suddenly he lost his footing and
began to fall in space. As he fell he had the
impression he was entering his house. He was
found next. day in the barranca, half dead, and
was unable to speak for 8 days.
still as the result of his fright.

Another story tells of a man who had attended
a wedding in Paricutin. After the wedding
the group went through the streets with the
music, dancing and drinking. As they crossed
the bridge to Paricutin the man said something
was pulling at him. He began to gesticulate
as if he was fighting something, but his friends,
having drunk a greal deal, paid no attention.
He began to run but fell from the bridge. His
body was found down the barranca (as the
water evidently was high) after considerable
search.

This spirit is known at Capacuaro as mirinyin,
mirinchin, or miringin. The spirit appears

He stammers

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 2

sometimes as a Dulto (indistinct form) which
whistles to people and gets them to follow it
until they are lost in the woods. One infor-
mant, named Juan, said he had been seized in
the Cerro del Aire and was able to escape only
by recommending himself to the patron saint,
san Juan. Otherwise he would have fallen in
a cave where the devil could have seized him.

In Urén in La Canada it is said that the
mirijgua appears where money has been hid-
den. If someone gets rich suddenly it is said
that “he has encountered the miri,gua.” The
miriyjgua is also said to appear in the shape of
dog or cat, but these are really disguised witches.

When houses are repaired or reconditioned,
it is customary to hang up flowers, usually
fastening the flowers to strings which are
looped over doorways and windows. The prac-
tice was said to be customary and no beliefs
concerning it could be discovered.

When the rains are late in coming in May,
the image of one of the saints is taken to the
top of the Sierra San Marcos, south of town.
There the image is raised up and down several
times and cohetes are fired. Even sceptics
admit it usually rains soon after this; some of
the naive attribute the rain to the cohetes,
others to the proximity of the rainy season.

When the mountain of Pilén, east of town,
has mist on top, it is going to rain, say many.
The early rains come from the direction of
Pilon, the later from the direction of San
Marcos.

If people are seated and a dog comes and
howls, some misfortune may befall the people.

The coyote has magical power over animals.
If he just gives himself a shake, the chickens
will walk over to him and let themselves
be eaten.

A person who finds a dead deer in the moun-
tains which he has not killed will have some
misfortune befall his family. A son, brother,
parent, etc., will certainly die, and there is no
way of averting the misfortune.

If a coyote crosses the road in front of one,
it is a sign some misfortune will occur.

A blue-bellied lizard found occasionally in
Cheran is believed to be able to jump on a per-
son’s back without his knowing it and burrow
inside. It leaves a blue lizard mark on the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

back where it enters, but no further beliefs
could be discovered.

An animal said to be unique in Cheran is the
hachoque or ecékurita. It resembles a lizard
and is spotted black and white. It lives in
corners, inside the walls of houses, or in the
stene pillars. It does not bite or injure people,
but it is, believed to suckle the breasts of nurs-
ing mothers while they are sleeping, taking all
the milk. The animal cannot be killed with
blows or by cutting it up, for the pieces reunite.
Only by burning it with coals can it be killed.

A very clever man once went up on San
Marcos and struck the mountain. Water
poured out, creating a barranca, and continued
for several days until the plain west of town
was covered several feet deep. The priest then
went up the mountain and ordered the water to
stop, which it did.

Against hurricanes and hail, a cross is made
in the patio or the street, of ashes, taken from
the household fireplace. Salt is not put in the
fire for this purpose.

163

The crosses put on top of houses are to
protect them from lightning or whirlwinds.

If people swim in Las Pilas, a small pond
northeast of town, they will sink after swim-
ming out a certain distance. Horses will
drown there also.

Helipses are thought the work of some higher
power and that nothing can be done about them.
There is no fear of eclipses, though, except in
connection with childbirth. Some believe
eclipses result from struggles between sun,
moon, and earth. The defeated element is said
to devour part of the foetus, causing adhesions
between various parts andthe womb and making
birth difficult. No beliefs could be discovered
about the stars. Indeed, informants insisted
that there were no names for the stars and that
people did not distinguish one from the other.
This is unusual if true.

Mention should be made here of beliefs in the
evil eye and in los aires, “the airs or winds.”
They will be discussed in connection with
disease concepts and curing.

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE CULTURE

In the preceding sections the culture of
Cheran has been treated primarily from its
technological and institutional aspects. The
position of individuals and their activities have
been discussed, it is true, but the orientation
has been toward generalized and institutional-
ized activities. In the following pages will be
discussed the activities which are more directly
individual in character. This is not to say that
many of these activities are not institutional-
ized; certainly the wedding ceremonies, for
example, are quite as institutionalized in charac-
ter as the mayordomia. Nevertheless, the
wedding is more closely related to the develop-
ment of individual personal relationships.
Emphasis in succeeding pages will be upon the
crisis periods in the individual and upon the
developmental and behavioral patterns in the
intervals between crises.

It will be obvious in the following discussion
that treatment cf the role of the individual inthe
culture and the impact of the culture upon the
individualisvery incomplete. Particular weak-
nesses are apparent in the discussion of infancy

and childhood and in the part of women. These
lacks are inevitable, not only from the shortness
of the study, but from the special attitudes in
Cheran which closed so many avenues of
approach to male investigators. Material col-
lected by Rendén is very helpful, but it is
fragmentary and insufficient. It does show,
though, that women investigators could secure
many data otherwise difficult to collect.

BIRTH

Children are generally desired in Cherdn, and
motherhood is regarded as normal and expect-
able. There is a clear idea of the physiological
causation of pregnancy, and normally no means
are taken to avoid it. Men are said to prefer
boysand women to prefer girls, but whatever the
sex, both parents usually welcome the child and
wish many, and childbirth appears to cause
minimal emotional disturbances, although they
are not lacking. Although no accurate data
were available, informants did not believe there
were more than six or eight women in Cheran
who had not borne children. Some said that

164

no remedies are taken for barrenness. Others
reported that women speak to the professional
midwives, who give them herbal remedies,
anoint the abdomen with mountain lion grease,
or give stew made of mountain lion meat.
However, none of the midwives reported any
such practices.

Despite these attitudes, belief exists that
pregnancy can be prevented or abortion caused.
It is believed by some that only families of
poor economic standing who already have two
to four children attempt to use these methods.
Others suggest absence of love in the home asa
reason; some women carrying on illicit affairs
are believed to practice abortion. A good many
people seem to know of the existence of abor-
tion and to have knowledge of the herbs used.
Consequently attempted abortion probably is
more frequent than people wish to admit. The
ideal of Cherdn is the large family; people
prefer not to talk about those who do not share
the ideal and some refuse to talk about it. It is
also said that the municipal officials are vigilant
in punishing such cases, but as the penalty is
said to be a fine of $1.00 or $1.50 or a night in
jail after recovery, this probably would not be
a great deterrent even if the danger of detection
were great.

Four plants are named as being taken to
eause abortion. One, artamisa, taken with
plenty of salt, was mentioned by one of the
midwives. Another admitted to using iris root
for this purpose, although generally the mid-
wives claim to be opposed to abortion. The two
plants most used, however, are ruda and
gobernadorcillo, kuasa. It is possible that
these are the same plants; at least descriptions
of their use appear to be the same. If they
are effective (and local medical men are sharply
contradictory in their opinions), many unin-
tentional abortions are probably caused, for
ruda is a regular remedy for stomach pains.
It is not taken, except intentionally, when
pregnancy has occurred, as the herb is widely
known as producing abortion. The herb is also
believed to be helpful to women who have been
unable to have children.

Much the same accounts were given of
gobernadorcillo. To have children, the herb
is cooked with a tablet of chocolate and taken
just before the menstrual period is expected.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

To cause abortion, the root is mashed to obtain
the juice. The latter is strained and taken
mixed in a liter of water. Gobernadorcillo is
also taken to accelerate the birth if it should
be slow.

One midwife purges barren women with the
bulb of the white lily. Two or three bulbs are
used; they are cooked and strained, and the
juice given. Three days after the purge, the
patient is bathed and “given a sweat” with
cooking oil and ground salt rubbed all over the
body. This cure is given during the time of
menstruation to “clear” the blood. This cures
the “coldnesses” of the patient or causes the
harmful elements to be discharged. One
patient now has four children. Another, barren
10 years before treatment, now has two children.

Involuntary abortions also occur. Pregnant
mothers are often fearful of this and sometimes
will not go to curers when they are ill for fear
they will be given a medicine which will cause
abortion. A woman in her eighth month of
pregnancy who was suffering fever and spitting
blood refused to go to the curer for fear of
being given abortive drugs. Drinking is be-
lieved to cause many abortions, and heavy work,
such as lifting a log while helping to build a
fence, is recognized as a possible cause of abor-
tion. If the mother “likes something too
much,” for example, a horse or a kind of food,
the child may be born prematurely, but appar-
ently may live. Solar eclipses are likewise
believed to cause early births. The midwife is
sometimes called if abortion is feared. One
midwife anoints the coeccyx and abdomen with
the white of an egg (which has been beaten on
the ground) and also with lard and oil. An-
other midwife gives the flower of maize, tomato
peel, a shoot of verbena, and a potsherd of
Guadalajara ware. The potsherd is ground
and the whole made into an infusion. This is
taken twice and the coccyx and abdomen are
rubbed with the white of an egg beaten on the
ground.

Some people believe that the first child takes
9 months to mature, while the subsequent chil-
dren take only 8 months. While women do not
keep exact count of the period between
menstruations, they have a pretty accurate idea
of the proper interval, and pregnancy is recog-
nized when menstruation fails to occur. Lassi-
tude, heaviness, and loss of appetite are con-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 165

sidered frequent symptoms also. Sometimes
in the early months women are sick at their
stomachs and vomit in the mornings.

Usually a midwife is sought early in preg-
nancy and pays frequent visits to the enceinte
woman. The midwife massages the woman
with lard or cooking oil ‘“‘to make sure the foetus
is in the right position” and generally keeps
an eye on the patient’s health. Sometimes the
midwife locates the head of the child during the
massage. A fee of 10 centavos is charged for
each visit.

A pregnant woman should not do much work,
should not lift heavy things, and should take fre-
quent baths in cold water in the house. She
continues to grind corn and carry water; young
mothers, indeed, are encouraged to keep active
by older women, who believe some exercise
helps the mother. She does not cook tortillas
if she can avoid it, because the fire might “cook”
the foetus. Toward the end of pregnancy
some women are “‘delicate’”’ and eat very little.
At Capacuaro this is customary in the last days
of pregnancy. Otherwise there are no pre-
natal food taboos.

An eclipse during pregnancy may cause
something bad to happen to the child. To
prevent the effects, a red belt is worn under-
neath the several belts worn by women who
dress in traditional costume. If Mestizo cos-
tume is worn, red underwear is used. Women
should do nothing during an eclipse. The
occurrence of Mongoloid spot is reported. It is
believed that this is caused by the woman
carrying her coins in the customary fashion in
her belt during pregnancy.

Women should not tie any animals during
pregnancy, as this may cause the child to be
strangled by the umbilical cord during birth.
If the mother urinates where some animal has
urinated, the child may be born with some part
of the animal. Reports were given by mid-
wives of children having been born with a pig
face or a goat face and tail because the mother
urinated where these animals had urinated.
In the latter part of pregnancy a woman should
always remove the lid from a vessel before lift-
ing it from the fire; if she fails to observe this
rule, the child may be born dumb. Clubfoot is
caused by the mother not taking proper care
of herself.

Wrong positions, especially breech presenta-
tions, may result from several causes. The
mother may have moved around too much and
worked too hard, hit a dog with her foot, put
the “foot” of a stick of wood in the fire first,
failed to remove the comal from the fire imme-
diately after finishing the cooking of tortillas,
eaten toasted tortillas, or eaten off the metate
(the latter taboo was explained on the basis that
the metate has only three legs). Children are
born blind only because “God wills it.”

Witches may interfere with pregnancy and
make the child arrive dead. The preventive
remedy is to cook tomato peeling and a pot-
sherd of Guadalajara ware together and drink
the liquid.

Fathers are also under some restrictions
during the period of pregnancy. Whenever a
load of wood is brought to the house it must be
untied immediately or the child may be
strangled by the umbilical cord. Also, the
father must not kill lizards or snakes during the
pregnancy, or touch resin or turpentine, or
they will enter into the child. Some. say the
father should not kill any kind of an animal,
from a snail to an ox. If he does so, the
animal will enter into the child through the
mouth or nose and the child will be born dead.
One midwife thought the father should not
have relations with his wife after the third or
fourth month of pregnancy for reasons of clean-
liness, but some say difficult birth or wrong
positions may result from continued inter-
course. The father should not work on the day
of birth.

No distinction is made between first and sub-
sequent births. Midwives varied in their ideas
as to the frequency of births. Some believed
that women had children from 1 to 1% years
apart, others said from 8 months to 3 years.
One midwife explained that the number of
children and the frequency of births were deter-
mined by something resembling links in the
uterus. These could be counted by the mid-
wife, who could tell how many children the
woman would have and, by the spacing, what
the interval between births would be. Some
women might be capable of as many as 25
pregnancies.

All births are attended by midwives, who
form a professional group, although without

166

organization. It is believed all the midwives in
Cheran were interviewed by the staff. Most of
them are elderly women past childbearing age.
Some 4 or 5 years before the study, all of the
midwives apparently had received instruction
from a doctor called in by the priest. This is
reflected to some extent in the methods used,
particularly in some efforts at asepsis and the
use of antiseptics. The following biographical
data were secured from the midwives, the indi-
viduals being referred to by number.

No. 1. About 55 years of age; 4 years’
experience. Formerly was acurer. No one in
her family had been a midwife; she entered the
profession “by accident” and “knew how’ by
the grace of the Holy Virgin.

No. 2. Age unknown, but has had 20 years’
experience. Her mother was a midwife and
urged her to become one also. She became a
midwife because her small business was not
enough to keep her alive. She had been
married and had one daughter in 6 years of
marriage, apparently taking up midwifery after
loss of her husband.

No. 3. About 55 years of age, 4 years’
experience. Learned by observing a grand-
mother who was a midwife. Other “grand-
parents” also tried to teach her. She believes,
in addition, she possesses a special “virtue”
for such work. Before becoming a midwife
she was a curer, devoting herself especially to
women who suffered abdominal pains from
overwork, using massage. She still does cur-
ing, but since her husband died, 5 years before,
has been a midwife. She likes the work. She
says the Virgin of Monserrato is the patroness
of the midwives.

No. 4. New to the profession. Has attended
only two births; one of the patients accused
her at the court of causing swelling of the
organs because of inexperience and refused to

pay her fee.

No. 5. Has been midwife 5 years. No
further data.

No. 6. Has been a midwife 30 years. Was

assistant to another midwife for a long time.
One day a child was being born dead; the sub-
ject took cotton and put a medicine she knew on
the head of the mother and the child was born
successfully. There was a quarrel, but finally
the midwife, who was very old, began to teach

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

her; “but God gave me the power to know
medicines to aid births.” Is from Nahautzen.
Is scornful of the local midwives, and is some-
times called into consultation in cases of difficult
births.

For other midwives, no personal data were
secured.

Midwives receive a fee for each prenatal
visit, as has been mentioned. For their aid at
births, they receive from $1.50 to $2.50. One
midwife charges $2 for a first birth, subsequent
charges being $1.50. Sometimes the parents
cannot pay even the $1.50, according to the
midwives, or do not pay for some time. Quar-
rels may result from failure to pay.

According to some midwives, if there is time,
the midwife goes to church before the delivery,
saying prayers to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Our
Lady of Monserrato, and Santo Roberto, asking
help. Others say this is not done because there
is never time. Another earries with her a
picture of Santa Rita de Imposible and says a
prayer to her just before the delivery. Mid-
wives do not bathe in advance, but some are
careful to wash their hands in tepid water and
rub them with rafino, considered an antiseptic,
before the delivery. The midwife should not
smoke or drink alcohol before the delivery.
Midwives usually have as helper the mother or
mother-in-law of the patient.

One midwife thought the mother should stay
in bed for 1 to 3 days before the delivery, but
others did not think so. Before going to bed,
a prayer to the Virgin is said by some mothers,
promising to bring the child up correctly.
Midwives also differed on the delivery position.
One said the position is always flat in bed, the
others said a kneeling position is common.
One midwife said both positions are used
“aecording to circumstances.’ The mother
decides the position, not the midwife. If the
birth is in kneeling position, the patient may
hold on to the metate in the position assumed in
grinding maize. Alternatively, two loops of
rope may be suspended from a house beam by
which the mother supports herself. Sometimes
the husband is seated on a low chair and sup-
ports the patient’s shoulders, applying pressure
to the sides of the abdomen with his knees.
Normally, however, men are not present.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

Sometimes, when the pains first start, the
patient is laid on a blanket which is then lifted
by four persons, one at each corner. The
mother is then turned around gently for 15 or
20 minutes. This is believed to hasten the
birth and aid the child to get into the proper
position. The midwife may also walk from
one side to another, saying, ‘I am coming,” to
hurry the child.

Most midwives specify certain materials
which should be provided by the family in
advance. These things include scissors, cook-
ing oil, lard, cotton, and silk thread. Parents
provide clothing for the child; the midwife does
not specify anything for the infant.

Some midwives, when-the birth pains begin,
give the mother gobernadorcillo or possibly
other plants to accelerate the birth. In any
case it is asserted that the same herbs believed
to cause abortion are administered at this time,
usually with sugar or brown sugar. One herb
(unidentified) is called zihuapaxtle, a Nahua
name. There is no use of wheat rust, however.
When the crown of the head of the child is
visible, the midwife tries to hurry through the
rest of the birth so that there will be less danger
of the child being born dead.

It is said that many normal births take only
about 15 minutes. This can hardly be counted
from the time the first labor pains are felt but
is possibly from the time the labor becomes
intense. Many mothers in Cheran, however,
seem to have fairly difficult births. Cases of
labor lasting as much as 6 or 7 hours are
reported.

In case the labor is difficult and prolonged,
remedies of various sorts are used. The helpers
apply pressure to the abdomen. One midwife
boils a bezoar, the calcareous secretion from
the intestines of some ruminant, brought from
the hot country, and has the patient drink the
water. Another gives the mother hot chocolate
made with water and sugar, and massages the
abdomen. Another covers the patient with a
blanket and has her breathe the fumes from
sugar or some sweet thing burned in a brazier.
One midwife stated that when the patient is
very “dry,” thatis, there is no discharge of blood
and no breaking of the amniotic membrane, a
bit of nopal (prickly pear) leaf is roasted in

167

the fire, opened and rubbed with oil, and placed
on the abdomen and coccyx of the patient.

Some midwives say the influence of the phases
of the moon determines the length of labor.
Eclipses also affect the labors. Witchcraft or
improper care by the mother may be a cause of
prolonged labor. If much silky white liquid is
discharged in a difficult birth, it is said the
mother did not bathe herself and keep clean or
that she had relations with her husband after
she should have ceased.

Breech presentations and other abnormal
positions are known, although one midwife had
not seen one in 5 years of practice. When they
occur the midwife must be adept at manipulat-
ing the child. She puts lard on her hands and
works the legs out first. The arms of the
foetus must be kept at its sides and the chin down
to prevent strangulation. According to one
account of a breech presentation, several mid-
wives were called in and an attempt was made
to get the doctor from Paracho. One midwife
(by her own account, at least) used a wooden
bowl to distend the cervix, reached in and
turned the child and delivered it successfully
before the doctor arrived. In difficult births
the child is sometimes born dead. The midwife
touches his belly to see if he is still breathing;
if he is, she lights a cigarette and puffs the
smoke in his face “to wake him up.”

Twins are relatively rare, but are known to
a number of midwives, who do not report
special trouble with them. One remarked that
they came “like two cherries on branching
stems.” The Mongoloid spot is described as
occurring occasionally.

Numerous abnormalities in birth are re-
ported. Some are undoubtedly due to venereal
diseases, about which the Cheran people know
very little. Even our most sophisticated in-
formant was a little dubious of just what
gonorrhea and syphilis were. Some abnormal-
ities, almost ceretainly due to syphilis, are at-
tributed to the father having worked in turpen-
tine. One midwife reported a case where the
father persisted in working in turpentine, which
foams when being boiled. When the child
started to arrive, the mother nearly suffocated.
All she could smell was turpentine. The child’s
arm emerged first; it was black and when the
midwife touched it the skin broke and the

168

inside was foam like the boiling turpentine.
By giving the mother medicines the delivery
succeeded, but the child’s skin broke easily and
inside was foam. The more bizarre aspects of
this account may be discounted, but some
factual basis probably existed.

Another case reported was a child born with
the “head all hollow.”’ Yet another had eyes
“as though gouged out with a knife” and only
the rudiments of a nose. Both children were
born dead. The phenomena were attributed to
an eclipse. Few cases occur in which the
mother has died without delivery being accom-
plished, but still-births are more frequent.
Strangling with the cord is said to occur in
some cases. Birth of children with clubfoot
(said to be caused by the mother not taking
care of herself) and blind children (caused by
God’s will) are both known. No hunchbacks
were reported. One other case where the
child’s arm emerged first was reported; the
child died but the mother lived. Animal births
are mentioned also. Only one case accom-
panied by severe hemorrhage was reported.

Children born in May are said to be mis-
chievous and courageous, those born in Febru-
ary to be half crazy.

After the birth of the child the mother stays
in bed from 8 to 15 days. At the conclusion
of this time she bathes and gets up, but remains
under food taboos and spends some time reclin-
ing during the next 5 days, when she bathes
again and may go out of the house. The mid-
wife visits the mother daily until she gets out of
bed, massaging her. When the mother can
walk, she begins to do small tasks. Full re-
sumption of tasks is not undertaken until the
termination of the food restrictions, about 40
days after birth. Some women do not go out
of the house until 3 weeks have passed. After
the mother has gotten out of bed, the midwife
may still massage her with unguents, either
coconut oil or white lily. During the period
the mother should not be left alone, so she will
not be frightened or visited by an evil spirit.
Usually the mother is cared for after birth by
the husband’s mother, by her own mother, or
some female relative. Wealthier families,
though, may hire someone to assist.

One case of what was probably a postpartur-
ient infection was recorded. The midwife

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

bathed the infected parts with yerba de cancer.
The entire herb was boiled and then hydrogen
peroxide was added to the brew. Two treat-
ments daily for 2 months finally cured the
patient.

Husband and wife do not resume sexual
relations until at least 35 days after the birth;
in most cases the period is 40 days. Husbands
are sometimes said to behave badly in con-
nection with the first pregnancy; they have
“whims” and “weariness,” probably a_ polite
way of saying that they resent the loss of
sexual privileges and the lessened attentions of
their wives. Some go with other women.

Shortly after the delivery the mother is given
her first food. This may be chocolate, milk,
and a bit of bread. Some midwives give the
mother rafino or coffee but others prefer white
atole “because it strengthens the blood.” <A
chicken may be killed the same day and put on
to cook to make broth to be served to the mother
the following day. Oatmeal is also a favorite
food for the mother in the early days. Broth
from beef is prohibited but broth from mutton
is permitted during the first week. The second
week, additional foods may be taken, but noth-
ing “cold.” Tortillas may be eaten after the
second day. In general, pork, chile, fish, and
beans are forbidden for from 3 weeks to 40
days. Fruit and vegetable greens must be
eaten sparingly in the latter part of the period,
not at all in the early part. There is no re-
striction on salt. Beef is apparently forbidden
only in the first week; cheese is mentioned as a
permitted food by some. In some cases the
mother is fed the atole known as kagwash
kamata for several days after birth. In view
of the general agreement that chile is forbid-
den, probably this ingredient is left out when
the atole is made for mothers. According to
some, the midwife stays on the same diet as
the mother until the time of the mother’s
first bath.

Fathers have virtually no restrictions. The
only one discovered is that he should not kill
poisonous snakes. If he does, the newborn
infant may have bloody discharges from nose
and mouth. The cure is to catch a rat, remove
the intestines, add to them some rosas de
castilla and a few grains of tequisquite and
place on the child’s stomach.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE

According to Rend6én, women in Mestizo
Chilchota observe no special diet before delivery.
Births are attended by midwives, who charge
$2. A mixture of egg and flower is sometimes

rubbed on the abdomen to lessen labor pains if -

these are severe. Massage and irrigations with
water and soap are used to accelerate birth.
After delivery the diet is based on chocolate
and atole. After a few days, chicken broth and
chicken are added but beef and beans are not
eaten for 72 days. The atole is called pu¢kua
and is made of maize cooked without lime,
ground on the metate, and cooked in water
without sugar. If there are hemorrhages the
patient is given rubbed (shredded?) parsley in
water. The mother stays in bed for a week.
On the eighth day she bathes.

Rendon reports a mild couvade in La Canada
pueblos. The mother does not eat salt after
the birth, eats atole of the same type as at
Chilchota, and cooked greens. The fathers stay
in the house several days without working.

INFANCY

When the birth is in kneeling position, as is
mest common, a mat and clean cloth are placed
on the floor to receive the child. The cord is
not cut until the afterbirth is delivered. If
this is slow, the mother’s knees are massaged.
The cord is then tied with thread and cut with
scissors (a knife may not be used). According
to some the cord is cut about a span length
from the umbilicus (thumb to forefinger with
both extended). Others say this is the length
for girls and that the length for boys is a cuarto
(this cannot mean a quarter as most are
agreed that the length for a boy is greater than
for a girl). Some families ask that the cord
be cut longer “so the child will relax easily.”
Cotton is applied, sometimes preceded by
anointment with oil, and a band fastened about
the abdomen. Some say if this is not done the
boys would not have strength and the girls
would be “goers,” andulantes, that is, they
would probably have affairs with men. Some
wipe out the child’s eyes with cotton, and others
drop a little lemon juice in the eyes. Some
oppose this and do nothing unless a gummy
secretion appears, when the eyes are treated
with flowers of Castile and San Juan.

BEALS

169

The child is then wiped off with a clean cloth
and oiled but not bathed. Clothing prepared
in advance is put on the child. It is said that
the midwife tells parents in advance whether to
prepare clothing for a boy or a girl and that
they seldom make a mistake. But as no differ-
ence could be found in the clothing and, indeed,
the child is usually wrapped just in some clean
rags, the statement has little significance.
Scmetimes the child is given tea of Castile
roses or a bit of edible oil, but most midwives
thought nothing should be given the first day.

The child is nursed the second day. Rarely
does the mother not have milk. Should this
happen, the aid of some nursing mother is
sought or the child is given cow or goat milk.
The latter is not diluted, but it is boiled before
using, often being flavored with a bit of yerba
buena or cinnamon. Special drinks are given
the mother to induce milk flow if it is inade-
quate. Brews of flaxseed (?) were mentioned.

The afterbirth is buried, sometimes beside
the fireplace, sometimes under it. If this is not
done, it is believed the mother would become
“cold,” but one midwife stated the cord is
preserved and used for remedies. The cord of
Agustin Rangel’s father was taken to the shrine
of the Virgin of Guadalupe at Tepeyac and left.

Midwives continue to visit the house to attend
to the mother and child. The bandage over
the umbilicus is removed every 2 or 3 days.
The cord drops off between the second and

eighth days (the longer period apparently
being unusual). Theumbilicus is then anointed
with iodine or powder made from tules.

Sometimes small hernias are cured with a small
ball of sosa (an herb) or a green tomato.
Hernias result from carelessness or “coldness.”
Infections of the umbilicus result from care-
lessness in bathing the child. One midwife
reported curing them with face powder!

The child is normally bathed by the midwife
on the third, sixth, and ninth days (according
to one midwife, immediately after birth also
“if that is the custom of the house”). Warm
water is used for the bath.

Some idea that children resemble parents
seems to be prevalent and to be attributed to
hereditary mechanisms (although in this in-
formants may have been sophisticated). An
instance cited was that of a man with a very

170

linear body build which was repeated in the
children, “who looked as though a wind would
blow them away,” yet otherwise seemed healthy.
As an exception, there was cited the case of two
girls with red hair and blue eyes in one family.
The children were not seen and might have been
albinos, but the large number of persons who
have visited the United States suggests other
explanations. Another case was cited in which
the parents had black hair and the fairly dark
skin common among Tarascans. Three sons
all had dark-red or auburn hair, and the skin,
although equally dark, showed also darker spots
resembling freckles. In later years the freckles
spread until the skin became a solid color,
darker than that of either parent.

Occasional examples occur of children appar-
ently deficient in mentality. Some continue to
show childish reactions and behaviors, laugh
a great deal without occasion, do not care for
their clothing, eat badly, and do not seem to
understand well even when approaching adult
years. Nevertheless, no adults were encoun-
tered who seemed to exhibit insanity or feeble-
mindedness.

Few special attentions to infants are recorded.
There is no use of ashes or leaving of corn ears
or fire pokers with infants when they are left
alone, but a broom of straw may be left at the
head of the child’s bed for protection against
evil if the mother wishes to leave it for a few
minutes. Children are nursed freely whenever
they desire the breast. Although some evi-
dence of shyness was evident, for example, some
mothers draped their rebozo over the breast,
nursing takes place in a variety of public cir-
cumstances, on the streets or on the roads, and
even while riding on a burro. Through the
first year or so the child sleeps with the nipple
of the mother’s breast in its mouth at night.
Perhaps as a result of this there is a virtually
complete absence of thumb sucking at all ages.

Infants are ordinarily carried by their
methers, almost invariably wrapped in the
rebozo. Even if the child is carried in the arm,
the rebozo is slung around the child and over
the shoulders to take part of the weight.
Ordinarily a small child is slung more or less
horizontally in the rebozo on the mother’s back.
One end of the rebozo goes under the left arm,
the other over the right shoulder, the two ends

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

crossing on the chest and being either tied or
tucked under the opposite arms. When a little
older the child kneels on the tep of the rollo or
thick pleats at the top of the skirt or sits on the
rollo with legs on either side of the mother’s
waist. In either case the child is held in place
by the rebozo. Men often carry infants in their
arms, while small girls frequently carry their
younger brothers and sisters in the same way
as their mothers. The infants seem to inter-
fere with the older child’s activities very little.

Occasionally a boy will be seen carrying an
infant in a rebozo. While this is not common,
the boys seemed entirely unself-conscious and
were not teased at all. Almost never is an
infant put down until it is able to walk. As
indicated above, it sleeps with the mother and
is permitted to nurse at any time, often sleep-
ing at the breast.

Children are not weaned until 18 to 24
months; rare cases are reperted of children
nursing to the age of 3 or 4. Weaning is aided
by anointing the nipple with some bitter or
piquant material, for example, chile. Weaning
is done because of belief the child needs to have
better nourishment, not because of boredom or
feeling that the mother may suffer from pro-
longed nursing. Solid food is given the infant
as early as 3 or 4 months, when a little fruit
may be offered, such as banana. ‘Tortillas are
net given until 8 months. Milk, soup, and

mild foods are first given the child. Cooked
vegetables are fed at about 3 or 4 years. Chile

is not fed children until they are well-grown,
or adult, according to one informant.

Although children are rarely put down, after
they are several months old they may occa-
sionally be placed on the ground and permitted
to crawl for brief periods. Occasionally chil-
dren walk on all fours rather than on their
knees. They are not permitted to try to walk,
even though they wish to, until they are judged
old enough to do so without causing curvature
of the legs.

When children are permitted to attempt
walking, a wooden bar is hung from two ropes,
which in turn fasten to a single rope suspended
fromatree or beam. The child is stood up and
persuaded to hold the bar, which moves and
forees the child to walk. Some children walk

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN ViLLAGE—BEALS alr k

as early as 8 months, but most later, and some
not until 2 years.

It is said that children begin to speak between
the ages of 18 and 24 months. The parents
pronounce words for the child, encouraging it
to repeat them. The first words are said to be
papaé, mama, ueksinga (“I want’), and auaka
(‘eat’).

The teeth normally appear about the time
tortillas are first fed, that is at about 8 months.

Toilet training is not rigorous and little is
done until the child is able to walk. Up to this
time the infant is usually kept in a diaperlike
piece of cloth which is changed when soiled.
A shirtlike garment and, at an early age, a
small straw hat are the usual clothing. Occa-
sionally children learn toilet control before they
walk. Probably this is due to training by the
mother, but informants were unaware of any
efforts in this direction. Even when the infant
walks, training is evidently indirect. If the
child persists in urinating, after a time the
mother cuts down its liquid intake and refuses
to change it immediately when its garments
are wet. Small children evacuate the bowels
normally once in the day and once at night if
they have learned some control; when a little
larger, they evacuate once a day. The only
control recognized by informants was through
fixed feeding schedules. Undoubtedly there is
more than this, but there were few opportuni-
ties of observation and much of the control
apparently was so commonplace that inform-
ants (who had to be mainly men) were unaware
of it. It was felt, however, that in the occa-
sional cases where a child had not learned
control at the proper age it was because of
carelessness on the part of the mother. In
general, however, there seems little stress or
emotional overtones about the training problem.

As soon as children begin to walk, they are
dressed in miniature replicas of adult garments.
In all cases observed, imitations of the tradi-
tional garb were worn, Little girls wore a
tiny rollo, while boys wore cotton trousers and
shirt. At the age of 2 or 3 the ears of little
girls are pierced by their mothers, using a
needle. A bit of straw is used to keep the
openings clear until earrings are provided,
which is usually done very soon afterward.
The operation is purely for beauty and is not

regarded as necessary for any other reason,
nor are there any beliefs about the operation.

The infant is ordinarily baptized between 10
days and 2 months after birth. The tendency
in recent years is for the period to lengthen.
Selecting godparents is important, for the care
of the child in the event of death of the parents
may devolve on the godparents, and intimate
relations will exist in any event. For this
reason people will often refuse to accept the
responsibility or do so only after repeated invi-
tations. Normally a married couple are sought
to act as godparents but sometimes an unmar-
ried man serves as godfather. In this case,
when he marries, his wife will automatically
become godmother. More rarely an unmarried
man and unmarried woman are asked to serve
as godparents. Agustin R. acted as godparent
one time and had never met the woman who
served as godmother.

Most commonly the godfather takes the child
to church for baptism unaccompanied by the
godmother, but sometimes the godmother goes
along and carries the child. The godfather
pays the priest the fee for baptism, $2.50. In
the case of Agustin R., mentioned above, he was
accompanied by his mother who supplied the
information the priest needed to enter the
baptism in the parochial register.

When the godfather returns the child to its
parents, the godmother goes to the house of
the parents for food. She takes with her 2 to
5 cakes of chocolate, 2 bars of soap to wash the
child, and 3 to 5 pieces of bread worth 10
centavos each. If the godfather is unmarried,
he gives money to some woman to buy these
things and take them to the child’s parents.

The parents of the child prepare beef cooked
in broth (éurfpo), tamales, tortillas, and some-
times other things. The godmother eats at the
parents’ house, and sometimes they invite
others. The godfather cannot eat at the par-
ents’ house, but they send food to him at his
own house, which he eats by himself or he may
invite a few of his friends in to help him. In
the case of Agustin, he was sent 2 chickens
cooked in mole sauce, a big pan of rice, a large
basket of tortillas and some tamales. He ate
most of the food by himself, his parents refus-
ing to partake of it.

172

The godfather is supposed to supervise the
growing up of the child. He should see that
his godchild “grows straight like a tree” and is
properly trained and clothed, and he should
make presents of clothing from time to time
and remedy any deficiencies in the parents.
Should the parents die, the godfather is respon-
sible for rearing the child.

The name is usually selected by the parents.
There are four ways of naming a child: using
the name of the saint on whose day the child was
born; the name of some distinguished person;
a name selected by the godfather; the name of
some relative, such as the grandparent or
sibling of the parents. In the case of persons
named for San Juan, San José, San Pedro,
San Pablo, or San Francisco there are special
observances in connection with their name day
throughout the rest of their lives. Early in the
morning, people visit persons of these names
on their name day; often they will be strangers,
for it suffices if one member of the party knows
the person. The guests merely say ‘Good-
morning” to the person visited and then are
given posole. They may then stay around and
talk a bit or may leave immediately, merely
saying “Thank you” in the ordinary way.
Sometimes the band starts at midnight, going
around to various persons’ houses and playing.
In some cases the band members appear to be
paid and to come by invitation, but in others
they seem merely to be following the usual
custom.

Persons with other names are also expected
to show hospitality on their name day. When
one of the schoolmasters, who is a native of the
town but is stingy and not well liked, celebrated
his name day, the town officials thought it
would be a good joke to invite themselves to his
house for dinner and did so. Meeting mem-
bers of the staff of the study on the street, the
mayor and secretary promptly invited them
along. As the invitation was not seconded by
the rather surly school teacher, who showed
considerable signs of distress already, the invi-
tation was not accepted.

Infants are subject to a number of diseases,
but there are few special treatments for them.
Only the evil eye must be guarded against
especially, for it is usually fatal for infants of
a year or less. This illness is especially in-

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

sidious as it is usually caused inadvertently,
that is, the person with power to cause the evil
eye does not know it and is apt especially to
cause it to attack a child that is particularly
liked or admired by the person. As a preven-
tive a ‘deer eye” is hung from the neck or
wrist, or a little sack filled with cooked black
chile, lime, and salt is suspended from the neck.
Additional data are given under sickness and
curing.

In La Canada the infant’s name is said to be
chosen at a council of the adult relatives who
pick a name from among the deceased relatives,
never the saint’s day, as is the case among the
Mestizos at Chilchota. Neither does the god-
father ever choose a name. The godmother
presents the parents with a basket of bread,
a package of chocolate, 30 centavos of soap, and
1 or 2 kilos of sugar. The other items may
vary, but bread and chocolate must be included
in the gifts. The parents of the child give the
godparents a meal. A year or less after the
baptism the godfather takes musicians to the
child’s house and presents the infant with some |
clothing. With invited relatives and friends,
the godfather holds a day of fiesta. The
parents provide atole, aguardiente, nacatamales
or tamales made with flour. It is to be noted
that here the emphasis in choosing godparents
is on selecting the proper godmother and that
the godfather’s personality is of less importance.

At Huansito in La Canada, infants are fed
atole, bread or tortillas, bean broth, cooked rice,
and similar bland foods, beginning when they
are less than a year old. Older children are
fed whenever they are hungry and may eat
numerous times during the day. Normally a
child of 6 years will eat bread or tortillas and
black coffee or cinnamon tea in the morning.
At 10 o’clock in the morning he will eat tortillas,
éuripo, and perhaps beans with the elders. In
the middle of the day he will eat tortillas and
some other item (the adults will not eat at
this time). In the evening about 6 o’clock will
be the main meal, perhaps broiled or fried meat,
broth, and beans with tortillas.

At Ichan in La Canada, Rendén noted the
practice of children taking the baptismal name
of their fathers as their surname. For exam-
ple, the son of Diego is known as Juan Diego,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

the child of the latter being known as Pablo
Juan or Luisa Juan, ete.

CHILDHOOD

Small children are usually clothed today.
Occasionally a small boy is seen wearing noth-
ing but a shirt, but this is uncommon, while
girls able to walk always have a blouse and a
skirt. In early childhood there is a good deal
of affection between parents and children.
Adults of both sexes play with the children and
carry them about a great deal. Small children
are kissed by both parents. Fear of strangers
is absent. While opportunities for observation
were limited, on several occasions when I had
opportunity to be with children while talking
with parents, they responded immediately to
any caress on my part, often promptly climbing
into my lap, or seizing hold of my clothing if I
were standing. At this age there is evidently
little correction. Some children ery and whim-
per a good deal and are reproved for it or told
to hush, but nothing is done if the child
continues.

As the child grows a little older, it evidently
goes through a somewhat trying period of
readjustment. This probably coincides with
the coming of another child and also with the
increasing care of the child by older brothers
and sisters. At this period some rough treat-
ment is given by the parents. Several times
children were seen to stumble and fall on the
street. When the child began to cry, the father
either smacked it on the rump or kicked it
along, gently it is true.

A boy about 4 was observed in a temper
tantrum on the Cheradn plaza. The tantrum
began when the mother took a large piece of
sugarcane held by the child, broke it, prepared
the smaller piece, and gave it to the child.
The child began to scream and weep, demand-
ing the larger piece back. The mother laughed
good-naturedly and told him to come along.
He refused, and finally the mother gave the boy
a gentle tap on the rump with her piece of
sugarcane. The child screamed and beat at the
mother with his cane. She continued to laugh,
made some comments to others passing by and
gradually got the child moved along, but he
continued screaming as long as he was within
earshot. In this case the mother showed more

173

forebearance than seems likely to be usual.
Possibly her behavior was inhibited by aware-
ness that I was watching.

In another instance, a group of small boys
were playing marbles. The mother of one of
them, a boy probably not over 7, came up behind
him, kicked him rather smartly, and scolded
him shrewishly for crawling around on his
knees and destroying his trousers. The boy
was obviously furious but made no reply; when
his mother was out of sight he resumed his
game—and the crawling. The opportunities
for observation of the treatment of small chil-
dren were far too few to be certain the fore-
going cases are typical.

Other situations are handled without stress.
Masturbation by small boys is simply ignored
by everyone even though it be in public. There
seem to be no efforts to inculcate fears in the
children or to control them by fear. Children
showed some curiosity but certainly no fear of
members of the staff. In one instance a mother
trying to get a small boy to come to her re-
marked that I might carry him off. He looked
me over calmly and was sufficiently perturbed
to make a start in his mother’s direction, but
he certainly did not take the possibility very
seriously. It may be of significance that the
mother spoke to the small boy in Spanish.

Being an orphan is regarded as a grave mis-
fortune, even though a child may be helped by
its godfather. A child whose father has left
the mother or died is also spoken of as an
orphan. A common figure of speech in Cheran
when a person wishes to emphasize how he has
had to struggle is to compare himself to an
orphan or to say his parents were so indifferent
that he felt himself an orphan.

About 25 percent of the boys go to school at
ages between 6 and 8. None of the girls are
ever sent to school. Generally by 5 or 6 there
is some start toward participation in adult
activities. Boys may be sent on errands, while
girls begin to play at adult activities.

Actual participation in adult work begins at
about 8 years for boys. At this age they
accompany their fathers to the woods and help
carry back firewood. In the fields they may do
no more than guard the father’s blanket, but they
are given a sense of participation. They may
also help drive animals or care for them. By

174 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

10 they may guide the plow and do other field
work, for short times. By as early an age as
15, boys may be working for wages. When a
boy begins to accompany his father and to aid
in his work, he no longer plays with girls.
There seems no rule about this, but about this
time, when a boy is not working, he goes into
the streets and plays with other boys of his
own age, while the girl no longer plays outside
but always stays near her mother unless sent
on an errand. On rare occasions, if a child is
disobedient, he may be struck once or twice
with a rope or switch.

At a little more than 6 or 7 a girl may be
carrying about a younger child and caring for
it much of the time. Soon after this she begins
to grind on the metate, not as a help, but simply
to learn how. The mother also gets a small
water jar, and at an early age the girl accom-
panies her mother to get water. Girls observe
the mother in the kitchen and gradually begin
to take part in the activities. By the age of 8
a girl may be going alone to the mill with maize.
If disobedient, girls may be punished in the
same way as boys. In general, it is the opinion
in Cheran, and this was borne out by all obser-
vations, there is very little disobedience or
punishment at this time and the relations be-
tween father and son and mother and daughter
are close and affectionate once the child begins
active participation in the adult activities.
The period of conflict, then, seems a rather
limited one, between the time when a child is
no longer carried about and the time when it
begins to participate in the adult life. These
remarks again are based on very inadequate
data and observation.

Some time between the ages of 6 and 10,
usually toward the upper limits of the age
period, the child is usually confirmed. There
is very little ceremony involved, but when a
visit from the Bishop is expected there will be
a period of some weeks beforehand when chil-
dren will be instructed and adults will confess
so they may receive communion. For the event
a new pair of godparents is sought. These
godparents in theory assume the same responsi-
bility as do the godparents of baptism. Actually
the bonds seem to be much less close and the
duties much less.

Boys and girls play together a good deal until
aged 8 or 10. Varieties of tag games are com-
mon. Boys also play among themselves fre-
quently. For small boys at present, small
home-made wagons with four wheels, usually
with no method of steering, are one of the more
popular playthings. Older males in the house-
hold make the wagons. Balls made of rags are
also used. They are thrown and, at times, are
used with a hockeylike game in which the ball
is hit with curved wooden sticks. The street
is used as a field and the object is to hit the ball
past opponents (Beals and Carrasco, 1944).
January is a favorite time for this game.
Small boys amuse themselves by roping pigs,
and about the time of the fiesta of the patron
saint they may attempt to ride the pigs.

The most popular boys’ game probably is
marbles. The common marble game is “follow
the leader.” It is sometimes played for centa-
vos. The rainy season is the most popular
time, because the rain lays the dust and pyo-
vides clean, hard surfaces. Quite popular is
top spinning, which is most played in June and
July. Top fighting is a common form. The
first player throws his top at a ring. If he
misses, his opponent attempts to hit the top
with his own. He may split the first top, for
the points are sharpened, or win it.

Stilts are made, especially in October and
November. They are small, peeled pine trees
with one of the branches left projecting near
the bottom. This is almost exclusively a boy’s
amusement, but one girl was seen walking on
stilts. Hunting birds with sling shots (mostly
of the rubber-band type) is most common in
May and June. A ring and pin game, made of
wood in Paracho, is played by all ages.

A favorite sport from March through May is
kite flying. Kites of small boys are about 7 by
9 inches; those of larger boys are about 2 by
3 feet. They are six-stick kites made with
sticks all the same length and requiring a tail.
They are commonly in bright colors. Big boys
tie razor blades on the tails of their kites and
fight each other. They try to maneuver their
kites into the top position where they can be
dropped and cut the strings of the other kites.
There is a slight element of danger in this; one
boy got his cheek laid open in 1940.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 175

Small girls and sometimes small boys play
with swings in the house yards. These are
merely larger versions of the swings used to
teach infants to walk. Girls also play running
games in the streets with small boys and play
“keep away” and other games with rag balls.
Girls are shy and always stopped playing when
they were observed.

In general, girls ape adult activities much
more than do boys. Girls pretend to mill
maize, using a board for a metate, a rock for
the mano, and mud for the maize dough. They
play at being street vendors, using fiower petals
for merchandise. Sometimes they have dolls
made of rags, but not very often. More com-
mon is it for several girls to get some boards
or branches and make a house in which they
will play at housekeeping with their fireplaces,
grinding stones, dishes, ete. After several
weddings had been held in close succession, a
group of girls were observed playing at having
a wedding. Flowers were put in the hair of
the “godmothers” and leaves of maize were tied
in the hair to represent the ribbons used in
real weddings.

Education for life in Cheran is completely
onan informal and unconscious level. Children
learn first by imitating and then by doing while
assisting their parents. The social and re-
ligious structure they learn little by little
through observation first of parents’, and later
of relatives’, reactions to various individuals
and situations and by listening to conversa-
tions. Only to a very small extent do children
learn by being told. Again, observations are
too few to generalize extensively, but apparently
children are counseled and advised only when
they begin to be old enough to undertake adult
responsibilities. When they mention that they
may do a certain act, the parents may discuss
the advisability with them. In small matters
of etiquette, parents may prompt children of
any age. Formal training, though, seems to
play little part in education for life as it is lived
in Cheran.

Formal education for about 25 percent of the
boys is received in school. Those who continue
throughout the available course receive four
years of school education. They learn to read
and write and do a little simple arithmetic.
They learn very little history or geography.

They learn something of natural history, such
as major classifications of things in the animal,
mineral, and vegetable kingdoms.

A few ambitious families send one or more
of their children to high school in Morelia or to
an agricultural school. Some are sent to the
boarding school at Paracho, where they receive
some education in a trade and in farming. A
few also may go to Mexico City, and a case or
two were discovered of children studying law
or medicine. However, it is doubtful whether
2 dozen families in Cherdn have sent their
children on to advanced school training.

With all due acknowledgement of the effort
and sincerity involved in the school system,
the Cheran schools do not train children in any
real sense for life in Cherdn. The average
Cheran resident completing the school training
has little advantage over his unschooled fellows
in following the farming routines of the com-
munity. If he can read and write he perhaps
has some less chance of being swindled in busi-
ness transactions and more opportunity of
rising to some municipal office. If his educa-
tion is effective, however, and is put to use. it is
by moving out of the basic pattern of Cheran.
Such a person may become a storekeeper or a
mill operator, where his education will be of
some slight service to him. The major advan-
tage of school training is to better equip some
individuals to cope with the Mestizo world
which impinges on Cherdn to some extent.
Even so, the school child acquires little know-
ledge of rights and responsibilities in a larger
world. Insofar as the education is effective
and is utilized—and this is even more markedly
true of those going on for more advanced
education—the effect is to move the individual
out of the culture of Cheran. If he stays in
Cheran he tends to become an exploiter rather
than a producer, or to occupy a position where
he furnishes some liason between the rest of the
population and the Mestizo world. Or, more
commonly, he moves out of the Cheran culture
completely, residing in some other part of
Mexico. Only to a very small extent and in a
very limited number of cases does an individual
become a better producer, that is, a better
farmer; or practice a trade learned through
schools; or become a force and example guiding
the community to better housing, reformed

176

diets, better health practices, or higher stan-
dards of community organization. Formal
education is still not geared to the needs and
problems of Cheran life and is and will remain
relatively ineffective until it becomes of obvious
utility to the average Cheran resident. In
other words, until the educational process is
conceived of first of all from the standpoint of
Cherdan culture, instead of from the standpoint
of national needs or theories, it will not be
effective. And when education becomes geared
to Cherdn needs, paradoxically, it can then be
effectively geared to national objectives.

YOUTH

The period of youth is very short in Cheran
for most persons and there is no clearly defined
lower limit to it. Boys seem to be regarded as
youths when they are able to do a man’s work
or to be self-supporting but have not yet mar-
ried. Marriage puts a termination to the
period, although the young married man may
still be under the tutelage of his parents. Still,
after marriage a boy will be consulted in all
family affairs; before marriage he normally
will not be consulted unless he is much older
than the age at which most Cherdn youths are
married. By 15 practically every Cheran
youth is either earning his own living in part
by working for wages or is working regularly
on the family estate, taking a full man’s share
of the labors. In individual cases this may be
true of youths as young as 12. Unmarried
youths of 16 to 18 do not spend much of their
free time at home; indeed, they may not even
eat at home regularly. They tend to hang
around the streets in gangs in their spare time.
They spend a good deal of time in one of the
two billiard parlors which modern civilization
has brought to Cheran, where they may gamble
on billiards at 50 centavos a game, or may be
drawn into card games, or may begin drinking.
However, few of the youngsters go around the
saloons very much, nor are many of them prone
to drink excessively. In such groups will be
concerted many of the “stealings’” which are
the preliminaries to marriage. At this period
boys in general are rather antisocial and
appear to have some conflict with their parents.
They feel they are growing up very fast and are
impressed by the age gap which separates them

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

from their parents. In an overheard conversa-
tion, two young men commented at length on
how tast people got old at their ages, while
people over 30 did not seem to age at all.

The transition for girls is even less clearly
defined than that for boys. As girls are some-
times married even before their first men-
struation, this physiological transition hardly
seems to mark a status change. From the age
of 6 or 8, girls essentially perform adult labors
in assisting their mothers. Youth is essentially
a transition to adulthood and marriage. As a
general thing, girls are married soon after the
first menstruation.

Informants were agreed that most girls ex-
perience the first menses at about 14 years of
age; whether this is the ideal age or the actual
age could not be determined. No cases of
failure to menstruate were known. Menstrual
disorders apparently do occur sometimes and
the aid of midwives is sought in such cases, but
no details could be secured. Men, at least,
believe that girls are generally ignorant of the
menstrual period until they experience the first
occurrence, and this belief coincides with a few
statements by women. Some girls are said to
be a little depressed or frightened, but the
experience is not severe. Mothers explain to
their daughters that the phenomenon is per-
fectly natural, and girls never become ill.

The mother always informs her husband
when the first menstruation occurs. At this
time the father increases his admonitions to
his wife to watch over the girl. Careful
mothers from now on do not let the girls go
alone for water or to church or walk about the
streets. Care is taken that girls do not see
“bad” things. Well-brought-up girls, in fact,
are hardly allowed out of the house until they
are married, but if this ideal were really lived
up to, it is difficult to see how either marriages
could be arranged or “stealing” occur. Cheran,
though, feels its standards are much above
those of other towns and people mention some
of La Canada towns, especially Tacura, as
being very bad. The latter town is said even
to have many cases of sexual relations between
father and daughter, which is said never to
happen in Cheran.

Most women early become regular in their
menstrual periods. No devices for keeping

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

track of the periods are used but some account
is kept of the phase of the moon and an approx-
imate idea formed. The normal menstruation
is regarded as lasting 3 or 4 days. Slight or
excessive flows during the period are believed
to be bad. No special garments are worn, but
the ordinary underwear is carefully washed
after the flow ends.

Women should not have relations with men
during the menstrual period, and most women
do not resume relations with their husbands
until they have bathed, although some do so as
soon as menstruation ends. Violation of this
rule is believed to be bad for the men and to
cause them to contract a disease with ulcers.
Women may prepare food for themselves and
others, but they must not eat certain foods.
These include “cold” things, such as avocados
or prickly pears. Beans, if eaten, must be con-
sumed with quantities of onions. Rice, pork,
and preserved chiles (because the liquid is very
“eool’) are also believed to be bad. Dried
~ chiles may be eaten. Aguwardiente is also
avoided, although a little in coffee or orange-
leaf tea is believed to be helpful. The majority,
if possible, drink chocolate in the mornings
even though they may not normally do so or
may even dislike it. In connection with the
concept of ‘‘coldness” it should be noted that
this refers to the supposed effects on the per-
son, not to the quality of the thing itself. Cold
water, for example, may be consumed freely.
Aside from sexual restrictions, men have no
special rules to observe when their wives
menstruate.

MARRIAGE AND SEX RELATIONSHIPS

Marriage is the normal state of the Cheran
adult and unmarried persons are relatively rare,
except among the aged. Although sexual in-
verts were reported, in every case they had
married. One woman is known to be an invert
and is called toro-vaca. Asa girl she attempted
to seduce other girls, and a woman told Rendén
that in her childhood the individual in question
once tried to drag her into a vacant lot, stop-
ping her mouth with a rebozo, but she tore
loose and screamed and was rescued by her
father. Various charges were also made
against the woman in court, but nothing was
ever done.

177

The individual in question was also said once
to have lived with another woman who did
the work in the household while the former
acted like a man. It is also believed that she
is a “man” during one month and a “woman”
the next, the change being regulated by changes
inthe moon. During the month she is a “man”
she is said to go through the streets at night,
trying to entice girls to her house, or else she
stands at the door of her house and offers pres-
ents to girls who will come in. At one time
the woman married and had two children but
later was widowed. That the individual is
emotionally unstable is indicated by her claim
to have once “died” and come to life again,
after which she brought many people messages
from their dead relatives whom she had en-
countered in the other world.

No cases of men dressing as women or men
who had homosexual relations were encoun-
tered, but there evidently are occasional in-
stances. The only specific reports encountered
were of subadolescent boys who showed a pref-
erence for doing women’s work. One example
cited was of a boy who washed dishes, swept,
made tortillas, and did other housework. His
voice was high-pitched and he refused to fight.
Later, however, the boy’s voice changed and he
married.

Some prostitution exists in Cheran. There
are several houses of assignation operated by
elderly women who know the accessible women.
Men go to these houses and the old woman then
takes a message to some girl or woman. The
younger women are often the daughters of
older women who have taken this way of life,
but sometimes the girls from other families will
visit such houses clandestinely. Such girls be-
come known among the unmarried men and
usually have difficulty in marrying. Often they
attempt to force boys to marry them by claim-
ing to have been “‘stolen” by a boy and lodging
complaints with the mayor, often abetted by
their parents. If the girl’s reputation is bad,
the boy may be put in jail as a discouragement
to boys who might be tempted to steal a girl
without marrying her, but the boy will not be
forced to marry.

The patrons of such houses are usually
bachelors and older unmarried youths. Some
whose wives are pregnant also visit such houses

178

occasionally. Payment, usually 50 centavos, is
given to the girls prostituting themselves, part
of which is given to the woman who lends her
house for the purpose and arranges the meeting.

Despite the existence of prostitution, it is
claimed that most young people before marriage
have no sexual experience. Girls particularly
are believed to be relatively innocent, although
obviously all have knowledge of the nature of
the sexual act in a setting as full of animals as
is Cheran. Boys are believed to be somewhat
more sophisticated because, even though they
may not have visited houses of prostitution,
details are talked about among them. After
marriage, aside from the prohibitions on inter-
course during pregnancy and confinement and
during menstruation, there are no restrictions
on sexual relations between husband and wife.
There seem to be no ideas about a fixed interval
or ideal interval between sexual relations and
informants thought relations were “frequent”
but would not suggest any time periods. In
general, the subject of sex relations proved
embarrassing and informants seemed purposely
to avoid definite statements.

The customary preliminary to marriage is
for the groom to “steal” (vobar) his bride.
Virtually everyone of the older and the more
articulate men in town deprecate the custom
and many assert that it is a recent develop-
ment. Nevertheless, no one could name a time
when the custom was not practiced. Moreover,
it is to be found in many other Tarascan towns,
perhaps in all of them, and is regarded as an
old form at Mestizo Chilchota, where most
marriages also begin by stealing. Although
occasionally the groom asks for the bride in-
stead of stealing her, such cases are exceptional
and seem more likely to be the innovation than
does the stealing of the bride.

Only on very rare occasions is the bride
stolen without her consent. Generally the
entire performance, including setting the time
and place, has been arranged beforehand be-
tween the bride and groom, although it is good
form for the girl to struggle or at least to
pretend to do so. The groom enlists the
cooperation of some of his age mates and they
assist in carrying off the girl and in blocking
pursuit. The usual time for carrying off a girl
is on a Sunday when she comes out of church

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

after the Rosary and when she is usually accom-
panied only by female relatives. The relatives
scream and create a disturbance. The male
relatives are summoned at once, either by the
female relatives or by any bystander who may
be interested enough to do so. The male rela-
tives go in pursuit of the girl and the groom’s
friends interfere with the chase although they
must not use force. They try to block the
streets, and sometimes push or trip the male
relatives, but they do not hold on to them or
strike any blows. If the male relatives of the
girl catch the groom before he has gotten the
girl to the house of one of his relatives, he must
not resist, even though the girl's relatives may
abuse him or beat him.

Opportunities for courting and for making
arrangements are few. The boy may visit the
girl’s house only on rare occasions, such as the
melebris before Christmas, although he may
oceasionally have accompanied his parents on a
visit. He also may speak to the girl at the door
of her courtyard or exchange a word or two
when she is on the streets with her mother
carrying water. The best opportunities are
the rare occasions when the girl may be allowed
on the streets alone in the daytime to visit a
relative or to run an errand nearby and espe-
cially when she has been allowed to go some-
where with other girls. Sunday afternoon is
the main time for courting. A boy uses a
special whistle to attract the attention of a girl.
If she is with other girls, all stop, and the boy
uses signs to indicate which one he wishes to
talk to. The other girls go on slowly and the
indicated one, if she is interested, lingers behind
for a few minutes’ conversation.

The standards for choice of spouse by a boy
are several. A boy wants an attractive-looking
girl who is fairly tall and of medium build and
who also is industrious and of good family.
This means her family is not completely
poverty-stricken, her father not a drunkard,
and her mother not “‘perverse’” (apparently
meaning “immoral”). Also, the girl should be
either the same age or a year or two younger
than the boy. In a few instances the girl is a
year or two older. No cases were reported of
widows marrying younger men, but sometimes
a widower marries a younger woman. One
case cited is a man of over 65 who has a wife

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

aged 20. The instance is regarded as excep-
tional and as undesirable. As a rule, the boy
discusses his choice with his parents or with
one of his uncles. Although no specific data
could be secured on the subject, from the facts
that boys at this age seem to be shy with their
parents and that the bride is usually taken to
the house of an uncle, it seems likely that uncles
are consulted on matters of marriage more
commonly than are the parents. Some stated
there is no preference for maternal or paternal
uncles in this connection; others said the girl is
taken to a paternal uncle or, lacking an uncle,
a paternal aunt.

After a girl is stolen, only on rare occasions
does the marriage not follow. Her parents,
however much opposed they may be, must
always give their consent, for it is very difficult
for girls to get married if they have been stolen
and then returned home. As Agustin put it,
“they have to wait for a sucker” in order to
get married. A youth marrying such a girl
is the butt of teasing by all his age mates, even
by persons who do not even know his name.
In the one case known of a young man who
married a girl who had previously been stolen
by someone else, the youth is subjected to so
much teasing that he is virtually a recluse,
either staying in’ his house when home or work-
ing by himself in the woods.

It is generally felt that the municipal authori-
ties should force a youth to marry a girl after
he has stolen her. If they do not, the authori-
ties are always suspected of receiving bribes to
overlook the case. Informants best acquainted
with customary viewpoints, though, stated that
the municipal authorities are not required to
act unless the parents of the groom make the
first formal visit to the girl’s parents. In this
case the municipal authorities are expected to
foree completion of the marriage. In actual
fact the municipal authorities bring some pres-
sure to bear on youths if the girl’s parents
lodge a complaint.

The following accounts of stealing girls give
additional light on the procedures. The first
account was written by Agustin Rangel.

When I first met the groom it was about 2 p.m. (on
a Sunday) at the corner of Damas Gambe’s store. We

walked around for a while and when we were coming
down the highway he told me he was going to steal a

dae

girl that afternoon after the Rosario. The corner of
Morelos and Galeana was where the boy and girl had
the place arranged for the stealing. When we knew
that the Rosario was just about to be finished, we came
down the highway to the plaza where we sat down at
the municipal offices. Then the people began to come
out from the Rosario and were called back by the priest
to move the rocks in back of the priest’s house. The
girl’s father called us to help move the rocks but in-
stead we moved over to the corner of Morelos and
Ocampo where we sat and waited until they finished.

After a little the girl came by and she looked at us.
As she turned the corner up Morelos, she got ahead of
her folks about 10 feet and just stood there. Then she
turned back and looked at us to see if we were going to
do anything. She was with five women. Knowing that
we were not going to do anything, she evened up with
the rest of her folks. Then we followed her; we went
straight and she turned the corner of Morelos and
Galeana. Then we ran so that we could beat her to
the corner of Hidalgo and Arista and we stood there
until she came.

When she came, the groom stood in the middle of the
street and two of us stood on each side of the street
and the other stood a little ways from the corner.
When the girl passed us, the groom grabbed her by the
arm and I took the other arm on the other side. The
mother just said, ‘‘Maria Purisima, where do you take
my daughter? Why do you take her and who are you?”
We just ran to beat everything. When we were cross-
ing the bridge (to Paricutin), one of the kids hollered,
“Hurry up, because the father is just in back of you.”

When I turned to look back the girl’s father was just
about half a block behind us. Then we separated at
the street junction across the bridge. The boy and girl
took the upper road and we went on the lower road.
We just walked a little ways to where it was dark and
changed blankets. Then we walked back as if we were
innocent bystanders. We saw the girl’s father after
the boy and girl. We just made out we didn’t know
anything and said, “I wonder who was the kid who took
the girl.” Then we said, ‘“Let’s follow them,” and we
did. When we reached the corner of Madero and
Salazar the girl’s father was madder than a wet hen.
He was saying, “If I ever catch the guys who did it, I
will kill them,” swearing to beat anything. Then he
left and we followed him up Salazar and past the
calvary to his house.

His wife was waiting for him in the doorway. His
wife then said, ‘“Didn’t you catch the boys who stole
my daughter?” He answered, “No, I didn’t catch them.
How do you expect me to catch them when I didn’t
know who they were?” They argued for a while in the
doorway and then went inside. We came back to the
saloon and when we got back they were already drunk
(the groom and another helper). Then we went home.
We were just afraid that if the father knew who we
were he might call us in at the mayor’s office and get us
put in jail overnight.

180

The boy and girl had agreed to go out together since
the last time they talked together. The father was
chasing us because he was trying to get the girl before
she had reached the boy’s house. The girl was not
taken to the house of the boy when we stole her but to
the house of one of his relatives. If the father caught
up with us, we would have to take what was coming to
us and not fight back. Some boys tried to make a
blockade on the road when the father was chasing. He
had three friends with him and so he got by.

The following day Agustin’s fears were
realized; he was summoned to the mayor’s office
and shut up in jail from about 5 until 8 o’clock.
Then, since it was a first offense, he was let out
(although he had helped steal a number of
other girls) with the warning that next time it
would be a couple of days. The mayor also
scolded the boys severely, pointing out that
several people had been killed stealing girls; in
fact, the implication was that he had put them
in jail for their own protection, not because
there was anything wrong with stealing the
girl. As during the winter scarcely a Sunday
passes without a girl being stolen in the plaza,
the mayor’s shock could not have been great.

Another less typical case involved a girl who
had three suitors. The three suitors agreed
to steal her and make her choose between them.
If she refused to choose, then one of them, José
H———., was to take her. The aid of three
other youths was enlisted to guard all the
approaches to the plaza in case the girl tried to
flee. The plan fell through, because the girl
did not come to church as she had promised.

The following week José made signals to a
girl in Paricutin that he wanted to talk with
her. She was with two other girls, carrying
water. She stood and talked for a while and
José then started home. After a block or two
he discovered the girl following him. He made
a circuit beside the barranca, but she still
followed. He waited for her and asked where
she was going. She replied, “I am going with
you.” On this, José ran down into the bar-
ranca, followed it down to the plain, and after
a very long circuit, returned home. He had
searcely arrived when the police summoned him
to the mayor’s office. There was the father of
the girl, accusing José of stealing his daughter.
José denied the accusation and explained, but
he had no witnesses and the girl insisted. The
mayor ordered José to marry the girl; he

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

refused, as he was interested in the girl he had
hoped to steal the previous Sunday and the
present girl he knew visited one of the houses
of assignation. José was then put in jail, but
when his mother stood responsible for him he
was let out in a couple of days. The girl’s
mother went around town talking about the
wrong that had been done, while José went
around town telling everyone bad things about
the girl. Eventually José had to run away and
no one knew where he had gone.

Normally, sexual relations are begun between
the bride and groom soon after she is stolen.
Permission of the girl’s baptismal godfather
(and perhaps the godfather of confirmation)
should be sought and is usually given; to refuse
might cause hard feeling. Cases were cited
where the godfather and the boy’s parents be-
came very angry with each other over a refusal.
On the other hand, evidently the boy is stimu-
lated to accumulate the property necessary to
hold the wedding if sex relations are not
permitted.

The stealing of a girl sets in motion a com-
plex series of events constituting perhaps the -
most complicated aspect of Cheran culture.

The following account of marriage is one
written by Pedro Chavez. Parts in brackets
represent additional comments made by Sr.
Chavez on other occasions or data gathered
from other sources. All the features of the
wedding were verified by observation and
utilization of other sources of information.

A TARASCAN WEDDING

Marriage among the Tarascans of the town of Cheran
embraces many points of great importance. In the
first place, it is now a custom that the groom, when
he desires to enter into marriage, steals the girl. This
theft consists of catching her and carrying her off
forcibly or, sometimes, willingly without force. But in
either case, as much in the first instance as in the
second, the bride goes in accordance with an agreement
made in advance and the action is merely feigned by
the two.

When the theft of the bride is completed [by taking
the girl to the house of an uncle or other relative or,
more rarely, to the house of the groom], the parents of
the groom proceed to the house of the bride and appear
before her parents. This act is called the puatperankua
or “the pardon.” It should be taken into account that
in order to present themselves before the parents of
the bride, the parents of the groom must take a person
called t‘asepiti diésa uanddri [who is a professional

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

marriage manager]. The first act of this person is to
arrive at the house of the parents of the bride, saluting
them very respectfully, and immediately falling on his
knees, accompanied by the parents of the groom and
various other persons most near to the father [es-
pecially the brothers and sisters of the groom’s father].
Then the marriage manager says a Catholic prayer,
making reference to the marriage of Joseph and Mary,
how it was, and that thus it is necessary to effect the
marriage they propose to bring about. This act com-
pleted, he offers a cigarette to the offended party [that
is, the father of the bride]. If the latter receives the
cigarette, it is an indication that he does not find the
marriage undesirable. If he does not receive it, it is
an indication that he wishes to be begged with many
favors to give his consent, but finally he always gives
his consent. [Because if he did not, the girl would be
returned to her parents and no one would marry her.
The girl’s father is often very annoyed. He may scold
his wife for letting the daughter be stolen and he often
refuses to receive the boy’s relatives for several days,
going off and hiding in the mountains in order to show
his anger and to cool down a bit.] Immediately [on
giving his consent] the father of the bride calls to-
gether all his neighbors and principal relatives, others
coming by themselves later. This reunion is with the
object of drinking with the bride’s father, for the
parents and companions of the groom have brought a
quantity of liquor, until all are very drunk, which con-
cludes the first ceremony. The marriage manager
reminds everyone to await them again within 8 days,
that is to say, that they [the groom’s relatives] will
return within 8 days.

Eight days after the first ceremony, both the father
of the bride and the father of the groom assemble all
their relatives. Four or five days before they are
notified so that the relatives of the groom will each
prepare a quantity of bread costing not less than 1 peso
and not more than 5 pesos, while the relatives of
the bride make tamales with chile and meat of the
kind we call nakatamali. Once the day arrives, all
assemble in the house of the parents of the bride and
begin to exchange. The parents and relatives of the
groom give 4 or 5 pieces of bread to all those of the
other group. The latter in their turn give 6 or 8
tamales, continuing until all the bread and tamales have
been given away. [Each relative of the groom gives
bread to one or more of the relatives of the bride in
accordance with his wishes.] This affair also ends in
drunkenness. During all this time the bride has been
left at the house of the relative in whom the groom
has most confidence, but this day she is brought to be
present at the function.

The following day after the function referred to,
the couple present themselves at the civil registry to
make their application to marry, accompanied by the
closer relatives. The authorities notify them to present
themselves within 8 days to effect the civil marriage.
[This represents an ideal case. Often the application
for marriage and the civil marriage may not occur for

181

weeks orevenmonths. In at least one case the religious
marriage took place before the civil marriage, although
on the same day. However, the priest normally refuses
to perform the service unless the certificate of civil
marriage is presented. The relatives accompanying
the couple are parents, uncles and male first cousins of
the groom, the parents and close relatives of the bride,
and the godmothers of the groom and the godmother
for the wedding. The latter stands by the couple when
the legal formula is 1ead by the secretary or the mayor.
All the relatives sign the papers as witnesses. Some-
times the secretary or mayor makes a little speech,
pointing out to the husband that now he has to support
his bride and can not expect her father to go on support-
ing her. He also may deliver a homily on behavior,
pointing out that a married man shouldn’t have two
women or a married woman two men, warning them to
avoid divorce, ete.]

After following the course indicated by the authori-
ties, the proper steps are taken for the religious
marriage. On the vespers of the day of the marriage
they celebrate the t‘irénkua or the dance. For this
the parents of the bride hire a band with the object of
going to the house of the groom with the music to take
him the clothing called ariperata, or gifts, which con-
sist of a pair of shoes, two or three pairs of trousers
(calzones), three shirts, and a hat. The cost of this
is divided by the godparents and relatives of the bride
in this way: one pair of trousers, a shirt, and a sash
from each of the two godfathers of the bride and the
rest from her father. The groom is dressed in this
clothing by the grandfathers, grandmothers, siblings,
and first cousins of the bride. [One of the latter
actually dresses the groom. The groom is called tem-
buéa and his siblings and cousins of both sexes are
called tembuéas. Similarly, the bride is called tembunga
and her siblings and cousins are called tembungas.
The female tembuéas give the female tembungas nar-
row colored ribbons or bands to wear in their hair.]
{mmediately the dressing is completed, the musicians
play some regional tune and the groom has to dance,
with which ends the affair of the gifts of the groom.
[Atole is sometimes brought to this function also.
The custom seems to be decaying.]

On the day of the wedding the parents and god-
parents of the groom, together with the grandfathers,
uncles and cousins, are those charged with going to the
house of the bride very early in the morning when the
bells ring the first call to Mass to take her clothing also,
that is to say, the Ariperata. [The bride has returned
to her own house a few days before the wedding.
During this time the groom may visit her freely.]
This consists of three rebozos, a shirt and blouse, ear-
rings, corales (red glass beads), sash, and a pair of
shoes. The cost of these is divided as follows: one
rebozo from each godfather, these being the blue rebozos
of Paracho, and the father of the groom a very fine
white rebozo [it is not actually white but one of the
remarkably fine mixed color rebozos from Tangancicuaro,
costing anywhere from 20 to 80 pesos] and all the other

182

articles. When the bride is dressed [she wears all
three of the new rebozos], the parents of the couple
and the principal godparents and relatives, together
with the musicians brought by the parents of the
groom, accompany the couple to the church to effectuate
the marriage before the priest. [During the Mass a
ring is placed on a finger of the bride. The groom can
bring his own ring, but if he has not done so, a ring
lent by the priest is used. The priest also puts silver
money in the hands of the groom who in turn places
it in the hands of the bride. If the groom has not
brought money, the priest lends it to him. However,
it is believed that the groom should bring the money
and that the more he brings the greater the benediction
for their life and the more fortunate the couple will be.
There is said to be no use of the collar, chain, or ribbon
used in some churches in Oaxaca. ]

After the wedding, all leave the Mass and go to the
house of the bride’s parents, where she and all her
relatives are left, the rest of the party going to the
house of the groom’s parents. Later, in about an hour,
all return to the house of the bride’s father [first call-
ing for the bride’s godparents to invite them] to escort
the bride and all her relatives to breakfast [at the house
of the groom’s father] which consists only of a piece
of bread and small cup of chocolate. On arriving at
the house of the groom’s father, the [male] guests seat
themselves in a place previously prepared. The prep-
aration consists of placing some logs of wood for seats
{in two rows with others sometimes arranged as a
table between the rows at a somewhat higher level]
and at one of the ends they place the image of some
saint of the Catholic religion [most commonly a picture
of the saint] before which is a lighted candle and
flowers [and sometimes an incense burner with copal
incense]. Before the guests are served, it is the duty
of the marriage manager to say a prayer in thanks.
It should be noted that the first places [before the
altar] are reserved for the marriage manager and the
godfathers of both bride and groom and that only the
men sit on these seats, the women being seated apart.
The godmothers also sit apart [usually on mats in the
center of the courtyard], the godmother of the groom
being distinguished by ribbons tied in her hair. These
ribbons are given and tied on the hair by the god-
mother’s comadres, granddaughters and sisters-in-law.
[Ribbons are tied in the hair of all the godmothers of
the groom, and of the godmother of the wedding.]

Upon completing the breakfast, all the relatives of
the bride return to her house, taking the bride with
them again and not being accompanied by the relatives
of the groom. In the meantime the musicians play in
the house of the groom. This is usually between 10
and 11 of the morning. [Meantime many guests may
drop in and will be fed, being seated in a different place
from the relatives. Everyone is welcome because the
more who attend, the more prestige attaches to the
wedding. As outsiders, the members of the staff were
usually especially welcome, as apparently we gave
special eclat to the function.] Meantime all the sib-

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

lings and cousins and grandparents of the groom to-
gether have hired another band and at this time they
separate themselves from the rest of the groom’s rela-
tives. [They go through the streets with the musicians,
ultimately going to the house of one of the groom’s
uncles where they eat dinner. The remainder of the
groom’s relatives and the guests eat at the house of
the groom. Tortillas, kurindas (tamales), and ¢uripo
(beef broth with cabbage, chile, and chunks of beef)
are served. ]

After the dinner is served, the party is prepared to
go for the bride. This is called the p‘ipejperakua.
The party consists of the parents of the groom and
their brothers and all the friends of the parents.
[Actually not all go; those who are invited to go on
the party are given iris leaves which they carry with
them. Staff members at weddings were frequently
given invitations to accompany the party in this same
form.] The same relatives of the bride are all assem-
bled at her house, ready, as are the friends of the
parents. [The party of the groom’s relatives is accom-
panied by musicians. The party goes first to the house
of the godparents of the bride. They serenade the
house outside and then the closer relatives enter the
house. They form a circle before the godfather and
the godmother of the bride. The marriage manager
makes a long but informal speech, asking permission
to take the bride. The godfather replies, giving his
permission. All present then shake hands with the
godfather and godmother, making a movement simulat-
ing kissing the hand. The group leaves the house,
accompanied by the godparents.] Arriving at the
house of the bride’s parents, the groom’s relatives
immediately ask for the bride. [Actually, only the
closer relatives again go inside, accompanied by the
musicians. The marriage manager again asks for the
bride.] When consent is granted, they start for the
groom’s house, carrying with them the clothing they
have ready. [For a big wedding a procession of a
hundred or more people may have formed by the time
the group returns to the groom’s house.] In the
meantime the other relatives of the boy [the siblings,
cousins, and grandparents] arrive with their musicians
and do the same [that is, they take off the siblings,
cousins, and grandparents of the bride] who carry
quantities of clothing. This consists of shirts for
men and women, trousers for men, jackets for men
and women, sashes for women, and bags, and tortilla
cloths, the latter two objects to be given the groom
at the time all the others are changing clothing
and bread. In the house of the groom’s father the
guests are all seated as before. [The godmothers
are again seated on mats in the center and the bride
sits for a time beside the godmother of baptism. Guests
continue to arrive and additional ribbons are tied in
the hair of the godmothers and long and elaborate paper
ornaments fastened to sticks are placed in the hair.
All the relatives of the groom give cigarettes to the
grocom’s father when they arrive in the courtyard for
the first time and also give cigarettes to the godfathers

a:

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 183

of the groom. To the mother and the godmothers of
the groom are given 5 or 10 centavos each. The form
of presentation is always the same; the money is placed
in a china plate covered with a cloth. The recipient
tips the plate so the money slides into her hand with-
out the amount being visible to anyone else. The
recipient shakes the hand of the donor and in the case
of the mother, who is standing, curtseys. Sometimes
money is given to the males in lieu of cigarettes. If
the family is large, the godmothers and the mother may
receive from 8 to 15 pesos. Shortly after the arrival
of the bride’s party, the parents and uncles of the bride
and groom, and sometimes other relatives, all enter the
kitchen. There the marriage manager performs a
ceremony (described on p. 1083) by which all become
compadres. |

The father of the groom now orders the distribution
to all the relatives of the bride [and in observed wed-
dings, to everyone present] of one piece of bread each.
The bread was prepared in advance and is an obligation
of the father. This is called the ¢a¢Aki t‘irénékua. Or-
dinarily these pieces are in the form of a crown which
we call kanakua. [The compadres or brothers of the
groom’s father help him with the distribution, handing
him a piece of bread which the father himself usually
hands to each guest on a lacquered tray (pl. 7, upper
right). The order of events in the account here does
not coincide with any wedding witnessed. The distri-
bution of bread usually came after the exchange of
clothing and bread described below. Only if there
were to be little or no clothing exchange or dancing
would the distribution of bread be this early in the pro-
ceedings. The time of distribution is regarded as
indicating the probable length of the wedding; the later
it is distributed, the longer the wedding will last. In
the case of the latest distribution observed, the wedding
lasted 3 days. Similarly, the beginning of the drinking
usually did not take place until the clothing and bread
exchange was well under way.]

When this act [the distribution of the bread] was
finished, they begin to bring out the bottles of charanda
and all begin to drink until they are quite drunk. It
should be noted that only the relatives of the groom
have the right to buy and carry liquor, the relatives of
the bride drinking what is offered them [which is
abundant. The person who produces a bottle drinks
from it first.] While they are drinking, at the same
time they are making the exchange of the clothing and
bread in the following form.

All of the women relatives of the bride such as the
maternal and paternal aunts give clothing to the uncles
and aunts and other relatives (of the groom) as well
as the parents, who are those who receive the best
clothing. These in their turn in recompense return
bread in a quantity not more than $1.50 and not less
than $1.00, while the musicians are playing regional
tunes and jarabes and others are dancing. [For a
somewhat different sequence of events with some addi-
tional details, see the account of the Sanchez wedding
below.] Ina word, there is a very great movement.

596569—46——13

[Each person giving a garment presents it to a relative
of the groom who had given bread to the person at the
ceremony 8 days after the pardon.] In another
locality the same acts are being performed by the others
who have a separate group of musicians. These are
the brothers and grandparents of the bride and groom.
Comes a moment when the groom is taken by the arms
and they hang about his neck bags and tortilla cloths
(servilletas). The groom is made to dance to two
tunes. With this he leaves [the brothers, cousins and
grandparents] and the remainder continue drinking
and dancing until it is late and time to leave, only the
bride remaining in the house of the groom, with which
ends the events of the day of the wedding.

The following day is another small fiesta called the
kauijan¢kua. On this day it is an obligation of the
parents of the groom to go to give thanks to the god-
parents of baptism and of the marriage in their houses,
accompanied by their closer relatives, making their
thanks concrete by all getting drunk in the house of
these godparents. On the other hand the brothers,
sisters, cousins of both sexes, and grandparents of the
bride hire musicians and go to the house of the groom
to wash all the pots used the previous day, which is an
obligation of the bride, although actually it does not
result this way as they arrange to drink charanda and
very few pots are washed. When they are all good and
drunk again, celebrating this drunkenness among the
cousins, brothers, and grandparents of the bride and
groom, the marriage events end. As a regular thing
there has been an expenditure of between 200 and 300
pesos for all the parts of the marriage ceremony, which
must be paid by the father of the groom. [Written by
P. Chavez, Cheran, Michoacan, October 10, 1940.]

The foregoing account represents the
thoughtful view of a Cheran wedding as seen by
an intelligent and well-informed native resident
of the town. As is to be expected, certain
aspects of the celebration are overlooked.
Some of these have been inserted in brackets
in the account given above; others will be
added below. The Chavez account also pre-
sents a slightly different order from that
observed at several weddings. In all proba-
bility the Chavez account is in part somewhat
inaccurate in its order; very likely it also
represents an expression of one of several
possible arrangements. Some weddings are
much more elaborate than the generalized de-
scription, while others are much simpler.

The most elaborate wedding during the time
of the study was that of Samuel Sanchez, son of
Antonio SAnchez, a well-to-do farmer with a
large number of relatives (pl. 6, left, center).
The most significant points are discussed below.
Samuel stole his bride about the middle of July,

184

and the wedding occurred on August 17. On
August 16 the women of the household, aided
by relatives, soaked and washed between 5 and
6 fanegas of maize for tamales and tortillas.
Also, a beef was killed, cut up, and placed in
the storage loft. The evening of the same day
new clothing was taken to the groom by the
bride’s relatives, and he was dressed, everything
but his pants being changed in the patio. The

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

groom’s house, where breakfast was served.
The godmother of baptism and the godmother
of the wedding were seated on mats in the patio
with the bride at the right hand of the god-
mother of baptism (pl. 7, right, center; fig. 18).
Both received gifts of ribbons and coins, but
only the godmother of the wedding had the
paper ornaments on sticks placed in her hair
(pl. 7, lower right). When breakfast was

HOUSE

GROOMS

FATHER *d (IOTHER
GREET

GUESTS

GOOMOTHERS

SSS

SSS

SS

LSSs

Re AIMALE
BRIDES RPELATIVES
SCONE WITH

OPElY FIRES
FOP”
TORTILLA

STAAING 3

FicurE 18.—Arrangement of the principal actors in a Tarascan wedding.

dressing should be done by a male first cousin
of the bride. (Agustin, for example, dressed
the groom when the daughter of his mother’s
sister was married.)

The wedding in church took place at about
4a.m. So early a wedding is unusual, partly
because it costs more, but the Sanchez family
obviously planned to make the most of the
wedding. The bride was dressed in new cloth-
ing before the wedding. After the wedding the
bride and her party went to her parents’ house.
Between 10 and 11 o’clock they returned to the

finished, the bride and her relatives returned
to her house.

A group went out with the musicians and
brought back a large quantity of bread. On
such trips with the musicians a direct route is
never followed, particularly on the return, but
a circuitous route is taken to display the bread
and the crowd to as many as possible. As soon
as the bride’s relatives had left, dinner began
to be served to the relatives of the groom, the
men eating under the shed separately from the
women. The bread was put on a table deco-

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 185

rated with ferns. The serving of food to the
men was done by brothers-in-law of the groom’s
father. Cigarettes were passed around by one
of the groom’s uncles.

About 12:45 p. m. a second band arrived.
While the mother was not occupied she sat on a
mat in front of the house where she received
coins from guests. The father received ciga-
rettes, which were placed beside the altar under
the shed until needed, when they were passed
about to the guests. After eating, many went
to the house of one of the other relatives of the
groom where they ate again. The bride’s
relatives were given dinner at her home by her
parents.

Iris leaves were distributed to the men
selected to go for the bride, and they left with
the band hired by the groom’s father. The
godmothers moved under the house porch where
they sat on mats. A procession of women came
in bearing lacquered trays on their heads filled
with fruit and bottles of soda pop. These
women were female relatives of the groom who
had not helped in the kitchen work. The soda
pop was given to the men who had been assist-
ing, while the fruit was given to the women
assistants. Some of the men fastened quanti-
ties of breads and cookies to strings suspended
from the roof of the shed where the bride’s
male relatives would sit again on their return.

A number of women bearing cornstalks and
flowers (cannas, dahlias, and calla lilies) left
with the second band and some of the men,
including the groom’s father. They were going
to get bread.

In the meantime the bride and her relatives
arrived. The bride’s male relatives went to
the shed where they all grabbed at the breads
and cookies, each trying to get the most. The
female relatives sat in a group in another place
(see fig. 18) with the clothing before them
arranged to make the greatest possible display.
The bride sat beside the godmothers. She was
barefoot and accompanied by a small girl.

The first lot of bread was brought in. The
godmothers with the first band, which had
returned with the bride, went out into the street
to meet the bread. About 15 minutes after
this the bride went into the house where she
stayed the remainder of the ceremony, accom-
pained by a number of younger girls.

The exchange of clothing for bread now
began. The father and mother of the groom
were the object of most attention and every
effort was made to keep giving them clothing
too rapidly for them to remove it. Each donor
placed the garment on the recipient. Occa-
sionally the father would succeed in getting
away and dash into the house where he would
remove it all. Despite this, at one time he wore
about six shirts and four or five pairs of extra
calzones (trousers). Three or four times dur-
ing this procedure, the groom came hastily into
the courtyard and entered the house to leave
the bags (morales) and tortilla cloths he had
been given.

After some exchange had gone on and part of
the repayment in bread had been accomplished,
a group brought in seven more large baskets of
bread. Some of the older women accompany-
ing the party brought breads made in the shape
of bulls. They rushed about holding the breads
between their two hands and pretended to gore
others until other women finally seized them
and broke them to pieces. These breads in the
form of bulls (and sometimes other animals)
are provided by the grandparents of the groom
but are used only in the period from January
until after Carnival according to some inform-
ants. However, this was August, so the in-
formants must have been in error.

Before the exchange of clothing and bread
was completed, the godmothers began the
dancing. No one was supposed to dance until
the godmothers began. All the early dancers
were women, mostly elderly, dancing by them-
selves or in pairs. When the music began to
play for a second dance, elderly women with
more breads in the shape of bulls began running
at various persons standing around and pre-
tending to gore them with the animal until they
began to dance.

The dancing was interrupted at this point
by the eruption of a group of men and women
into the courtyard carrying baskets, cooking
pots, comals, water buckets, etc. Two men
carried on a pole a huge copper pot in which
tamales had been cooked. This group began to
dance and everyone cleared a place, primarily
because the pots were black. After a time the
dancers began to wipe their hands on the sooty

186

bottoms of the pots and to rub their hands on
each other’s faces, with other horseplay.

This group included the men and the women
who had been working in the kitchen. It is
said the custom of the kitchen staff dancing
with the kitchen utensils is an old one which
is rarely observed now. A number of inform-
ants had not seen it for many years, and it was
not practiced in other weddings observed. The
custom is believed to be peculiar to Cheran.

The godmothers, in the meantime, had been
seated again. The groom’s father gave them
each a small pop bottle of charanda with a
package of Tigres cigarettes tied with gay rib-
bons to the neck of the bottle. These are
provided by grandchildren of the godmothers.
The father also gave each grandmother a small
green glazed pottery “barrel’’ with a tiny spout
on top and a cup fitting over the spout; these
were also filled with charanda and the god-
mothers ceremonially drank a drop or two from
the cup and then began pressing it on others.
Each person offered a drink took a drop or two.
When most of the small supply of charanda in
the barrels was gone, large bottles were pro-
duced and began to circulate in the crowd.
The first large bottle was taken to the shed
where the bride’s male relatives sat.

The dancing now became general, although
for a time the elderly women with breads
rushed about charging into people who were
not dancing and forcing them to dance. Drink-
ing also became general, and numbers soon
showed the effects of the liquor. Several ex-
peditions went out for more bread, accompanied
now by the godmothers, who danced rather
drunkenly in the streets at the head of the
processions. Many women accompanying the
procession also danced, but the younger women,
especially those carrying babies, merely walked
along the sides of the street.

The following day the male first cousins took
atole to the groom. The atole was made by the
youths’ mothers, but the boys had to take the
maize to the mill to have it ground and get the
ingredients for the atole.

The wedding of Samuel Sanchez, described
above in somewhat abbreviated form, was one
of the extremes of Cherain marriage. At the
other end of the scale was the wedding of a
niece of Agustin’s. The groom, Juan Gerénimo,

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

was a widower but still young. The girl lived
with an aunt, for her mother had become a
woman of loose morals after having an affair
with a worker on the highway and at the
moment was in jail in Uruapan for disorderly
conduct. The bride’s father was dead. An-
other aunt refused to attend the wedding
because she did not approve of the girl’s marry-
ing a widower.

In this instance the groom had not stolen the
girl but had asked for her, taking bread to the
house of the aunt, accompanied by musicians.
Agustin, with other relatives of the girl, took
her to church for the civil wedding, where she
was delivered to the groom’s father. She was
not returned to her own home and there was no
breakfast. As the groom’s father was poor,
there was no celebration in his house, but at
noon the girl’s aunt did the best she could to
rectify the matter by serving a dinner in her
house.

At another simple wedding attended, the
general forms were gone through in truncated
fashion. The dinner was over before 12 o’clock,
and immediately following it the groom’s father
distributed the special breads in the form of
crowns. This early distribution indicated that
there would be no exchange of clothing on a
large scale (although there was a little) and
no drinking. There were no music and no
dancing, and the affair was over by about 2 p.m.

Another of the weddings observed in some
detail presents a number of interesting features.
This was the wedding of Samuel Santa Clara,
son of the widow, Dona Feliciana, principal
informant regarding herbs.

Again, as the families knew each other well
and it was certain that the girl’s mother, also
a widow, would consent, the girl was not stolen.
Indeed, Dofia Feliciana and her “brothers”
went to the girl’s house on a Thursday evening
and asked for her. There were no music and
no marriage manager on this oceasion. The
following Monday, September 9, Dona Feliciana
and all the groom’s relatives ate at her house
and then went to the bride’s house, starting
about 2:30 p.m. This hour is early and was
arranged for my special benefit so I would be
sure to see everything. Unfortunately, I had
not been advised of the plan and was not in
Cheran that day, but Agustin, who as usual

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

turned out to be a relative, was a member of
the party.

Because of the early hour, the marriage
manager had not arrived. The party all waited
outside until the manager was found and came.
The manager prayed, and then the men were
given tamales to eat. The women then began
exchanging bread and tamales at about 5:30.
Later they drank all night and sat around and
talked. They would have danced, but Dona
Feliciana had provided no music.

On November 9 the groom was learning the
prayers and it was intended to hold the wedding
soon, but it was postponed until January be-
cause the priest said that no one could marry
until after Christmas por los velados. As Dona
Feliciana remarked, ‘‘No one knows what these
are. This priest is very capricious. We have
had various priests here, but never one
like this.”

During the interval of waiting, Dona
Feliciana made it plain that, as she was a
widow, she had no intention of holding a large
wedding. The mother of the bride, however,
was affronted and sent word that with all the
Santa Claras in the town it was a shame they
would not do anything. She also announced
that although she also was a widow, she in-
tended to pay for a band herself. When word
of this got around, the Santa Claras became
ashamed and bestirred themselves to see what
could be done. Soon Agustin’s father was
remarking that the Santa Claras had gotten the
better of the Rangéls, and perhaps they should
do something. When the wedding finally was
held by the Santa Claras it turned out to be, if
anything, more elaborate than that given by
Antonio Sanchez, described above.

The distribution of expenses, as it finally
turned out, was approximately as follows:

Breakfast for the women—Erino Santa Clara,
a “grandfather.”

Breakfast for the men—provided by a cousin, a
Santa Clara.

Dinner and bread—Emilio Santa Clara, a “grand-
father.”

One band—Dona Feliciana, the cousins, and
uncles (Agustin paid a contribution for this).

Second band—brothers, sisters, and cousins of
the groom, “grandfathers” of both bride and
groom. (Agustin’s father paid a contribution
for this.)

187

Civil wedding—Domingo Hernandez, a “grand-
father.”
Church wedding—Dona Feliciana.

According to report, Dona Feliciana provided
only a new rebozo for the bride in the way of
clothing, but this was not verified. No data
were secured on who paid for the liquor.

The church wedding took place about 7 a. m.
on January 9, this being the cheaper hour.
The bride was returned to her home, then
brought with her relatives to the groom’s
mother’s house for breakfast. After break-
fast, the party went to the municipal offices for
the civil registry. This order was quite incor-
rect, as customarily the civil registry should
precede the religious ceremony, usually by
about a week. After this, matters proceeded
as usual with the dinner. The older brother of
the groom functioned as the male head of the
household. Had the groom had no_ older
brother, Dofia Feliciana would have had to
discharge the functions of the male head; none
of her brothers or those of her deceased hus-
band would have taken this position.

Late in the afternoon a number of poles were
brought into the courtyard.. Stuck in holes in
these poles were many small sticks to which
were attached small flaglike ornaments of
paper of many colors which were divided
among the women and children with a great
deal of shouting and disorder (pl. 7, lower left).
These banners are not produced at any other
time than the period preceding Carnival.

The crownlike breads were not produced
until quite late, about 4:30 p. m., and were not
distributed until some time later (pl. 7, upper
right). In turn, the dancing was late in start-
ing in the groom’s house, although it began
some time earlier in the house of the grand-
father entertaining that group.

Just before dusk the priest arrived and
scolded the party for getting drunk. One of
the men who took this to heart started home;
he was shot and killed while crossing the bridge
to Paricutin by an unknown enemy, but none
of these events stopped the wedding, which
turned into one of the most prolonged large-
scale drinking bouts occurring during the time
of the study. Atole was served at midnight,
while between 4 and 6 a. m. and again at 8 a. m.
posole was served. The atole was provided by

188

Antonio Sanchez (whose son’s wedding is the
first described) and his brother. The posole
was provided by the cousins of the groom.

At 10 o’clock the following morning, water
for dish washing was carried through the
streets accompanied by aband. At 11:30 addi-
tional maize was taken to the mill, again
accompanied by a band. On both occasions
numerous people were dancing with the pro-
cession. Several other processions occurred
during this and the following day when the
wedding finally terminated.

Dona Feliciana estimated the expenses for
the wedding to be about $100 for food and
bread, paid for by the relatives. Dona
Feliciana supplied 9 fanegas of maize, worth
$36, and paid $25 to one of the bands, and she
still owed $20. She also killed a cow with an
estimated value of $60. The second band,
which did not stay the entire time, was paid $20
by the relatives. This makes a total expense
of $261, not counting the fees for the civil
registry and the priest. Neither does it include
the very considerable quantities of liquor con-
sumed. Dona Feliciana collected $21 in gifts
given by her female relatives.

The wedding of Samuel Sanchez mentioned
above cost his father $150. In addition, Don
Antonio’s brothers spent at least $50. Don
Antonio also killed a beef, and 714 fanegas of
maize was consumed. The civil registry cost
$6 and the Mass $13, a total expenditure of
approximately $309 exclusive of the liquor.

Alfredo Romero, pointing out that even poor
families had to make every effort to give a
proper wedding so the parents of the girl would
be satisfied, reported that his wedding cost $135,
514 fanegas of maize, and some beans, ‘‘and it
did not last more than 3 days” (but his group
of relatives is smaller and there were fewer
guests than at some of the other weddings).
He had to buy a beef “which hardly lasted”
and there was expense for musicians, bread,
lard, salt, onions “and who knows what else.”
Romero was forced to sell a lot in Paricutin and
two small pieces of land, despite aid given him
by his relatives.

In general, the attitude of disapproval voiced
in the previous paragraph is not shared in
Cheran. Although accounts of expense were
given witha good deal of headshaking, obviously

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

the majority cf persons were rather proud of
the amount they had spent. Unquestionably, a
wedding is the most extensive and ostentatious
display of wealth and social position that exists
in Cheran. Attempts in the past by outsiders
to suppress the costumbres are almost always
taken as attempts to suppress the weddings
first of all and are met by sullen and dogged
resistance. The reaction of Emilio Rojas,
godfather of the bride in the Samuel Santa
Clara wedding, is fairly typical:

The custom here is pleasant, except people get very
drunk. Well, not everyone, but some. It is good to
take something, but not to the point of drunkenness.
It is good to dance and be gay. Besides, I like weddings

because I always sell something in the way of clothing.
[Don Emilio is a storekeeper. ]

The social prestige factors involved in wed-
dings revolve about several aspects of the cere-
monies. One is the sheer factor of display
already mentioned. Whenever any group of
people goes through the streets in connection
with the wedding, it is accompanied by a band.
Furthermore, a direct route is rarely followed.
Often a circuitous route two or three times as
long as the direct route is used.

Another aspect is the display and exchange
of clothing and bread. Every effort is made to
show the amount of bread being brought and
the quantity of clothing to be exchanged. The
clothing is carried on trays, usually lacquered,
or in baskets either in the arms or on the head.
The majority of the participants bearing cloth-
ing come in a single large procession which
always makes a special effort to traverse as
much of the town as is possible without making
the ostentation too evident. The women bear-
ing clothing all sit together for a time after
arriving at the groom’s house and spread out
their clothing to make it look as impressive as
possible.

The clothing exchange also has an economic
aspect, for the investment involved is very con-
siderable. To some extent, though, the gifts
are formalized. Clothing for wedding gifts is
usually not as well made as regular clothing.
Furthermore, a large part of it is kept for
exchange in future weddings. Only if a family
does not expect to have any relatives marry for
some time to come will it actually use the cloth-
ing, unless it is very poor and in need of the

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 189

garments. Alternatively, some of the clothing
may be sold if it is not apt to be needed for
gifts. Informants estimated that each garment
was exchanged two or three times; probably
the estimate is conservative.

The third aspect of the wedding display in-
volves the number of persons who attend.
Every relative must attend a wedding if he
does not wish to create hard feeling. Should
a relative fail to appear, his own functions such
as weddings, house movings, house roofings, or
mayordomias would be boycotted by the persons
he had affronted. At the wedding of the
daughter of such a person as Rosalio Sanchez,
representative of the town, very large numbers
of nonrelatives attended in order to show their
liking or admiration for the father. Friend-
ship is likewise clearly demonstrated by attend-
ing the wedding of a nonrelative.

Resentment and avoidance seem to be the
only methods of retaliation for neglect at
Cheran. In many other towns there are prob-
ably more direct methods. In Charapan, at
least, relatives who do not attend a wedding
are sought out by their fellows and forcibly
brought to the wedding where they have to
parade through the kitchen bearing a water
bucket.

Essential to every wedding, even the sim-
plest, is the marriage manager. In a larger
wedding the arrangements are too complex to
be known properly to most people and the
successful carrying out of the wedding depends
on his ability. A fee is paid the marriage
manager for his services; the amount appar-
ently was not ascertained, for it does not appear
in the notes, but it probably is fairly generous,
for the most active of the few marriage man-
agers, Gregorio Castillo, is a fairly prosperous
individual.

As a neutral third party, the marriage man-
ager also smooths over differences of opinion
more successfully than the principals could
ordinarily do face to face. This is especially
marked when the bride’s father is annoyed with
the theft of his daughter. For example, at one
“pardon,” the father had left for the mountains
and only an uncle of the girl was in the house.
He claimed to be sick and refused to come out
of the house for some time. When he did, he
gave evidence of anger. Then Don Gregorio

said, “Well, it is custom. The girl was not
forced but went willingly. There is no reason
to be angry about this, nor with me, for I am
not concerned in the matter but come to speak
for the parents of the groom. They have come
as is proper to arrange the affair.” Late in the
evening the father returned and agreed to the
marriage, but he said little and clearly was
angry.

One aspect of the marriage ceremonies not
sufficiently emphasized in the preceding ac-
counts is important: the new marriage means
that the two families, in the most extended
sense, will constantly cooperate in all sorts of
ceremonial occasions. Thus, the groom’s male
relatives will help to move a house or roof a
house, while the bride’s female relatives will be
called on to work in the kitchen on the same
occasions. Both families will likewise be con-
cerned with all the subsequent crisis periods in
varying degree, especially when a grandchild
marries at some future date.

The function of the wedding as an occasion
for celebration, the release of tensions through
drinking, the provision of diversion with the
dancing, and the general stimulus through ex-
tensive social interaction is very considerable.
For the participants, weddings probably rank
as high or higher than fiestas as occasions for
social contacts and amusement.

A feature most clearly demonstrated in the
weddings is the much greater participation of
the older women. Young women with children
usually do not take a very active part in the
kitchen work, nor are they leaders in the
exchange of clothing. The old women, on the
other hand, are in the forefront of all activities.
Essentially the wedding is a woman’s affair in
many respects. Old women are the most active
in the kitchen. They are the first to start
drinking, although they rarely drink to the
excess common among the men, and they are
the first to dance. Indeed, on older women the
playing of dance music has an almost compul-
sive effect. Time and again, when dance music
is being played, even though it is not time for
dancing, some of the old women will be seen
quietly dancing by themselves in a corner.

Although the ceremonies of marriage are
most elaborate in the case of first marriages,
often marriages of widows or widowers are

190

almost as complex, particularly if it is the first
marriage of one of the parties. A widow or
widower is not expected to marry for 6 months
after the death of his or her spouse, but mar-
riage usually occurs soon after that time.
Marriage is regarded as the normal state for
an adult, and one who does not marry is thought
to be queer. “Here they believe that a man
without a woman or a woman without a man
cannot be either man or woman and they are
not respected.’ Moreover, life is very difficult
for the widow or widower. The woman has
difficulty getting her fields properly cultivated,
even though she may own sufficient property.
A man, unless he has relatives who will take
him in, also has great difficulty in getting food,
for no man knows how to cook. Women do
not wish to take a widower as a boarder, fear-
ing either that he will make some attempt on
their virtue or that their reputation will suffer.
Husbands are also much opposed to such an
arrangement, so the widower must marry, if
he is to eat decently.

In Mestizo Chilchota, Rendén found many
similarities with the Cheran wedding customs.
The bride is sometimes stolen, sometimes not.
If stolen and then not married, the girl finds
marriage difficult, and mothers will not let their
daughters talk to such a girl. Chilchota resi-
dents assert that in the Tarascan villages of La
Canada this is not the case, but such evidence
from Mestizos is notoriously unreliable.

Generally the bride is stolen. In Chilchota,
Rendon definitely secured the impression that
this custom is older than asking for the bride.
The bride is taken to the house of a friend or
to the godparent of baptism of the bride.
According to some women marrying in this
way, the marriage was not consummated until
after the wedding ceremonies; others said they
had relations with their husbands the day they
were stolen. If the girl is asked for, rather
than stolen, the relatives of the groom take
mescal and cigarettes when they visit the
bride’s parents. They are accompanied by an
old man skilled in such matters.

The wedding takes place traditionally in the
house of the groom, but among the “snobs”
it takes place in the house of the bride. Guests
take a kilo of salt, a kilo of chiles (preferably
dry chiles which are more expensive), several

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

kilos of rice, and a basket of corn or beans.
The male relatives of the bride supply one or
two loads of wood and also present to the groom
agricutural tools if he is a farmer or utensils
of his trade if he has some other occupation.
The male and female relatives of the groom also
dress the bride in a complete new outfit and
present her with clothing and household and
kitchen equipment. Gifts received by the bride
and groom are divided with their respective
relatives. The sisters of the groom carry
rosaries made of amole tubers to indicate that
they should wash with this and not with soap.
(This statement is ambiguous and needs further
investigation; possibly it refers to bathing the
bride.)

The church wedding takes place in the early
hours of the morning and is followed by a
breakfast in the house where the celebration is
to be held. Invariably the breakfast consists
of bread and chocolate. After breakfast there
is a dance, which continues through the day
except for intervals in which to eat. The food is
mole of chicken or turkey, fried rice, beans, and
tortillas. After the meal a drink made of
pulque and called charape is served. If it is
not the season for pulque, the charape is made
of a wild plant resembling the maguey and
called timbiriée.

After dancing a while following the dinner,
the bride is taken to the house of the godparents
of the groom, in case she has been stolen, or to
her own parents’ house, if she has been asked
for. The bride spends the night at this house
without her husband. Some time during the
day the sisters of the groom wash the bride
and dress her.

The following day the godparents of the
wedding hold a fiesta in their house similar to
that on the preceding day but with some addi-
tionalfeatures. Early in the morning, when the
invited guests arrive, they are served breakfast
of bread and chocolate made with water. Then
there is dancing. At midday a dinner is served,
consisting of many of the typical Tarascan
foods such as ¢uripo (beef broth with cabbage,
chile, and meat), kurtindas (yellow tamales),
chayote, and cooked squash (chilacayote).

About 3 o’clock in the afternoon, while the
dancing goes on in the house of the godparents
of the wedding, the godparents of baptism of

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 191

both the bride and groom organize a group to
carry the atole. A large olla is filled with atole.
The olla is decorated with green branches,
flowers, and paper streamers. A carrying
basket full of bread and bottles of aguardiente
is also carried. The atole can be of whatever
type is usual at the season of the year, while
the bread must be of the type known as pan
.grueso, “thick bread.” Various members of
the group take turns carrying the bread and
atole. At each corner the person carrying the
bread or atole dances, while his companions
circle about him.

A group of relatives by marriage of the
groom known as the “cats” now attempt to take
away the olla of atole. They carry bundles
of nettles and similar plants and strike the
bearers of the atole until they succeed in get-
ting it away. They carry it to a store and
“sell” it for aguardiente or cigarettes.

Another group, known as the sisters,
hermanas, composed of consanguineal relatives
of the groom, attempt to defend the olla of
atole. When it is finally stolen, they must
“buy” it back from the storekeeper for the
value of the goods given to the “cats.” This is
repeated several times before the atole is finally
brought to the house of the godparents about
sundown,

The godparents of the wedding meantime
have strung a rope across the street and receive
the group with the atole with lighted splinters
of pitch pine to symbolize their late arrival.
For a time the party with the atole are not
allowed to pass the rope, but eventually they
climb over or under it and get into the house.

The godparents of baptism now give the god-
parents of the marriage charape, mescal, and
cigarettes. In return they receive presents of
clothing and mescal. In the Tarascan villages
of La Canada it is said the exchange of cloth-
ing is much more extensive. A supper is
served of tamales, bunuelos (a sort of fried
bread dough dipped in sugar), and charape, and
there is more dancing. Later the bride is
carried to the house of the parents or relatives
of the groom. The relatives of the bride are
present. Female relatives of the bride toast
chiles on a comal, and the groom has to enter
the smoke to prove that he is a man. The
bride is now given to the groom.

596569—46——_14

The following day there is a ritual meal in
the house of the bride to which come the bride’s
relatives and many friends. The women of
Chilchota often dress in traditional Tarascan
costume for this meal, wearing the rollo or
pleated skirt. They also wear straw hats much
decorated with flowers and paper streamers.
Men dress in calzones or trousers of Indian
style. If they have money, a band is hired and
the group dances at every corner. The meal
served consists of boiled cabbage (without
meat or meat broth) and beef tripe cooked with
herbs and chile.

Soon after the wedding, the groom takes the
bride’s parents one or two large baskets of
bread, chocolate, sugar, and from $10 to $100
(depending on his economic status) to show
his thanks. There is some sort of ceremony
in the house of the bride’s parents.

In San Juan Parangaricutiro, also primarily
a Mestizo town, the male and female relatives
of the bride dance in the streets on the day of
the wedding. The group has a band and dances
at each street intersection in the town, the men
in one file, and the women in another. The
men make a circuit of the women’s file and
return to their places. The women do the
same and then the group moves to another
corner. The persons in the files are arranged
according to their stature. A sister of the bride
accompanies the group, and represents her.
The night after the wedding the relatives of
the groom do the same, lighting their way with
pitch pine torches.

A dozen or more families in Cheran live in
“free union,” that is, a couple lives together
without marriage. In most cases one or both
parties to the arrangement have been married
previously and divorced according to Cheran
standards but not according to law. The
majority of such free unions are said to result
in successful households, and children of such
unions suffer no stigma. Children of free
unions inherit from their parents in the same
fashion as children of legal or church mar-
riages. This type of union is said to be fairly
recent, and at first persons living in this fashion
were not permitted by the priest to hold any
church office or to act as godparents. Children
of free unions were also refused baptism. In

192 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

recent years it is said that these restrictions
have disappeared.

One reason for the free union is the difficulty
of securing a legal divorce. Such a divorce
can be granted only by a court of first instance
(juzgado de primer instancia). The nearest
court of this kind is in Uruapan, and to secure
a divorce requires many trips to Uruapan and
an outlay of more money than most Cheran
residents can afford. Moreover, most people
do not understand the needed steps.

Causes of divorce are drunkenness, wife
beating, failure to support the family, or
abandoning the family for another woman on
the part of the man. On the part of the
woman, infidelity is an important cause. Lack
of children is rarely if ever the direct cause of
divorce, and is not recognized as a sufficient
reason. Incompatibility evidently may play a
part also. Uncles and grandfathers of the
married couple and the godparents of the
marriage intervene if a marriage is not going
smoothly, and attempt to persuade the couple to
change their habits.

In all cases of divorce for whatever cause,
the officials of the municipio investigate. If
they find the divorce not justified, the officials
may force the couple to continue living together.
If the causes are deemed sufficient, the officials
do not interfere, although they may supervise
disposition of children so that they will have
the best care. If children are less than 6 or 7
they are usually put in charge of the mother.
Over that age they are usually given to the
parent best able to rear them properly. If the
mother is industrious and the father a drunk-
ard, the children will be given to the mother,
but if the mother is careless of her obligations,
the father will receive the children. Dislike or

quarrels rarely arise between relatives of a.

divorced couple. In free unions, as in mar-
riages of widows or widowers, sometimes a
parent is jealous of the spouse’s children by a
previous marriage, sometimes not.

ADULT LIFE

Entry into adult status is closely associated
with marriage. Normally a child is not eon-
sulted in family affairs until he is married; the
only exceptions are a few families where youths
have not married at the customary ages. Usu-

ally by the time of marriage, individuals of
both sexes have mastered the essential technolo-
gies for carrying on life.

Nevertheless, marriage rarely if ever means
complete independence for either sex. The
couple almost invariably lives with the groom’s
parents after the marriage, usually for a year
or longer. Even if the husband has enough
resources to set up a separate establishment,
he will rarely do so until after the first child is
born and often he will not do so for several
years.

For the wife, this appears to be a somewhat
difficult time. She is definitely under the
thumb of her mother-in-law and for the first
month after the wedding she is supposed to get
up before daylight and make atole for everyone
living in her new home. She is sent on errands
and given orders constantly. Nevertheless, the
difficulties can easily be overemphasized by a
person from cutside the culture. The bride
is called “daughter” by her mother-in-law and
in large measure is treated exactly as a daugh-
ter would be. In the relatively few instances
in which it was possible to observe behaviors,
outwardly a friendly and perhaps even affec-
tionate relationship existed between mother
and daughter-in-law, although one woman said
she greatly feared her parents-in-law, who
were very hard on her.

Although the daughter-in-law appears to be
imposed upon by her mother-in-law to some ex-
tent, in some sense this is part of the process of
gaining adult status and of the retirement of
the parents to a less active life. The father
does less work in the fields and leaves more
and more of the harder labor and more and
more of the responsibility to his son. In the
same way, the mother leaves more and more
of the running of the house to her daugh-
ter-in-law. If the parents have worked hard
and have accumulated a reasonable amount of
property, some of which they have probably
expended in giving their children a proper
marriage, it is considered right and proper that
they should begin to work less hard.

After a year or more of marriage, or after
the birth of the first child, some change of
status will begin to occur. In a minority of
cases, a new kitchen will be prepared and the
young couple will move out of the “troje’”’ where

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 193

they have lived thus far. In the few cases
where this is done, eventually several brothers
and their wives may live in adjoining kitchens
and the economic enterprises of the family will
be carried on as a unit under the direction of
the father. In such cases a joint purse will be
kept by the parents or one of the older brothers.
All important activities will be subject of dis-
cussion and consultation, particularly such
matters as buying or selling land, building a
new house, etc. In time, the direction of affairs
will pass to the younger men, usually the older
brother directing and giving final decisions.
The extent to which the father will be consulted
as he grows old will depend in part on his
individual merits.

More commonly a joint family will not be
established even though the son and his wife
may remain living in the family residence. If
the parents can afford it, they may give the son
a lot or even a house and lot where he can live.
Lacking parental aid, the son will do everything
he can to acquire a new house and lot. Or his
wife may own a house and lot which she has
inherited and in which the couple will live.

Much the same situation will obtain regard-

ing farm lands. A father may give his son —

some farm lands when he has shown he is able
to manage his affairs properly. Or the son
may work for others and save money to begin
acquiring his own land. And in a considerable
proportion of cases the wife will own lands
which the husband will farm. In some cases,
even though a joint family is not established,
a son will take over management of the farm
lands.

Lacking farm lands, the man will work for
others as a laborer, become a trader going down
to the hot country, work in the forest cutting
ties, shakes, or lumber, or work at some trade
if he knows one. In any case he may do some
of these things on a part-time basis to supple-
ment his income.

In addition to acquiring a house and lands,
the couple needs to assemble the proper tools
and furnishings. Although none of these are
expensive, in the aggregate they require a bit
of time, either to earn money to buy them or to
make them. A census of the things found in a
house, kitchen, and yard gives some idea of the
amount of accumulation required.

Objects found in a house or “troje”:

Sleeping mats

Small table

Chairs, either low chairs, regular size chairs,
or stools, one for each man in the household
and usually two or three for guests.

Serape, worn by the man during the day and
serving as a blanket for man and wife at
night. A second serape will often be found
if there are children.

Chest, box, or trunk for extra clothes

Saint’s picture

Candle and candle holder

Flower holder

Ladder for getting to loft

Gun (sometimes)

Cross beam suspended from the ceiling on
which are hung clothing, blankets, ete.

Objects found in the kitchen:

Wooden hooks for hanging up “anything”

Stump and flat stone for burning pitch pine
for light

Corn husk mats for holding up pots( at least
three)

Large comal

3 “frying pans” of Patamban pottery for
cooking meat

1 “frying pan” of Patamban pottery for cook-
ing eggs

Several round and oblong wooden bowls

Grass-root pot brush

Atole strainer

4 cane splint baskets of various sizes

2 pottery jars

Broom for sweeping yard (of brush)

Broom for sweeping house (of broom straw)

Paring knife

Bowls of Quiroga ware or Guanajuato ware
for serving broth and meat on _ special
occasions

Charcoal-burning flat iron

Gourd canteens for use at harvest time or in
woods

1% dozen china plates

1% dozen china cups

Tea pot

China bowls

1% dozen wooden spoons of various sizes

Tin can for dipper to fill water jars

Chocolate beater

Tortilla baskets

2 water ollas ~

1 small pitcher

5 large 2-handled pots

8 smaller 1-handled pots

Clay fireplace

Firefan

Small metate for chiles

Large metate for maize

194 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Table

3 chairs (usually small low style)

Machete

¥% dozen spoons

2 table forks (rare)

1 table knife (rare)

1 can opener (rare)

Objects found in a lot:

Pear picker (if there is fruit on the lot)

Hollowed logs for water and feeding pigs

Smooth rock and wooden paddle for washing
clothes

Wooden pitchfork

Wooden hook

Carrying crate with tumpline (occasional)

Frame for carrying water ollas on donkeyback
(occasional)

Clay oven with shovel and broom (occasional)

Hoe

In addition to these items there are the tools
of work to be acquired. A farmer needs a
plow, yoke, goad, oxen, carrying nets, weeding
machete, and perhaps other items. <A forest
worker needs an ax, a hafted blade for splitting
shakes, a wooden mallet, oak wedges, a 2-man
crosscut saw about 8 feet long, and an oil can
(to oil the saw). A mason will need a trowel,
hammer, sledge hammer, and string for guide
and plumb lines. A traveling merchant will
need burros, pack saddles, and halters.

Clothing must also be secured. The man will
own huaraches, or sandals, two or three pairs
of calzones, or cotton trousers, often a pair of
overalls, a pair of shoes, shirts, knitted cotton
undershirts, a blanket or poncho, belt, straw
hat, straw or rubber raincoat, a’rubber cover
for the hat, and a Catholic amulet. In addi-
tion, many will own a jacket or coat and pair
of trousers of “citified” style to wear when
going to Uruapan.

The wife will need a skirt, petticoat, blouse,
sashes, jacket, shawl or rebozo, bead ornaments,
and shoes for special occasions. For working
about the house she may have a few cheap
cotton dresses of Mestizo style.

As children arrive, clothing must also be pro-
vided. Boys usually own calzones or cotton
trousers with a strap fastening, straw hat,
small blanket, shirt, sandals, and perhaps an
amulet. Girls will have skirt, petticoat, blouse,
jacket, sashes, rebozo, and sometimes shoes.

Not everyone will have the above things,
but some will have more. The lists given are

based on actual inventories of a few middle-
class homes and persons.

In addition to a house and kitchen, which
constitute the Cheran minimum of decent hous-
ing, there are also many other structures to be
built, mostly by the man himself. If he has
burros or cattle, he will have a shed used as
a stable when the animals are kept at the
house. A pigpen is usually built of small poles,
often with a shake roof over all or part of it
and an opening to the street. Additional
storage space for fodder or straw is often pro-
vided, usually a pole construction roofed with
shakes. The lot needs to be fenced with poles
and the street side preferably should have a
wall of stone or stone topped with adobe bricks.
A substantial gate with a sheltering roof is
regarded as a virtual necessity.

Most of the family life goes on in the kitchen.
Cooking, eating, and sleeping all take place in
the one structure. In fine weather, people may
sit outside or sit on the porch of the house.
Guests may sleep in the house, and when a son
marries he and his bride will oecupy the house
for a year or more. Much of the business of
living takes place in the lot, in the fields and
mountains, and in the streets of the town.

When children come, the acquisitive activities
of the family become even more important.
Now, not only is there a desire to secure the
minimum of housing, food, and clothing, as
well as the property to make these things possi-
ble, but there is the urge to obtain resources
with which to start the children out in life.
Efforts are made to obtain additional fields and
to buy lots so that when the children marry
they can immediately have their own home and
their own means of subsistence in what Cheran
residents regard as the most satisfactory way,
that is, by possessing sufficient farm lands.

As solid citizens the family members will
also have additional responsibilities. At least
one out of four families will hold a mayordomia
at some time. The father will also serve as
comisionado for various fiestas, perform some
community labor, and serve on the night watch.
He may also take some position in the church
organization or occupy some office in the munic-
ipal government. If he can read and write
he almost certainly will at some time be chosen
for an office.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 195

Ideally, the objectives of the family are
achieved by joint and harmonious cooperation
between husband and wife. As in other cul-
tures, there exist households in which there are
continual quarreling and dislike between hus-
band and wife, sometimes culminating in
divorce. More common seem to be harmonious
households in which at least mutual under-
standing and toleration are achieved; probably
in the majority of cases there are also affection
and trust. In harmonious households, all
activities and plans are discussed by husband
and wife. _Even though a piece of land is
owned by the man, he will consult with his wife
before selling it and she will do the same with
reference to her property. Important pur-
chases are usually made only after consultation,
also. In most cases where trust exists between
husband and wife, it is the wife who holds the
purse. That is, most actual cash is given to
the wife. On her devolves the responsibility for
spending the money wisely in small affairs and
in accumulating the savings necessary for buy-
ing new lands or houses.

In general, the man is definitely the head of
the family, but the manner of wielding author-
ity and the degree of authority vary with the
personalities of the married couple. If the
man owns considerable property and the woman
comes from a poor family, the man may enforce
his authority by reminding her that she has
nothing. There are also cases where the
woman owns practically everything and uses
the fact to dominate her husband. Ideally, and
probably actually in a great many cases, the
couple treat their property as being owned in
common. In any case, both parents seem to
wield about equal authority over the children.
Women may give orders to their sons until they
marry, just as much as may the men. Girls, on
the other hand, are more directly dominated by
their mothers, and the father expresses his
opinions concerning their upbringing to the
mother.

Within the household certain routines and
habits are common. Labor is rather strictly
divided along sexual lines also. For example,
the family usually rises about 5 o’clock in the
morning, breakfasts about 8, lunches or dines at
1, and sups at 7:30 or 8, but the hours tend to
vary from family to family. The family usually

sleeps on mats in the kitchen, husband and wife
on one mat with a single blanket. Small chil-
dren under 9 or 10 years old sleep with the
parents; above that age they sleep on separate
mats and have a separate blanket.

The general weekly routine of the family of
a farmer or of a forest worker, who represent
the typical Cheran families, is about as follows.
On Sunday most of the women go to Mass at
6:30 or 7. The men may go at this time or
wait until the 8 o’clock Mass, or may stay home
and sweep the courtyard and street in front of
the house. Children usually go to the 8 o’clock
Mass. Most people do not eat until after Mass.

After Mass, men stand around the church
and plaza or on the streets talking to their
friends before going home for breakfast.
After breakfasting, the young men get towels
and go to the bathing place in one of the
barrancas (about a mile from town) and bathe.
The older men go out and loaf about the streets
all morning, talking to friends and acquaint-
ances. Older men bathe less often, but also
usually bathe on Sunday. Between 11 and 12
the younger men return home, eat again, pick
up their blankets (it is more apt to be windy or
rainy in the afternoons) and go out on the
streets to meet their friends again. Women
may go out after dinner and visit neighbors.
Small children, it might be noted, do not go to
Mass but play around the house and nearby
streets all day. A young unmarried man may
hang around the corner near the house of some
girl in whom he is interested. If the girl is
also interested, she will go out after water
several times during the day and the two will
talk on the streets. If they are clever and the
girl’s family is either not very strict or not
very suspicious, they may manage to talk
together several hours.

At 5 p.m. is the Rosario, attended by many
women, some men, and many of the young people.
After the Rosario is the favorite time for steal-
ing a girl for a wedding and, especially in the:
fall, the young man may be involved in helping
his friends. Or he may simply walk along in
the direction his girl is going in the hope of
having a chance to talk to her. Alternatively,
he may talk on the streets with friends or go to
one of the billiard parlors. Although people
eat later than usual on Sundays, the young

196 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

unmarried men may not come home until 9 or
10 o’clock, when the family is in bed, and they
feed themselves with cold food left for them.

On Monday the men and young men go to
the fields or to the mountains between 7 and 9
o’clock, after eating a breakfast which always
includes tortillas and chile and likely includes
remnants of the previous day’s meal such as
sopa de tortilla. If the men are going out all day
and the place is distant, they take a lunch. If
the place is nearby, wives carry lunch to their
menfolk. Women will take maize to the mill
and carry whatever water is needed during the
morning. They may also buy some vegetables
at the market, although most will have done
this at the Saturday market. They may shop
for meat and other needed items at the store.
The main housework will be sweeping and put-
ting the sleeping mats in the “troje.” Then
the woman will start work on the midday meal
for herself and children (earlier if she is to
take dinner to the fields, which she will do if
her husband is working within an hour’s walk).
This meal is apt to be quite simple if the hus-
band is not home. Some women make tortillas
before dinner and again before supper. Others
will eat warmed up tortillas for dinner. After
dinner, following about an hour’s rest, these
women will make up a supply of tortillas suffi-
cient to last 24 hours. An older daughter may
be set at this work. In any case, probably 2
hours will be put in making tortillas and pre-
paring supper. Men who went for firewood
will probably be home as early as 4 o'clock,
others not until 5 or 5:30, while those who had
to look for a strayed animal or who are delayed
for other reasons may come in after dark.
The men of the family will eat together; the
women and children usually eat together but
after the men. Before he eats, a man may
have to water and feed his animals, unless
there is a small boy who can do it.

After supper a man will often go out on the
street for about an hour to loaf and talk to
friends. Young men will go out and stay
longer; they are usually the last to bed. Small
children are put in bed about 8 o’clock.

Some families vary the schedule given above.
In a fair number of cases the men of the family
rise before the women and go to the fields
without breakfast. The woman in this case

usually takes the maize to the mill or grinds
it herself, in the meantime making atole. The
men return about 10 for breakfast (almuerzo).
Usually the women and children already have
eaten, but some women wait until their hus-
bands have eaten.

Tuesday, men go out as on Monday. Women
may wash clothes on Tuesday, in which case
they leave home at 8 and do not return until
about 2. There is no regular wash day for all
of Cherdn, but each woman usually has a
regular wash day. Customarily women a
when they wash clothes.

Subsequent days of the week until Saturday
are much the same, the main variation being in
the time of washing. Some younger girls and
boys go to church between 11:30 and 1 o’clock
for doctrinal training from Monday through
Friday. About a fourth of the younger boys
also go to school.

Saturday the men come home early, usually
by 3:30. They loaf about street corners, the
plaza, billiard parlors, and saloons. There is
a small market in the plaza and women shop
and talk there between about 5 and 7. Some-
times a man sees his wife at the plaza and goes
home with her, or seeing her leave he may
follow a few minutes later. Saturday night
supper is the best meal of the week. It features
fish, if possible, and there may be special treats
such as fruit, peanuts, cherimoyas, sugarcane,
avocados, or other items, depending on the
season. Supper is late, often between 8 and 10,
and the family goes to bed soon afterward.

In some ways the activities of men are less
varied and complex than those of the women.
A man works at his fields or his trade as it is
necessary. When slack time occurs, he goes
for firewood or does odd jobs about the house.
He serves on the ronda or night watch and does
other municipal jobs when called upon to do so.
In his free time he may sit about home or go
out on the streets or to the plaza.

It would be a mistake to assume, however,
that the man’s life is an unending cycle of labor,
broken only by Saturday afternoons and Sun-
days. Young men, of course, spend more time
in recreation than do older people. Agustin
Rangel, who probably represents a somewhat
extreme case, remembered the following
activities :

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 197

Agustin arrived in Cheran from the United
States on January 25, 1940. For 17 days he
did not eat at home. There were no fiestas
but he was ‘‘taken around.” He was brought
chocolate and bread before he got up. Febru-
ary 5 there was a wedding, which he attended
for a while in the evening and part of the next
day. February 6 was Carnival and he went
on horseback to Nahuatzen, where he followed
the music about for a time. In March, during
Holy Week, he went to church Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday. He spent some time
watching the Judios chase small boys with
their spears. The boys blew whistles to annoy
them. Between Carnival and Holy Week there
were several weddings, but he did not attend
any of them for more than an hour or two.
At the fiesta of the Octava following Holy Week
he spent 4 days going about with the musicians.
He spent 3 days at a fiesta in Nahuatzen, com-
ing home each night. At Corpus he spent 4
days, following the music and visiting various
parties. He spent 1 day at the carguero’s
house on the day of San José, April 10. After
Corpus he spent a whole day at one wedding
and an hour or two at another. On San Juan’s
day, June 24, he spent the whole day watching
the horse racing and other activities. On the
day of San Pedro in June he ate posole at
various houses and walked around all day. In
August he spent 2 more days at another fiesta
in Nahuatzen and spent an evening and a day
in connection with the mayordomia of Santa
Nieves. He also attended three weddings,
spending an entire day at each. In September
he visited the Ahuiran fiesta for 1 day. In
October he spent 4 days at the fiesta of the
patron saint in Cherdn. A half day was spent
at the Huansito fiesta in La Canada. The Day
of the Dead was almost all spent at the grave-
yard and at people’s homes. In December he
danced with the negrito dancers for 4 days and
in January danced with the viejos or Hwropeos
for 4 days (he did not count any of the practice
time which was in the evenings). In January
he spent 1 day at a wedding.

Another informant, between 40 and 50 years
of age, spent the following time in fiestas:

Carnival, 2-3 hours
Wedding, 1 day
Holy Week, 3 days at church

Octava, 4 days

Corpus, 4 days

Nahuatzen fiesta, 1 day (got drunk)

San Juan, 1 day

San Pedro, 1 day (wife’s father had a little
fiesta; got drunk)

Nahuatzen fiesta, 1 day

San Francisco fiesta, Cheran, 4 days

Wedding, 1 day

Wedding, 1 day

Negrito dancers, watched 1 day

Wedding, 1 day

Funerals, remembers two, but not certain.

Aside from the funerals, this informant re-
members spending over 24 days in entertain-
ment during the year. Agustin, on the other
hand, spent 41 days (aside from the time after
he first arrived in town), at least 6 days being
spent at weddings and 8 days in dancing. From
various information collected, it seems reason-
able to believe that most men spend at least 20
days in weddings, fiestas, and similar enter-
tainment, while young men probably exceed
this figure.

Women, in general, work longer hours at more
varied tasks and with numerous interruptions.
While women also attend fiestas and weddings
in Cheran, they are less apt to go elsewhere. ~
Moreover, even on fiesta days there are meals
to prepare and water to carry. Women’s work,
however, is essentially more social. Water
carrying is almost a ritual, as is going to the
mill with the maize. Water is almost always
earried in special decorated and_ polished
ollas used for no other purpose. Water is

- dipped out of the fountain in the plaza, the

tank at the end of the pipe line, or out of the
hollow logs of the aqueduct. The ollas are
always carried on the left shoulder on top of the
rebozo, which forms a sort of pad. Women
often go in groups after water and the task is
frequently an occasion for meeting friends and
talking. Taking maize to the mill is less

formalized behavior, but it, too, is a social

occasion, which may take 15 minutes and may
take an hour, depending on the time of day and
the number of friends encountered. Most
women prefer to go at a rush hour when they
have to stand in line, because they meet so
many friends.

The best picture of women’s activities may
be presented by giving a number of actual

198 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

cases. Women’s work varies greatly with the
size of the family and the age of the children.
Most women had no clear idea of the time
spent, and the following figures are guesses
given under some pressure.

CASE 1
(8 adults in family.)
Hours

GOInee corm); ates eee ee ae Sern eee me
Carrying water (3 ollas in morning, 2

in afternoon) Lien 72
Making tortillas .......... 1 or 2
Other food preparation : 2 or 3
Washing clothes and taking bath on

Wednesdays... ha acid aT 5
Sweeping (not every day) ie % to 1
Miaicetin os tte, os oe yew. vars Gren cetera Brae %
Shelling corn:

Green... Re oe aaah UY

Dry - i a here Ve
Visiting Briehes Seto is Variable
IREStin Ouey -cietsutete We acseheharer Ae Variable
Minimum daily schedule.......... .. 6
Total waking hours........ 7 Boas!

CASE 2

(Family of 8; two girls, one about 8, one about 13.
Woman helps in store owned by family in spare time
but both girls help, take maize to the mill, etc. Follow-
ing is estimate of the day preceding the interview.)

Hours
Going to: amills) er ereee re e yu
Shelling corn ee er re eee 2
Making tortillas .................... 2

Carrying water (met friends) ees 2
Washing clothes (Friday)....
Sweeping (daily)
Marketing (longer if she meets telends) vA
Food preparation ...................

Care of children . No idea
Visiting friends—does not go out,

friends visit her in store. . None
Estimated total on ordinary days (not

including work in store and caring

for children) .............. » 10

CASE 3

(Family of 6; 4 children, all big enough to care for
themselves;.woman also helps in store.)

Hours

Mill % to 1
Making tortillas wise,
Carrying water (3 or 4 éllag) al
Ironing (Friday or Saturday)........ 2
Sweeping (daily) tac: oa ten Ww
MABKCCINO 232i oasatycus. chem Ww
Food preparation 3
Daily minimum, about 10

In addition to above, washes 1 day a week, 7 hours.
Also goes occasionally to Paricutin for an hour to inter-
view a debtor.

Waking hours, about............. .. 15

CASE 4

Several adults in family; woman assisted
by daughter-in-law.)

(A widow.

Hours

Making “tortillas 25. 2s.c225. 2.25008 Ve
Carrying water (10 ollas with assist-

ance of daughter-in-law) ...... we
Cooking mes 25 caer eb nerane esters 1%
Sweeping (twice a week)....... ....
Marketing (average) ............. Vy
Shelline comm i gc... mts nee ees eine W%

Daily minimum ... 4 to 5

In addition, washing and bathing on Wednesday con-
sume 6 to 7 hours. On Thursdays the informant goes
to the Paraje to gather herbs, about a 2-hour trip each
way. From Saturday to Monday the informant is in
Uruapan selling the herbs.

CASE 5
(3 adults in family.)
Hours
Water carrying, 5 to 7 ollas
morning and afternoon (estimate) 1
Tortillas, morning and afternoon

(total). 4.20 2 ree ln eee ee 2,
Shelling comne hives it shelled Cn eiertrs Sane eos
Going to mill ek htc eer 46 to 1
Wayskeuiniow, gs accctae n veteran errata: Wy
Food preparation: .2..). teaser ee teers % tol
Sweeping (once a week) Sctttn thd fouses Y%
Washing and bathing every Thursday,

BOUT. cette: sc oe ee ee eee oo creek 5

Daily minimum, about........... 5

Despite the few hours appearing in the statement,
the informant said she had little time to rest.

CASE 6
(3 people in family.)
Hours
3 ollas of water, morning and afternoon % to 1
OLAS tag. eeserie ete nesratent 1
Goin tori] Seren ener rere % to 1
Shelling corn ...........0.e+cce ners %
Sweeping ee crSucntae antpe, W
oreVoley oh=\okzhesnalopalee nm sete Ge nee naar 1
IWetriketin ovate a 2 2)ceaeien aie stearate ... % tol
TRESDING, Ale wess deny fase rie een a eae feareaehs P to.
Daily minimum (exclusive of rest
period) about ....... seaiAsbanageits OAs

Visits neighbors a little.
Clothes washing 8 a. m. to 1 p. m., Tuesdays.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 199

CASE 7
(3 people in family.)
Hours
Tortillas (45 hour morning and
afternoon)
Going to mill ;
Carrying water, 3 ollas, ae a day
Preparing food ; Us
Marketing
Sweeping
Shelling corn
Visiting mother daily
Care of child :
VS GUM Oo craves eigeetenetats cteveeiri seas cis, stele . Wy

Daily minimum (exclusive of rest
periods) about ..... 5

Washing and bath, Fridays, about 4 hours.

CASE 8
(4 people in family.)

Hours
Tortillas, morning and afternoon, total 11%

Going to mill % to 4
Carrying water (5 to 7 ollas daily)... %
Preparing food a Si eee
Sweeping (twice a week) . &%
Marketing... een eta sree
Snellingewcorne cs semi. snes aes ee
RESCIN Ges ay: cus.o% we als, 52 Fhe dase lad 4% % to 1
Visiting, not every day......... al
Daily minimum (exclusive of rest-
ing and visiting)...... ... 5%

Washing and bath, Wednesdays, 9 a. m. to 1 or 2 p. m.

None of the women interviewed were too
poor to pay for having their maize ground. If
they had ground their own maize on the metate,
the hours of labor would have been materially
increased.

In addition to learning the techniques of earn-
ing a living and acquiring the necessary sense
of responsibility to manage one’s affairs, adult
life usually requires the learning of a number
of rules of behavior. Adults should know that
it is never proper to enter a house yard without
an invitation, even though it be unfenced.
Visitors knock on the gate or call out until an
invitation is given. Usually someone comes to
the gate to inquire what is wanted, unless the
person is very well known. Men are never
invited in unless the man of the household is
present. If one calls on a person about busi-
ness, one always stands and talks about other
things for a bit first.

When one meets friends of the same sex, one
says “Good day,” “Good afternoon,” or “With
God” (Buenos dias, buenos tardes, adids). If
persons stop to talk, they touch hands in greet-
ing and on farewell. A person of opposite sex,
if well known, will be greeted in the same way
verbally, but the hands will not be touched and,
unless the persons are relatives or compadres,
they will not stop and talk.

If a man visits a friend in his field or his
solar when he is working, he always helps a bit.
A woman calling at the house will help a little
with any work going on. If one sees a stray
animal and knows the owner, it is good manners
to take it to him; if the owner is unknown, the
animal should be taken to the municipal build-
ing. If one is in a group and people become
angry, efforts should be made to dissuade them
from fighting unless they are drunk. It is all
right to drive another person’s dog away
(although usually people just give strange dogs
a wide berth), but a pig should never be
molested unless it is trespassing. It is not
proper to punish another person’s child, but if
he throws a rock, for example, it is all right
to throw rocks back.

If you hear a piece of land is for sale and
do not know the owner, you get all the informa-
tion you can about the land and then send the
person giving the information to talk to the
owner. If you know the owner you go your-
self. Most commonly the owner will come to
you. It is proper to stand and talk about other
things for a while and then make an appoint-
ment to go to see the land. On the trip, the
final arrangements about the price are usually
thrashed out if you decide to buy the land.
Then you go together to the municipal building
and have a bill of sale made out, for which
you pay.

At meals the oldest man present is served
first, unless there is a male guest present.
Then the other men are served and then the
women and children. Of course, there are
always the small children who come about
pestering their mothers for a tortilla and, as
Agustin remarked, ‘Of course you want to get
rid of those guys first.” When water is passed
around and one drinks out of a common pitcher,
it is polite to pour a little water on the ground,

200

over the part of the rim the lips have touched,
before passing the pitcher on.

Adults bathe fairly regularly on their own
initiative. Young men and women usually
bathe at least once a week; older men may not
bathe more than once a month. Most people
go to a special bathing place, Uékuaro, a water-
fall in one of the barrancas beyond Paricutin,
but women sometimes bathe at home. The
bathing place at Uékuaro is reserved for men
on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; for women
the rest of the week. Most people soap them-
selves freely and shampoo the hair thoroughly.
Young men seemed a bit shy when bathing,
often covering the genitals with the hand when
turning toward others, but older men and boys
seemed to have no self-consciousness.

Head lice afflict many if not all Cheran resi-
dents, especially children. Delousing is a
common occupation when women are visiting
or resting with the children about. Men also
delouse the children, but a man was never seen
being deloused. Sunny days when people sit
about the house yards are a favorite time, but
delousing was never seen on the streets.

Most adults possess a fairly common set of
likes and dislikes, some of which have been
developed during childhood, others acquired as
adults. Perhaps the strongest likes are for the
fiestas, mayordomias, and weddings. These are
the core of the costumbres and Cheran people
are as passionately attached to the body of
practices they call customs as are most Mexican
Indian groups. Most people are also fond of
flowers, and almost every house has a little
flower garden. Shasta daisies, dahlias, iris,
larkspurs, marigolds, geraniums, calla lilies,
roses, and gladiolus are the most popular plants.
Fancy pottery, especially the green glazed ware
of Patamban and La Canada, the brown or
black glazed ware of Santa Fe and Quiroga, and
the colored glazed wares of Guanajuato and, to
a lesser extent, Guadalajara, are all prized and
accumulated for special occasions. Lacquered
plates and gourds are also liked. Many have a
real passion for collecting miniatures of the
material artifacts of Tarascan life. Miniatures
are found on sale in abundance at every fiesta
and might be mistaken for playthings, but they
are all bought by adults who hang them up in
the kitchen and the “troje.” Both sexes like

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

drinking charanda, but only men get drunk out-
side the fiestas and weddings.

Music is liked by both sexes. All ages will
gather to hear a phonograph, regardless of
what it plays. Boys gather to play the har-
monica and sing, often dancing the jarabe
tapatio. Older men often play instruments and
will gather together in their spare time simply
to play for the fun of it. Women never play
instruments, although they may sing.

Fireworks, magicians, and ventriloquists will
always draw crowds at fiestas. Several years
béfore the study some of the “progressive”
families had social dances in their houses, with
ballroom dancing. The leaders were a group
of sisters who had lived outside the town.
They later married and left the town, and the
practice ceased.

Women visit and talk together a good deal.
Much of the embroidery and crocheting done is
for amusement as well as for sale.

Some men like gambling for small sums.
Gambling devices at fiestas are always well
patronized. A few years ago card games,
especially poker, were introduced by men who
had been in the United States. Games are
played at the billiard parlors, mostly by younger
men. The billiard games are also patronized
primarily by the young men. Perhaps 4 or 5
men in town smoke marihuana, growing it in
their lots. Cigarettes are the common smoke
of the majority; most adult males, and many
adult women, smoke. Cheap ‘‘tailor-made”
cigarettes are smoked, usually a brand known
as Tigres.

Tastes are fixed even in some matters of
dress. Men in Cheran all wear dark serapes
and blue sashes. The bright rose and blue
serapes of Capacuaro are never seen, nor are
the red or white sashes of other towns. Some
say the dark colors are faster, others say the
bright colors are only for boys, and a few say
that the dark colors were more “civilized.” As
Miguel O. de Mendizabal pointed out in con-
versation, the first mark of urban influence in
Mexico is usually the disappearance of the
brighter serapes.

Women have similar habits, although per-
haps they are more traditional. Of the several
belts worn by women in the traditional costume,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

unmarried girls put the brightest outside; mar-
ried women wear the darkest outside.

Undoubtedly the greatest amusement in
Cheran is simply talking. Both men and
women gather in their spare time and talk by
the hour. Most of the talk is gossip. Who
has recently done what, the price of corn, the
condition of the crops, the change in the
weather, forthcoming events, the problems of
the church, the progress of the war, what one
would do if the Germans came to Cheran—all
the everyday things of life and a great deal of
speculation about the unknown form subjects
of conversation. The North American mem-
bers of the staff found two questions most
common in 1940 and 1941—what were the
chances of getting work if one went to the
United States, especially since the rearmament
program, and what did we think of the progress
of the war. Particularly on the subject of the
war and its economic repercussions for Cheran
did men seem surprisingly well-informed, con-
sidering the few who read and the scarcity of
newspapers.

With all the talk that goes on in Cheran for
amusement’s sake, one would expect to find an
important repertory of tales. This is not the
case. No doubt one could collect a body of
tales if one cultivated the older people assidu-
ously. The tales that were found were few,
and the majority of them circled about hidden
treasure. In addition, there were a few deal-
ing with supernatural happenings and some
fragments about the founding of Cheran.
Even these prosaic stories had to be sought for
diligently and were told badly and in obviously
incomplete form. Most persons questioned
could not recall any specific occasion on which
tales had been told, nor did they know any
stories themselves. Story telling is not a
significant part of the culture of Cheran.

OLD AGE

The transition from adult to old age is not
a clear one in Cheran. In general, parents
whose children are all grown up, married, and
- moved away from home are not necessarily
“old” by Cheran standards. At least one indi-
vidual apparently over 80 years old was en-
countered who still did his own farm work,
was completely self-supporting, and an inde-

201

fatigable dancer at fiestas. By any standard
this man is old, but he certainly shows no sign
of senescence, although it is unlikely he is still
sexually potent. Similarly, women obviously
far past child-bearing age are often the most
active workers at fiestas and the most eager
dancers, in contrast to the often lackadaisical
attitudes of young mothers who dance not at all.

For women the menopause comes between
40 and 50. Information from women on
sexual subjects is difficult to secure even by
women, and the scanty information is quite
unsatisfactory.*8

Some women appear to be more or less
spiritless and sad after the menopause, while
others seem to be quite gay. In some eases this
difference may have psychological basis or
may reflect the presence or absence of physio-
logical difficulties. Indifference of husbands,
the sexual potency of husbands, and the con-
tinuance of sexual relations may also have some
bearing on individual cases. At least one
woman expressed herself as pleased to have
passed the menopause because “now she was
free” and was not dependent upon men.
Further study of the problem is needed but
would require considerable time and tact on the
part of women investigators.

In general, whether old age is depressing and
unhappy or not seems to depend upon the con-
tinuance of a successful marital relationship
and the possession of adequate economic
resources. The only really unhappy old people
seem to be elderly women without children or
husbands who eke out a miserable existence in
ways that could not be discovered. They dwell
in hovels and lean-tos of brush and boards,
carry their own wood, and to some extent live
on charity. Those with reasonable health and
either dutiful children or enough property to
insure care on the part of the children seem to
lead a fairly satisfactory life. Often nephews
and nieces also help care for old people; again,
possession of property probably aids in securing

* Early in the study Mrs. Ruth W. Beebe, of New York, aided
by the nurse from the boarding school at Paracho and by a Mestizo
girl from Paracho, tried to fill out comprehensive questionnaires
on sexual subjects, directed primarily toward gaining insight into
the psychological problems related to the menopause. She was able
to secure only three reasonably complete schedules and even these
probably contain evasions and some unanswered questions. I am

indebted to Mrs. Beebe for copies of the schedules and have drawn
upon them slightly for these remarks.

202

proper care. But helpless old people are few in
Cheran. Most old people, even though they
may not perform an equal share of the labor,
keep fairly active and useful.

SICKNESS AND ITS CURE

Ideas about sickness and its cure are in a
state of transition in Cheran. The list of
diseases is a combination of standard medical
terms, sometimes misapplied, and names from
traditional sources. Treatment of disease is
likewise changing rapidly. Some people in
town will go to a clinic in Paracho and in
serious cases will send for the doctor there.
For part of the time of the study a practicante
in medicine was resident in the town (a
practicante is a medical student who has com-
pleted all his work but has to spend 8 months
in a town without a doctor and write a report
on medical and health conditions before receiv-
ing his final credentials). Very few people
evince any dislike for doctors; if they shun
doctors it is because of the expense involved.
On the other hand, most of the local curers are
reticent and uncommunicative, although many
of them make use of remedies purchased in the
drug stores of nearby towns (Cheran has no
drug store).

All the curers (curanderas—Surijki; in other
towns ¢inajpiri) located in the town were
women. Usually they are middle-aged or old.
In those cases where biographical data could be
secured, the majority were daughters or grand-
daughters of curers. In some cases they had
been taught, but apparently few of them used
their knowledge until they became of mature
years. Very few curers profess to cure all
illnesses; usually they claim to cure two or
three and in some cases only one. Twenty-five
centavos is the usual charge for curing, whether
the patient comes to the curer’s house or the
curer visits the patient. One curer visited had
the reputation of being a “‘bad’”’ witch, another
a “good” witch, but generally the curers are
not witches. Some rejected indignantly the
idea of having anything to do with witchcraft,
denying even ability to cure witchcraft.
thing to do with witchcraft is a maloficio and
not to be touched by ordinary persons.

Ideas of sickness are varied. Injuries, such
as broken bones, dislocated joints, and wounds,

Any-

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

are recognized as of mechanical origin. Some
diseases are vaguely regarded as of natural
causation and as possibly contagious; others are
clearly of supernatural character even though ~
curable by natural means, although the line

between the two is not sharp. In either case,

herbs, unguents, and drugs are believed capable

of helping the sickness. To utilize these

methods of curing requires no special ability

but merely knowledge. Many minor ailments

are treated at home; the curer is merely a

person of greater knowledge who is called in

when home remedies fail or the case is obviously

beyond the knowledge of the household.

Similarly, the doctor at Paracho is called only

when the curer fails or the case is believed be-

yond the curer’s powers. Obviously, this -
situation has not greatly enhanced the reputa-

tion of the doctor, for most of his patients are

nearly moribund some hours before he can

reach them.

Curers usually make a diagnosis first. No
information on methods could be secured. It
appears that a visual inspection and question-
ing of the patients are parts of the diagnosis,
and possibly the only diagnosis. Once the
diagnosis is made, the curer decides what steps
to take to cure the patient. Often herbs kept
on hand can be used; others, however, must be
specially sought because they must be collected
either fresh or at certain hours of the day.

In general, sickness by some is related to the
strength of the blood which resides below the
nape of the neck. This is also the location of
the individual’s life. Persons with much blood
are healthy. When persons are seriously ill,
it is because their blood is scanty; when there
is insufficient to nourish the “seat of life,” the
person dies. There are also vague concepts of
sickness being caused by “heat” or “cold,”
(sophisticated Agustin attributed a cold to
drinking water while sweating) ‘airs’ (which
may also be either hot or cold), fright
(espanto), and, much more specific, evil eye.

Broken bones are treated by specialists, who
may also be curers of diseases or, in one case
at least, midwives. The bones are manipulated
into place and bound to splints without other
treatment.

Dislocations are massaged repeatedly with
olive oil until the bones are back in place. They

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

are then covered with belladonna leaves.
Bruises are sometimes cured by splitting a
lizard and applying it to the injured place.

Hernia is recognized as being from natural
causes through lifting heavy weights. One
curer treats the ailments with massage with
oils. The patient also takes medicine made by
collecting all the kinds of alcoholic drinks the
curer can find, such as charanda, sherry, etc.,
and mixing them together. The patient takes
a third to a half cup of the mixture every
morning before breakfast.

Headache, ép‘amerani, is extremely common
and is ordinarily treated with home remedies.
A patch of some herb (or of adhesive plaster or
court plaster bought in the stores) is applied
toeach temple. Some people wear these patches
almost constantly, especially some women.

Bilis, bile, is one of the commonest diseases,
especially among children; it also is one of the
most difficult to define. Often the vaguest of
symptoms are attributed to bilis. Lassitude,
especially in young persons, often is diagnosed
as bilis. According to one curer, however, the
patient turns yellow, seems tired, and develops
sores similar to those of smallpox. Three
causes are given for bilis, air in the stomach
from waiting too long for a meal, not getting
enough to eat and so getting air in the stomach,
and getting air in the stomach from any other
cause. Children are sometimes born with bilis
and are thought to become infected in the womb.
Treatments of bilis are vague. Flor de pila
well cooked with cinnamon, and given by the
teaspoon as a tonic, and an infusion of simonillo
are two remedies. Amargo (see below) is
another remedy.

Stomach pains.are also regarded as being
caused by air, either hot or cold. Basa, a pain
on either side, is also caused by air, or by
drinking too much water. LEspinocilla, a red-
flowered plant, is good for both these afflictions.
Nopal leaves are put on the soles of the feet
for too much heat in the stomach. (See below
for account of a cure of one of the members of
the staff.)

Itch or mange, sarna, stta, is treated with
unguents purchased in the drug store, polvo
Juan and mercuric ointment.

Heart trouble, latido de corazén, is recog-
nized from pains in the heart and by palpita-

203

tions. There is a high fever, a cough, and
sometimes the patient spits blood. The patient
is rubbed with oil of seven different flowers,
bought in the drug store, and given an infusion
of sunflowers, spines from the tejecote tree,
prickly pear, chayote, and dry white and red
maize leaves. The infusion is taken several
times a day in place of water. The disease
may be caused if the person arrives somewhere
very agitated and drinks cold water or some-
thing cold, fresea. One informant thought
eating lice was good for heart trouble.

Piles, almorranas, are cured with a remedy
made with copper sulfate and lard washed with
vinegar, unguent of serato, and drying salve
(pomada secante). One of the assistants was
told confidentially, and as a thing not to be
passed on, that cauterization with a hot iron
was also employed.

Erysipelas, Garapiti, appears with a high
fever, which increases. There is angry red
swelling and much pain. The cause given is
allowing the clothing to dry on the body if one
becomes soaked; the disease is also an accom-
paniment of wounds. The patient is given a
cooked infusion of yerba de cancer and asked to
eat only milk, sago, and orange-leaf tea.

Salmoneda is a disease of small children;
they fall down in fits. The cause is fright,
espanto, and the disease is cured by burning
copal and having the child inhale the smoke.

Smallpox, kuarésikua, occurs every March.
There are 3 days of fever, 3 days of cough and
fever accompanied by breaking out of the
pustules, 3 days of feeding to regain strength.
After the sixth day the pustules begin to dry
up. Possibility of contagion from using the
same cup, spoon, etc., is recognized. The stage
accompanied by the cough is treated with
burro’s milk (application not clear) and a com-
mon herb occurring on the streets, ¢akua
peréns. The latter is boiled and drunk instead
of water.

Sarampion, measles, usually occurs in March
also and is regarded as much more dangerous
than smallpox (although this may be true, it
seems more likely that the identification of
diseases is faulty). The patients get a red
rash, fever, and colds. An infusion of grape-
fruit (?) is used to bring out the rash; if the
rash does not come out the patient may not

204

recover. Some curers wash their hands in
alcohol when treating sarampién to prevent
catching the infection.

Whooping cough, perénsjuk (tosferina), is
a very common disease, with a high mortality
rate among children. Burro’s milk, turpentine,
copal, and yerba buena are used in treatment.

Syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, and tuber-
culosis are either unknown or their existence in
Cheran is denied. Most of the previously de-
scribed diseases are recognized as infections
by some curers; other diseases are not so
considered.

Toothache seems always to be treated by
patent medicines bought in drug stores at
Uruapan or Purépero. One man said he had
heard that letting of blood from the gums was
done in the past, but the practice has been
abandoned.

Goiter, ku¢ékua, is fairly common in Cheran,
especially among females. It is regarded as a
disease. Patients are bathed up to the knees
with hot water to make the “heat” come down.
Alcohol is then applied to the bottoms of the
feet to make the “heat” stay down.

An extremely common disease, especially for
children in the dry season, is dysentery,
posicion, usually accompained by high fever.
Lard is washed with clean water. When the
water is evaporated, a half centavo of sodium
bicarbonate is mixed with the lard and the
stomach is rubbed with the mixture.

Fevers are said to be very common, but there
are few standard treatments. <A well-known,
herb, romero, is much used. A blue-flowered
plant called sadadron is also employed. Pneu-
monia and rheumatism are recognized, but,
again, there are no standard treatments.
Typhus in mild form has occurred in epidemics,
but no treatment could be learned.

Pains are regarded as a class of illness.
When children have pains, dolores, the mother
anoints the seat of the pain with saliva mixed
with ashes. The water in which maize has
been cooked, nejallote, is also given in small
quantities. This water is also used as a remedy
whenever anything “fresh” (fresco) is needed.
Women after birth are especially subject to
pains of the breast, k‘uaningiota. The pains
may be in the breast, about the stomach region,
or anywhere about the ribs. Sometimes

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

swellings occur in the breast, ribs, or back.
A curer specializing in this ailment discovers
the seat of the pain by feeling with her fingers.
She then anoints the area with unguents pur-
chased in the stores. If the first ones do not
work, she then tries others.

The blood of animals is generally regarded
as bad and dangerous. The black blood from
a butchered animal will cause ulcers if it falls
on the skin. The cure is to cauterize the ulcers
with a hot iron. The danger from animal
blood is said to be the reason many people will
not use meat until several days after butchering.

There are a number of treatments of illness
which are quite generalized, that is, they may
be used on a variety of occasions. For example,
amargo, is taken in the morning before eating
to cure rheumatism, bilis, and ‘fright.’
Amargo is aguardiente in which cinnamon bark,
sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind have been
steeped for 2 or 3 days. Roses of castile, made
into infusions, may be used for any sort of
pain or sickness. Persons on the verge of
death may sometimes be brought back by put-
ting an onion under their nose or blowing
tobacco smoke in their face. A mild dict is
frequently used regardless of the illness. Milk
and oatmeal gruel are the two most preferred
items. Nurite, a common herb used in cook-
ing, is also widely used for stomach disorders
and colics. Romero, quién sabe, and yerba
buena are also widely used herbs. Additional
herbal remedies have been collected, but the
plants have not yet been identified.

Of considerable interest is a class of diseases
and ailments which seem to be of supernatural
causation. Witchcraft, which has already
been discussed (p. 156), is an important cause
of illness and death. Others are ¢‘érpiri or
jandaku iri (‘‘fright,” espanto), tariata pakata
(“wind,” aire or viento), and éskukata (evil
eye or mal de ojo).

Some informants believed that “fright” was
something attacking only drunkards and per-
sons who went about at night, and considered
it merely seeing ghosts or similar imaginary
supernatural things. A curer, however, de-
scribed to Rend6én an elaborate treatment for
the disease. The curer puts a bit of cotton over
the end of the index finger of her right hand.
Over this she puts a green tomato, preferably

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN ViILLAGE—BEALS

slightly broiled, on which is sprinkled a little
salt. The patient’s mouth is opened and the
tomato is pressed upward against the soft
palate while with the left hand the curer pushes
down on the crown of the patient’s head.
After doing this for some minutes, the tomato
is removed from the finger, opened, and rubbed
on the crown of the patient’s head, on the
wrists, and on the joints of the arms. Follow-
ing this, the patient’s head is massaged with
gentle pressure, with special attention to the
face, the cheek bones, forehead, temples, and
occiput. This is called “raising the crown of
the head.” The treatment is given to both
adults and children.

Few data were secured on “wind” or “air.”
People with the sickness are sometimes said to
have been “‘taken by the wind.” In some cases
“air” attacks the stomach; some data on treat-
ment have been given above.

The “evil eye” is a very dangerous matter
because it attacks mainly small children who
are often unable to resist the sickness. More-
over, the power of the evil eye may be possessed
by anyone without the knowledge of the pos-
sessor. Most commonly persons with the power
of the evil eye will afflict individuals of whom
they are especially fond. Children who are
very pretty or clean and with neatly combed
hair are particularly subject to the evil eye.
When two persons desire very much to see each
other and cannot do so, one is apt to afflict the
other with the evil eye; for example, lovers who
wish very much to see each other. The evil eye
is always believed to be caused unconsciously
and without malice.

Symptoms of the evil eye among children
are weakness, pale or yellowish complexion, and
a tendency to cry a great deal. Adults feel
disconsolate; are unable to sleep or, when they
do sleep, dream constantly of the person caus-
ing the disease, dream someone is calling or
talking; or while awake, they think constantly
of the person causing the sickness, with feelings
of sorrow and pain. In either case, if a cure
is not effected, the person dies with vomiting
and fever.

In order to cure infants of the evil eye,
mothers take their children to a street inter-
section. All passersby are asked to “clean” the
child with their clothing. As everyone knows

205

what is involved, they accede without asking
questions. They take one of the garments they
have on, such as the end of a rebozo or a
blanket, and pass it over the infant’s body,
pretending to rub the child, although actually
they often do not touch it. According to
Rendon’s information, as they “clean” the child
each person says “Cita ka‘ka” (meaning not
learned), repeating the phrase three or more
times. The person cleaning the child then
raises its shirt and either spits on the child
over the heart, or pretends to do so. All
persons, regardless of age, are asked to “‘clean”’
the child, for the evil eye may be caused by a
child as well as an adult. This statement
would seem to imply that the performance is
conducted with the hope that the person causing
the attack will be one of those to “clean” the
victim; this is borne out by other information
that if the person causing the evil eye is known,
anyone can effect a cure by “cleaning” the
victim with a piece of worn, soiled clothing
lent by the causer.

Another method of curing the evil eye is to
“clean” the patient with certain grasses or
animals. The animals used are pigeons, black
cats, and dogs. The entire body of the patient
is rubbed with the animal, which is then
released. By using only the pigeon or both the
eat and dog, a child may be cured, but adults
require rubbing with all three. If the evil eye
is very strong, the pigeons may die, but the
other two animals apparently are uninjured.

In order to prevent the evil eye, “deer eyes’
are tied to the wrist or about the neck, or a
little sack filled with salt, lime, and black chile
is hung about the neck. Adults wear a scapu-
lar with a stamp of some saint inside as a
preventive.

McCorkle made several efforts to be “cured”
in order to secure additional data, but in only
one instance was he taken seriously. Even
this case is open to suspicion that the curer
decided there was a possible gold mine in the
situation and tried to exploit it to the limit.
The curer in this instance also has the reputa-
tion of being a witch and able to turn herself
into an owl at night. She refused to talk until
her husband arrived, and he actually did most
of the talking. They- were very suspicious,
asking if there were not doctors in Uruapan or

206

in California. This was the usual reaction of
other curers who, although less suspicious and
more good-natured, simply refused to go
further, advising McCorkle to go to a Mexican
doctor.

When McCorkle insisted doctors had done
him no good and that he had a persistent pain
in the stomach, the curer suggested it was
indigestion and would go away, asking Agustin
privately if McCorkle was not making fun of
them. Agustin replied that the curer knew
how to tell fortunes so why did she not discover
for herself whether McCorkle was_ sincere.
The customary fee of 25 centavos was now
offered and the curer and her husband at this
point evidently decided that McCorkle could
be exploited.

The symptoms recounted to the curer were
a sudden pain in the stomach, sometimes after
meals, sometimes before breakfast or at other
odd times, and poor sleep. The curer asked
how long the patient had been in Mexico and
where he had slept the first night in Mexico.
The curer now unwrapped a deck of cards from
a dirty cloth. She shuffled the cards, picked
out one, and declared the disease was maloficina,
an affliction not reported by any other source.
Someone had given the patient something to
drink so he would have a stomach ache all the
time. ;

The remedy suggested was to take a purge
to be bought at the drug store. When asked
to recommend a purge, the curer and her hus-
band decided they could capitalize on the
situation and said they could get a very superior
purge at an cld drug store in Purépero for
$5.00. When this price was demurred at, the
curer finally decided that if the patient was not
difficult to purge, $2.50 would secure enough of
the purge. The first day after taking the
purge, the patient was to stay in bed, as he
would sweat; the second day he could get out of
bed but should not do heavy work and should
eat only toasted white bread+and milk. The
third day the patient should stay home and on
the fourth day come back to the curer and be
massaged. During this time the patient could
smoke but not drink liquor. A case was cited
of a man who violated this prohibition and died
shortly afterward.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

On McCorkle’s return to get the purge, an
effort was made to raise the price. When this
had been successfully countered, McCorkle
asked if the curer could find out who caused the
pains. This was said to be difficult because
McCorkle had stopped in a hotel instead of with
friends on his first night in Mexico. Finally,
after consultation of the cards, it was stated
that a tall woman with blue eyes had caused the
illness “just for fun.” This was a person whom
McCorkle had “liked very much” in the hotel.
At this point they asked Agustin in an aside if
McCorkle was “church married” to his wife.

The purge proved to be a packet of herbs
and a bottle of oil. New directions were now
given for the treatment. Half the tea was to
be boiled, sugar added, and the mixture allowed
to become lukewarm. The oil, about an ounce
and a half, was all to be taken, then the tea.
The patient would purge about five times. He
should not eat meat, chile, or beans, but could
eat cheese, milk, and toasted white bread. The
medicine should be taken in the morning and
the patient should stay in bed 3 days and not
drink water. The patient should not bathe for
6 days. The instructions were somewhat con-
fused because the curer and her husband some-
times simultaneously produced variant instruc-
tions, for example, one stating that the patient
should return in 4 days, while the other said 6.

A few notes were secured by Rendon in other
towns. In San Juan Parangaricutiro the fat of
animals mixed with ground river crawfish is
rubbed on the body to cause a sweat in cases
of pneumonia. Headaches are treated with
“patches” covered with melted copal, kurik¢unda,
placed on the temples.

In nearby Paricutin the leaves of the flori-
pondio (Datura sp.?) are placed on the body
to cure pains.

In Capacuaro attacks of ‘air’? may be either
hot or cold. If cold, the urine of the patient
is mixed with aguardiente and rubbed on the
joints. When the “air” is hot, the joints are
rubbed with ashes. Pains are cured by rub-
bing the joints with edible oil. Another treat-
ment used in a variety of illnesses is to “take
out,” sacudir. The patient’s arms are placed
behind his neck and two persons pull on them
“until the veins thunder.” This is done when
the person feels pain over the entire body. The

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

zorilla (a wild animal, perhaps a small fox)
is used in ways not specified to cure skin diseases
with small ulcers or pimples, illnesses of the
blood, and pneumonia. Buzzards are also used
in some cures, while spiders and snakes are
employed in curing mal oficio or witchcraft.
Green tomatoes are used as food in illness; they
are also rubbed over the chest when there is
pain, to “freshen it.”

The majority of Capacuaro residents have
goiter. This is said often to result from drink-
ing from a spring of bad water. The spring is
said to be bad because many humming birds
drink there. Evidently only acute goiter is
believed to be a disease, as the majority of
people in Capacuaro consider a certain amount
of swelling of the neck to be natural, so com-
mon is the affliction. If the goiter becomes too
large, a knife is passed over it as though the
goiter were being cut out. This is believed to
stop its growth. A string about the neck is
also thought to stop the goiter from growing
(the same belief exists in Cheran) or, when the
moon is in the first phase, someone pretends to
take bites out of the swelling.

The power of the evil eye belongs only to
certain persons in Capacuaro. The face of the
person afflicted is suddenly twisted, he feels
burning in the face and body and “wishes to
take out his heart.” The first step in the cure
is to cause the patient to sweat freely. The
body is “cleaned” with tules; the curer (appar-
ently a man) also rubs the patient with his
(the curer’s) trousers.

The following remedies are reported by
Rendén from Chilchota in La Canada:

For pains, stitches, or palpitations of the
heart:

1. Place on the chest a piece of red Chinese
paper cut in a square and previously dipped in
tepid alcohol. Over this sprinkle lemon juice
and then cover the patient warmly.

2. Give tea of cooked magnolia petals with
cinnamon.

3. Give tea from cooked branches of
“asparagus” (of a.type not eaten).

4. Give hot fresh deer blood as it comes
from the animal or dried deer blood dissolved
in hot water.

For “attacks,” give the patient water which
has been heated and into which the nostrils of

~ Catholic.

207

a recently killed coyote have been placed just
before the water reaches the boiling point.

Scorpion stings are treated by giving the
patient immediately a drink made by boiling
casaguate with salt. Another treatment is to
give powder produced by rubbing two stones
together. The powder is dissolved in water.
The wound is also rubbed with lemon juice.

Rabies is treated by giving water in which
has been macerated a ball of the male ash tree
(male and female trees are distinguished).

Sickly children are treated by bathing them
with turtle blood. After a sufficient number of
fresh water turtles are collected, they are made
to put out the head by putting coals on the
shell. The neck is then severed with a single
blow of a machete, and the turtle is suspended
over the head of the child (who is standing
naked) so the blood streams down from head
to foot.

DEATH

Death is regarded as a normal event in
Cheran and mourning is restrained and, in the
main, private. Somewhat more grief is shown
when the deceased is a child or a person still
vigorous. An old person, who has begun to
lose some of his vigor, is often spoken of as
only half alive. Similarly, very small children
are often regarded as not fully alive. For per-
sons already regarded as not fully members of
the community of the living, no great
emotional response to death may be expected.

Ideas about death and afterlife are essentially
Small children who die are believed
to go directly to heaven, while adults must pass
some time in purgatory. The dead are not
particularly feared, nor is it believed that they
ordinarily return. However, if a person dreams
frequently of a dead relative it is believed that
the deceased individual has returned for a
member of his family and that one of the
household will certainly die. There is no
remedy for such a situation.

Because of the different beliefs regarding the
afterlife of children and adults, there are some
differences in funerals for the two age groups.

Inthe case of a child, the godfather of baptism
provides the burial dress, which is placed on
the body by the godmother or the mother, or
by the sisters of the mother. The body is not

208

washed. If the deceased is a girl, the dress is
a long gown of white with a sort of long cape
of blue. The corpse of a boy is dressed in the
same way except the inner garment is yellow
and the cape is green. In both cases a crown
of cardboard, covered with silver paper and
decorated with paper flowers, is placed on
the head.

The body is placed on a table. Arches of
flexible wood, wrapped in paper and decorated
with paper flowers, are placed over the body.

A bunch of flowers with a candle in the
middle is placed in the hands of the corpse.
Preparation of the flowers is done by girls
related to the deceased. The body is watched
during the night and candles are burned. A
“prayer,” uandatsikuriti¢ (rezador), is asked
to come and pray. He is paid from $0.75 to
$1.50 for his service.

In the morning all the relatives assemble and
are fed. The food is provided by the parents,
but the relatives of the mother aid in its
preparation. Opinion is divided regarding aid
given the parents. Some say that persons
attending the death watch during the night
bring aguardiente and that all those visiting the
house make a present of a few centavos to aid
in the expenses. Others denied this custom
and claimed the parents must stand all the
expense even though they have to sell some
property. However, everyone who visits the
house brings a candle, which is burned for the
deceased.

The body is usually taken to the graveyard
sometime during the afternoon. Formerly the
body of a child was often accompanied by
musicians, but this practice seems to have en-
tirely disappeared, or nearly so. Each family
has a plot or section in the graveyard and three
or four male relatives prepare the grave in
advance of the burial. Four girls, who are
relatives of the deceased, carry the body to the
graveyard on the table on which it has rested.
Often only a few of the closer relatives will go
to the graveyard, but the godparents are always
present.

At the graveyard the body is removed from
the table and placed in a wooden box or coffin.
This is lowered into the grave without ceremony
by relatives who also fill the grave with earth.
Sometimes some of the women wil! sprinkle a

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

handful of earth on the coffin in the form of the
cross before the grave is filled. The arches
decorating the table are placed over the grave.
There are no prayers or other ceremonies and
the party leaves immediately after the grave
is filled.

The body of an adult is watched through the
night with candles; this night watch is attended
by many more people than in the case of an
infant and atole made of rice and brown sugar
is served at midnight. The corpse is dressed
in black clothing of the type worn in life.
Nothing is placed on the head. A candle is
placed in the hand of the corpse but no flowers.
The clothing is prepared by the nearest rela-
tives, the godparents taking no part in the
funeral of a person over about 14 years of age.

In the morning the visitors and mourners
are served beans and tortillas. At noon it is
obligatory to serve broth, ¢uripo, and white
tamales, kurtindas (although these are regarded
as injurious to the digestion). The food is all
prepared by relatives of the wife. The body
is taken to the graveyard in a wooden coffin
and is carried by four male relatives. A few
people take the body first to the church, but
generally it is taken directly to the graveyard.
In any case, there are never any prayers at the
graveyard. As in the case of a child, all the
prayers are in the house, usually with the aid
of a professional “prayer” or rezador. The
priest is never asked to officiate, although he
may have been summoned while the person
was dying. The body is buried in the family
plot (but a woman is buried in the plot of her
husband’s family). In the case of both adults
and children a small stoppered olla of water is
placed at the head of the corpse but outside the
coffin. There are no flowers, but each mourner
carries a candle.

One evident contradiction between theory and
practice was observed. Numerous informants
insisted that there was never any music for
funerals of adults at any time. In actual fact,
several funerals were observed in which music
played in the house almost the entire day of the
funeral.

In some cases, the interment ends all mourn-
ing. In others, the family hires a rezador to
come to the house every afternoon for 9 days
to pray. The members of the family join in

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

these prayers, but it is not necessary for other
relatives to do so. However, if a relative
attends the first day, he is obligated to continue
the entire 9 days. On the ninth day, the
novena is sometimes observed with prayers in
the house. There is no purification or burn-
ing of incense or other materials in the house.

After the funeral, the parents or the surviv-
ing spouse may remain very sad. If it appears
they may be made ill of ‘‘sadness,” the relatives
visit the survivors frequently, talking to them of
things which they think may alleviate their
condition and giving consolation. If this does
not improve matters, they seek a curer who
gives medicines.

A very few families pay for Masses for the
deceased. More commonly, members of the
family of the deceased will visit the church
from time to time and burn candles and pray
for the dead.

A few additional observations may be of
interest. It is said that formerly the bells were
tolled 10 or 12 times in the morning and after-
noon when someone had died. This is not done
now. The graveyard is on the lower edge of
town and is surrounded by an adobe wall. In
some cases the graves are paved with cobble-
stones or more elaborate masonry pavements.
On rare occasions a tomb or head stone is erected,
but in the majority of cases only a wooden cross
is put up. The age of the present graveyard is
unknown; the oldest date found on a grave was
1883. There is no evidence of offerings
(except in connection with the Day of the
Dead), although the graveyard is apparently
visited at night by some people to judge by the
presence of numerous partially burned pitch
pine splinters about the entrance. All inform-
ants denied knowledge of such visits, however.

The major mourning ceremony is the Day
of the Dead, November 2. Several days before
this date the graveyard is divided in four
sections and the young men from each barrio
are required by the municipal officials to clear
the brush and weeds away from the entire
cemetery. On November 1 everyone prepares
quantities of nakatamales, a small tamale filled
with beef in chile sauce and wrapped in husks
rather than maize leaves. Fruit is also pur-
chased and bread is made. A few make
tamales for sale, but most people make their own.

209

The night of November 1, a Mass is celebrated
in church. In 1941 the priest spoke to the
people against taking candles or food to the
graveyard, telling them instead to bring candles
to the church. Another Mass is held the morn-
ing of the 2d, after which people go to the
graveyard. There is no organized procession,
nor does everyone arrive at the same time. In
many cases only the women and children attend,
although usually the men drop in for a short
time and some stay for several hours. Indeed,
the function is said to be a woman’s affair and
men may not carry candles or even take part if
they have no women folk.

Generally, the first thing the visitors do is to

>more thoroughly clean the graves of their dead.

Often the ground is dug up and the mounds are
built up and shaped. The graves of the more
recent dead (children, parents, and siblings)
are then decorated with flowers and pine
boughs. Often pine boughs are set up at each
corner of a grave or group of graves. Each
grave mound has flowers sprinkled over it,
mostly yellow marigolds and purple orchids.
In some cases part of the flowers are finely
shredded and sprinkled over the grave and
crosses are sometimes marked out in flowers.
Pine needles are also sprinkled over some graves
and sometimes baskets of food placed on the
graves. Food is placed at the foot of the grave
in all cases and candles are burned, despite the
admonitions of the priest.

After the grave is decorated, the family sits
around and chats. There are few evidences of
sorrow; one or two people remark that the day
is “very sad,” but most people seem cheerful
in a quiet way and there is even some subdued
laughter. the vrezadores or “prayers” go
around from group to group and say lengthy
prayers using arosary. Everyone in the group
kneels while the prayers are said. Fruit, bread,
and tamales are given the rezador for his
prayers. .

In 1941 the priest came and said prayers.
He charged a real, 1214 centavos for each
prayer. His prayers were shorter than those
of the rezador and he and those with him re-
mained standing, but he sprinkled the grave
with holy water. He also scolded people for
having candles and food offerings, so most

210

people hid them when the priest approached,
placing them out again when he moved on.
The rezadores continued, but kept unobtrusive
in another part of the graveyard from the
section where the priest was functioning.
Most people had both priest and rezador.
About noon or shortly afterward most people

eat lunch consisting of nakatamales, bread, and -

fruit. Friends and acquaintances who stop
to chat are usually given two tamales, which
they eat at the time. After 3 or 4 hours at the

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

graveyard, people return home. Few people do
any but the most necessary work on this day.

Sometime during the day, either before going
to the graveyard or after returning, most people
hang strings of yellow flowers over the frames
of the house doors. Yeilow is regarded as the
color of mourning still, as it is in many parts of
Indian Mexico. In view of reports of more
elaborate ceremonies in other Tarascan towns,
it should be recorded that no one at Cheran
spends the night in the cemetery.

CONCLUSION AND FURTHER PROBLEMS

Of immediate concern in dealing with a group.

as large as the Tarascans is the question
whether Cheradn is adequately representative
of the group as a whole. Certainly Cheran is
not typical in its size and this difference alone
makes it probable that it is not entirely repre-
sentative of other Tarascan towns. A complete
answer to the question raised must await more
extensive investigation, but the staff of the
present study visited or investigated enough
other communities to indicate that, in a broad
sense, Cherdn is probably fairly typical. From
a narrower viewpoint it is certain that many de-
tailed differences exist. Strong indications also
exist that there are some regional differences
which have already been mentioned. The vil-
lages about Lake Patzcuaro, through their partial
dependence upon fishing and closer contacts with
Mestizo culture, necessarily must be somewhat
different. The villages about La Canada like-
wise seem distinguishable as a group. Prob-
ably the Sierra communities may be set apart
as a regional unit, although it is possible that
the Sierra group may ultimately be found to
consist of two or more sections. Finally, a
number of marginal towns assimilated to some
degree into Mestizo culture present special
problems.

Final resolution of the question raised seems
to call for at least two further steps in the study
of the Tarascans. First, at least two or three
additional community studies are needed, one
in the Lake Patzcuaro region, and another in
La Canada. Very probably another Sierra
town should also be studied, preferably one at
considerable distance from Cheran and with a

significant manufacturing industry supplement-
ing its agriculture. The second step would be
an intensive but rapid survey of a large number
of communities, perhaps by a trait-list tech-
nique, to discover the extent of local and
regional variation. Quite possibly such a sur-
vey would reveal additional types of communi-
ties meriting study. For certain types of
problems, of course, the marginal, more accul-
turated communities require study, but a fairly
complete knowledge of typical Tarascan culture
seems the first need.

The present study of Cheran reveals a num-
ber of points of considerable interest. Perhaps
the most striking fact about Cheran is the
essentially European origin of most of the
culture and the relatively small number of
traits of native provenience. Most of the
material culture of Cheran is probably
European, although obviously some of the
plants, including the major crop, maize, is
native. Farming techniques, implements, hous-
ing, men’s clothing (and possibly women’s
clothing) are Indian only to a slight degree.
The economic specialization and trade patterns
may be based upon aboriginal conditions, yet
they are known to have been formalized by
Europeans. Political and ceremonial organi-
zation are also European, although in part their
origins represent Bishop Vasco de Quiroga’s
interpretation of Thomas More’s “Utopia”
(1923). The extensive conpadre system is but
an enlargement upon European ideas. The
origin of the Tarascan wedding ceremony alone
remains obscure and may have important native
antecedents. Concepts of the supernatural,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS PAlla |

both in formal religion and in witchcraft, are
certainly almost wholly European.

Despite the European origins of Tarascan
culture, it obviously represents something
different from the European-originated Mestizo
culture. Neither is it a mere survival of
sixteenth century cenditions. If Vasco de
Quiroga or any other sixteenth century
European were to return to Cheran, he no
doubt would find it as strange as any lay visitor
from modern European culture. Nor would
this strangeness be wholly or even primarily
due to the infiltration of later European ideas.

The uniqueness of Cheran culture, whether
viewed from the standpoint of the sixteenth
century or from that of today, lies in the
extensive reworking of its European materials.
For example, the cabildo system seems almost
certainly related to the organization of the
hospitals introduced by Quiroga, yet the good
Bishop might have to do considerable research
to recognize the relationship. Such reworking
may be due to the patterning influence of native
ideas rather than to a spontaneous evolution of
a purely European culture in the partial isola-
tion of the late Colonial period. The character
of such things as family life and attitudes and
the real educative forces affecting the thinking
and personality of Cheran inhabitants may have
been relatively unchanged, despite the modifica-
tions in material culture and social organization.

A subject meriting more thorough investiga-
tion in Cherdan is the persistence of the mixed
culture of Cheran. The fierce attachment to
costumbres is part of the acceptance of a way
of life by most members of the community,
even the most progressive. This attachment
persists despite the fact that Cheran culture
not only changes visibly but that such change
is accepted and even desired by a large part of
the population. The limits of acceptable
change, however, need further definition. The
impression of the staff of the present study is
that change is accepted rather readily in those
things relating to material welfare and perhaps
health. Cherdn residents are not averse to
changes leading to more money, food, medical
service (if it does not cost too much), or
elements increasing comfort, such as a larger
and better distributed water supply. The in-
troduction of industries giving employment at

better wages would meet no opposition. Prob-
ably political reforms would have support if
they clearly would provide more effective and
representative self-government. Nevertheless,
it seems probable that extensive changes in
these fields would still leave Cherdn life with
a highly distinctive flavor. No matter how
long Cheran residents have lived away from the
community, and even if they have been born
out of the community, they seem to accept a
pattern of attitudes and behaviors which have
not been successfully identified and analyzed in
the present study.

In some measure a dichotomy of Cheran
culture is implied in the foregoing remarks.
The areas in which change is permissible and
accepted may be identified as “secular” in the
sense Robert Redfield (1941) has used the term
in his studies of Yucatan culture change. Sucha
characterization might be misleading, however,
for it seems doubtful if the term “sacred” can
be applied equally well to the sectors of the
culture where change is rejected. Certainly a
Cheran resident would be nonplussed at the
application of the term ‘‘sacred’”’ to weddings
and the obligations of kinship (although he
might consider it properly applied to the
compadre. obligations). Primarily the sacred
in Cheran is closely associated with the affairs
of the Church, a view that is perhaps best
high-lighted by the fact that those progressives
who are most anticlerical (a position to be kept
clearly distant from “‘anti-Catholic”’) are not
opponents of the costwmbres.

Cheran, like many Indian communities of
Mexico, is increasingly influenced by the town
and the city. Nevertheless, the processes again
seem significantly different from those hitherto
described by Redfield. In Cheran there is no
distinction of los tontos and los correctos,
Mestizo and indio, or ladino and indio, although
such may exist in some Tarascan towns with
an appreciable Mestizo population. Nor does
the neat diminishing order of city, town, and
village of Yucatan hold in this area. Cheran
is probably more influenced by Gary (Indiana,
U.S. A.), Mexico City, and Morelia (possibly in
diminishing order) than it is by Uruapan and
Patzcuaro. Indeed, it is quite probable that
fundamentally Cherdn is more progressive,
more in touch with the modern world, than is

212

Mestizo Patzcuaro with its conscious idealiza-
tion of a Colonial past. (Patzcuaro has not
been studied but apparently the social structure
is fairly rigidly fixed in terms of the families
whose signatures occur on last Colonial charter
of the town with relatively little modification
by present economic or occupational conditions.)

As indicated in the introduction, the study of
Cherdan thus far has been conducted in a single
time dimension. Ultimately, considerable light
can be shed on the present culture by relating
it to its historical background. Tarascan
culture seems not to have been static in pre-
European times and to have changed greatly
both during and after the Colonial period.
Materials are probably sufficiently abundant to
permit study of change in enough detail to give
some knowledge of processes. Of particular
interest would be a study of contemporary cul-
ture in the light of the utopian ideas of Quiroga,
ideas that to a considerable degree seem to have
been translated into a functioning system.

Many problems related to the individual in
Cheran need further attention. The role of
women in Cheran could not be adequately
studied for reasons already explained; it would
not be too much to say that the present study
gives merely the masculine culture of Cheran.
Such problems as the significance of witchcraft
and its relation to personality structure and
emigration should be fruitful. The pattern of
growth and development and child rearing
undoubtedly has bearing on this point. Simi-
larly rewarding should be a deeper investigation
of the curious contradiction between the normal
concealment or denial of wealth and its ostenta-
tious display in connection with the wedding
ceremonies. The characteristics of Cherdn
culture and Cheran personalities which seem to
make it possible for individuals to adapt readily
to the outside world, spend years in the heart
of industrialized civilization, yet be reabsorbed
wholly into the local situation on their return
should offer fruitful problems for investigation.
Likewise the influence of the returning emigrant
on present conditions in Cheran should be more
thoroughly understood.

Most of the foregoing suggestions for study
involve the role of the individual and the rela-
tionship between the individual and culture.
To this field of investigation also are related

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

many of the practical administrative problems
connected with Cheran. In the last analysis,
the success of programs on behalf of the Indian
undertaken by governmental agencies boils
down to the problem of getting individuals to
accept change.

In the field of practical administration, it
should be evident that best results will be
obtained if the area of culture recognized by
Cheran residents as los costumbres is not dis-
turbed. Officially expressed administrative
aims lie primarily in the fields of economics,
technology, education, and political life. Ex-
tensive modifications seem possible in these
fields without tampering with the costumbres.

The most effective administrative measures,
if it be conceded that the costumbres be not
disturbed, seem to call for reducing the general
objectives of governmental programs into
specific objectives for the community of Cheran.
Greater effectiveness seems likely to result if
such objectives be very concrete, strictly
limited initially, and held as consistently as
possible. What is needed would appear to bea
determination of what the desirable and
practical objectives are in improving such
things as farming techniques, introducing
manufacturing techniques, and modifying hous-
ing. If the national objective of greater in-
dustrialization is to be realized, a clear
corollary program should be developed to
determine what types of industrial products
Cheran residents are to be stimulated to desire.
Mechanisms to protect the group initially from
exploitation, both as buyers and sellers, might
be desirable. In the educational field, decisions
must be made and maintained over a reasonable
time as to the purpose of Cherdn education.
Fundamentally, the problem is whether the
people of Cherdn are to be educated to live in
Cherdn or whether they are to be educated to
leave Cherdn. In the political field, it must be
determined whether Cheran is to be self-
governing and is to participate freely in a
larger national democratic life. If the decision
is affirmative, administrators must realize that
the best school of democracy is practice in
democracy and that the cure for errors is not
less but more democracy.

Only when these and similar objectives are
concretely framed and the necessary decisions

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 218

made can a practical program be formulated
for Cheran. Anthropological studies by them-
selves offer no easy and golden pathway to the
solution of Indian problems. The most thorough
study of the Tarascans must be ineffective
practically if the necessary administrative
objectives are not clearly defined. The data of
an anthropological study such as this can do
no more than offer hints as to the “soft” spots
of the culture, the areas in which change can
most easily be introduced, as well as the
costumbres, the points of resistance, such as
ceremonies (not necessarily including religion) ,
dress, dances, weddings, and death customs.
~The study can likewise indicate some of the
major problems of Cheran, such as the under-
productivity of the soil and agricultural tech-
nology, the inadequate mechanization, the
probable existence of an overly large population
to permit any marked rise in economic status,
the need of creating new attitudes in spending
(for Cheran could finance many public im-
provements itself), the inadequacy of the water
supply, the lack of public health facilities, and
the shortcomings of the educational system.
In relation to these problems, further studies
are needed in which the anthropologist is aided
by technicians in soil use, farming, forestry,
and animal husbandry techniques. Scientific-

ally, such studies should be of great aid also,
permitting better understanding of the funda-
mental limitations on Cheran culture.

Once a set of definite objectives has been
established, the data of the anthropological
study will be of considerable use in formulating
a concrete program and in developing Tarasean
cooperation. Moreover, the introduction of a
program in itself, creates changes in the cul-
tural situation. The dynamic quality of culture
makes it important that administrative pro-
grams be accompanied by further study and be
flexible enough to adapt to the changing
situation.

Despite these remarks on the practical prob-
lems of government in the Tarascan area, it
should be emphasized that the present study is
primarily concerned with scientific objectives.
These objectives happen to be closely related to
practical considerations, for administrative ob-
jectives in Mexico call for culture change in
some measure. Cultural processes and the
function and interrelation of the parts of a
culture emerge most clearly from dynamic
situations rather than from statie studies with-
out temporal extension. Not only practical but
scientific objectives can be served by the study
of Cheran culture in transition.

APPENDIX 1

DATA ON FOOD PLANTS AND FOOD FROM LA CANADA

The following data were collected by Silvia
Rendon in the pueblos of La Canada, the next
valley to the north of Cherdn. As the valley is
at a lower elevation than is Cheran, some differ-
ences are noticeable in techniques and in plants
grown. Unless otherwise specified, the data
are from Chilchota; although far from com-
plete, they are included here because they afford
some interesting comparisons, the more so in
that Chilchota is a Mestizo town today.

Plants cultivated: All of the plants culti-
vated in Cheran as well as many others, are
found in La Canada. Black maize is grown
in the fields, rather than in the house lots, but,
as in Cheran, it is kept separate in storage and
is used only for certain types of tamales and

atoles. Wheat is sown twice a year; one plant-
ing is in June and it is harvested in December ;
the second is in November, in the house lots,
and it is harvested in May. Beans are grown
more extensively than at Cheran; the harvest is
exclusively by women.

Among the plants generally grown in
Chilchota is amaranth (bledos). The cultiva-
tion is not commercialized, each family grow-
ing a little for its own use. Amaranth is used
by Indians of La Canada for making sweets;
in Chilchota il is employed in sweets, certain
atoles, and in an uncooked tamale resembling
a tortilla which is sold in Capacuaro.

A considerable number of fruits are culti-
vated in Chilchota. Mangoes of the criollo and

214

Manila varieties are grown extensively for
export. Scarcely a house lacks a sweet lemon
tree. The fruit is sold in bulk to dealers before
it is ripe. Bitter limes are sold the same way;
the prices are less than for sweet limes, but
people in Chilchota say they are more pleasant
in flavor. Oranges are also grown extensively
in orchards. Two varieties of guavas are
utilized. The type known as corriente grows
wild and is used only by poor people who cook
thefruitinhoney. The “fine” type is cultivated
and sold. A few bananas are grown of the type
known in Mexico City as platano bolso and in
Uruapan as corriente. The local name is
Costarica. A “fine” and an “ordinary” variety
of peaches are grown; the entire crop is ex-
ported. Cherimoyas occur in most orchards,
but not in such quantity as in the Tarascan
towns of La Canada. The product is all con-
sumed locally. Some zapote blanco is cultivated
in Chilchota; more is grown among the Taras-
can towns. Cherries grow half-wild, being
planted but not tended. The fruit is eaten raw
or made into confections. A fruit known as
juakinicuiles (in Mexico City, jinicuiles) is
planted but not cultivated; it is much prized.
Citron is grown in some orchards; all the prod-
uct is sold. The tejocote is not used at all in
Chilchota, and some people even were amazed
at the idea it should be eaten.

Coffee is extensively cultivated, sharing with
lemons the major place in the orchards. Almost
all the coffee is sold in the bean in Zamora, and
the coffee consumed locally is brought from
Zamora.

Three varieties of squash are cultivated.
Calabaza Tarascais grown in the fields and is all
consumed in the town, either boiled or roasted
in hot ashes. Calabaza de Castilla is grown in
two varieties, one with hard shell and one with
soft. Both are exported. A variety called
sopoma grows in the fields and is all used in
the town, either to make sweets or as greens
for broth or stew.

The principal wild plant used for food in
Chilchota is a species of prickly pear (tuna),
known as jococoxtle. It is used in certain of
the beef stews or is ground with chile to make
a sauce placed on the table.

Meat is mostly butchered on Saturday and
Sunday, and the main sales take place on

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2 -

Sunday. The places where meat is sold are
called “despachos” and are announced by hang-
ing out a red flag on a standard. Four or five
places sell meat remaining from Sunday
through most of the week. No distinction is
made in price between meat with bone and
meat without bone, but on request one will be
served only meat; in the Tarascan towns the
buyer has to take what is cut. Pork is pre-
ferred to beef. Beef hides are sold to dealers;
those of swine either are made into cracklings
or are pickled in vinegar after rubbing with
chile, onion, garlic, and fragrant herbs.

Some fish are caught with nets in the river
passing Chilchota. The fishermen are only
semiprofessional, fishing when they have time
and selling the catch only if they have more
than can be consumed at home. At least one
man, a farmer, hunts deer in his spare time.
He sells the flesh retail like beef. The dried
deer blood, hoofs, and hair are sold for magical
or medicinal uses.

Black maize is used primarily to make
chapatas, tamales of black or red maize, sweet-
ened with brown sugar and mixed with black
or red amaranth. It is also used to make atole
de cascara de cacao (atole of chocolate hulls)
and ponteduros, which are toasted immature
corn ground and mixed with brown sugar sirup.

Greens: (quelites) of wheat are made from
a wild plant or weed which grows among the
wheat and are greatly liked in Chilchota. A
curious custom exists in that anyone may help
himself to these greens, entering into wheat
fields belonging to others either with or without
permission. Anyone objecting would be severely
censored in Chilchota. Pozole is also made
from green wheat toasted, ground, and mixed
with chile, salt, and ‘‘epazote.”” The time for
this is May at the harvest; it is “hot” food.

A food made from the chayote root is sag.
The skin is removed from the tubers and the
pulp ground to a sort of flour. The flour is
placed in water for 2 or 8 days, being stirred
frequently. The flour is then allowed to settle,
the water drained off, and the flour dried.
Although it is used in various dishes, the main
use is to feed small children and women recently
delivered, when it is cooked in water, either
plain or sweetened with honey. The plain
boiled chayote root, uards in Tarascan, is sold |

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS 215

extensively in all La Canada towns and is much
liked.

One of the favorite meat dishes in Chilehota
is not unlike the ¢uripo of the Tarascans and
is called “espinazo.” It is a broth made from
the backbone of the pig, flavored with chile and
including cooked bitter prickly pears known as
jococoxtles. The broth is usually accompanied
by boiled rice.

Not much sausage is made in Chilchota, but
the blood of the pig is greatly liked, both in
Chilchota and the Tarascan towns of La

Canada. The blood is placed in the cleaned
entrails, together with other visceral parts of
the animal, which have been cut into small
pieces, silantro, chile, and onion. At some point
the mixture is cooked. By the time the product
is sold, the blood has solidfied. The purchasers
remove the mixture from the casings, mill it
on the metate with water, and fry it with lard.
Bread of the type known in Tarascan towns
as pan grueso is made in Chilchota. Most
bread, however, is brought from the larger
neighboring town of Tangancicuaro.

APPENDIX 2

THE CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION OF CHILCHOTA

The following information on the ceremonial
organization of Chilchota was collected by
Pedro Carrasco. Due to political struggles,
the ceremonial organization was not in existence
from 1932 to 1940. The data given are repre-
sentative of conditions as they existed before
1932, amplified by data on the partial revival
of the ceremonial life of the town in 1940 (the
differences are indicated by past and present
tenses). The organization and the observances
present many interesting parallels and differ-
ences from Cheran, particularly in view of the
fact that Chilchota is a Mestizo town today.
Carrasco found only one man of about 90 who
had been reared in a Tarascan-speaking family ;
nevertheless, culturally Chilchota evidently is
still somewhat of a Tarascan town. Many
Tarascan words survive and such old institu-
tions as the hospital are better preserved than
in many Tarascan towns.

The ceremonial organization is linked with
division of the town into barrios of San Juan
and San Pedro. Two other barrios exist, Uren
and Chapala, but they appear to be recent addi-
tions and, unless otherwise specified, only the
first two barrios are referred to. The principal
ceremonial offices and their relation to the
barrios are as follows:

Office Barrio
: Mayordomo of the Hospital One year from San
Juan, the next
from San Pedro

596569—46 15

Office Barrio
Mayordomo of the patron saint,

Sania cour. 4eo ke ee aoe One year from San
Juan, the next
from San Pedro

Carguero of San Roque or

Karaéakape

Carguero of San Nicolas

Two vaqueros Ms
Four roseras! or uananéatis
Two regidores

Barrio of San Juan
Barrio of San Pedro
. One from each barrio
Two from each barrio
eee ee ae ee One from each barrio

1One of the roseras is called pendompari, and one capitamoro.
They are always of different barrios, the positions alternating from
one barrio to the other each year.

All these individuals are called cargueros.
It is they who bear the expense of all religious
festivals.

Unlike Cheran, this group of cargueros forms
a hierarchy through which individuals pass,
ultimately to become one of the viejos princi-
pales (principal old men) or tarépiti. The
sequence is as given, the first position being
that of mayordomo of the hospital, then mayor-
domo of Santiago, then either carguero of San
Roque or of San Nicolas, depending on the
carguero’s barrio, then vaquero (while female
members of his family serve as roseras), and
finally regidor. After this the carguero is an
“old man,” a principal. The old men 4nd the
cargueros who have occupied the positions of
both mayordomo of the hospital and mayordomo
of Santiago form the group known as the
cabildo.

In addition to the hierarchical offices, there
are a number of minor positions, the most

216

important being that of the Ci¢iua. A fiscal
looks after cattle belonging to the Virgin of the
hospital and acts as a sacristan. A topil (a
Maya word) rings the church bells and does
errands for the mayordomo of the hospital.
The regidores each have two messengers, the
mayor or petajpi and the katapi. One of the
duties of the latter is to chase dogs away during
the fiestas, for which reason he is known as the
“dog frightener,” uiéariri.

A person wishing to take a ceremonial office
makes his petition to the regidor (of his
barrio?), taking bread, chocolate, and liquor.
The regidor consults with the cabildo regarding
the matter, but he cannot accept the gifts unless
the person receives the office. Apparently the
regidores function primarily as the adminis-
trative officials of the cabildo. They are said
also to have functions with respect to the Indian
population in La Canada. Indians visiting
Chilchota on business often consult with the
regidores and, if the matter is one involving
the court or juzgado, the regidor acts as inter-
mediary and advocate of the Indian’s cause.

Decision regarding the offices is reached by
the cabildo before December 12. On this day
the new cargueros assemble at the hospital
where the wife of the mayordomo places a
crown on each one; this ceremony installs them
in office, although some apparently do not take
up their duties until later.

The most important meeting of the cabildo is
on the day of Candelaria (February 2). The
principals and the cargueros, old and new, who
have passed the office of mayordomo of Santiago,
meet about 10 o’clock in the morning in the
patio outside the chapel of the hospital. Men
and women (wives of the men?) form two
groups. The men are seated on chairs along
the sides of a table covered with mats of tule.
The regidores take seats at each end. The
women are arranged in similar fashion but
kneeling on mats on each side of a row of tule
mats placed on the ground. The regidores
evidently take their places first. As each per-
son arrives, he kisses a cross placed in a little
shelter before the chapel. He then goes to the
regidores, crosses himself, and kisses the staffs
of the regidores. He then takes his place.

Each of the roseras must bring two sugar-
canes for each person and a bottle of liquor for

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

each regidor. Each regidor makes a speech in
Tarascan, called uandakua, after which they
begin to drink Garape and to receive blessed
wax. For lunch they eat menudo, while for
dinner they eat Curipo and nakatamales. They
continue drinking until about 5 o’clock, when
they go to the house of the new mayordomo of
Santiago and continue drinking until night.

Two days after Candelaria the roseras ring
bells in the hospital to call the boys and girls
of the town to get firewood for the hospital.
The boys and girls go to the mountains for a
week, chaperoned by the roseras, and accum-
ulate enough wood for the needs of the hospital
for a year.

On Monday of Carnival the images of San
Nicholas are taken from the houses of the old
cargueros to the houses of the new. Similar
fiestas are held in each case. The evening
before, the new carguero assembles boys to go
to the place called Cerro Viejo to get flowers
known as kaninSikuas. The boys are fed tor-
tillas with pork and beans. They are also
given liquor to drink on the trip. When the
boys return they are met with music, and
cohetes are fired off. Three cane arches are
decorated with the flowers, one for the gate,
one for the door of the room occupied by the
image of the saint, and one over the image
inside the room.

On Tuesday are changed the four vaqueritas
(“little cow girls”), two virgin girls from each
barrio, who are overseen by the vaqueros. On
the roof of the houses of old and new vaqueros
are placed banners with red figures. Boys
climb up and remove the banners, giving them
to the house owners, who give the boys a bottle
of aguardiente. (According to another inform-
ant, the banners are placed in a tree 8 days in
advance.) The boys later make bulls of mats
and hides and play at bull fighting in the streets.
Each barrio has two “bulls,” with musicians
accompanying them. The boys give presents
of sugarcane to the girls, who, in return, give
them capatas. In the evening there is a con-
cert in the plaza and much breaking of confetti-
filled eggshells. Arches with the kaninSikua
flowers are made for the vaqueritas.

At a period believed to be before 1900, actual
bull fights were held. Women called vaqueras,
who were hired by the roseras, did the bull

a,

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

fighting (of which no further details were
Iearned). Some women appeared every year.
They wore dresses of red bayeta, a white ker-
chief on the head, and a felt hat. Two ker-
chiefs were crossed on the body (breast?) and
another was used to tease the bull. A machete
was carried on the shoulder.

On these occasions the image of the Virgin
of the hospital was taken out and handfuls of
tiny confections, of the size of silantro seeds,
were scattered. The boys and girls broke many
eggshells filled with confetti. The boys struck
the girls with sugarcanes when possible and
the girls retaliated with Gapatas wrapped in
napkins.

On Ash Wednesday the cargueros assembled
in the houses of the vaquero and kara¢éakape.
Piles of oranges, limes, ashes, and earth were
placed in the yards, and men and women fought.
The oranges and limes were blackened with
charcoal and thrown, as were ashes and earth.
When the game became violent, a woman
struck a shake with a stick and called “peace,
peace.” The game then stopped.

The passion of Christ was once represented.
On Thursday of Holy Week, the imprisonment
of Christ was represented, many youths dress-
ing as Jews and soldiers. Friday the image
was taken in procession, decorated with laurel,
roses, bananas, ¢apatas, and flour tamales.

Normally processions were held three times
a year, Holy Thursday, the Friday of Sorrows,
and Corpus. The same images were used each
time. The image of Jesus the Nazarene was
dressed in dark tunic, a cord at the belt, and
the stretcher decorated with fisld flowers.
Boys carried the stretcher. Anyone wishing
to participate dressed himself in a black tunic
and bonnet and went out to gather flowers.
The boys were called Judas. The images of
Mary Magdalene and the Virgin were also taken
in the procession. The image of the Virgin
was in the special charge of the voseras, who
dressed it and prepared the stretcher with
flowers. The pendompari carried a standard
(pendon), from which her name is derived,
while the capitamoro carried a spray of flowers.
Both went ahead of the Virgin. The fiscal
carried an incense burner at the head of the
procession. Twelve boys dressed in red tunics
represented the Twelve Apostles.

217

On Palm Sunday palms brought from the hot
country are taken to the church to be blessed.
Formerly a more elaborate observance was held.
An image representing Christ was mounted on
the image of a burro called San Ramos. The
images were carried on a stretcher to the spring
supplying water and were put in a little shrine
made of flowers. To this spot came youths
who had left 2 weeks earlier to secure palms.
The youths came down to the spring from a
place called La Mesa, wearing carnations and
little gourds about their necks and cracking
their whips. The girls brought music for
dancing and also provided ¢uripo and kurtindas.
About 5 o’clock in the afternoon all went with
the palms to the church.

On Holy Thursday there formerly was a
market at which the principal goods sold were
clothing and fruit from the hot country. People
purchased the latter to make offerings to the
church for the decoration of the altar.

Holy Saturday the girls carried small, highly
decorated jars of water to be blessed. These
were used later to cure the sick and to protect
from “fright” (espanto). When the church
bells ring, children and fruit trees are shaken
so that they will grow more rapidly. Images
of Judas are burned on the street corners at
this moment also. They are provided by any-
one who feels like doing so.

In April the regidor notifies the youths to
clean the spring. The boys provide music and
the girls bring them ¢uripo and kurtndas.

The day of the Assumption, most people go
to the fiesta at the town of Huancito. On their
return, the wild honey collectors go through the
streets announcing the fiesta of Corpus. They
play the chirimia and make a special cry called
pitakuri.

Two days before the fiesta of Corpus, bread
is made in all the houses. The night before
Corpus, each barrio hires musicians to play.
On the day of Corpus the girls bathe at the
spring. On their return they dress for church.
In the afternoon, boys and girls gather and
present each other with fruit and trinkets.

The following day there is a large fiesta in
the plaza. The ox drivers bring out their oxen
with the yokes decorated with silk kerchiefs,
ribbons, and flowers. The drivers also decorate
their hats with flowers and their goads with

218

ribbons and flowers at the points. Persons of
other occupations also appear similarly deco-
rated. All throw objects at the onlookers. The
ox drivers scatter seeds, the muleteers throw
flour and bran, the breadmakers throw bread,
the overseers scatter ink. The honey gatherers
collect many honeycombs from the mountains
to sell and give away. One is placed at a
corner of the plaza on a greased pole. The
leader of the honey gatherers on this day is
called kurindure. The butchers station them-
selves in one of the arcades of the plaza and
butcher a goat, whose blood is thrown at the
people. One of the butchers disguises himself
as a coyote and steals a piece of meat; the
others pursue him about the plaza.

On the day of San Juan, June 24, both sexes
bathe early in the morning. The youths pro-
vide musicians, who play while the girls are
bathing. In the houses where there is a person
named Juan, a roll is placed between small
boards tied with a cord. Youths on horseback
try to seize the roll with their hands. The cord
is jerked as they ride past, in order to make
the task harder. The same is done on the day
of San Pedro in the houses where there is
someone named Pedro.

On the day of Santiago, moros and soldiers
dance. The moros always come from the barrio
of the mayordomo, while the soldiers come from
the other barrio. They dance on the 25th and
26th, first in the chapel of the hospital, then
in the priest’s residence, then in the house of
the mayor of the town, and then in private
houses where they are given presents of fruit.
Each group has a first and second captain.
Each pays for 1 day of the music and serves a
mealin his house. The mayordomo of Santiago
has no expense except the Mass and another
group of musicians who play at the church.
The dancers gather to practice the evening
before the day of Santiago at the house of the
regidor. The roseras give a supper of curipo
and kurtndas. The fiesta is called tzindakua.

On the day of the Conception, youths and
girls take musicians to the Virgin and sing
las mananitas to her in the church.

On December 12 the image of the Virgin in
the hospital is removed from the altar and
placed in the middle of the chapel. Girls and
boys become ‘“‘brothers and sisters” by crossing

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

themselves, kissing the image, and wearing a
crown for a few minutes. Alms are given and
the boy and girl are then “hermanos.” During
the day girls put on the dress of the Tarascan
girl, udri, and go about to the stores offering
tamales for sale in the manner of the Indians.
Boys sing pastores in private houses and are
given aguardiente.

The day of Christmas Eve, the pendompari
goes about with musicians singing pastores
(pastorals) to the houses of the cabildo, where
she makes presents of bunuelos. In return
each gives the pendompari 50 centavos and
charape. With the money the pendompari pays
for the Mass said on Holy Thursday.

One month before Christmas Eve the ¢éiéiua
prepares figures representing the birth of
Christ in his house. These are taken to the
image of the Holy Child. The day of Christ-
mas Eve, people watch and burn candles before
the image until ll p.m. Quantities of bunuelos
and nakatamales are made for the cabildo.
At 11 o’clock, the image of the Holy Child
(which apparently is in a private house) is
taken to the church accompanied by a band.
Powder is burned at the street corners. In the
church the Infant is placed in a reclining posi-
tion. Moss for preparing the bed is brought
from Cerro Viejo by youths in the same fashion
flowers are brought for Carnival.

In addition to these observances, fiestas
called ninos gorderos are celebrated in private
houses. A scene representing the birth of
Christ is prepared. The Infant is “raised”
sometime before Candelaria, and the scene is
removed on the 3d of February.

Pastorelas are also celebrated on Christmas
Eve. The roseras pay the teacher to instruct
the dancers, and provide them with ¢uripo and
tamales. Each dancer provides his own
costume. The group consists of 5 girl and 5
boy shepherds, 3 devils, 2 old men, 2 negros,
2 hermits, 1 male and 1 female rancher. They
appear to conduct the image of the Holy Child
to church, and they also appear on the two
following nights.

On January 6 the new éiéiua goes to church
with music and “raises’’ the Holy Child. The
priest takes up the image and gives it to the
éi¢iua to dress. He kisses the image and gives
it to others to kiss. Afterward all go through

ae ee

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

the streets with the musicians to the house of
the ¢itiua, who serves nakatamales, bunuelos,
and éApata, the men and women of the cabildo
eating first. During the night there is much
dancing of jarabes, first women dancing with

219

women and later men dancing with women.
The latter enter into contests with others.
Pastores are also sung all night, verses taken
from printed pamphlets from Mexico. This is
continued every night until Candelaria.

APPENDIX 3

REPORT ON MAIZE FROM CHERAN

By EpGAR ANDERSON

Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University, St. Louis

Fifty-five ears of maize were received from
Dr. Ralph L. Beals, in lots numbered from
1 to 43, there being two ears each of most of
the numbers above 30. The ears were photo-
graphed, grain samples were taken, and the
ears returned to Dr. Beals. In the summer of
1942, 10 plants from each lot were grown at the
Blandy Experimental Farm, of the University
of Virginia,®® Boyce, Va. Although the plant-
ing as a whole was badly infested with smut,
at least one good tassel specimen was obtained
from each lot and herbarium specimens were
also made of leaves and seedlings. Notes on
plant color, pubescence, ete., were taken in the
field, and the internode pattern of one plant of
each lot was recorded. Five plants from the
entire lot were investigated in detail, cytologi-
cally, and the knob number and knob positions
of their chromosomes were determined.

As a whole, the corn belongs to the race
recently termed ‘Mexican Pyramidal’ by
Anderson and Cutler (1942). Many of the
ears and the plants grown from them are indis-
tinguishable (for all practical purposes) from
collections made in the vicinity of Mexico City.
However, there are certain average differences
which seem to be significant, and a few of the
numbers are unlike anything we have yet
examined from Mexico, D. F. Plants are
medium to tall, mostly with conspicuous sun
red (occasionally purple) plant color. Tillers
are few or absent. The leaves are broad but
break easily in the wind, giving the collection
a very bedraggled appearance, which is height-
ened by the susceptibility to smut. The tas-

*°For laboratory space and many other courtesies, we are
indebted to the Director, Dr. O. E. White.

sels are large and coarse but there are few
tassel branches. The ears are short, though
the husks are often very long. The ear
branches vary greatly in length, the most
extreme being 3 or 4 feet long, with numerous
secondary ears. This is partly due to culture
in aregion of different day length (i. e., Virginia
vs. Mexico). The ears are prevailingly broad
at the base, tapering sharply and evenly. The
kernels are mostly hard and flinty but are
nearly all more or less dented. There is great
variation in kernel size and shape, not only
from plant to plant but also on each ear, since,
owing to the position of the husks, the grains
at the tip of the ear are under strong compres-
sion, whereas those at the base have plenty of
room. It is not unusual to see an ear with the
basal kernels deeply dented but with no per-
ceptible denting in any of the kernels at the tip.

Two main types were well represented in the
collections (table 18). There were the so-called
“Black” maize from Cheran (Nos. 31-37)
and from Nahuatzen (Nos. 38-43) and
“Tulukénio” (Nos. 1-26), a mountain type
grown only above 8,500 feet (pl. 8). A third
type, ““Trimasion,” is grown on the plain below
8,500 feet. It is said to be later maturing,
larger-eared, and larger-grained. This was
apparently confirmed by our collections, but
since there were only two numbers (29 and 30)
no averages have been prepared.

The collections of Black maize stood out
sharply both in the field and in the collection of
ears. The latter were around 15 cm. in length,
nearly all of them with dark (blue or purple)
kernels which were deeply to lightly dented and
were rounded (i. e., not pointed). Purple cob

PUBLICATION NO. 2

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

220

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CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

color was frequent, and many of the lighter
cobs were flushed with purple or red. Many
of the specimens belong to the color type called
“cherry” by geneticists. In the field the purple
plant color of a good many of the plants was
conspicuous as well as the almost complete
absence of tillers, which were frequent enough
in the Tulukénio collections to produce a mass
effect and make the field look thicker below
row No. 30 than it was above that number.
A summary of the records shows that on the
average the plants of Black maize were taller,
that their leaves were a little less pubescent,
and that they averaged 5 instead of 7 tassel
branches. The differences between Black maize
from Cheran and from Nahuatzen were minor,
the chief one being more color in the seed coat it-
self in addition to the prevailingly dark aleurone
color. On the whole, the plants from Cheran
were a little more variable and were about what
might have been expected if varieties from
Nahuatzen were grown in close proximity to
other varieties from Cheran.

While the Black maize of Cheran and
Nahuatzen is in general very similar to Mexican
Pyramidal corn from around Mexico City, its
broadish, rounded grains, its less condensed
tassels, and its tendency to purple plant color
are atypical for that region.

Much of the Tulukénio maize is quite like the
corn from Mexico City. Nearly all the ears
had more or less pointed kernels (character-
istically with a dent behind the point) and those
which did not have them produced plants with
pointed kernels. While there was great varia-
tion, most of the varieties were small-grained
(7 mm. wide or less). Unlike the Black varie-
ties (whose endosperm was invariably white)
about half had yellow endosperm. While the
Tulukénio maize varied greatly in the color of
the grains, it was prevailingly light and much
of it had a rather streaky, irregularly devel-
oped pinkish purple in the seed coat. The
colored portions were not sharply defined as in
variegated maize, but gave rather the effect of a
colorless ear which had been lightly brushed
with some such dye as eosin. It is apparently
due to allelomorphs of the ‘P’ series. While
a few of the ears were straight-rowed, on the
whole they were very irregular, at least on a
portion of the cob.

221

Three of the Tulukénio collections (Nos. 1,
9, and 12, table 18) were of particular interest
since they are unlike any corn from Mexico
City which we have so far examined and since
resemblances to them were apparent in several
other collections (e. g. Nos. 16 and 17). They
are small-cobbed, very flinty, with no trace of
denting, and the cobs are cylindrical rather
than tapering. That they are not merely
poorly developed ears is proved by the fact that
the plants grown from them were somewhat
distinctive. They were short, one of them had
more tillers than any other plant in the field,
and their internode patterns revealed a strong
tendency toward the Pima-Papago pattern
rather than the Mexican Pyramidal pattern.

We do not yet have enough data about the
kinds of maize to appraise the significance of
these extreme variants of Tulukénio maize.
It may be they are inferior types which have,
through inbreeding, segregated out of better
varieties. Since these mountain varieties are
grown in isolated plots and since each family
carefully preserves its own strain, this is quite
likely. Even so, their morphology may be a
significant throw-back to a type of corn once
grown in this region, or in some region from
which the Tarascan maize was derived. Since
in most of their peculiarities they suggest Pima-
Papago maize, which is known to be similar to
the prehistoric Basket Maker maize (Anderson
and Blanchard, 1942), it is possible that they
are evidence of a primitive small-ccbbed maize.

A cytological study was made of five differ-
ent plants, by means of pachytene smears.

TABLE 19.—Summary showing knob of each chromosome
for 5 collections of maize from Cherdn

Knob number in collections of—

Chromosome No. Tulukénio maize Black maize

Bell. | Be22. Be34b.|Be43b.

to
wo

HK ODNOUPWe

st] CH BHORHRHO
al One RooMmorne

wR oo nO
al oeRRroomore

Supernumerary (‘B’
chromosomes). .... 0 1

~
o
So
o

S = Small knob.
T = Terminal knob.

222

Two of these plants had supernumerary or ‘B’
type chromosomes. The numbers and positions
of the knobs on the 10 normal chromosomes are
summarized in table 19. These facts will ulti-
mately be significant when we have more data
on knob numbers and positions from other
types of maize (Mangelsdorf and Cameron,
1942). For the present we can say only that
the knob numbers are intermediate between the
high knob numbers of Western Mexico and the
low numbers of the Mexico City—Toluca region.

The more significant measurements and
observations made on the collection are sum-
marized in table 18. Average values for the
four most useful criteria of tassel morphology
are shown graphically in figure 19, where they
are compared with similar averages made on
collections from pueblo-dwelling Indians in
Arizona and New Mexico; from Pima, Papago,

GLUME 11
LENGTH

o1983nd
‘GAd XAW

TASSEL
BRANCH
NUMBER

w
al

SUBSESSILE
SPIKELETS

CONDENSED 0

INTERNODES

Ficure 19.—Average values for four characters of the
male inflorescence (the tassel) of Beals’ collections
of Tulukénio maize and Black maize. Narrow
lines show averages of other collections for com-
parison: Mex. Pyr., Mexican Pyramidal from
Mexico City; P.-P., Pima-Papago; Pueblo (Carter,
Anderson, Cutler collections). The four scales
used from top to bottom are glume length in
millimeters, tassel branch number ‘(values run
from right to left for this scale), percentage of
subsessile upper spiklets on tassel branches and
percentage of condensed internodes on_ tassel
branches.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

and allied tribes; and from Mexican Pyramidal
varieties collected near Mexico City.

It will be seen that insofar as their tassels
are concerned both the Tulukénio varieties and
the Black maize varieties are intermediate be-
tween the Mexican Pyramidal and the Pima-
Papago. On tassel morphology alone they are
even closer to the latter than to the former.
Since, so far as we can tell from the ears, Pima-
Papago maize is very similar to that of the
prehistoric Basket Makers (Anderson and
Blanchard, 1942), this strengthens the sug-
gestion made above that one element in the
ancestry of this Tarascan maize may have been
a primitive small-cobbed race somewhat like
that of the Basket Makers. A diagram based
on ear and kernel morphology would also
demonstrate that both of these Tarascan types
are intermediate between Mexican Pyramidal
and Pima-Papago, but it would not indicate as
close a resemblance to the latter as is given by
the tassel morphology alone.

SUMMARY

The maize varieties from two adjacent
Tarascan villages are described and _ their
characteristics are recorded in detail. While
as a whole they are more or less similar to
collections of Mexican Pyramidal maize from
Mexico, D. F., they can be divided into at least
three subraces. For two of these, the “Tulu-
kénio” and the “Black”? maize, there is enough
material to define the central core of their
variation. Black maize is grown in gardens
below 8,500 feet. Characteristically it has
large, dark, smoothly dented kernels on a taper-
ing ear about 15 cm. long. While it has certain
technical resemblances to Pima-Papago maize
(low percentage of condensed internodes in
tassel, length of glume, etc.,) it differs only
slightly from Mexican Pyramidal. Tulukénio
varieties are grown above 8,500 feet in small
isolated plots in the mountains. They are even
more like Pima-Papago; their tassels technically
are closer to the latter than to Mexican Pyram-
idal. They vary greatly in color, size and
shape, the largest ears being about the size of
Black maize. The kernels tend to be small,
more or less pointed, semidented; their seed
coats lightly stained or streaked with red. The
extreme variants of Tulukénio are small-cobbed,

bi wit

nontapering, early-seuasoned, undented, and
many-tillered varieties. They may possibly
reflect a primitive small-cobbed race somewhat
like the maize of the Basket Makers. If so, it
was one element in the ancestry of Tarascan
maize.

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

223

Taken in conjunction with Mangelsdorf and
Cameron’s recent (1942) analysis of knob
number in Guatemalan maize, these results
demonstrate the importance of considering
altitude above sea level in interpreting the
history and development of Zea mays.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANDERSON, EDGAR, and BLANCHARD, FREDERICK D.
1942. Prehistoric maize from Canon del Muerto.
Amer. Journ. Botany, vol. 29, pp. 832-
835.
ANDERSON, EpGAR, and CUTLER, HUGH C.
1942. Races of Zea mays: I. Their recognition
and classification. Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann.,
vol. 29, pp. 69-88.
ARRIAGA, ANTONIO.
1938. Organizacion Social de los Tarascos.
Morelia, Mexico.
BEALS, RALPH L., and HATCHER, EVELYN PAYNE.
1943. The diet of a Sierra Tarascan community.
American Indigena, vol. 3, No. 4, pp.
295-304.
BEALS, RALPH L., and CARRASCO, PEDRO.
1944. Games of the Mountain Tarascans.
Anthrop., vol. 46, pp. 516-522.
BEALS, RALPH L., CARRASCO, PEDRO, and McCoRKLE,

Amer.

THOMAS.

1944. Houses and house use of the Sierra
Tarascans. Institute of Social Anthro-
pology, Smithsonian Institution, Publ.

No. 1.
MANGELSDORF, PAUL C., and CAMERON, JAMES W.
1942. Western Guatemala a secondary center of
origin of cultivated maize _ varieties.
Bot. Mus, Leaflets, Harvard Univ., vol.
10, pp. 217-252.

More, Stir THOMAS.
1923. The Utopia of Sir Thomas More. Trans-
lation by Ralph Robinson. Edited by

George Sampson. Everyman’s edition.

London.

Murpock, GEORGE P., and OTHERS.

1938. Outline of cultural materials. Yale Univ.,
New Haven.
REDFIELD, ROBERT.
1941. The folk culture of Yucatan. Chicago.

RUBIN DE LA BorBouua, D. F., and BEALS, RALPH L.

1940. The Tarasca Project: A cooperative enter-
prise of the National Polytechnic Insti-
tute, Mexican Bureau of Indian Affairs,
and the University of California. Amer.

Anthrop., n. s., vol. 42, pp. 708-712.

SPICER, Epwarp H.

1940. Pascua: A Yaqui village in Arizona.

Chicago.

SWADESH, Morris.

1940. Orientaciones Lingiiisticas para maestros

en zonas indigenas. Mexico.

ZAVALA, SILVIO ARTURO.

1937. La “Utopia” de Tomas Moro en la Nueva
: Espana, y otros estudios. Mexico.

GLOSSARY

The following list includes Spanish and
Tarascan terms frequently used in the text.
Words used only once or twice and defined at
the time are not included in the glossary.
Spanish words are given the local Tarascan
usage, which is often different from either
customary Mexican or standard Spanish usage.
Tarascan words are followed by “T”’.

_Aées (T), the cabildo, or chiefs of the ceremonial
organization.
Agave, a genus of plants, often called the maguey. In
the United States, called the century plant.
Agua miel, the unfermented juice of the agave.
Aguardiente, normally a liquor distilled from sugar-
Ri cane; in the Tarascan area, often called charanda.
_ Almud, a dry measure of about 0.8 of a liter.

9

Arriero, a muleteer.

Arroba, a measure of weight, slightly less than 25
pounds.

Atapdkua (T), squash blossoms and immature squash
cooked together.

Atole, a thin gruel, usually made of ground maize with
various flavorings.

Ayuntamiento, the civil government of a municipio.

Barranca, a steep-sided canyon or gully.

Barrio, a ward or division of a town.

Bilis, a word used to cover a variety of sicknesses.

Cabecera, the largest town and administrative center
of a municipio.

Cabildo, the group in charge of the ceremonial organi-
zation; the aces.

Calzones, cotton trousers of unbleached muslin, worn by
men for work and, by conservatives, for everyday
wear.

224 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 2

Cantina, a saloon.

CApata, a tamale made from amaranth.

Carales, a small dried fish.

Carga, a somewhat indefinite measure, often a burro
load.

Carguero, a mayordomo, a person who has taken re-
sponsibility for a saint’s image for a year.

Castillo, a set piece of fireworks on a tall pole.

Catrin, urban or citified, particularly applied to clothes.

Centavo, a cent, or one-hundredth of a peso.

Centimeter, one-hundredth of a meter.

Charanda, a drink distilled from sugarcane.

Charape, a ceremonial drink, usually made of pulque.

Chayote, a lush-growing vine and the edible fruit it
bears.

Chilecayote, a type of squash.

Cherimoya, the anona, a fruit.

Cohete, an explosive rocket used in fiestas.

Cohetero, fireworks maker.

Comadre, the godmother of one’s child.

Comal, a lenticular dish used for baking tortillas,

Comisionado, a person who has been commissioned by
the authorities to perform some task in connection
with municipal affairs or a fiesta. May also be
named by the priest or by ceremonial organizations.

Compadrazgo, the system of relationships set up through
the godparent custom.

Compadre, godfather of one’s child.

Copal, the gum of the long-needled tropical pine (Pinus
montezumae).

Corales, tubular red glass beads worn by every woman
in native costume.

Cuartel, a barrio, or division of a town.

Cuelgas, ornaments hung from ropes, poles, or about
the neck of participants in some ceremonies.

Curato, the residence of the priest.

Curipo (T), a highly seasoned broth containing cabbage
and chunks of boiled beef. 2
Fanega, a Spanish dry measure which has various
values in different parts of Mexico. In Cheran,

the fanega appears to equal 90.8 dry quarts.

Garabanzos, chickpeas.

Gordos, flat thickish cakes fried in lard, usually of
ground corn but sometimes of wheat flour.

Guaraches, sandals.

Guavas, a fruit.

Habas, the broadbean.

Hectarea, a land measure of 2.47 acres, or 10,000 square
meters.

Jefe de defensa, chief of the local militia.

Junta, any meeting of a town or organized body.

Kéqi (T), an official connected with the cabildo and the
church who does errands and looks after the church
and church properties.

Kurtinda (T), a tamale made of steamed nixtamal
wrapped in maize leaves.

Litro, a liter, a liquid measure.

Maestro, a school teacher; a lay reader.

Maguey, the agave plant.

Malpais, an old lava flow.

Mano, the smaller milling stone held in the hands.

Manta, cheap unbleached muslin.

Manzana, a block or square in a town.

Mayordomia, the entire process of caring for a saint’s
image, arranging for the Mass and other cere-
monies involved by tradition.

Mayordomo, carguero; a person who is responsible for
the care of a saint’s image for a year.

Metate, the lower or stationary milling stone.

Meter, a measure of 39.37 inches.

Mole, a common highly seasoned and complicated sauce
used on meat; also a meat dish served in mole
sauce.

Moro, a type of dancer common in Michoacan.

Municipe, a regidor or city councilman.

Municipio, an administrative area somewhat like a
county or parish.

Negritos, dancers wearing black wooden masks who
appear at Christmas.

Nixtamal, dough made by grinding maize after it is
soaked in lye.

Nopal, the prickly pear cactus plant.

Oéépos (T), a sweet tamale.

Olla, water jar of pottery.

Panalero, a person who collects wild honey.

Pan dulce, wheat-flour bread with sweetening added.

Papaya, a subtropical fruit.

Peso, a Mexican silver coin.

Pinole, flour made by grinding parched maize.

Plan, plain; a large level cultivated area.

Portales, covered sidewalks, the outer edge of the roof
supported by pillars.

Posole, maize soaked in lye and then cracked into
small pieces.

Pulque, fermented juice of the agave, or maguey. (See
Agave.)

Raiz de paja, a root which is dried and used to make
scrubbing brushes.

Ramada, a rectangular unwalled structure primarily for
the purpose of affording shade.

Rebozo, a shawl worn by women.

Regidor, a member of the city council.

Relato, the text which is recited at a dance,

Representante del pueblo, an official who looks after

community property in lands and forests.

Reserva, an authorized armed militia.

Rezador, a person who recites prayers for a small fee.

Riata, a long rope used in handling horses and cattle.

Rollo, the native skirt with the thick band of pleats
across the back.

Ronda, the night watch, or volunteer police.

Secretario, the town clerk or secretary.

Serape, a blanket, usually ornamented, and with an
opening so that it may be worn over the head as a
poncho.

Solar, a town lot.

Suplente, the alternate for an office in the government.

Tabla, a plank.

i a Fld be

~~
ate

CHERAN: A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE—BEALS

Tamale, a food made of maize, often mixed with other
ingredients, wrapped in maize leaves or maize
husks, and steamed.

Tejamanil, wooden shakes.

Tejocote, a tree bearing a sloelike fruit much like a
crab apple; the fruit of such a tree.

Tenencia, a settlement of some size which is admin-
istered by a representative of the municipio.

225

Tortillas, thin flat cakes of maize dough baked on an
ungreased griddle, or comal.

Troje, the Tarascan storehouse, the largest structure
in a Tarascan house group, as a rule.

Tuna, the fruit of the nopal cactus, or prickly pear.

Velorio, a religious celebration at which candles are
burned.

Viajero, a traveling merchant.

Zapote, a tropical fruit resembling a plum.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE YX 5H96569—1946

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

PUBLICATION NO. 2 PLATE 1

CHERAN LANDSCAPES AND METHODS OF CARRYING OBJECTS

Upper (left): The plains below Cheran, the major agricultural area, about 7,000 feet elevation, viewed from the highway, near southeast
corner of the town. Darker portions are plowed fields; the remainder not yet plowed. Upper (ri
typical manner, with the usual Cheran water jar. A method of wearing the rebozo is shown.
are in background. Lower (left): The northwest barrio of Cheran.
Typical cultivated fields slope gently up to the cinder cone, whict

of masa (corn ground for tortillas) from the mill.

for small objects.

Women carrying water in
The church and priest’s residence
The new highway curves along the edge of the barranca.
1 rises 1,000 feet above the town. Lower (right):

Carrying on the head is unusual, but the method used by
The woman’s skirt has the thick pleat or rollo.

Carrying bowls
the girl is common

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOG Y

PUBLICATION NO.2 PLATE 2

WOMEN, CARRYING METHODS, AND HAIR GROOMING

per (left): Woman bargaining for tomatoe howing typical method of carrying burdens on the back, i. e., by a sling of sacking which

I I b et and passes around the shoulders and across the chest. Her rollo is clearly visible. The man in the short poncho

bl Mest attend the fiest Upper (right): Woman using rebozo in carrying a child, Musicians in background.

/ er (left): Unmarried young w man of San Lorenzo with rayon apron and light rebozo for a festa. Lower (right): Mother
er daughter’s hair and anoint

it with oil or lemon juice (in bowl) to give it a sheen.

NO.2 PLATE 3

PUBLICATION

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

by

CHERAN AQUEDUCTS, BOARD SAWING, SHAKE SPLITTING, AND WHEAT WINNOWING
Sawing planks with sawpit. Often, the timber is raised on a px le
Lower (right): Starting to split

Upper (left): The Cheran aqueducts, east of town. Upper (right)
Lower (left): Splitting off a shake with a rajador.
Center: Cheran man winnowing wheat.

framework instead of being placed over a pit.
a shake with a machete struck with a wooden mallet.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO.2 PLATE 4

BRS

PLOWING, DITCHES TO PROTECT FIELDS, LOG HEWING, AND CHERAN PLAZA DURING FIESTA

ving on the plain. Augustin, at the plow, wears felt hat, shirt, trousers, belt, and shoes: workman at left, less accultu-
iat, sandals, and mechanic’s overalls. Upper (right): Squaring a log with an ax before sawing it into planks.
lope held, with new ditch (center) and overgrown bank surmounted with thorny brush (foreground) to protect
gaves are planted on right of ditch. Lower (right): Portion of Cheran plaza during the fiesta of the patron

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 2 PLATE 5

ae xe

peek: Ay

MARKET AND BULL FIGHTING DURING FESTIVAL.

Upper (left): Pottery before being unpacked { for the market. Upper (right): Riding a bucking bull, the man with cape diverting it from
the horses. Lower (left): Cowboys (vaqueros) throw the bull in the bull ring, then tie a rope around its forequarters. Lower (right):
Bull riding. Jnset: Construction of bull ring fence; post on right has holes cut with ax to receive the logs forming the gate.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO.2 PLATE 6

CASTILLO, PASTORELA, NEGRITO DANCERS, AND WEDDING

Upper (left); Portion of the firewor!] et (castillo) nearly completed The fireworks maker is on the right Upper (right): Pastorela
ut Capacuaro; at left is one of the “hermits.” Left (middle); Large wedding in the patio in front of the house. ‘The kitchen is at
left, the temporary cooking shed in the center. The woman at left bears a cloth-covered dish with an offering for one of the god

ner Lower Vegrito dancers performing at private house. The ribbons hang down to their heels. The “pin cushions”

reer d re t lancers’ head decoratior Lower (right): Pastorela at Capacuaro, with “Eur pe >” in foreground.

NSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION N¢ PLATE

ROOFING FIESTA AND WEDDING

Upper (left) Men eating at a house-roofing fiesta; baskets of tortillas, jars of water, and dishes of salt lie on the ground Remainin
photograp! 1 Cheran wedding. L r (right): Preparing distribute bread, whil ue the go versees the
Lower ( Bringing in paper ornaments for distributior R (midd The godmothers and close relatives of the gt

Lower (right): Tying a ribbon in a godmother’s hair.

|

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO.2 PLATE 8 |
.

|

" Ce ea al
IPG it AB ag

SPECIMENS OF MAIZE EARS
Two of the Black ears are from Cheran,
approximately 4 cm.

v), representing extremes ol size,
Tulukénio ears are from Cheran. Scale in center i

ur specimen ¢ of Black maize (above) and T

two trom t eighboring village of Nahuatzen; all the

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ‘
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 3

MOCHE
A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY

by
JOHN GILLIN

Prepared in Cooperation with the United States Department of

State as a Project of the Interdepartmental Committee
on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation

- ih der, :
par Dr —-
7 a

‘Cen ey ea)

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
PUBLICATION NO. 3

MOCHE
A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY

by

JOHN GILLIN

2,

Py

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D. C. - Price $1.00

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY,
Washington 25, D. C., June 15, 1945.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled “Moche: A
Peruvian Coastal Community,” by John Gillin, and to recommend that it be
published as Publication Number 3 of the Institute of Social Anthropology, which
has been established by the Smithsonian Institution as an autonomous unit of the
Bureau of American Ethnology to carry out cooperative work in social anthropology
with the American Republics as part of the program of the Interdepartmental
Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation.

Very respectfully yours,
Jutian H. Stewarp, Director.
Dr. ALEXANDER WETMORE,
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

II

CONTENTS

moreword, by Julian H. Steward..............000008
MECOOUICLIOM seca nicrecpostt ia arsis ooo vo brew tise ceca welt ei
Acknowledgments .........cccecee cee ceecencecs
Backeround. Of Moches syssasacs ces sscccssueerar ves
Ble Setting: c..cccd.a syeyere.s dus Sia;a-ecenetds,a;s,arare% bavsianeia's
General composition of population..............
BMVITONMeEnt sh. seg cc ee eiesaiveass cise desis
The “Mochica Villages”... <c..c<<scoveessssees
MEANS AVATAS, sats oresaic a yessnnuerele (ers ensla veie. 4 eneseaninie arse jets
Recent literary mention of Moche.............-
Detailed distribution of population..............
Wialtall Statistics © cvs avec: qessyrcin erste cise mates oc 4
Physical types and constitutions. ............250
Land holdings
ETIStOriGaly Gata: \ca Mi cle cin Male carsieus ¢ afelewwie avs. batele
Sustenance and basic economy...........--..-00000+
Sketch of Moche agriculture of the campija....
Cultivated lands and their management.........
Irrigation

mr permits erat seteteie scenic craieveeichhy vereeane’> oe
Techniques with field crops..............--

Other crops and useful plants..............-
Domestic animals and stock raising.........-...
AAIt Neen | CLADDING <<, c1s.c.sieatepeiivsineis aioe 6 ouorsiare
Religious aspects
SEATS EIT me sapaiaenee pales a oie SING wc eis a leis se once oeyce anal
Notes on the fishing village of Huanchaco. .
PaShinges trots DOAtSs aie c.d neers srasavere's i cietars

Caballitos del mar

Collecting 6. 6c eck seesiers 0 dieiessears's

Shore fSHINE pee cis ede rsre tosis a acres arenes

Religious aspects

BRemeaTat EAtt OTIS iare terete os erevetareie citeca's felt aidtatane) acts’ Aavesase aia
BYNES) OF SETUCHUTES s o.5.c15 e+ 5.0.2.6 sasjercre, nie siaravarssersisiexs

NV lL et SIIDDI Vii cre raelajouers erate (ala erey<ca'5 Sararacz)cpacansvie-o-oee
Bali ia TVs LACIIMIIES eytrerelselelayaycieie crete lersyole's c15 =xeusiehe
House furnishing among true Mocheros.........
BUR eRLOWWMe teneve core eaysisieiciete o etele ee efoe wereialebearaianatsjay
Tlavaye lo Tee INC Vg | eee nr
The content and the etiquette of board and bowl..
GHACKG! ce aiees Aesweaes cerns ee eevee nciow ear ees

Other drugs and narcotics: vi... ssscse0s 0s
Preparation of food and drink.............
Midday in a Moche household.............

IB EGHE TINT PB soara ia. carasavs Wiorsievensia/a(uie-stoxeie.oajererarsdereoels
Miscellaneous dishes .........02+6--esecsserece

PAWEL EW ETECIPES snciaaiscrsicieisie oie giiniers aicteersis oasis cree
miOt and COld” LOOdS. «. mons sc cscevc cis sieeene
Woldh foods! see serisieschiocuis erin tales siccee

EME ShOOCS teas crevereisieieveras.cicle/ ess aiaiatsis jive siete
Statistical study of foods consumed.............
Pressieandk OFTAaMlenits « cvarsssc:ivie.o 6:40. arcjeraie naar geia. as d's
Industries

vil

SSDUeNNVNauUb ewe

a
wr

Nee ee
Sona ws

DW %&
a

26
28
30
AR
34
36
36
36
37
37
41
41
41

SELES

01948,

FSCOMOIMIES? «a. favi.n scraiyecsensaaeseer een ar fee a davoreeec uN peeks
Specialization and division of labor.............
Division of economic activities on a sexual
DASIS?-a.nciswsneat Aan narea ed weaaaeeea sie a,ats
Geographical specialization ................
SPECIAL eS kyayas aia eis eine aoets einve crete heieaie

Distribution of male labor force
Mocheros in the

MORNE! «.2.:%, 97 te aie 5 asc rearaaia inseam annets

PrOpentye eee tcie marae Bi alas Sie nha Dareat 6 's(0raie's aia'eCaroians
Finance and business dealings. ..................
Economic aspects of certain religious organiza-
RIOTIS: O08 8 ahs, 9 cherare locashaom stots arerereieeake alta ote erations
DIStLIDUHOM rere parece ese ieee a cate
Cost of living and family budgets..............
Transportation, communication, and the expansion of
the Moche world
Merl Wavins suitecswtrs ccineadetites sein tae ae
Modern means of contact with the outside world
Recreation and art........... 000.0. cc cece eeeeeeees
Drinking and eating
SPOLiSie eaten ode eee ae
sliHe einer aera aan ertuartctavsrse eaten eters eines eee
Music and dancing
Art

professions outside of

Miscellaneous items of lore and learning
Formal education

FBIM G elaiie rome sane cis ia iote eee INOS Sereier se NA

Social forms and organization
Political controls

SOK: dss dias suede wine cae s decase macont animes
TOVE MAGIC: a::0/cer0 se ames tetoaes eons
Aberrant incest and brujeria...........
Courtship
Marriages scsiroc sc seanteate oases oeeneueee

Family and household.................00005

Love magic in marital situations........

Larger family relationships...... oa Sartre

Hamily, mameS? <22n,.teidccesnseasicnctece

Summary remarks on kinship...............
Ceremonial kinship or compadrazgo
Namesakes
The forastero element
GIASSE eee sects tates cee nae es a ee

PPT ESEIS Ofer. s.r ote loci eralovete tie rajaleierais is sieve ante aden
Summary of social organization
Native medicine and magical curing
General orientation

87

Native medicine and magical curing—Continued PAGE
BPUI CIO secre ee OL esate ea am Aplasonely eta 17
Me SEAliCe: ¢ Acheter eter ce ste haa b ieee es 119
Mesa. de? DHUG CTI: vey nn scan cas on atta Hs 123
Other procedures of “good witchcrait”..... 125
Byil witchcraft, cagiss stout odee teenies = 128
GCUranaISHHG fGen .c tet on ia eee de mecmnGes 129
(AS PUP RETA ees so SEOs teem ovee ee 129
TSG ce yt ctr a ae ora 130
Physiological weakness .........0.+0+00+-0% 133
Umbilical hernia or quebradura............ 134
Inguinal hernia or estiradurd........eeeeeee 134
Dislocation of the ribs or tronchadura del
DEC O adr er ee alas td fussiae plo saloere ard 134
Evil @yeiOr 0720 iccussscvds ose esa geen reee 135
leave Diltiae sat gta a sere Pai ams eels alle > 136
MetierGal-cliseaS@) 2 arcane p brik isso tans teresa 136
cis (ECHO) aur gee eter: aie s.c: 136
Preenancy, and. childbirth urct vawisie sag cutee 136
eye ciian was saver citar itiaoasha coi am ewe: oe 138
CRU cage a sccrsiesaso ols ie ele ely i Paslaale ae eines 138
PV REM LOS) eiaane sonal} pineal ie Setar nie ae PRT ET 138
General remedies used in curing................ 139
Ig aU Mare ot eras pun grea eee Sri! Sis ine ert ner etic a 142

Religion—Continued
The various religions of Moche................
Roman Gatholicism-,,. cs e-5 eee eee ae

Individual participation ..............e0eee
Some psychological aspects in Moche.......
Socializing functions 22: ee2.aeee see eerie
Religious fiestas’ 2.csi00:.+etsaoese- spencers
Pacts: with the’ Devily..:-2.2e.acascesunes
Death in Mochés.cc0n ccmsce «cagseuleeeeieeee
Harbingers ‘of "death: .35.5..0..5055 45
Preparations for the funeral...........
‘The ‘futieral 9B... os atoms eerste wom
After vdeath cr qncccaeceieg anise iee

The cultural position of Moche.....................
The concept of the Creole culture..............
Mochica elements” 5. fice; osname <ciste neeiaaateetle

European elements: <2. 5..20 gos0c assess oe ene
Bibliography: sc:fcdelves cose oc eam ae an sii
Glossaty: ~ 2.4 vucaxdew os mereree sas a cite oe teuch cree

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES
(All plates at end of book )

Aerial photograph of Moche and surrounding re-
gion.

Aerial photograph of the District of Moche.

The Moche countryside (campiiia).

Moche physical types.

Moche physical types and agriculture.

Moche agriculture.

Domesticated animals.

Fishing implements and crafts, Moche and Huan-
chaco.

Huanchaco fishing.

The town of Moche.

House construction in Moche.

House construction in Moche.

Food preparation and utensils.

Eating and drinking.

Moche clothing.

Moche clothing.

Manufactures :
rocket making.

Roads and trails; recreations.

Paintings of Moche life by Pedro Azabache.

Paintings by Pedro Azabache.

basket making, weaving, and

7A
22.
2d:
24.
25.
26.

Paintings by Pedro Azabache.

Curer’s table (mesa de brujeria) and susto cure.
Cure of adult susto.

Cure of susto in child.

Religion and crisis observances.

Death observances.

FIGURES

Explanatory diagram of setline used for fishing
(espinel)
Explanatory diagram of a caballito del mar, as
used in Huanchaco........seeeeeee reser eeeees
A crab trap, as used in Huanchaco........-.----
Common plan of house in Moche pueblo........-
Type of sandal worn in MOCh@s cavsistsate siete
Left, scale diagram of standard quoits court
(tejos) ; right, three additional designs of tar-
GOES aca iocin oie sieteveisinishn sini 01sie e\einiaye ciae.siaielaisin cie/siele
System of relationships involved in baptism com-
padrazgo
Explanatory diagram of a mesa de brujeria......

MAP

Plan of the town of Moche.........-++-++++-++5

Vv

106
123

FOREWORD

By Juuian H. STEwarp

The purpose of the publications of the Institute
of Social Anthropology is to further an understand-
ing of the basic cultures of America through mak-
ing generally available the results of cooperative
studies. These studies at present are more concerned
with the basic rural populations that are partly In-
dian and partly European than with the varied mani-
festations of western civilization. They are essen-
tially acculturational, the various communities selected
for investigations ranging in degree of assimilation
from self-sufficient and_ self-contained preliterate
Indian groups to strongly mestizoized, literate,
Spanish-speaking villages, which are more or less
integrated into national life.

The preceding monograph, “Cheran: A Sierra
Tarascan Village,’ by Ralph L. Beals, Publication
No. 2 of the Institute of Social Anthropology, de-
scribes a community which is increasingly feeling the
impact of European civilization but is still thought
of as “Indian.” The present study of Moche, a
coast village of northern Peru, reveals a community
that is in the last stages of losing its identity as an
Indian group and of being absorbed into Peruvian
national life. Insofar as these communities are
atypical of their nations, however, both are probably
more 16th-century Spain than native Indian.

Surrounded by large, modernized haciendas,
Moche is “Indian” only in that its population is
largely Indian in a racial sense, that it has retained
much of its own lands, that it exists in a certain
social isolation from surrounding peoples, retaining
a community life organized on a modified kinship
basis, mainly of Spanish derivation, and that it pre-
serves a considerable belief in witchcraft and a scat-

tering of minor aboriginal culture elements. Its
lands, however, are now owned individually, and
they are being alienated through sale and litigation.
It is on a cash rather than subsistence basis economi-
cally, and, though much of its produce is for home
consumption, it relies increasingly on purchase of
goods with money earned by sale of agricultural and
dairy products. Many Mocheros even work out-
side the community for wages, and some are in pro-
fessions. Moche clothing, household goods, utensils,
implements, domesticated animals, many crops, art,
music, and formal religion are all of Peruvian na-
tional types. The community is Spanish-speaking
and another generation will find it largely literate.
Formal aspects of native social organization have
disappeared, and contacts with the outside world
are increasing. Politically, Moche is completely
under national and provincial administration.

Dr. Gillin’s present excellent analysis of Moche
is the first of a series of studies projected for Peru.
It will help set in perspective the cultures and cul-
ture changes among the highland Quechua Indian
communities, which the Institute of Social Anthrop-
ology, in cooperation with Peruvian authorities, is
now studying. The field work at Moche, however,
was done at a time when the plan for cooperation
between these institutions had not yet been consum-
mated, and, although Dr. Gillin had the greatest
possible assistance and all courtesies from Peruvians,
both officially and privately, it was not yet possible
to arrange their participation in the work. Thanks
to Dr. Gillin’s part in developing the program, truly
cooperative field work is now in progress.

Vil

Moche: A Peruvian Coastal Community

By Joun GILLIN

INTRODUCTION

This monograph is an attempt to increase mutual
understanding in the Americas by portraying in some
detail the patterns of life of a Peruvian coastal com-
munity that I studied with ethnological methods
during a period of service in Peru as representative
of the Institute of Social Anthropology of the
Smithsonian Institution.

Moche is a community of “little men” or “common
people” in terms of their individual economic, social,
and political influence in the country as a whole, and
in that respect it is, of course, typical of the over-
whelming majority of rural communities of Peru.
The mode of life in Moche has many features in
common with other coastal communities, but it is
unusual in some respects, especially in the fact that
the bulk of its land area is still in the hands of peasant
owners.

It seems to me that some of the past difficulties
encountered by foreign nations in dealing with the
United States have been based on ignorance of the
“common people” of our country. Our so-called
former “isolationism” and “distrust of foreign in-
trigues,” for example, cannot really be understood
by anyone who does not have acquaintance with
some of the thousands of small towns and rural
neighborhoods scattered throughout our country. We
should be well advised not to make the same mistake
in our relations with other nations. Although a
little less than half of our own population live in
small towns and rural neighborhoods, a very large
majority of Peruvians are members of rural com-
munities of one type or another. Moche is not, of
course, typical of all of them. A good many more
Teports on Peruvian communities would be necessary
to complete the picture, and it is hoped that they
will be forthcoming.

I undertook the collection of the data herein pre-
sented during the first year of the Institute of Social
Anthropology’s activities in Peru. I spent a total of
some 22 months in Peru in 1943-44, although dur-
ing the first year of this period I was attached to
the Embassy in a nonethnological capacity. On a
previous mission in 1934-35, I had spent about 5
months in the Peruvian-Ecuadorean Montafia. The
period of field work in Moche totaled nearly 6
months in 1944.

In June of 1944, I accepted an invitation from the
University of Trujillo to establish a course and de-
liver a series of lectures on cultural anthropology
at that institution. While engaged in these activities,
I initiated the study of the community of Moche,
some 7 km. from the city of Trujillo. I rented a
house in the town of Moche for interviewing and
here spent some nights, but for want of furniture
and kitchen equipment for the Moche house, I made
my home and general headquarters in the Hotel
Trujillo in Trujillo.

Because of the pressure of other commitments and
the exigencies of the publishing schedule, the entire
monograph in its present form was written and the
illustrations were prepared for publication between
December 15, 1944, and February 1, 1945, with the
result that a certain amount of material gathered in
the field has had to be held out for later publication
because of sheer lack of time to prepare it.

An attempt has been made in the present work
to present Moche culture as it exists at the present
time, and for this reason those who may have been
acquainted with Moche some years ago are asked
to remember that the processes of cultural change
have apparently been operating at a fairly rapid and
steady pace. Some of my friends in Trujillo, for

1

<

example, were certain that the Mocheras still prac-
ticed weaving as a generalized activity, and for a
time I was disturbed by the fact that I could find
no looms or women devoted to this activity. It
turned out that as late as 15 years ago not a few
women were still operating their hand looms, but
that by 1944 they had all (with one possible excep-
tion) discarded them. Moche as a composite culture
and as a changing culture is the emphasis of the
present account.

From the technical point of view of an ethnologist
trying to do his work, Moche is not an easy problem.
One has to contend with a tendency to polite with-
drawal which characterizes the Mocheros’ dealings
with strangers and foreigners and which is to a
considerable extent based upon their fear of inroads
upon their land holdings. On the other hand,
although in my experience I have never encountered
a group whose confidence was so difficult to obtain,
I have never met people who, once their confidence
was gained, were so hospitable. The Mocheros like
to spend a good part of their not inconsiderable
leisure sitting about drinking, eating, and talking.
Once the ethnologist is admitted to such sessions,
he becomes privy to a great deal of gossip and gen-
eral comment and is able to conduct a large number
of “indirect interviews.” On the other hand, this
very pattern of relaxation makes it difficult to ar-
range long, serious, confidential interview sessions.
The typical Mochero does not like to sit down for
hours at a time and concentrate with an ethnologist
who painstakingly goes over apparently minor points
time after time and writes the answers down in a
notebook. I was fortunate, however, in securing the
services, partly voluntary and partly paid, of a group
of informants representing both the Mocheros and
forasteros (outside settlers in Moche) who were
willing to do this very thing as well as to write out
reports of their own on topics which were of interest
in the study. Since only a part of a year was spent
in the culture, a good many features of the yearly
round described herein, especially those concerned
with agriculture and fiestas which were not observed
personally, had to be obtained from informants
alone and are unsupported by personal observation or
participation. Any apparently significant differences
between informants have been indicated in the text.
In the field, notes were typed off onto 4- by 6-inch
sheets of paper, usually each night if possible, and
filed according to the 55 principal categories of the
Yale “Outline of Cultural Materials” (Murdock et

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

al., 1938) plus a few other categories of particular
interest to the present investigation.

A certain amount of material on Moche personali-
ties and on the “typical” life cycle will, it is hoped,
be published at a later date.

Finally, two aspects of method should be men-
tioned which, because of the circumstances, could
not be fully carried out in the present case, but which, ©
it is believed, should be considered in future in-
vestigations of this sort. In the realization of both,
the full collaboration of official government agencies
of the country concerned would be invaluable. They
are as follows:

1. Practically all Latin American rural communi-
ties of actual or potential and cumulative significance
in present and future national and world affairs, are
cultural composites, or mixtures, and their cultural
systems are all in a condition of flux and change.*
This means that both the cultural patterns and the
behavior may show a considerable amount of varia-
tion and inconsistency. The only way to describe
the variability with a completely satisfying degree
of scientific accuracy is on a basis of systematic col-
lection of quantitative material that is susceptible of
at least simple statistical treatment. This does not
mean discarding the technique of indirect interview
and other time-tested ethnological techniques in favor
of the exclusive use of questionnaires and similar
procedures, but it does mean applying techniques to
all the population or to large and controlled samples
and tabulating certain information obtained thereby
that has statistical or numerical significance. For
example, I am convinced by agreement among all of
my informants that quarreling over land is common
among the Mocheros, but I am unable to say with
accuracy how common it is, i. e., what percentage
of the adult Mocheros have been engaged in such
feuds, what percentage of the feuds involve members
of the same family, etc. It would be a great help
if the whole of the cultural variations in behavior
(amenable to such treatment) could be reduced to
percentages or other simple constants representing
the distribution of the various alternatives, because
such treatment would not only permit a more ac-
curate description of the position of the various
cultural alternatives in the existing system, but would
also provide a more precise basis for measuring

1[solated “primitive” cultures in Latin America are, of course,
important from the viewpoints of historical and general ethnology, but
by the time they have become significant to an understanding of national
or international developments, they have invariably become “‘accul-

turated.””
.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 3

changes in the culture in subsequent re-studies of the
situation. The actual scientific techniques involved
in such quantitative studies are relatively simple and
easy to apply, provided rapport with the group has
been established, but they require the services of a
staff with some training if they are to be effectively
applied to the whole range of the culture in a reason-
able period of time. In the present case I have at-
tempted to provide some statistical measures, espe-
cially with respect to diet and certain aspects of
kinship and relationship between the sexes, but I
could wish for more.

2. In studies of Latin American communities it is
extremely desirable to have full field collaboration
between Latin American and North American
workers, i. e., trained investigators from both
countries should work together in the field on the
same investigation. One of the objectives of the
program of the Institute of Social Anthropology is
to assist in the development of a trained body of
Latin American cultural anthropologists. In most
cases the North American working in Latin America
enjoys the advantage of technical training, wide ex-
perience, and a certain objectivity, but he suffers
from a lack of native knowledge of Spanish, even
though his workaday conversation and writing of
the language be fluent, and he does not have the
background of Latin American culture which is
“second nature” with his Latin American colleague.
The latter has a much more profound acquaintance-
ship with the language and culture of his country,
but for that very reason is inclined to overlook and
to take for granted features in which an outsider
sees significance.

It should be understood that the present tense as
used in the following description and analysis refers
to conditions as of 1944.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The program of the Institute of Social Anthrop-
ology, under the able direction of Dr. Julian H.
Steward, has already claimed the respect of both
Latin American and North American social scientists,
and it will, I am sure, serve as an inspiration for
a new period of scientific collaboration between the
Americas. I am happy to have had the opportunity
to participate in this program, even for a relatively
short period of active work and during its formative
stages.

In connection with the present study, I wish to

acknowledge my gratitude to the following Peruvian
scientists and men of affairs: Dr. Luis Valcarcel,
Director of the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia;
Sefor Rafael Larco Herrera, Vice President of the
Republic of Peru; Senor Rafael Larco Hoyle, Direc-
tor of the Museo Arqueoldgico “Rafael Larco Her-
rera” of Chiclin; Senor Jorje Muelle, Chief of the
Technical Section of the National Museum of Arche-
ology and Professor of Anthropology in the Uni-
versity of Cuzco; Sefior José Angel Mifiano, formerly
of the University of Trujillo; Dr. Hans Horkheimer,
of the University of Trujillo; Dr. Alberto Arca Parro,
Chief of the Direccién Nacional de Estadistica;
Senor Coronel Juan Dongo M., Prefect of the De-
partment of La Libertad; and many other Peruvian
friends and acquaintances who were interested in my
work in Moche and who endeavored to make the
sojourn of my family and myself in Trujillo and
in Peru agreeable. Among my friends in the Ameri-
can Embassy in Lima, I am grateful to the following
for special assistance in various matters concerned
with my official duties during or before the period
of this investigation: Jefferson Patterson, Counselor
of Embassy; Dr. George C. Vaillant, formerly Cul-
tural Attaché; Dr. Albert Giesecke, who performed
the duties of Civil Attaché. Dr. Vaillant left Peru
before the beginning of this study, but his earlier
counsel was invaluable.

The list of my acquaintances in Moche is so long
as to render practically impossible its publication
here. A few names are mentioned in the text, but
the rest shall remain anonymous. Even the initials
used in the text to identify certain individuals
and “cases” are not the true initials of the individuals
involved, but refer to key letters in my notes. Noth-
ing said in this report can properly be used to foment
strife or trouble for any individual in Moche. But
I should like the people of Moche to know that I
enjoyed their hospitality, appreciated their help to
me in my efforts to understand the local mode of
life, and carry with me a persistent fondness for
their corner of Peru and the people who inhabit it.

In connection with preparation of the material
for publication, I should like to mention Miss Doris
Chestnut who has worked with unusual persistence
and intelligence on the typing of the manuscript.
Miss Christina Changaris did the line drawings
which appear herein. All photographs were taken
by me.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge gratefully the con-
stant helpfulness and courtesy of the Government of

4 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 i

i

may possess, will prove to be of some value to the ©
Peruvian Nation, which occupies so prominent a
position in hemispheric and global affairs.

the Republic of Peru as manifested through its
various officers with whom I came in contact, and
I hope that the present report, whatever defects it

BACKGROUND OF MOCHE

THE SETTING

Traveling over the asphalted Pan-American High-
way from Trujillo to Lima, your car passes through
the outskirts of the village of Moche, about 7 km.
after leaving Trujillo, just before the highway enters
the desert and starts up the long grade leading over
the divide toward Viru, the next coastal valley south-
eastward. To the ordinary traveler, passing by it
in this way, Moche offers nothing distinctive or
particularly interesting. The adobe and white-
plastered houses stand flush with the cobblestone and
dirt streets, which are laid out in a rectangular grid,
as in so many other Peruvian coastal villages. The
campina, or irrigated countryside, is scarcely notice-
able from the road, since travelers are usually strain-
ing their eyes to see the imposing ruined pyramid
of the Huaca del Sol standing in the background at
the far edge of the area of green fields and willow
tops. Your car gathers speed for the long rise
ahead, the green fields end sharply at the edge of a
desert of drifted sand and bare rocks, and Moche is
left to its own devices.

This, in fact, has been Moche’s fate and fortune
since the Spanish Conquest over 400 years ago—to
be left in large measure to its own devices. Yet the
ruins of the Huaca del Sol, probably the largest single
adobe structure in the world, and the nearby Huaca
de la Luna testify that this region in times past was
a center of human activity and organized effort on a
large scale. It was here that the ancient culture,
now known as Mochica, was first clearly differ-
entiated from other antique remains by Max Uhle.?
This archeological culture is known even to laymen
by reason of the mold-made ceramics which, with
unusual vivacity, realism, and freedom from artificial
artistic conventions, convey perhaps a clearer idea
of persons, physical type, and the material aspects of
a bygone age than the pottery of any other ancient
people of the Western Hemisphere. In Peru, it is
customary to think of the present-day inhabitants

2Tt will be recalled that Uhle called this ‘Proto-Chimu.” Although
he published some of his material as early as 1900 in an article in the
Trujillo newspaper ‘‘La Industria,” his first comprehensive account
of the excavations at the Moche ruins themselves was published in

1913 (Uhle, 1913; Kroeber, 1925, 1926).

of Moche as descendants or survivors of the people
who created this coastal civilization. Although the
Mocheros themselves do not seem to recognize such
a connection, this belief is strengthened by the fact
that the Mocheros of today are “different” from the
ordinary run of folks living along the coast. They
are more “Indian” in physical type* than is the
usual cholo, they are somewhat conservative in their
customs, preserving certain modes of life of a
former day, and they tend to keep to themselves
rather than allow themselves to become absorbed
in the general Peruvian population. The Mocheros
have preserved a large measure of individual owner-
ship of the small farms of their campifa in their own
hands, and the district thus constitutes an enclave, as
it were, in a region now mainly occupied by a highly
mixed cholo population and largely owned by a few
giant haciendas.

Thus, aside from the natural attractions of its
setting and of its people, Moche offers interest in
at least two senses of a more general nature. It may
be regarded, on the one hand, as a remnant or sur-
vivor of a basic ancient population and culture of
the north Peruvian coast. On the other hand, we
may see in Moche a modern example of rural life
in this region as it is and as it was before many
of the coastal villages were absorbed into the enor-
mous sugar, rice, and cotton haciendas which at
present dominate the Pacific valleys and which have
radically reorganized the manner of living and the
habits of work of the rural citizen.

The entire coast of Peru, south of Tumbes, is one
of the driest deserts in the world, with an average
annual precipitation of 0.5 cm. (Romero, 1944,
p. 20) which in normal years is provided exclusively

3 For example, “Diccionario de ‘La Crénica,’” (1918, pp. 300-301)
states: ‘The characteristic trait of the Moche district is the tendency
of the inhabitants not to make a common life with the whites, for
which reason they still retain many of their customs anterior to colonial
times.”

4It should be noted, however, that even during Mochica times, the
population was not uniformly “Indian” in the sense of being invariably
mongoloid in physical type. Although the mongoloid physical type
seems to be numerically the most numerous in the portrait vases, faces
are also portrayed which possess marked “white” features (e. &
high-bridged noses, beards and moustaches of ‘white’? race type, ex-
ternal epicanthic folds, etc.) as well as others showing presumable
negroid characteristics (Larco Hoyle, 1938-39, vol. 2, ch. 3).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 5)

by the “gartia” mist of the winter season. Human
life and economic activity are therefore, in the main,
confined to a limited number ® of irrigated river valleys
whose waters have been used to create oases of
sharply restricted extension. These conditions have
obtained since prehistoric times, and there is good
reason to believe that under the Inca domination
actually more coastal land was under irrigation than
at present. Nevertheless, in modern times, with the
introduction of capitalistic economic organization and
expensive “‘scientific” methods of farming export
crops, these peculiar conditions of the Peruvian
coastal valleys have easily lent themselves to a
tendency toward monopolization of the land and to
centralized organization of the working population.
It is natural that the large haciendas should grow
larger, that they should absorb towns no longer con-
veniently located from the point of view of production
of the cash crop, that they should concentrate the
working population in their own housing units at
chosen points, and that they should dominate, how-
ever paternalistically, the life of the common people.
Especially in the production of sugar on a large
and profitable scale, the natural tendency is toward
the establishment of “factories in the fields.” There
is one hacienda in the Valley of Chicama that now
stretches from the Pacific coast to the jungles of the
Marafion River and its domain is said to give liveli-
hood to 50,000 persons, including workers and their
families. It is still increasing.

For better or worse, the Moche community is dif-
ferent and in many respects still preserves the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of free peasant life. The
Mocheros are outstanding exponents of rugged in-
dividualism, and there is little or nothing “socialistic”
about life in Moche.

At first glance, then, the Moche District seems
to present several contradictions. Although it lies
about halfway between the city of Trujillo and the
ocean port of Salaverry, it is neither urban nor in-
dustrialized. The town is served -by excellent
asphalted highways and railroads, but the “tone” of
life is that of comparative cultural isolation. More
than 100 families of outsiders live in the community,
but they have not as yet made over the culture in
their own patterns, nor are they socially accepted
in the community as a whole. Some of the most

5 Romero lists 50 rivers, of which 27 are of the first class with
water all the year around, 14 are second class usually with water
throughout the year, and 9 are third class with only seasonal flows
in normal years. The Moche River is of the first class (Romero, 1944,
pp. 20-21).

f row ent

“VA 8 =a pte 8

imposing of the ancient Mochica ruins stand in the
Mocha countryside, but the modern Mocheros recog-
nize no ancestral link to the people who built them.

GENERAL COMPOSITION OF POPULATION

Among the inhabitants, there is a distinction made
between Mocheros and “forasteros” (strangers).
Although there are no official figures on the latter,
a count made by myself indicates that there are 111
forastero families living in the community, of which
16 live in the campiiia and 95 in town. If one esti-
mates the total forastero population at about 500,
it would represent about 13 percent of the total
population of the District of Moche, which was
3,773, according to the 1940 census. There has been
an attempt on the part of Trujillanos to make a sort
of residential suburb of Moche, because houses are
cheaper there and the climate is reputed to be
healthier. The Mocheros have resented and resisted
this tendency, and there are only 4 or 5 forastero men
who have succeeded in establishing intimate social
relations with the Mocheros in general. Only 15
of the forastero households belong to foreigners
while the remaining 96 are Peruvian. Even so,
they are “outsiders.”

There is also a territorial subdivision of the popu-
lation. Although the pueblo has no barrios (wards
or similar subdivisions), Mocheros as a whole are
classified as being from the pueblo, from the playa
(seashore), or from the campiia, depending on where
they have their principal or only dwellings. The
playa group at present consists of only about 30 poor
fishing families, although it was formerly said to
be larger. None of the playeros, properly speaking,
maintains an establishment in the other subdivisions.
However, some persons who are identified as being
“from the campina”’ also maintain houses in the
pueblo, and vice versa. As will be seen later, the
campina falls into three sections—north, south, and
west.

In describing Moche, we shall deal mainly with
the Mocheros, or “Mocheros netos” (real Mocheros),
since, on the whole, forasteros “only live there.”

ENVIRONMENT

The District of Moche lies within the last bend
of the Rio Moche before it debouches into the Pacific.
The District is bounded on the north and northwest
by the river, as shown on plate 2. To the east
the irrigated land ends abruptly in a sandy desert

6 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

from which abruptly rises a small barren mountain
range, the two most prominent features of which
are the Cerro Blanco and the Cerro Comunero. The
river makes a bend around the northern point of
the Cerro Blanco, and here stands the great ruined
pyramid platform of the Huaca del Sol, which
dominates all views of the campifia. To the south
and southeast, the rich level land of the District gives
way to low sand dunes a kilometer or so from the
sea and finally meets the broad beach of the Pacific,
which during the winter months (from June to De-
cember) is almost constantly pounded by a heavy
surf.

Moche is geographically in the Tropics. The
District of Moche lies between the parallels 8°8”
and 8°12” south latitude and 79°00” and 79°03” west
longitude (pl. 1). But the Peruvian coast is not
“the Tropics” as North Americans are accustomed
to think of them. The most outstanding feature of
the climate is that “it never rains,” except at very
long intervals. The last rain in Moche occurred in
1925 and was, naturally, a major disaster that de-
stroyed numerous houses and considerable property,
for the houses here are not built for rain. A roof,
for example, normally is expected to fulfill only the
functions of providing shade and privacy. Moche
occupies an oasis, dependent upon irrigation, and
all water comes either from the river or from under-
ground seepage. This fact has decided consequences
in such matters as personal hygiene and household
cleanliness. The water supply occupies men’s
thoughts continuously. Land without water is worth-
less, regardless of the amount of work one may
expend upon it.

In the summer (December to June) it is hot in
Moche, with a dry desert heat, mitigated, however,
by the sea breeze; but during the remainder of the
year the temperature is moderate, with a tendency
toward chilly nights and mornings. During part of
the winter season (July to October, inclusive) the
sky is overcast practically every morning until noon
or after, and frequently the low-hanging clouds pre-
cipitate a thin, cold drizzle, the gartia. The nearest
official weather station is at the Hacienda Casa
Grande in the Valley of Chicama, about 60 km. north
of Moche and some 25 km. farther inland. In 1942
this station registered a total precipitation of 7.5 mm.
per square meter and an average atmospheric pres-
sure of 1,010.8 milibars. The highest absolute tem-
perature during the year was 30.9° C. and the lowest
10.0° C. The highest mean temperature per 24

hours was 24.2° C. and the lowest 16.6° C. Mean
temperatures during warm days might average
slightly lower in Moche, owing to proximity to the
sea. Although it never actually freezes in Moche,
cold nights, called ‘‘heladas” (freezers), occasionally
occur during the winter, which are said to damage
the alfalfa crops.

With the exception of the Moche District, most
of the arable lands of the Rio Moche drainage have
been preempted by haciendas, and since Moche lies
at the lower end of the valley, there is con-
stant preoccupation and not a few accusations
that water users higher up are robbing Moche of
its needed moisture. The Rio Moche rises in the
Cordilleras Blanca and Negro and has a basin of
about 800 sq. km. The river meter at Menocucho,
30 km. from the mouth and 200 m. above sea level,
indicates that the flow varies from 170,000 cu. m.
per second to 100 cu. m. per second, with an average
annual discharge over 4 years of 268,187,500 cu. m.
(Romero, 1944, pp. 26-27). By the time the river
reaches Moche, this flow has been reduced by irriga-
tion tapping to a mere trickle, especially in the dry
(Seeply 3:)

season.

THE “MOCHICA VILLAGES”

Moche is generally regarded as one of a number
of ‘‘Mochica villages” scattered along the coast from
the Valley of the Rio Chao to and including the
drainage of the Rio de la Leche. According to my
experience, the inhabitants of the Moche villages
themselves do not dwell upon the possibility that they
may be united by a common inheritance of ancient
culture, nor, in fact, are the majority of individuals
aware that this may be the case. However, a rather
vague bond of likeness and kinship is recognized.
True members of any one of these villages know
that they have closer social ties with members of the
other Mochica villages than with people in general,
that it has béen traditional for one marrying outside
his own village to prefer persons from other Mochica
communities, and that the customary movement back
and forth to fiestas, and similar social intercourse,
has tended to flow between the Mochica villages
rather than in other channels. This may be a sur-
vival of the confederating influence of the Chimu
“empire” rather than Mochica ethnocentrism, and
at all events at present is an informal thing, not
based on a conscious or apparent organization.

At the present time the following villages are re-

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 7

garded as forming parts of the “Mochica group”:
Moche, Eten (between Chiclayo and the sea),
Monsefii (between Eten and Chiclayo), San José
(fishing village on the coast north of Pimentel),
Santa Rosa (fishing town on the coast southeast of
Puerto Eten), Reque (inland from Eten), Morrupe,
Motupe, Jayanca, Salas (all in the drainage of the
Rio de la Leche), Magdalena de Cao (near the
coast a short distance north of the mouth of the Rio
Chicama), Santiago de Cao (near the coast, just
southeast of the mouth of the Rio Chicama), Hua-
man (a small caserio about 5 km. northwest. of
Moche on the other side of the Rio Moche), Simbal
(inland from Trujillo), Guafiape (a small fishing
village and port near the mouth of the Rio Virt),
Chao (at the mouth of the river of the same name),
and Huanchaco (a fishing village some 17 km. north-
east from the Moche playa along the coast).

In 1644, according to Fernando de Ja Carrera,
priest of San Martin de Reque, the Mochica or
“Vunga” language was spoken in the following
places by a total of some 40,000 persons: Santiago,
Magdalena de Cao, Chocope, Valle de Chicama,
Paijan (in the Corregimiento de Trujillo), San
Pedro de Lloc, Chepén, Jequetepeque, Guadalupe,
Pueblo Nuevo, Eten, Chiclaiep, San Miguel, Santa
Lucia de Moche, Parroquia de Safia, Lambayeque
Reque, Omensefec, Firrufiap, Tucume, Illimo,
Pacora, Morrope, Jayanca (in the Corregimiento de
Safa), Motupe, Salas (in the Corregimiento de
Piura), Santa Cruz, San Miguel de Sierra, Nopos,
San Pablo, la doctrina de las Balsas del Marafion,
una parcialidad de Cajamarca, Cachén, Gamboa,
various other parts of the Sierra around Cajamarca,
such as the Valley of Condebamba (in the Corregi-
miento de Cajamarca). The presence of Mochica
speakers in the Sierra region of Cajamarca in 1644
is explained as due to previous deportation of the
natives from the coast by the Inca conquerors.®

LANGUAGE

At the present time no one in Moche knows any-
thing of the ancient language, and only Spanish is
spoken. In fact, the only one of the Mochica villages
where survivals of the language have been found in
recent times seems to be Eten, where Larco Hoyle

® Carrera, 1644 (I have seen only the corrected and amplified
version of Villareal, 1921). According to Camino Calderon (1942,
p. 41) remnants of the Mochica deported to the Sierra by the Inca
still exist in Santa Cruz, San Miguel, and Niepos (Napos).

(1938-39, vol. 2, pp. 77-82) and his agents col-
lected 174 words during the 1930’s.7

RECENT LITERARY MENTION OF MOCHE

Although there is an abundant literature on the
ancient Mochica culture in general, as well as
scientific reports of archeological excavations on the
Moche ruins themselves, literary treatment of the
living population of the District, during either
colonial or modern times, is scarce and confined in
the main to passing references or impressionistic
accounts. Perhaps the two most ambitious modern
treatments are those of Jimenez Borja (1937, pp.
unnumbered) and Larco Hoyle (1938-39, vol. 2,
pp. 28-38). Jimenez Borja’s “Moche” is an impres-
sionistic attempt to connect the ancient archeological
culture with the present day in Moche and Huan-
chaco, and endeavors to suggest such a cultural con-
tinuity by a search for parallels between the decora-
tive motifs of ancient Mochica art and present-day
features of the natural environment, rather than by
a close analysis of the customs and organization of
modern Mocheros. From the ethnological point
of view, the chapter entitled “La Campifia” is doubt-
less the best. Larco Hoyle is much more precise in
the few pages that he gives to modern Moche
ethnology; his collecting of material was, however,
incidental to his main work as a means of enlivening
and enlightening his very valuable archeological con-
tributions. A few other writers have described the
Moche campifa in terms of “local color” or have
alluded to the alleged joys of drinking chicha in the
shadow of the Huaca del Sol. Among these writers
we may mention Alayza Paz Soldan® and Miro
Quesada.®

DETAILED DISTRIBUTION OF
POPULATION

According to the National Census of 1940, the
total population of the District, amounted to 3:77. 0F
which 1,857 were males and 1,916 were females.
The population was classified by the census from

7 Prof. Hans Horkheimer, of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo,
has compiled a definitive as yet unpublished vocabulary from all the
published sources. With duplications ruled out, this amounts to a
total of about 1,200 words. Sources are Bastian, 1878; Briining,
1922: Calancha, 1638; Juan and Ulloa, 1751; Middendorf, 1892;
Ore, 1607; Carrera, 1644; Villareal, 1921; Larco Hoyle, 1938-39;
Zevallos Quifiones, 1941; Romero, 1909.

81939, pp. 359-361, a short popular account of Moche archeology
and present scene in the manner of a newspaper feature article;
1940, pp. 403-405, an impressionistic account of a visit to the Huacas.

® 1938, pp. 27-30; impressionistic reference to an afternoon spent
visiting the ruins and drinking chicha in the campiia.

8 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

the racial point of view as follows: White and
Mestizo, 1,892 (914 males, 978 females) ; undeclared,
18 (10 males, 8 females); Indians, 1,849 (921
males, 928 females); Yellow, 14 (12 males, 2 fe-
males) ; Negro, none.1° The racial classification as
between Whites, Mestizos, and Indians, must be
taken with reserve, as the census itself declares.
Two things are worth remarking, however. First,
there are no Negroes in Moche, a condition which
contrasts strongly with most coastal communities.
Second, 1,849 persons, or nearly half, apparently
consider themselves pure Indians and do not hesitate
to declare themselves as such. Of the “yellow race”
there are 7 Chinese men in the town, 2 with Chinese
wives, and 5 Japanese men.

The census counted families, as well as individuals.
Although at the date of this writing these figures
have not yet been published, they have been kindly
placed at my disposal by Dr. Alberto Arca Parr,
Director of the Census and of the National Bureau
of Statistics (a dependency of the Ministerio de
Hacienda y Comercio). Table 1 shows the number
of families and the number of individuals in the
various local subdivisions of the District in 1940.

Tasle 1.—Families and individuals of Moche by census
subdivision, 1940

Locality Families | Individuals

PMAOMIO OL MOCHE tare cleleieinteishaypccieiaic ciety eteceyatt 442 2,148
EUS) Mea ave in aletare yo) 07 to) ai chai larcie\ ms loyava not syalarale atakbio\s 61 6

RBNOCHOC Ne crarcisicvalacssiecieisih as driainieis > stg istewimiare le 54 333
PiGacnsdelysoOls dav cainaaieo ast aaa evn 6 62 437
MHosfibel vay sie cravere 'sfarmiesoig & 1s 16 67
Delicias, Las (the playa) ... 37 205
Vid) (Barranca ns. sews sarc 01s ; 16 92
Dh LAGI OTO ita ara ace b's, ate. a's. 10184 ha cid as a8 23 95
Placiondd 'NOGhe ies. csisaecies ane eevee cece 12 40
Tigtal Was. sicavalsie: vcadute wiereta es weld vied seas 723 3,773

As mentioned below, there are 111 forastero
families in the community, 95 of them in the pueblo.
The “Hacienda Moche” of the census is an error,
being actually a part of the campifia near the pueblo,
mostly worked by the Escuela de Agricultura. The
23 families, involving 95 persons belonging to the
Haciendita, can also be eliminated from considera-
tion in the pure Moche group, since they are prac-
tically all cholo workers from other parts. The
average family, or household, in Moche consists of
4.8 persons. We therefore assign an arbitrary
number of 500 to the forasteros in the District in
addition to those on the hacienda property. If these
groups are subtracted from the total 1940 popula-
tion of the District, there are 589 true Mochero

10 Extracto Estadi{stico, 1942, p. 21.

families and 3,178 persons. It should be noted,
however, that the forasteros living in the community
participate to some extent, even as outsiders, and
have some influence, even though indirect, on Moche
life, while this is not true of the hacienda dwellers. —
I made a census of the forasteros, and the location —
of their houses is shown on map 1 in order to show —
the pattern of their residential relationships within —
the Moche community. Since I have more confidence
in my count of forastero households than in my
count of the absolute number of persons belonging
to them (owing to obscurities regarding illegitimate
children, former wives or companions, etc.), only the
distribution of households is listed in table 2.

TaBLe 2—Forastero households in the Moche community

Residence in Moche
Locality of origin ————————— | otal
Pueblo Campina

Peruvian:
AUT URS ALLO, ca gate aie: poalate bosesececs
Sierra of Dept. Libertad... .
San Pedro de Lloc.... 5G
Paijdn .
Ascope .
Piura .
Chiclayo . 2¢
PacasmayO ..sessecsesreves

ew
-
tb

RNORENNNR WW
iS]
w

Chicama
Warts eters crane tats
Salaverry
Cajamarca’ «5cs.ices ca'eesiai ee

DD Otal \ayoratarataldieters/alecsd erseelere 79 16 95

SCOoOrFOCOCCOFOCONONS
RNR eR NWWws

eat
panish

Italian ..
Russian
German

The identification of forastero households was
made with the consensus of opinion among my true
Mochero informants and indicates again the feeling
of vague solidarity among the “Mochica villages.”
Although several individuals and households in
Moche have migrated here from other Mochica vil-
lages, they are not considered outsiders by the
Mocheros, with the exception of one definitely cholo
family which came from Magdalena de Cao. Except
in this one instance, the Mochica villages are not
included in table 2. It will be noticed that the great
majority of forasteros live in the pueblo and do not
engage in agriculture, which is the basis of Moche
life. The majority of forasteros who are settled in
the campiia are Indian agriculturists from the

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN

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MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 3;

Sierra who originally came to the coast to work as
peons on the haciendas and later settled in Moche
through friendship or marriage.

VITAL SAS FICS

Crude vital statistics for 5 years, as compiled of-
ficially by the Municipalidad, are set forth in table 3.

TasLe 3.—Births, deaths, and marriages in Moche District,

1939-1944

Year Births Deaths | Marriages
160 80 42

184 62 64

147 60 60

162 116 47

175 60 59

82 21 39

1 First 6 months.

From these figures may be calculated yearly aver-
ages for the years 1939-43, inclusive, of 165.6 births,
75.6 deaths, and 54.4 marriages. This gives an
average annual excess of births over deaths of 90, or
a ratio of births to deaths of 2.19 over a 5-year period.
No attempt has been made to test the accuracy of
these figures by means of independent recordings,
which would clearly have been an impossibility for me.
I believe, however, that the figures are reasonably
accurate, because the District is small and relations
are largely those of an in-group in which everyone’s
business is generally known, so that there is little
opportunity for evading the legal requirements for
the registration of births and deaths, even were there
a desire to do so. During the 5 years under review,
no stillbirths were recorded, which may be an indi-
cation of the general healthfulness of the population.

As will appear later, the registered figures on
“marriages” have relatively little significance, since
it is not customary in Moche to consider an official
marriage a necessary preliminary for the establish-
ment of a communal life or household by a man and
a woman.

PHYSICAL TYPES AND CONSTITUTIONS

Since I was unable to secure a set of anthropomet-
tic instruments, either in Peru or in the United
States, during the period of the investigation, I am

11From the official books of the Municipalidad, copied off by the
Secretario, Segundo Celestino, on the official letterhead, stamped with
the official rubber stamp, and presented to me on June 30, 1944,

12The published figures for 1940 in Extracto Estadistico (1942,
p. 78) show slight variations from those for the same year provided
by the Municipalidad. The published table lists 182 births and 63
deaths for 1940.

653348°—47—2

unable to give precise data concerning the physical
type and must be content with impressionistic re-
marks, based upon some observation of Indian popu-
lations and upon a fair intimacy with the various
physical groups of Peru. The so-called cholos of
the northern Peruvian coast appear to be a mixture
of brunette Spanish, Indian, Asiatic (usually
Chinese), and Negro. The mixture is probably not
genetically stabilized, because it shows considerable
variability, and my impression is that it does not
breed true, except within broad limits. Generally
speaking from an observational point of view, how-
ever, cholo men usually show more beard and body
hair than do pure Indians, while both sexes generally
exhibit wavy or curly hair. In contrast, the “true
Mocheros” are more “Indian” in physical appearance,
as plates 4 and 5 indicate. However, I do not be-
lieve that the true Mocheros are a pure Indian group,
genetically considered. Phenotypically, they often
show traits of mixture with a brunette white strain.
Also, despite the Moche tradition of not breeding
with outsiders, genealogical material indicates that
it has occurred in the last few generations, and prob-
ably sporadically for centuries. The result of these
assumed factors is a wide variability in physical type
at present.

In general one may describe the true Mochero type
as follows: Short to medium-short stature; copper-
colored skin; nose bridge of medium height; nasal
index probably medium; head brachy to meso-
cephalic; black straight hair; fatty deposits about
eyes, which, however, are seldom oblique; mem-
braneous lips medium; integumental lips, thick; chin
prominence, small; beard and body hair, sparse to
medium ; brownish rather than blackish hair, streaked
with gray in aged persons. Even slight baldness is
rare in “true Mocheros.” Body build tends toward
the “lateral” type.

I have no conclusive data on the physical constitu-
tion and longevity of the Mocheros, but personally
know and have had social relations with 16 individ-
uals who claim they are more than 80 years of age.
Five of these claim to be more than 90 years old, and
3 between 99 and 101 years old. It is impossible to
prove their ages, however, owing to the fact that the
Libros de Bautismo of the local church were de-
stroyed in the flood of 1925, and one can never be sure
in talking with the old people that the historical events
they claim to have witnessed are not the result of later
information. Only one of these individuals is what
might be called bedridden. This is an old woman,

10 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

supposedly 88 years of age, who, suffering from
paralysis or weakness of the legs, spends most of her
time on a mat on the floor of her house, but gets about
by crawling on all fours. Eleven of these old people
are women and 5 are men. With the exception noted,
all are vigorous enough to take care of their houses,
go about normal business (other than heavy field
work), and drink heavily in company with younger
friends and relatives.

Conclusive data are also lacking with respect to
fertility. Perhaps the best available is obtained from
the genealogical material, which shows an average of
6.73 children for each woman over 50 years of age.
However, since in the case of several women whom
I knew better than the average I discovered that
it was not unusual for them to suppress or forget an
illegitimate or deceased child or two when giving the
genealogy, the average may well be higher. The
most fecund woman is aged 48, a Mochera, and the
mother of 21 children, including 2 pairs of twins.
The mother of 1 of my informants, a forastera, had
18 children by single births and died at the age of 72.

LAND HOLDINGS

According to the records of the Administration
of Irrigation in Trujillo, the irrigated land of the
District of Moche amounts to 1,203.9569 hectares
(2,974.98885 acres or 4.63 sq. miles), of which the
Haciendita, an old Spanish land grant which obtrudes
into the campiia, comprises 113.1380 hectares. This
leaves approximately 976 hectares as lands of 803
small proprietors, who pay water rents. This gives an
average holding of 1.3580 hectares. The smallest hold-
ing is 880 sq. m. and the largest 21.8781 hectares. The
smallest and largest lots happen to be the sole landed
property of their respective owners, but it is probable
that the average holding per individual owner would
be larger than that shown above, inasmuch as several
men appear on the lists as holders of two or more
lots. At the moment of this writing a new catastro,
based for the first time on accurate surveys and ex-
amination of titles, is in the process of composition,
and until this is complete the above figures and esti-
mates must suffice. My own guess is that there are
slightly over 700 farmers in the Moche District, and
that the average amount of land managed by one man
is about 1.6 hectares (3.9536 acres).

Whatever the exact figures may prove to be, it is
clear that Moche is a community of small landholders
and land workers.

HISTORICAL DATA

Historical data concerning Moche itself are very
scarce, at least in the experience of the present writer.
It is hoped that the present account of modern life
in Moche may arouse sufficient interest on the part of
Peruvian historians so that they will do the neces-
sary research and make available an adequate histori-
cal account of this community, if such is possible. The
records of the local church were either destroyed or
removed to parts unknown in the flood of 1925. At
least, neither the local priest, nor the Archbishop, nor
the librarian of the Archdiocese of Trujillo was able
to provide me with information concerning them, and
no authority consulted has been able to give historical
proof of the precise date of the founding of Moche
during historical times. From all this ignorance
seems to emerge, at least, the fact that Moche has
been considered of little importance since the time of
the Conquest; however, it would be interesting to
have some picture of the condition of the people in
the period of the first Spanish settlement.

If one accepts 1535 as the date of the founding of
Trujillo,!® it would be difficult to believe that Spanish
control was not established in Moche almost immedi-
ately if a community of Indians in fact existed there
at that time.

The earliest reference to Moche which it has been
my fortune to encounter is that which figures in the
list of parroquias visited in 1593 by Santo Toribio
(Archbishop Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo) :
““Moche, que servia el P. Fray Alonzo Diaz de las
Mercedes.’ In 1613, in the Auto establishing the
new diocese of Trujillo, “Mochi” figures as 1 of 22
curas of the “Corregimiento de Chiclaio”; one friar
of the Order de la Merced is assigned to this church
(Monografia de la Didcesis, 1930-31, vol. 1, p. 148).
The church of Moche is mentioned specifically as hav-
ing suffered serious damage in the earthquake of
September 2, 1759, although nothing is said in the
official church history regarding the fate of the parish-
ioners in this disaster (ibid., vol. 2, p. 144).

The most extensive account of Moche published
during colonial times seems to be that of Feijoo,
which is herewith translated and quoted in full:

13See the wordy and sometimes acrimonious debate on the exact
date as published in Apuntes y estudios histéricos sobre la fecha de
la Fundacion de la ciudad de Trujillo (1935).

14 Monografia de la Didécesis, 1930-31, vol. 1, p. 119. The original
seems to be “Libro de Visitas de Santo Toribio,” in the Archivo
Capitular de Lima. During my hurried visit to this source, the
librarian was unable to find this document or any others pertaining to
Moche.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 11

The pueblo of Santa Lucia de Moche, near the sea and
separated from the city [of Trujillo] by two leagues to the
southeast on the Royal Road to Lima, is composed of 118
male Indians and 157 female Indians; with their 125 small
sons and 75 daughters they are dedicated to agricultural
work [/abranza] and generally to being fishermen. The
church was damaged in the earthquake [of September 2,
1759] but is now being repaired by reason of the pious dili-
gence of the Indians, stimulated by their priest. The In-
dians of the pueblos mentioned [Moche and Santiago de
Guamanga] pay in royal tribute six pesos and four reales
per year. [Moche] does not have its own cacique; and the
collection of the royal tribute is entrusted to a collector
named by the royal officials of this city [Trujillo] to whom
belongs this incumbency. According to the book of distri-
bution, the said Indians of the two pueblos [this includes
Santiago de Guamanga] enjoy 206 fanegas of land, being
a very small assignment for their subsistence and welfare.
The priest of both pueblos is a religious of the royal and
military order of Nuestra Sefiora de las Mercedes. The
allowance for missionary activity [sinodo] is 154 pesos an-
nually, and with obventions and other rights amounts to
2,000 pesos. [Feijoo, 1763 (reprint, undated, p. 36).]

Feijdo also published two maps,!® “‘Descripcion del
Valle del Chimt planisférica de la ciudad de Trujillo
del Pert” and “Carta topografica de la provincia de
Trujillo del Pert,” both of which show the pueblo of
Moche as of 1760, in approximately its present loca-
tion.

One colonial reference that has come to my notice
is perhaps of small importance; it is found in Medina
and refers to the year 1650:

The thirtieth of January, 1650 (? en 30 dias del mes de
enero de 1650 aiios), Lorenzo Huaman, aged Indian of the
“aillo” of Amey, accused [delaté] Francisca Beatriz, aged
Indian woman of the “aillo” of “Mocha”, affirming under
oath that she is malificient, a witch, and practitioner of the
indigenous rites (ritos gentilicios). [Medina, 1650 (edition,
1920, p. 98).]

This is the only indication I have that Moche was
ever an ayllu, and I believe the word is used in a gen-
eral sense by a reporter accustomed to think of all
Indian villages in this terminology. This reference
also provides proof, if any were needed, that brujeria
(witchcraft) was practiced as far back as 1650.

In 1818, the diocesan history provides another ref-
erence to Moche (Monografia de la Didcesis, 1930-
31, vol. 3, pp. 256-258). The third volume of this
compilation, “El Cabildo Eclesiastico a través de tres
siglos,” reveals that for nearly 200 years, since 16311°
to be exact, this body had been periodically exercised

15] have seen only the reproductions published in Apuntes y estudios
1935; the maps face pp. 80 and 88, respectively.
16 Tbid., vol. 3, pp. 51-52, resumen of the Cabildo for the year
1631. Repeated references to this problem occur hereafter.

over the problem of securing a new clock and bell for
the towers of the cathedral. By September 4, 1818,
a clock had been secured, and the following year the
bell was obtained (ibid., vol. 3, pp. 256-257). This
is the only reference to Moche in the diocesan history.

Although in 1818-19 Moche enjoyed the services
of a priest, the church historians have not published
any information concerning the people under his care.
Perhaps he made no reports; if he did, it is to be
hoped that the church may publish them.

Juan and Ulloa (1751, p. 368) mention Moche in
1751 as being located at 8°24’59” south latitude and
consisting of 50 “baraque” houses with 70 families,
composed of Spanish, Indians, and Mestizos.

Squier (1877, ch. 8) published an amusing account
of his visit to Moche, in which he described certain
drinking customs of the people there that do not
sound so very different from present usages. He also
provides us with the first serious measurements and
descriptions of the ruins.

A short summary of the ancient cultural sequence
in this area is given, relying mainly upon Kroeber’s
1944 publication, the latest printed statement (Kroe-
ber, 1944, pp. 42-80, especially pp. 78-80; also table
on p. 112. See also Bennett, 1937, 1939; Kroeber,
1925, 1926; Squier, 1877; Uhle, 1913; Larco Hoyle,
1938-39, 1941; also Horkheimer, 1944, p. 11). Ac-
cording to this scheme, which aims to represent pres-
ent knowledge, the succession of cultures in the north
coast area may be arranged in the following column,
with the oldest at the bottom:

Chimu, Inca period.

Chimu, pre-Inca.

Tiahuanacoid, later.

Tiahuanacoid, Earlier, Cajamarca associated.
Negative or Gallinazo.

Mochica.

Salinar.

Cupisnique.

Archaic (?) no remnants found in Moche area.

To date, no geological or other direct evidence for
absolute dating has come to light, with the result that
the chronology is based upon stratigraphy, typology,
and the judgment of the investigators. Kroeber is in-
clined to estimate the beginning of Cupisnique period
(Libertad equivalent of Tello’s Chavin of the Coast)
at about A. D. 500, the beginning of the Mochica
period at about A. D. 700, the beginning of the
Tiahuanaco period at about A. D. 1000 (Kroeber,
1944, pp. 114115). This would give the true
Mochica culture a period of about 300 years, begin-
ning about 1,250 years ago. Others are inclined to

a

see the beginning of the Mochica period some 400
to 500 years earlier? All archeologists, however,
are agreed that the Mochica culture was followed and
modified in prehistoric times by so-called Tiahuana-
coid cultures from the Sierra out of which overlay
and mixture developed the Chimu culture of the north
coast area, which in turn was modified by mixture
and overlay of Inca cultural influences, as a result of
the Inca conquest of the Chimus, probably in the 15th
century A. D.

Thus one cannot expect the Mocheros of today,
even if regarded as lineal descendants of the Mochicas
of antiquity, to exhibit Mochica culture in its pure
form. The aboriginal cultural base in Moche is com-
posed of elements of Mochica, Tiahuanaco, Chimu,
and Inca cultures. And the aboriginal base itself has
been mixed and modified by four centuries of contact
with European cultural influences.

Our knowledge of Mochica culture is derived in
the main from the realistic pottery, mentioned pre-
viously, of which the world’s largest and best studied
collection exists in the Museo Arqueoldgico “Rafael
Larco Herrera,” in the Hacienda Chiclin, some 56
km. from the village of Moche. This collection has
been acquired and studied by Rafael Larco Hoyle, the
well-known Peruvian archeologist, and it will be nec-
essary to rely largely upon his findings in order to
identify the still existing Mochica elements in Moche.
The later prehistoric cultures of the region are known
from archeology and also from accounts of Spanish
chroniclers in the epoch of the Conquest. The most
detailed description of the Chimu culture existing at
the time of the Conquest is that of Calancha (1638).
Rather than attempt to set forth a trait list of the
several prehistoric cultures, so far as they are known,
at the present point, a discussion of the prehistoric
survivals will be postponed until a later section (p.
154 ff.).

As for the meaning of the word “Moche,” opinions
differ. According to Paz Soldan (1877, p. 590)
“mocha” is a corruption of “mochi,”” Quechua for “to
rinse the mouth” or “to chew corn to make chicha.”’
This, in view of the modern habits of the Mocheros,
would be a very appropriate definition. On the other

12 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

hand, in Villagomes (1919, p. 210, footnote) is found
the verb “mochar” defined as “to cut or lop off” and
also as “to kiss or render religious homage.” This
source does not tell whether the word is Quechua or
Mochica. My friend, Senor Manuel Briceno, who
maintains a residence in Moche and who has enjoyed
a long period of collaboration with Sefior Rafael
Larco Hoyle in the study of the ancient and modern
Mochica culture and language, claims that the word
is Mochica, meaning “to worship or adore religi-
ously.” I have been unable to locate the word in any
published vocabulary of the Mochica language. My
friend, Dr. J. M. B. Farfan, the well-known Quechua
scholar, is inclined to derive the word from the
Quechua word “muchhi,’ meaning “pimple” or
“acne. -*

Finally, before leaving this review of the scanty
historical material, it will be recalled that, according
to Uhle’s excavations, the town during Mochica times
was located on the plain, or llano, lying between the
Huaca del Sol and the Huaca de la Luna (Uhle,.
1913, fig. 1 and p. 98), a site covered by the remains
of small house mounds with numerous burials nearby.
From the pottery, Uhle concluded that the site had
been occupied by the Chimu and Inca following the
Mochica period. At the present time this site lies in
the extreme northern corner of the area which we are
studying. There is no archeological evidence that an
ancient Mochica town occupied the present site of the
pueblo of Moche. Although at present this is mere
speculation, I would not be surprised that the ap-
propriate church and colonial documents, if and when
they eventually come to light, would show that the
present pueblo was established shortly after the Con-
quest following an early subdivision of other lands
among the Spaniards. The lands and Indians north-
west of the river and upstream from the Huacas were
probably granted in encomiendas, leaving a group of
Indians confined to the area corresponding to the
present District of Moche, scattered about a small
land grant, now known as the Haciendita.

A later section (p. 154) deals with possible sur-
vivals of earlier cultures in the present cultures of
Moche.

SUSTENANCE AND BASIC ECONOMY

One of the distinctions enjoyed by Moche is that
it is still a community of independent farmers, where-
as most of the other Peruvian coastal communities

17E. g., Horkheimer, 1944, p. 10: “in the second or third century
AS-D,

have been absorbed into large haciendas. The basic.
economic activity at the present day is small-sczle,
irrigated farming, supplemented by a diminishing
amount of fishing, and there is good reason to believe

18 Farfdn, personal communication.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN a3

that this has been true since Mochica times. How-
ever, at present, various accretions (“acculturations’’)
have appeared in farming techniques, and, with the
gradual increase in population, an increasingly larger
;roportion of the younger generation go out of the
community to seek work as laborers on the roads, on
haciendas, and in facteries in Lima, with a few even
entering the learned professions.

The farming and fishing of Moche are carried on
both for subsistence and in order to produce income,
either through money exchanges or barter. In fact,
one of the changes of recent years has been an increas-
ing emphasis upon cash “crops,” such as alfalfa and
milk, which are sold in Trujillo, while the fishing in-
dustry, although at present small, sells practically all
of its production, other than that consumed by the
fishing families themselves, to the Trujillo market,
where the remaining Mocheros must go to purchase
it. Although the Mocheros, or, more properly, their
women, are actively engaged in trade in the sense of
disposing of their production commercially, neverthe-
less trading, as an occupation in itself, seems to hold
little interest for the people. All retail establishments
in Moche pueblo itself are in the hands either of
forasteros or of extanjeros, and I am not aware that
any Mochero has left the community to set up or take
part in a strictly trading or commercial enterprise
elsewhere.

In this section no attempt is made to give a
thoroughgoing description of agriculture in Moche
from the point of view of an agronomist or other type
of agricultural specialist. This is a task requiring the
collaboration of a competent authority in this field.
Our main interest in this report is to consider the
place of agriculture and other economic activities in
the cultural life of the community, with particular at-
tention to the trends of cultural change. The orienta-
tion is cultural or ethnological rather than economic
or agricultural in the full academic implications of
those words. Certain omissions may occur, since I
was working with the community only about 6 months

and therefore was unable to observe the full yearly
cycle.

SKETCH OF MOCHE AGRICULTURE
OF THE CAMPINA

The most charming part of thé Moche District is
the campija, or rural farming area, which surrounds
the town on all sides, as can be seen from the aerial
-photographs (pls. 1 and 2). This is a region of
sandy lanes shaded by willow trees overhanging the
acequia (irrigation) ditches alongside, of small fields,

quaint houses with cool outdoor arbors, and a quiet
peasant country life somehow out of the world. In
the campina the quaintest and most primitive aspects
of the culture are best developed, and sophistication
lies low. A single lane (pl. 18, upper (left) ) is suf-
ficiently passable to permit automobiles to drive
through a part of the campifa, although in an exceed-
ingly bone-shaking and axle-breaking manner. It
branches off from the Pan-American Highway to the
right about 800 m. from the pueblo, proceeds through
the holdings of the Haciendita, passes through the
small rural center of Sun, and on northward to the
base of the Huaca del Sol. Leaving the Huaca, it
fords the river and leaves the Moche District, pro-
ceeding northwestward through the Hacienda de
Santa Rosa, to enter the city of Trujillo via the barrio
of Chicago. This sole means of modern intrusion
into the isolation of the campiiia is traversed by only
a very occasional automobile carrying intrepid tour-
ists or visiting archeologists bent upon seeing the
ruins, and, to date, has had no practical effect upon
the quiet life of the Moche countryside, most of which
is accessible only afoot or by donkey or horseback,
traversing the willow-shaded sandy lanes.

On one or both sides of the lanes are irrigation
ditches, tapped at frequent intervals by branches lead-
ing into the various land holdings. During the dry
season the water is turned into any given ditch only
once every 9 days, but the major ditches, when they
contain water, are veritable small rivers or creeks,
practically always shaded by overhanging trees. The
fields, usually green at all times of the year, are
bordered, as a rule, by solid-looking fences or walls
of tapia (mold-laid mud; see p. 38), frequently par-
tially hidden by bushes and small trees growing in the
field borders against the inside surfaces. A tapia wall
or fence is practically invariably found on the side
of a holding which borders a lane. The houses are
located at frequent intervals and are usually well
shaded by large shade and fruit trees in their huertas
(surrounding garden orchards). As a rule they are
situated in the corners of the land holdings, sometimes
so well surrounded by vegetation as to be almost in-
visible from the lane.

As one passes along, one sees quiet groups of cattle
tethered by neck ropes or horn ropes, grazing in small
alfalfa pastures inside the tapia walls, and often
guarded by small boys and girls. In the mornings,
if it is not planting or harvesting season, men working
with shovels either singly or in pairs are seen in the
cultivations, and from about 10 a. m. onward through-

14 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

out the day, one will be frequently passed by Moche
women returning from the Trujillo market atop small
gray donkeys. The load of one of these beasts gen-
erally includes a woman, a child in arms, and various
empty milk cans, baskets of food, and other materials
acquired in the city. During the planting or harvest-
ing seasons one will see groups of men working in
the fields together, attended by a coterie of women in
the shady field corner preparing and purveying food
and drink.

This peaceful landscape, which is sunlighted prac-
tically every afternoon of the year and all day long
from November until July, is dominated by the great
pyramidal Huaca del Sol standing at the northern-
most extremity. The campiiia itself is flat, without
hills or undulations, so that from one end to the other,
one has only to look to the north to see the famous
ruin, frequently framed in the branches of trees. The
Moche Mountains, of which the Cerro Blanco is out-
standing, dominate the northeastern border of the
campina. They are utterly devoid of visible vegeta-
tion and are of a basic gray-white color, which, how-
ever, changes hue with the varying angles and
brilliancies of the sunlight. To the east, the campina
ends abruptly at the limit of irrigation. In many
places this border with the desert is a startlingly pre-
cise line, and one can stand with one foot on a green,
cultivated patch of ground and the other foot in the
sandy dust of the desert. Along this border the trees
are fewer and scrubbier than in the better watered
parts of the area. The remains of old irrigation
ditches in the desert to the east indicate that the pres-
ent irrigated area is less extensive than in ancient
times.

Strange as it may seem in an area so small in North
American eyes, the farming area of Moche is divided
into three sections—northern, southern, and western.

The foregoing description is characteristic of the
caipina in general, but is found best developed in the
section north of town. This seems to be the best-
watered area, 1s most intensively cultivated, possesses
the most desirable soil, and has the best-made houses.
It also lies nearest the ruins, so that there may be
historical as well as geographical reasons for its ap-
parently richer cultural development.

The southern section of the campina is drier than
those portions north and west of the town. As the
land approaches the sea, the soil becomes sandier, and
the landscape to the south is dominated by a series of
dunes 20 to 35 feet high, partially covered by scrubby
grass. Thus the campiia is definitely separated from

the playa. In this part of the farming area one can
hear the roar of the surf mingled with a faint but:
constant singing of the sea wind through the scrub
grass, but in the fields one does not see the sea itself
because of the dunes.

The third section of the cam pivia lies across the road
to the west. It is often called Barranca, although this
properly refers only to the northern part. Barranca
is actually the name of a large irrigation ditch. This
western section is dominated by the river. Here the
brush and trees are wilder and more abundant. Along
the left bank of the river itself is an area almost en-
tirely given over to wild brush growth, whose owners
derive an income from the sale of wooden building
beams, firewood, and caja brava (cane) harvested in
this miniature jungle. In this section there is also
considerably more natural pasture than in other por-
tions of the campifia. Although in the dry season the
visible water of the river is reduced to the trickle of
a medium-sized brook, nevertheless the subterranean
seepage water seems to be considerable.

Thus it is that the campiiia is like a small country in
itself, the three regions—north, south, and west—
each having somewhat different conditions and land-
scape. Although visiting takes place back and forth,
there is a tendency, owing to factors of transportation,
toward ethnocentrism in each of these areas. The
normal communication lines run from each area to
the town or from each area to the city of Trujillo,
rather than from area to area. Therefore, contacts
between the three sections are most regularly renewed
on feast days in the pueblo. It is not uncommon to
hear two men from different sections of the camipiia
inquiring at a fiesta about events and personages of
each other’s neighborhood as if they actually lived in
different parts of Peru. However, this tendency
toward separatism or regionalism has not reached a
stage where it is the basis for formal differentiation
in the social or political organization. The three sec-
tions of the campifia do not even have names that are -
in common use by the whole Moche community. In
Moche, one does not say that he lives in “the northern
section.” He says that he lives “por la Huaca”
(toward the Huaca), “por este lado de Sun” (this
side of Sun), or near some other landmark or person
known to be in the northern section. If one lives in
the southern section, one is identified as being “‘por la
playa’ (toward the beach), or “cerca de Chorobal”
(the water wells), etc. In the western section, one
may be “del otro lado de la carreterra” (from the
other side of the highway), “de Barranca” or “de la

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 15

boca del rio” (from around the mouth of the river),
etc.

Straddling the road and occupying central portions
of both the northern and western sections are the
lands of the Haciendita, apparent as comparatively
large unsubdivided fields in the aerial photographs
(pls. 1 and 2). This land, totaling about 113 hectares,
is not a part of the Moche campina in any sense other
than the geographical. A few Mocheros work as
peons on the Haciendita, but otherwise the crops,
methods, organization, and personnel are outside the
Moche picture. Another, smaller area of forastero
intrusion is visible (pls. 1 and 2) as comparatively
extensive, unbroken fields, about 30 acres in extent,
off the northeast corner of the pueblo. Most of this
is at present leased to the Government-supported agri-
cultural school, which, as will be pointed out below,
also plays no part in the agricultural configuration of
the community.

CULTIVATED LANDS AND THEIR
MANAGEMENT

Planting and care of domesticated plants occur in
Moche in three types of locations: (1) Fields, (2)
garden orchards (huertas), and (3) field borders.

Many a Moche “field” would perhaps appear to a
North American farmer to be too small to be worth
cultivating. The average land holding seems to be
about 1.6 hectares, or 3.9 acres, with a wide range
about the average. The individual field, however,
would average much smaller. When the official
catastro is completed we shall have, it is to be hoped,
accurate figures on this matter, but it is doubtful that
the average cultivated field or planted plot exceeds
1,000 sq. m. I know of several fields in cultivation
which do not exceed 100 sq. m., and the largest single
field of which I know is probably not over 4 hectares
(40,000 sq. m.).1%

Although land holdings are usually divided by
tapia fences, this is not necessarily true of fields, and
a single fenced piece of ground may contain two or
more fields or cultivated plots, each given over to a
different crop or to different plantings of the same
crop.

Among the Mocheros a farm, or land holding, is

18 Compare the aerial photographs (pls. 1 and 2). It must be re-
membered that the Haciendita, comprising some 113 hectares, lies
geographically within the campifia, but is not considered a part of tt,
either from the community or cultural point of view. The broad open
fields visible in the center of the farming area to the north of the
town belong to the Haciendita, whereas the small subdivisions seen
covering most of the remainder of the area are the holdings of
Mocheros.

usually called a chacra,;*° a person also refers to “mis
terrenos” (my lands) and “mi propiedad” (my prop-
erty). The word granja is used in Moche to refer
only to a poultry farm or a small stock farm raising
swine. There are three commercial grainjas in Moche,
all operated by forasteros for the Trujillo market.
“Fields,” in the sense of individual cultivated plots,
are usually called campos or sembrados; occasionally
one uses the word cosecha (harvest or crop) when re-
ferring to a given plot, identifying the piece of land
with the crop growing upon it. “Crop” is also known
as “siembra.” Mocheros use the word fanegada when
speaking of land areas more often than the word
hectarea; there seems to be general agreement that a
fanegada is equal to about 3 hectareas, but informants
are never precise or sure. The fanegada is a Spanish
land measure introduced during colonial times, and
it is apparent that most Mocheros still think in terms
of it and have not yet become accustomed to trans-
lating fanegadas readily into hectareas.

There are no clearly defined planting times in
Moche to which all farmers adhere. The general rule
is that there be sufficient water to get the new crop
started properly. Except alfalfa and yuca (sweet
manioc), which are planted only once a year or less
often, a farmer may expect to plant and harvest two
crops per year of such crops as corn, lentils, beans,
and sweetpotatoes. In most years and on most lands,
December is regarded as the time for putting in the
wet-season crop (tiempo de abundancia), which is
harvested in May, and June is the time for putting in
the dry-season crop (tiempo de escasez), with the
harvest beginning in October. Individual conditions
may vary somewhat. The fiesta of San Isidro in May
serves as a sort of harvest festival for the first crop,
and the October fiesta serves as the harbinger of the
second harvest.

No fertilizer other than the droppings of livestock
made directly on the fields is used in Moche farming.
The constant planting of leguminous crops like alfalfa,
beans, and lentils doubtless restores the nitrogen to
the soil satisfactorily.

A nonrigid or informal crop rotation is practiced,
of which the following example may give an idea.
The field described was planted to corn and lentils in
the first crop of 1938. During the second crop it
stood idle, i.e., cattle were allowed to forage on the
cornstalks. Corn and lentils were again put in for
the first crop of 1939, and the second crop was beans.
Early in 1940 it was planted to alfalfa and sorghum.

* From the Quechua, according to De Arona (1938, p. 157)

16 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Six crops of alfalfa were taken from it during the
year. It was allowed to stand untouched for about 3
months after the last cutting, and was then turned
into pasture. Cattle occupied the field during most
of 1941 and up to June 1942, when the alfalfa began
to thin out. It was plowed and a crop of corn and
lentils put in, which did not do well because of lack of
water. In January 1943, it was planted to yuca and
corn. In 1944 it was once more in alfalfa.

IRRIGATION

The irrigation system is now under control of an
official dependency of the Ministerio de Fomento,
which maintains a subadministrator in Moche (under
the immediate supervision of the Administracién de
Aguas del Rio Moche, which has offices in Trujillo).
This authority lays down the regulations concerning
the time of water flow and the care of the ditches.
The “republica,” or democratic organization of water
users which is said formerly to have handled all mat-
ters of irrigation, has thus been superseded. Perhaps
as a substitute the Government has permitted the or-
ganization of a group known as the Association of
Irrigators of Moche (Asociacién de Regantes de
Moche) which is suppossed to serve in an advisory
capacity to the subadministrator and as a vehicle for
making complaints to the higher authorities. The
president of this group at present is the proprietor of
the Haciendita, which is the largest single water user
in the District. Although the Mocheros complain
mightily that the Haciendita is favored over the
smaller land holdings in the distribution of the water
and also that the haciendas farther up the valley are
obtaining more than their share of the river flow,
nevertheless the natives have been unable to unite on
a candidate of their own whereby they might obtain
more effective control of the organization. An or-
ganization of younger progressive natives, called
Moche en Marcha (Moche in Movement), is at pres-
ent strenuously attempting to unite the Mocheros for
this and other purposes involving the common wel-
fare.

The irrigation administration is primarily con-
cerned with the distribution of the water, which is
most abundant in March and scarcest in October.
During the dry season the river water is turned into
each trunk ditch only once every 9 days. The prin-
ciple of distribution of water to individual land hold-
ings or fields is time. Each holding, or, more
properly, each side ditch running into a holding is as-
signed so many minutes of water during the time that

water 1s running in the main ditch. This time may

be changed in theory by appeal to the authorities, but
as of any given moment is recorded in the official
catastro (property list) and is one of the rights which
go with the parcel of land if and when it changes
hands. An annual tax is levied upon each parcel of
land to support the irrigation service, and this is based
upon the amount of water time assigned to the parcel,
which in turn is theoretically based upon the area of
the parcel of land and a consideration of its needs
(e.g., land near the river with considerable under-
ground seepage water is not considered to need so
much irrigation per unit of area). It is because the
areas of the land holdings were previously only im-
perfectly known that the Government undertook the
precise survey in 1944 which should result in a new
catastro, mentioned previously. The time limit on
water applies, of course, during the season of scarce
water ; in the season of abundance each farmer has as
much water as he desires. According to the 1944
catastro, the lowest annual water rent paid by a Mo-
chero was 26 centavos, and the highest 16.42 soles.
(One sole equaled approximately 15.3 cents and 1
centavo approximately 1/7 of a cent in terms of
United States currency at the time the study was
made.) The water rent goes toward the maintenance
of the system of administration.

In order to operate this system the subadministrator
depends upon the services of the farmers themselves,
who are assigned to water watching according to a
rotating list. The night duty is the most onerous and
involves regulating the main gates at the proper in-
tervals and patrolling the side-ditch outlets. Night
duty rotates to most farmers about once every 2 or
2% months and is called mala noche (“bad night,” a
term which also refers to any night spent without
sleep, whatever the reason). It is, of course, the
responsibility of the individual farmers to care for
their private ditches. Irrigation ditches of all kinds
are called acequias. It is said that rich or powerful
water users are able to obtain more than their proper
share by (1) bribing or otherwise influencing the sub-
administrator to increase their time on the list and
(2) by influencing the watchers to allow certain
ditches to run longer than the official time. I have no
evidence that this is true.

The principal irrigation ditches are named. For
example, there are the ditches named Sun—one of
the main trunks which taps the river above the Huaca
del Sol and probably dates from prehistoric times—
Chocchoe, Giterequeque, Barranca, Esperanza, los
Muertos, el Muelle, etc.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 17

Although each landholder cleans and keeps in re-
pair his own ditches, the upkeep of the main com-
munal ditches of the system of distribution is done on
a communal unpaid basis. Periodically the call goes
out for the destajos (task work), and gangs of men
assemble with spades. Each man is obliged to work
a length of time proportional to his amount of ir-
rigated land. Often he is merely assigned to certain
proportional length of the communal ditch to clean.
The work consists in digging out the vegetation, mud,
stones, and other accumulations in the channel. For-
merly, it is said that this task was performed in festive
mood to the accompaniment of food and drink after
the manner of a minga (reciprocal work parties), but
at the present time one sees none of this. It is a job
to be done, and that is all.

The principal heads of the main communal ditches
are provided with cement sluices and steel gates, but
water is diverted into small side ditches by earth
dams bolstered by a couple of horizontal sticks or
boards held in place with wooden stakes, as illustrated
in plate 5, lower (left). Men may water small house
plots by ladling water out of the communal ditch with
buckets. This is not considered stealing the water if
it is done on a small scale.

The distribution of the water on the field itself fol-
lows several patterns, depending upon the crop and
its stage of growth. Although I know of the follow-
ing three types, there may be more. (1) A thin
sheet of water is spread over the ground before plow-
ing if it is very hard and dry; young plots of alfalfa
and newly planted gardens are frequently given a
similar treatment. Fields are divided into rectangular
plots, melgares; the system is called de pozas. This
is accomplished usually by simply opening the ditch
in one or more places alongside the field and allowing
the water to spread out over the ground. (2) In the
second method a series of small parallel straight
ditches (regaderas or reventeros) run off the feeder
ditch (regadero) from one side of the field to the
other. Corn and beans are usually irrigated this way,
as well as yuca. (3) Winding irrigation channels
(de caracol) are sometimes used to irrigate yuca; the
channel runs down one side of the row, turns back
to run down the other side of the row, and so on, ir-
rigating the entire field from a single outlet of the
feeder ditch.

IMPLEMENTS

Fields are prepared for planting by plowing. A
yoke of oxen is used for traction, but the implement

itself is a single-handled one-way walking plow, all
of iron, and manufactured in the United States. No
wooden plows are to be found in the Moche country-
side at present. The technique of handling the plow
is, however, apparently much as it was when the
Spanish wooden plow with iron point was used (pl.
6, lower (left) ). This type of plow, although it has
a curved moldboard of iron, cuts a furrow only about
4 inches deep and often less. The depth of the fur-
row depends upon the skill of the driver. The driver
is accompanied by an assistant who breaks the clods,
either with his feet or, more often, with a wooden
stick or iron crowbar which he carries for the purpose.
No harrow is used. The driver guides the oxen by
voice and with a whip which has a wooden handle
about 2 feet long and a leather thong 5 to 6 feet long.
Oxen have individual names to which they respond
and they also are taught to obey commands of a
limited range. Oxen are usually castrated between
the ages of 1 and 2 years. However, bulls are fre-
quently used under the yoke. Both are cailed
“bueyes.” When a distinction is made, the gelded
animal is simply called un buey castrado. A team of
oxen is called a yunta (yoke). The actual yokes are
made of wood obtained in the campina and fastened
to the horns with rawhide straps or thongs. Willow
wood is said to be most commonly used, although oak
(roble), if it can be obtained, is preferred. Almost
any farmer can make a yoke himself, although certain
ones are considered specialists and are employed to
make yokes for others. The yoke is attached to the
plow by an iron chain, not by a shaft.

Many farmers do not possess ox teams or plows
and are required to hire their plowing done on a cus-
tom basis. In 1944 the standard rate was § soles per
day for team, plow, driver, and his assistant. The
hours are carefully watched, and work is supposed to
continue without interruption from 8 to 11 a. m. and
from 1 to 5 p.m. The acreage which can be plowed
in a day depends upon a great many factors—driver,
oxen, condition of the soil—but yuntas are usually
hired by the day only. If the work is finished before
the end of the day, no rebate is made. To be sure,
as in all Moche deals, payment may be made in pro-
duce rather than in cash money, but there is little
sharing of work which involves oxen. Even brothers
enter plowing deals with each other which involve
payment in terms of money.

The plow is used for preparing the ground, as just
described. It is also used, after the ground has been
plowed once, to produce furrows in which various

18 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

crops are planted. The plow produces a shallow fur-
row and also throws out a ridge of earth on one side.
There seem to be three types of furrows: (1) The
simple furrow with a ridge of earth alongside; (2)
the double furrow, with ridge of earth on each side,
produced by plowing a second furrow alongside the
first one in the opposite direction, called surco hembra
(female furrow) ; the central furrow usually serves
as an irrigation channel; (3) the double furrow with
a double ridge of earth in the center and furrows on
each side of it, called surco macho (male furrow). In
planting certain crops, such as sorghum, maize, and
beans, it is said that the seeds are placed in the furrow,
although actually they are placed in the base of the
ridge of earth with the effect that the plants usually
are seen growing out of a low ridge of earth rather
than from the depression of the furrow. This method
of planting must obviously be a comparatively recent
innovation, since it seems to depend upon the presence
of a plowshare and moldboard of modern type capable
of producing a clear furrow and turning over a ridge
of earth, features impossible with the old-fashioned
wooden plow of colonial times.

Oxen are not used to pull wheeled vehicles of any
kind. Neither are horses and donkeys used to pull
wheeled vehicles in Moche, with the exception of a
two-wheeled garbage cart drawn by a single horse
and maintained by the Municipalidad. Otherwise, the
only wheeled vehicles seen in the Moche District are
automobiles and railroad vehicles. Neither of these
types is owned by Mocheros, nor can they be consid-
ered a part of the material equipment of the com-
munity.

The plow is the only power implement used in
Moche agriculture (ox power). The hand imple-
ments are as follows (pls. 5, lower (right) ; 6, cen-
ter): (1) The short-handled shovel or spade
(palana) ; (2) the machete, a one-handed heavy knife
of the type familiar under this name to North Ameri-
can readers, used for clearing brush and weeds and
for splitting firewood; (3) the calabozo, a heavy
“bush” knife with a hooklike projection at the end of
the blade, fitted to a long wooden handle and used for
clearing brush and weeds from the land; (4) the
barro, a wooden clublike stick, used for breaking earth
clods after plowing and for making holes for plant-
ing; (5) the iron or steel crowbar (barro de hierro),
used for breaking clods and for other purposes, such
as moving stones, logs, and other weights; (6) the
pickax (pico), for breaking hard ground, especially
in irrigation ditches; (7) the ax (hacha), a single-

bladed implement of European type, used for felling
and splitting wood and for clearing brush from the
land; (8) the horca, a tined fork, made from a
single, branched tree limb; and (9) a modern,
wooden-handled, iron rake or rastro, used by some
men.

It is curious that the hoe is not present in modern
Moche, but, on the other hand, there is no clear evi-
dence that it was ever used in prehistoric times. The
implements recovered from Mochica and Chimu cul-
tures are of the spade type, i.e., the blade of the imple-
ment lies in the same axis as that of the handle.
Present-day spades are of modern European or North
American design (most are imported from these two
sources, although lately at least two Peruvian con-
cerns have begun manufacturing these implements),
but are used for “hilling up” corn and other crops,
for making holes for planting etc., and for cultivating
around standing plants, as well as for cleaning irriga-
tion ditches and for all tasks involving the movement
of earth by hand. In many of these efforts it would
seem that the hoe would be a more useful implement.
Moreover, it is available in Trujillo hardware stores.
Such is the power of tradition, or the resistance to_
acculturation. Plate 6, upper (right), shows a man
working with a spade.

The calabozo is likewise, apparently, a prehistoric
implement. In the Museo Arqueoldgico “Rafael
Larco Herrera” in Chiclin, blades of the same type as
those in use at present occur in great numbers, but it
is not clear whether they are of Mochica or Chimu
provenience.

Likewise it is quite possible that the barro, the clod-
breaking wooden bar, is prehistoric in origin. There
is some reason to believe that the Mochicas and
Chimus used a digging stick with which they punched
holes in the earth for planting. The ancient idea
behind this implement (symbolic pattern) seems to
have disappeared in its original form in modern
Moche, possibly owing to displacement by the plow
in the planting complex, although the barro is used
for poking seed holes in furrows prepared by the
plow.

TECHNIQUES WITH FIELD CROPS

The actual planting of field crops is usually done
on a shared work basis, in the pattern of a minga.
The owner of the land invites certain friends or rela-
tives to assist him with the planting. The women of
his household provide food and chicha. It is also un-
derstood that today’s host will lend his services to

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 19

his fellows during the following days. I have not
had the opportunity to observe a large number of
these work parties over a long period of time, but in-
formants state that, contrary to expectations, they are
not permanent or organized, i.e., members of the same
groups do not exchange work with one another in-
variably year after year, with an organization of
leadership, etc. However, there does seem to be a
natural tendency toward a relative permanency
among neighbors. Although relatives are frequently
included in the planting parties, there seems to be no
rule to this effect.

Techniques involved with a few of the more com-
mon field crops can be briefly described as follows.

Alfalfa, which occupies perhaps three-fifths of the

cultivated land of Moche at present, is always planted
in the same field with sorghum (sorgo),! as illus-
trated (pl. 3, wpper and lower (left)). Patches of
alfalfa 2 to 3 m. wide®® alternate with rows of
sorghum in parallel series across the field. Alfalfa
seed is purchased in the tiendas in the pueblo, or
threshed by the farmer himself. It is sown broadcast
from a cloth bag.

The earth where the rows of sorghum are to be
planted is usually heaped up by the plow in a ridge
about 3 inches above the surface of the alfalfa bed be-
fore planting. The sorghum is then planted in shal-
low holes about 1 m. apart or less near the base of
the ridge of earth. Six seeds are placed in each hole.
Another method is to plant the sorghum in two
parallel ridges made by plowing two furrows, side by
side, one in each direction to produce a shallow irri-
gation channel between them—a “female furrow.”
The sorghum shoots up faster than the alfalfa and ap-
pears as a line of tufts of light green above the darker
green of the surrounding young alfalfa. By this
combination of the two plants, one is able to obtain
forage for cattle within 10 to 14 days after planting,
without waiting for the alfalfa to produce a crop.
Many such fields are used simply as pasture, with the
cattle being turned in as soon as the sorghum has
reached a height of 9 inches or a foot. Some sorghum
and alfalfa is cut with a sickle and carried to other

71 A list of scientific names of certain plants with remarks con-
cerning their origin, follows this section. This list is given only as
an aid to the reader interested in the matter. The scientific names
have been culled from the literature and the records of the Museo
Arqueolégico ‘Rafael Larco Herrera” in Chiclin.

21 may be making too much of this, but informants repeatedly
insisted that the alfalfa patches (melgares) were 5 to 6 m. wide,
whereas on inspection I was unable to find one more than 3 m. wide.
This tendency to exaggerate numerical values occurs fairly frequently.
Whether it represents an incomplete association of the numerical sym-
_ bol with its referent or a form of ego inflation through the telling of
a good story, I am unable to say with certainty at present.

places on the farm as cattle feed, while a not incon-
siderable quantity of both crops is carried on donkey-
back to Trujillo for sale fresh, mostly to the army as
feed for its horses. One of my friends reported that
during one morning he counted 23 donkey loads pass
the chacra where he was working, en route to Trujil-
lo. Finally, a farmer may sell part of his crop to
other farmers in temporary need of cattle feed.
Sorghum and alfalfa are always cut and used fresh,
if cut at all. No dried haystacks are to be found in
the Moche area. In the pueblo there is a cement silo,
erected some years ago by a progressive forastero,
which apparently has been a failure. Sorghum and
cornstalks put into it as ensilage are said to spoil and
become useless as cattle feed. Whether this is due
to climate or faulty technique, I do not know. Four
to six crops of alfalfa per year are expected, if the
crop is cut. For seed, alfalfa is cut ripe and piled up
to dry. It is then either carried to the house or
threshed in the field. At all events a mat (petate) is
placed under the pile, which is then pounded with
a heavy stick. (This is not hinged like the old-
fashioned American flails.) This treatment is to
sacar la gavilla (break up the stalks and bunches).
Afterward the alfalfa is picked up in small bunches
and these are whipped over a basket with a small stick
or switch to knock off the seeds. Occasionally the
highland method of threshing wheat is used. The
alfalfa is spread out on a hard dirt floor with a heavy
stake or post set up in the middle. A pair or more of
horses are driven round and round the stake, and
after this the residue is tossed into the air and
winnowed in the wind.

Corn (maize) is planted in rows about 18 inches
apart, hilled up with the spade or plow before plant-
ing into low ridges produced by plowing a furrow.
Corn is frequently planted with lentils (lentejas) in
the same hole. The holes are about 3 feet (1 pace)
apart. The method is to place two kernels of corn
and three seeds of lentil in the first hole, three kernels
of corn and two seeds of lentil in the second hole,
and so on successively. The planter is usually fol-
lowed by another person who covers the hole and
tamps it down with his feet. Lentils are often
harvested before the corn has eared, but hard, dry
lentils may also be harvested even after the corn
has been husked. Lentils are harvested, as a rule,
by pulling them up by the roots and carrying the
whole plant to a convenient spot where the seeds
are taken out of the pods or (in the case of green
lentils) the pods are removed from the plant. Corn

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20 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 f

is harvested green to be eaten boiled on the cob
(choclo). It is also harvested ripe, about 6 months
after planting. In both cases it is husked on the stalk
in the field. For this purpose a bone or wooden
pick, 5 to 6 inches long, perforated at the butt end
and attached to the wrist by a thong passing through
the perforation, is used as an aid in opening the
husks. Rarer are picks made from iron spikes. As
a general rule, the stalks are allowed to stand in the
field after harvest and cattle are turned in to eat
them and trample them down, after which they are
burned. Harvesting may be done by individuals
working alone, in pairs or small groups, and also
in the minga arrangement. When planted in the
same plot with yuca, the corn seeds are deposited in
individual holes made with the spade.

Various types of beans are planted in rows or
ridges as is corn, three seeds to a hole usually.
Beans are harvested by pulling the whole plant up
by the roots. They are threshed by hand as is al-
falfa, by beating (although horses are never used,
because they crush the seeds). Beans are not cut
with a sickle. Seed beans are still stored by some
people in a box full of sand, a procedure which seems
to date from Mochica times. This keeps them dry
and also is said to protect them from the attacks of
insects that eat out the inside of the bean and de-
stroy its germinating power. The more modern
method, however, is to store the beans in stoppered
bottles or in tin cans sealed with sticking plaster.

Yuca (also known in English as manioc and
cassava) is planted from cuttings about 5 inches
long taken from the stalks. The cutting must be in
the state in which milky juice issues from the wound.
The surface of the cutting is covered at intervals
by buds, which on the growing stalk point upward.
In Moche a bud is called “nuez del palo” (nut of
the stick). In planting, the cuttings must be so laid
that the buds point into the ridge of earth alongside
the furrow. Cuttings are planted about a meter
apart. Three methods of planting are in use. (1) In
the pisada method, the cuttings are laid crosswise
in a simple furrow, pointing toward the ridge of
earth, and are tamped down with the feet. A small
portion must protrude above the surface of the hill.
(2) To sembrar a estaca, the cuttings are thrust
into the moist soil of a hill ridge made by a “male
furrow,” leaving an inch or so to protrude. (3) In
the de acequia method a “female furrow” is made
first. Then the cuttings are laid crosswise, but so
placed that the buds of alternate cuttings point in

opposite directions. Again it is necessary that a
small portion of the cutting protrude through the
hill. Then water is turned into the female furrow.
Yuca is usually ready to harvest in 9 months and
produces large bunches of heavy roots, often as large
as a man’s lower leg. Yuca is harvested simply by
grasping the stalks above ground and pulling up
the roots, which may be left in piles on the field
for a few hours to dry.

Although alfalfa, sorghum, maize, lentils, beans,
and yuca are the principal or largest field crops,
many others included in the list below are also
planted and grown in fields, as well as in garden
orchards and field borders.

Weeding is done by hand, and with spade, machete,
and calabozo.

Every house in the campifia is surrounded by a
huerta and most houses in the pueblo have an at-
tempt at one in the back yard. These are usually
relatively small areas containing a great variety of
fruit trees, bushes, and small plots of decorative
flowers and kitchen vegetables. In the vegetable
plots it is not unusual to see onions, cabbage, lettuce,
azafran, and radishes, for example, all growing in
one plot, either in alternate rows or mixed up to-—
gether more or less indiscriminately. Usually the
small vegetable plots are surrounded by a fence of
cane to keep out poultry and dogs. The fruit trees
and bushes provide shade and protection from the
wind as well as edible products.

The field borders are usually 3 to 6 feet wide, up
next to the enclosing tapia fence of the property.
Fruit trees, shade trees, and a variety of bushes and
even planted products are to be found here.

The field crops mentioned above are seldom grown
in any quantity in huertas and field borders, but
practically all other types of domesticated or useful
plants are to be found in both huertas and borders
and often in fields themselves.

OTHER CROPS AND USEFUL PLANTS

Following are lists of domestic and useful plants
one will find in the Moche campiia. The lists are
not necessarily exhaustive.

First are listed the domesticated plants, planted
in fields, gardens, or both:

Aji (chili peppers). Several varieties, large, small, green,
yellow, and red; usually planted in huerta.

Alvaja de comida (albahaca? sweet basil). Plant grown
in fenced enclosures in huertas and used for making soup
and for flavoring other dishes.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 21

Alverjas (vetches). Planted either in fields or gardens;
plants look like those of common sweetpea; produces
small, podded, pealike fruit; several varieties.

Azafran. Usually planted in field borders and garden or-
chards; produces a dark orange-red flower, which is dried
and toasted over the fire, then rubbed to a powder be-
tween the hands. The powder is used to color foods, and
is an essential ingredient of sopa tedloga.

Gaigua of various varieties. A low, creeping plant pro-
ducing a soft squashlike fruit, which is eaten as a vege-
table and also stuffed with meat to make albdndigas.
Usually planted in field borders near irrigation ditches.

Camotes (sweetpotatoes). Planted systematically in fields.
Several varieties. The following types of camotes are
grown: sangriento (bloody), colorado (red), boca de
chizco, espelina, pierna de la viuda (“widow’s leg,” large,
long, white, and big in diameter), mifio (“child,” but,
curiously, also large and white), and morado (purple).

Capuli. Planted in fields and elsewhere; low plant; fruit
looks like North American “groundcherry.”

Carrizo. A stiff reed used for making baskets; sometimes
planted in fields, it also grows in field borders and along-
side irrigation ditches. Although this plant seems to have
a tougher, harder surfaced stem than caja brava, I
am not sure that botanically it is a distinct plant.

Cebolla (onion). Planted in gardens and fields ; some raised
for the market.

Culantre. Planted; used as food seasoning.

Garbanzo (chickpea). Planted, usually in field borders.

Lechuga (lettuce). Planted in gardens only.

Mani (peanuts). Planted in fields, but on a small scale by
the Mocheros. One of the local landholding forasteros
grows peanuts commercially.

Papas (white potatoes). Very rarely planted in Moche
because they do not do well.

Platano (banana). The following types are recognized:
Rabanete (literally “radishlike”) ; de Ja isla (island ba-
nana), especially favored in fried form; mansano (“apple
banana”), sweet and eaten raw; naranjo (“orange”),
orange colored and with a slightly tart taste; de seda
(“silky”) ; guineo (“Guinea banana”), large yellow.

Rabano (radish). Planted in gardens only.

Repollo (cabbage). Planted in fields and gardens.

Sandia (watermelon). Several varieties planted, all striped.

Tomate. Garden tomatoes; there is also said to be a wild
tomato which grows in the field borders, producing a
small, tasty fruit. (I have not seen it.)

Tumbo. A climbing vine, producing an edible fruit about
the size of a muskmelon; planted around houses as cover
for outdoor arbors. It is said that each plant has a
guardian serpent, which attacks strangers attempting to
steal the fruit or harm the plant.

Zanahoria (carrot). Planted in gardens.

Sugarcane (cafia de azucar), which constitutes the
principal field crop of the haciendas of the entire Tru-
jillo region, including the Haciendita of the Moche
District, is not grown by the Mocheros, except for an
occasional plant. Its only use as a plant among the

Mocheros is to chew the stalk as a confection, sucking
out the sweet juice.

Fruit trees and bushes planted either in huertas or
in field borders include the following:

Algodoén pardo (brown cotton). A few persons have planted
bushes in their jwertas, while other plants are to be found
growing untended by roadsides (pl. 5, middle). The
bushes assume a large, spreading form, as much as 9 feet
high and 12 feet in diameter, and are not trimmed. They
are rare in Moche, but the product is much prized for its
use in certain types of curing.

Blanquillo. Brush with edible fruit.

Calabazo (gourd tree). There are apparently several
varieties of these bushes; although the best-decorated
gourd containers in use in Moche are obtained in trade
(usually from the region of Chiclayo), gourds are grown
in Moche for ordinary use. The product varies in size and
shape from a wide, shallow, platelike container up to 15
inches in diameter, to small cups 3 inches in diameter,
and long-necked chicha bottles with globular bodies. The
branches of the producing bushes are supported by sticks
and the fruits themselves are bound with bandages in-
tended to control their shapes. The plants, which are all
of an “over-sized” bush type, are usually planted and
tended in huertas.

Cerezo (cherry).

Chirimoyo. Fruit tree in huertas.

Ciruela. Plum; planted both in huertas and field borders.

Higo (fig). Tree valued for the fruit and also for the
large five-pointed leaves which are used to flavor the dish
known as sancochado.

Limon agrio (common lemon).

Limon real. Large, sweetish lemon; some are almost orange
in color.

Limon sutil (lime).

Luicumo. Fruits are picked, placed in the sun for a day or
two, and wrapped in rags or straw to ripen.

Mamey. Fruit tree in huertas.

Mango. Fruit tree in huertas.

Membrillo. A woody bush bearing a small fruit

Naranjo agrio. Bitter orange, usually green when “ripe.”
Sucked to relieve thirst, but mainly used in seviches and
escaviches.

Narango dulce. Sweet orange.

Pacay (guava).

Palto (alligator pear). Usually found near the house.

Papayo (papaya). Has male and female forms. Male trees
have yellow flowers, and their fruit, when it occurs, is
small. Female trees have white flowers and smaller leaves.
Mocheros believe that only a man can prune the female
trees, and only a woman can prune the male trees. If
this rule is not followed, fruit shrivels or does not appear.

Other plants encountered in the campifia are the
following. Most are half-domesticated, as very little
grows wild in an irrigated countryside without at
least the tolerance of the human occupants. Some
are planted more or less regularly, some not; but

22 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

none are systematically tended as are the domesticated

“crops.”

Aleli. Small, narrow-leaved tree; flowers are used for
decoration and sold in the market.

Algarroba. Wood of the tree used for supports and beams
in houses: sweetish, large beanlike fruit eaten or sucked.
Cactus. Various types are found rarely in the Moche
countryside, and mostly near the borders of irrigation.
Cultivation is intense enough to keep most of the plants
rooted out of the farming area. The most useful is penca
(name of the plant), which is a fleshy, low cactus, produc-
ing a fruit called tuna, which is gathered and eaten. Cactus
plants are not regularly planted as fences or on top ot
tapia fences as in certain other Latin American countries,
e. g., parts of Mexico. :

Cana brava (cane). Grows wild along the edge of certain
irrigation ditches and also in large quantities near the
river. Used in making house roofs and quincha walls, etc.

Choloque. Tree which has a fruit encased in a green-yellow
shell: the shell, removed from the fruit produces “suds”
when rubbed in water and is considered the best “soap”
for washing woolen goods; inside the shell, which is soft
and sticky, is the fruit, a hard, dark purple, practically
round ball about three-eighths of an inch in diameter,
which is used in the marbles games of small boys.

Cinamon. Tree used for wood in construction.

Higaron. A large tree, with large rubbery leaves; when
twigs are broken, a white, milky, sticky sap oozes out,
which is much prized for curing quebradura (umbilical
hernia in children). The tree usually grows in huertas,
although it is also found in field borders.

Ingrio blanco (also a variety called colorado). Plant
looks somewhat like castor-bean; produces seeds covered
with a burr, which contain oil; sometimes planted, but
mainly regarded either as a weed or as decoration about
the house.

Norbo. A climbing vine, somewhat like a morning-glory,
which produces a daisylike flower; usually grows wild in
field borders, sometimes planted as cover for outdoor
arbors.

Pajarito. A small bush, producing a blue flower with a
white center ; usually wild, but sometimes transplanted to a
huerta for decoration.

Pegopego. A weed, somewhat like a nettle, which grows
along the sides of the irrigation ditches and in field
borders. It is said that the wild doves (palomas) become
entangled in it and are easily caught.

Una de gato (literally cat’s claws). Grows alongside of
tapias and irrigation ditches and is frequently planted to
serve as a fence and to keep livestock from wandering. It
is covered with spines.

Yerba luiza. A grass, the leaf of which looks much like
that of sorghum, but which, when rubbed, is aromatic. It
is much used in an iniusion to make a beverage, taken
either hot or cold. When one speaks of “tea” (té) in
Moche, the reference is practically always to this beverage
of yerba Iuiza, rather than to India or China tea.

Yuyu. A low plant which looks something like ragweed ;
not usually planted, but leaves are cooked and eaten as
greens.

A partial list of wild plants gathered for their
medicinal properties follows, in order to give some
idea of the knowledge of nature which a Mochero
possesses. A man or woman walking through the
countryside is frequently engaged in casually picking
certain herbs as he goes along, to be taken back to
the house for future use. A more complete list of
medicinal plants will be found in the section dealing
with medicine and curing. Certain families trans-
plant some of these plants to their garden orchards
in order to have them ready to hand in case of need.

Altamis. \When one has bone ache, or cold bones (/iuesos
frios), the leaves of this plant are heated and bound on to
the leg or arm in order “to get rid of the cold” (quitar el
frio).

Brocamelia. Flowers are made into an infusion as remedy
for cough.

Campana (floribundo). A small tree with lilylike leaves;
the flowers are rubbed together in the hands and used as a
poultice to relieve inflammation.

Chamico. A weed, the dried leaves of which are smoked in
cigarettes for the cure of asthma.

Chileo macho. A tree, the leaves of which are heated and
bound as a poultice over a broken bone in order “to keep
out the cold.”

Flor muerta. A yellow flower; this is cooked into a paste
and stuffed into an aching tooth.

Malva real. A roadside green plant (not to be confused
with malva de olor) ; stems and leaves used for enemas.
Rabo flaire. A plant with an appearance like that of bur-
dock; root is mashed up and used in an infusion with

chicoria, verbena, etc., for enemas.

San Juan. A creeping vine with a yellow flower; the body
of an asustado (literally, “frightened”; a type of illness
prevalent in Moche) is rubbed with the whole plant.

Sombrerita. A lilylike, low, ground plant; an infusion like
tea is made from the leaves to cure kidney trouble (dolor
de los rifiones) ; this infusion is usually made together with
the leaves of amor seco and grama dulce.

Tamarindo. Tree, the fruit of which is used as a purgative.

Verbena. Root only is used in an infusion for the cure of
malaria and other fevers.

Yerba mora. Small vine with long white flowers, used for
enemas.

Yerba santa. Grows wild; leaves are boiled and bound onto
boils as a poultice.

From the point of view of acculturation, it is worth
noting that many cultivated plants in Moche bear
names, now in common use among the natives, which
are native neither to this region nor to Peru. As
Herrera and others have pointed out,?3 the words
aji, caygua (caigua), guayaba, maiz, mani, papaya,
tomate, tuna, yuca are Haitian in origin; camote and

Herrera, 1942; also Arona, 1938 (see various words in his
dictionary); Valdizin and Maldonado, 1922, vol. 2, p. 57 and passim.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 23

chirimoyo are Mexican (Aztec); and palta is said
to be Ecuadorean (non-Quechuan) in origin.

According to Valdizan and Maldonado** the fol-
lowing plants now growing in Moche are foreign
to Peru, but were introduced from other parts of
the Western Hemisphere :

Capuli (Prunus capuli), probably from Mexico; there 1s
no Quechua or Aymara word for it.

Chirimoyo (Annona cherimola), probably indigenous to
Central America.
The same authors identify the following plants as

native to Peru:

Mani, peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), cultivated prehistorically
in the warm parts of Peru.

Carrizo (Arundo donax), probably native to Peru.

Algarrobo (Prosopts limensis; P. juliflora).

Molle (Schinus molle).

Mamey (Mammea americana).

Granadilla (Passiflora ligularis).

Tumbo (Passiflora quadrangularts).

Culantro (Coriandrum sativum).

Licumo (Lucuma obovata).

Aji (Capsicum annuum; C. frutescens; C. pubescens).

Caigua (Cyclanthera pedata var. edulis).

Zapallo (Cucurbita maxima).

Poto, mate (Lagenaria siceraria).

They identify the following as having been intro-
duced from Europe by Spaniards or other Europeans :

Garbanzo (Cicer arietinum).

Haba (Vicia faba).

Alverja, arveja (Piswm sativum).

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa). It is said that alfalfa seed was
brought from Valencia at the beginning of the Conquest
by a Portuguese, Cristébal Gazo, and was first sown in
Lima.

Cana de azucar (Saccharum officinarum).
America on the second voyage of Columbus.
Peruvian plantings were made in 1570.

Ajo, garlic (Allium sativum).

Cebolla, onion (Allium cepa).

Rabano, radish (Raphanus sativus).

Melon (Cucumis melo).

Brought to
The first

The Museo Arqueoldgico ‘Rafael Larco Herrera”
in Chiclin has identified the following list of plants
now growing in Moche as having been known to
the Mochicas from the evidence of actual preserved
finds or their portrayal in sculptured or painted
vases.

Maize (Zea mays).

Chirimoyo (Annona cherimola). Both Herrera and Val-
dizan and Maldonado, cited above, regard this plant as of
Central American origin. If this view is true and also if
% 1922, vol. 2, passim. The lists herewith given are not exhaustive.

They contain only items’ identified by the source under the common
names used in Moche.

it can be sustained that the chirimoyo was known on the
Peruvian coast as early as Mochica times, we have an
interesting evidence of prehistoric contact between this
region and Central America. Zevallos Quifiones (1944)
points out many supposed parallels in place names between
the northern Peruvian coast and Central America. The
legend of Naymlap, the allegedly Central American pre-
historic conqueror of the Lambayeque region, is well
known. (See Calancha, 1638.)

Guanabana (Annona muricata).

Palta (Persea americana).

Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).

Pallares, lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus).

Mani, peanut (Arachis hypogaea).

Pacay, guava (Inga feuillet).

Yuca, manioc (Manthot utilissima).

Algodon pardo (not specifically identified).

Papaya (Carica papaya).

Guayaba (Psidium guayava).

Camote, sweetpotato (/pomoea batatas).

Aji, pepper (Capsicum).

Tomate, small wild tomato (Solanum lycopersicwn).

Potato (Solanum tuberosum).

Caigua (Cyclanthera pedata).

Pepino (Solanum muricatum).

Zapallo (Cucurbita maxima).

Several crops mentioned as formerly important
in Moche are no longer cultivated to my knowledge.
Stiglich says, “Since 1891 the prosperity of this val-
ley, where only coca and fruit were cultivated, has
begun The coca is always carried to Trujillo
by arrieros . . .”25 JT have not obtained clear
evidence from informants that coca was ever culti-
vated on a large scale in the present District of
Moche, so am inclined to regard Stiglich’s remarks
as referring to the upper Moche valley. However,
a number of informants claim that small-scale culti-
vation of coca plants in huwertas for personal use was
practiced until 30 to 40 years ago in the Moche com-
munity. At present, so far as I know, there is no
growing coca plant in the District. Coca is used
occasionally by Mocheros, mainly as a means of keep-
ing awake during sessions of all-night work on the
irrigation ditches or at certain ceremonies, but it is
obtained in dried form from the local tiendas. The
use of coca is not habitual among Mocheros at
present.

Squier (1877) mentions that the nopal was for-
merly extensively cultivated in Moche, together with
cochineal bugs, but that this industry had largely
disappeared by the time of his visit in the 1870's.
One informant, an old man claiming to be 99 years
old, stated, without suggestion from me, that the
growing of cochineal was common in his youth. All

% Stiglich (1922, p. 688).

24 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

of this has disappeared at the present time. Squier
also mentions fields of cotton and rice in the Moche
countryside, which are now entirely absent, not only
from Moche, but also from the region of Trujillo.

A Government-supported agricultural school is
established in the town (map 1, No. 13) and farms
several tracts of land belonging to a forastero family
north and east of town. The school normally has
from 4 to 6 instructors or staff members and about
20 students. The latter are boys in their teens from
various localities of the region, who are being trained
to act as foremen and field bosses on the haciendas.
The school at present has very little, if any, influence
on agricultural methods in the Moche campiiia itself.
No demonstrations or “extension” programs are
carried out for the benefit of the Mocheros.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND STOCK RAISING

An estimated three-fifths of the farming land of
Moche is devoted to alfalfa, used to pasture and feed
milk cows. The present emphasis on dairying seems
to be a recent development of the past 10 years.
Previous to this phase, Moche agriculture was de-
voted primarily to the raising of garden crops for
the Trujillo market, and previous to the garden-crop
phases there were probably other periods of emphasis,
such as that centering about the production of
cochineal. This is to be expected, since the marketing
of Moche products is largely dependent upon the
changing conditions of the Trujillo demand and
supply situation. Garden crops for the Trujillo
market are still produced in Moche on a small scale,
but with the advent of Japanese truck gardeners
about the city and the rise in the price of milk, there
has been a shift in favor of dairy cattle.

The bulk of the milk is taken to Trujillo, either
by the wives of the producers themselves or by cer-
tain women who act as commission saleswomen,
known as revendadoras, who collect the milk from the
producers in Moche at a discount price. Some of
the Moche milk is sold in the port town of Sala-
verry. In 1944 the average price per liter obtained
in Trujillo was about 30 centavos (a little over
41% cents in United States money; a liter is slightly
more than a United States quart). I have no

‘thorough statistical data on milk production. One
of the apparently more prosperous producers said
that he obtains from his 10 cows about 130 1. per
day for an average of between 5 and 6 months of
the year; the other 6 months average only between 30
and 40 1. per day. During the season of heavy produc-

tion his income from milk is about 40 soles ($6.12)
per day. There may be 20 producers in the Moche
community who do this well. Many, however, dur-
ing my stay in the community were selling only 3 or
4 1. per day. The general practice seems to be to
mill the cows only once a day, in the early morning,
allowing the calves access to the cows during the
day. The men milk the cows, which are usually
kept tied in the fields during the night, very early
in the morning, usually between 3 and 4 o'clock,
so that the women may leave for Trujillo on the
first bus at 5 a.m. Milking takes place in the field,
an earthen pot being used, as a rule (some use
metal buckets) ; a milking stool is rarely used.

Service of a good Holstein bull costs 75 soles,
although service from nonblooded bulls may be had
for as little as 20 soles. Some farmers maintain
bulls, but the majority sell their bull calves for beef
or geld them to use as oxen. I do not know the
number of breeding bulls in the community. A
yearling calf brings between 150 and 200 soles for
beef, but a yearling heifer will bring 200 soles at the
least.

Milk cows in Moche are not fed small grain,
although they are occasionally given maize on the
cob and sweetpotatoes. In addition to feeding on al-
falfa, sorghum, and such wild grass as may be avail-
able in field borders, the cows are also allowed to
forage in fields of standing cornstalks after the ears
have been removed, as previously mentioned. In the
mountains to the southeast there is temporary pasture
some years during the month of August. This
pasture is watered by the gartia (mist) and consists:
mainly of clover and capuli; cattle are driven to
these areas for short periods if the springs and
normally dry stream beds contain sufficient water
for them to drink.

Milk is transported to Trujillo or Salaverry in
metal cans with narrow-collared necks and_ tight-
fitting lids; the cans are of various sizes, the stand-
ard being 10 1. Most of the milk is carried by
women riding the bus, although not a few still go
to Trujillo, carrying their milk cans on burros. A
donkey with a pack saddle carries normally four
10-1. cans, two on each side. The buses have railed
baggage space on the roofs where milk cans, baskets,
jars, and other luggage are carried. The whole milk
is sold and, so far as known, there is no systematic
skimming in the Moche households, nor any regular
industry of cheese or butter making.

Among the Mocheros (as distinguished from the

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 25

Haciendita and other forastero developments) it is
not the general practice to provide sheds or stables
for cattle. The animals are kept tethered by horn
ropes or neck ropes to stakes set in the fields or
pasture grounds and are driven out twice a day to
the nearest running ditch for watering, when there
is no water on the land. The stakes and the area
‘of grazing of each animal are constantly moved with
a view to prevent overgrazing of the pasture. Some
owners permit their cattle to run loose, if the field
is well closed by tapia fences, but even then children
are frequently assigned to watch them. A few owners
having houses in town maintain corrals for livestock
in the back yard of the house, but this is not a gen-
eral custom. Informants agree on a rough estimate
of 3,000 cattle maintained by the Mocheros.

Milk is very little used by adult Mocheros, although
in the food survey (pp. 54-60) it figures as a breakfast
drink for about 35 percent of Mochero school chil-
dren of both sexes. (In the breakfasts of forastero
girls it appears 60 percent of the time, and of boys
64 percent.) The emphasis upon dairying, in other
words, is primarily due to the fact that it is a cash-
money product.

In addition to cattle, which, as we have seen, are
of importance for milk, meat, and traction for plows,
the other most important domestic animals in Moche
are donkeys, or burros. These small and patient
beasts are by all odds the principal means of trans-
portation of cargo, and only recently have been
relegated to second place by the development of bus
transportation for the transport of persons to Tru-
jillo and other outside centers. Riding saddles are
not used on burros; the rider is cushioned by one
or two gunny sacks thrown over the animal’s rear
quarters. Pack saddles are of the usual type. Loads
are also frequently attached simply to a padding and
girth combination. A few peculiar customs involving
donkeys may, however, be mentioned. The word
“burro” is used in personal insults and, therefore,
is not permissible in polite conversation in Moche.
The polite word for burro is pieajeno or pieajenito.
Even this reference is usually accompanied by an
apology. Thus one will say, “Monté mi pieajemto—
perdén, compadre—hasta Trujillo.” (“I rode my
donkey—pardon, compadre—as far as Trujillo.”)
_ The sense of pieajeno is “my other foot,” or “substi-
tute for feet.” When speaking to the animal itself,
the word “burro” or a derivative is used, as when
a woman, belaboring her donkey, will scream, “Yas
véte, pues, burro.” On the other hand, to call a

653348°—47—3

person a “burro” carries a heavier emotional charge
than to call one a “donkey” among North Americans.
A donkey is often ridden at the same time it is
carrying a load in a pack saddle. The rider seats
himself astride the rear quarters of the beast ; women
frequently curl the left leg up over the back, although
sitting or kneeling fully astride is not considered
immodest. The animal is usually mounted by hook-
ing the great toe over the pack saddle strap which
goes around the donkey’s rump (this is the explana-
tion given for the fact that many Mocheros of both
sexes possess great toes widely divergent from the
other toes and the main axis of the foot). The
alforja, a double “saddle bag” (also used as a shoulder
bag) is constantly present, thrown over the donkey’s
back. Donkeys, when not working, are kept in the
fields, although there are several arrieros (profes-
sional donkey drivers) in the town, who maintain
corrals and buy feed. Informants estimate that there
are 900 to 1,000 donkeys.

Only a few of the wealthier Mocheros own horses.
Most of these animals in the community belong to
forasteros. They are ridden with saddles, with
gunny sack cushions, and bareback. A few riding
mules are kept in the community.

It is common for two persons to ride one burro
when it is carrying no other load. The heavier of
the two is mounted over the hind quarters of the
animal. Wooden saddles, lightly covered with leather
and many nails, are used for horseback riding,
although horses are also ridden simply with pad and
girth, or bareback. Except for the most calloused
buttocks, a blanket must be thrown over the saddle
as protection from the rough corners and nailheads.
Donkeys are managed only with a halter and a single
tie rope, and they are prodded along with a stick,
which is periodically rammed into the hind quarters.
Horses are handled with rawhide or woven-leather
halters. Bits are very rarely used. The reins are
attached to a muzzle consisting of a single strap
or line of woven leather, which goes around the
horse’s nostrils and under its lower jaw. A hard
pull compresses the horse’s nostrils as well as lifts
the head. Usually the traveling gait is a soft trot.
The horses belong to the so-called Peruvian breed
(not a pedigreed stock as yet), which is characterized
by an unusually long pastern, making for an easy
trot.

A donkey is worth from 30 soles up, a horse from
200 soles up, and a riding saddle from 200 soles up.

Practically every household. whether in town or in

26 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

the country, keeps poultry—chickens, ducks, and/or
turkeys. Eggs are a common article of diet among
the Mocheros, and poultry flesh also is consumed,
although not so frequently. Both products are also
sold. Poultry is frequently kept in small houses in
the yard, made either of fotora matting (esteras) or
of caia brava. Sometimes houses of the latter are
built on small platforms 4 to 5 feet off the ground
as a protection from weasels and dogs. The birds
roost in these shelters at night, but usually have
their laying nests either in corners of the human
dwelling or about the juerta. Ordinary chickens are
called “Tira chusca raza.” A mottled gray-and-white
type is called carioca chusca. Fighting cocks are
not bred here as a general rule. There is no cock-
fighting arena in the community and little interest
is shown in the sport; except in the event of an
occasionally arranged local affair, the followers of
the sport must go to Trujillo to follow their interest.

Swine are kept by some Mocheros, although com-
paratively rarely. Most of the swine in the com-
munity are the property of forasteros. Sheep are
also kept on a comparatively small scale mainly by
those who own or have access to the natural pasture
land near the river.

Dogs are the only other regularly kept domestic
animals. These are numerous, and each household
is guarded by two or three at least. They seem to
be mongrels, with houndlike smooth-haired varieties
in the majority, although large hairy brutes, derived
from something like an English shepherd dog are
not uncommon. Not a few households have “Chinese
dogs” (perros de los chinos), a practically hairless
breed of dog about the size of a terrier, with black
skin, ratlike tail, and thin, spindly legs. Although
the Mocheros stoutly maintain that only the Chinese
eat these dogs, I am not above the suspicion that
certain natives have consumed them. The iarger
dogs, aside from serving as noisy announcers of the
approach of strangers, also aid in herding cattle
when they are being driven along a road or lane.

Some households keep cats, but these animals are
by no means as universal as dogs.

It is said that guinea pigs (cuyes) were formerly
kept in Moche as house animals. So far as I could
discover there are none now, and even curing
brujos, who use the animals in divining, say that
they are forced to obtain the guinea pigs from out-
side the community.

Goats, so far as could be determined, are raised
even less frequently than sheep, and they also are

maintained on the natural grazing grounds near the
river. Both of these animals are raised mainly for
meat, rather than for wool or hair. Although kid,
and to a lesser extent, mutton, is a favorite food of
the Mocheros, the major part of the meat is bought
in the Trujillo markets. The lack of emphasis upon
sheep and goat raising is explained by the fact that
pasture suitable for these animals is scarce and that
maintaining them on the alfalfa pastures would be
uneconomical.

HUNTING AND TRAPPING

Hunting has practically disappeared except as a
sport. Occasional forays are made into the moun-
tains, but very few Mocheros have guns, which have
to be licensed by the police. Opossums, weasels,
and rodents are trapped in box traps with figure-4
triggers of wood and a drop entrance door, a Euro-
pean or North American pattern. The only animals
extensively trapped for food are, I believe, the small
lizards (cananes). These are hunted by small boys,
who kill them on the run with sticks. It is also
said that they are trapped according to the Mochica
method. This consists of standing up a long roll
of matting in the form of a fence across a field and
with an inward curl of the matting at each end. The
lizards are stopped by the barrier and are too stupid
to go backward or around the curled ends to escape.
The cafan lives near algorroba trees because he
eats the seeds (faiques). The cavianes are not to
be confused with other small lizards called largartijas.

During the moist winter season occasional expedi-
tions are made to the nearby mountains to the east
to gather large ground snails, which appear there
at that season. They are steamed and eaten.

RELIGIOUS ASPECTS

A certain amount of superstition and religious be-
liefs is involved in agricultural and horticultural
activities, of which the following are given:

It is believed that every hwerta has a serpent
guardian. This serpent is called a “culambra” (this
word does not occur in Spanish dictionaries, includ-
ing that of the Royal Academy). If a stranger
enters the huerta, the culambra wraps itself around
him until the master of the huerta arrives. When
the master arrives, he must beat or otherwise punish
the snake. If he does not do so, the snake will
wrap itself around him also. These snakes are
not poisonous, but are said to reach a length of a

F MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 27

meter or more and to be as big around as a boy’s
arm.

The belief has been previously mentioned that
each tumbo vine also has a serpent guardian. I
personally have never succeeded in seeing a snake
of any kind in a hwerta and therefore am unable
to say from direct experience whether this belief is
based on materialistic experience, or not.

Witchcraft (brujeria) can be used to damage
crops as it can be used to do harm to almost any-
thing else. Certain individuals are believed to
possess the power of casting blights upon crops.
By way of illustration, the following two ex-
periences are presented, recorded directly from in-
formants and checked and approved by others:

M. R., an old woman, was known as a witch in the pueblo.
But, although it is said that witches cannot enter the church
without being struck dead, nevertheless, M. R. regularly at-
tended church and spoke to all the people. This is regarded
as proof of her extraordinary power. One day the old
woman fell sick. Her son, with whom she lived in the
pueblo, went out in the evening to visit friends, leaving the
invalid in the house. Upon returning he found that his

. mother was gone. He and his family went out searching for

her all over town. No one had seen her. After 2 days they
received a report from a farmer living near the Huaquita,
saying that the old woman had been seen near his chacra—
in the form of a cow. How did he know it was she? Be-
cause he had hit the cow to force it out of a field, and it had
yelled out in human words, “Don’t hit me. I am M. R.”
Also, this farmer had noticed that several days previously
his alfalfa crop had started to wither and go bad. He sud-
denly realized that it had been bewitched and that this
apparition of the bruja in the form of a cow explained every-
thing. The farmer and his sons beat the cow violently with
sticks to drive it away, despite its human screams. Two days
later the old woman appeared in the town at the house of her
son, The story of the farmer about the cow was obviously
true, because the old woman bore marks on her back showing
that she had been beaten with a stick. A few days later she
died, as must happen to all transfigured witches discovered
in their disguise.

Everyone consulted obviously believes this story,
even one of my principal informants, an enlightened
“accepted forastero.”

Another story has to do with old J. B. It is said that one
day he came to the house of a neighbor, one of my
informants. J. B. had a general reputation as a malevolent
brujo, or witch, although he does no harm to persons, as a
general rule. He asked the wife of my informant if she had
any chicha (corn beer). The woman said, “No,” rather
brusquely. “All right,” said J. B., and went away without
further comment. It was not more than an hour after his
departure before the chicha in the house turned to vinegar,
and the next day a blight appeared upon the field crops. A
week or so later J. B. again appeared at the house and asked

if there were chicha. The lady of the house had drawn her
own conclusions and said “Yes, indeed,” with alacrity, forc-
ing J. B. to drink as much as he could hold. Then she
brought up the matter of the blight which had fallen on the
crops and the chicha, and asked J. B. tactfully if he could
not do something about it. He replied hesitatingly that he
would see. She gave him several bottles of chicha to take
with him when he left. The next day the blights on chicha
and field crops disappeared. This is only one of a number of
similar incidents which are supposed, according to one of my
informants, to prove that J. B. is a witch.

In summary, it is believed that witches may cast
spells on crops and that they may be hired by rivals
to do so. Likewise, the victim may seek out another
brujo (witch) who may succeed in counteracting the
spell, or, on the other hand, the victim may placate
the witch and induce him to remove the spell.

San Isidro the Laborer,?® whose feast day is
May 15, is celebrated as the patron of agriculturists.
The image of the saint is taken out of the church
under the care of a group of devotees (imayordomia)
to make a pilgrimage about the countryside, stopping
in the houses of those who have raised altars in his
honor. People say that the purpose of this journey
is “Pa que haga la bendicion en las siembras” (“In
order that he bless the crops”). Formerly, it is said,
special crops were planted in the plaza for San Isidro,
but this custom went out of practice 40 years or
more ago. My period of contact did not include
the day of San Isidro, so the translation of the
written description of one of my informants is quoted:

The 5th of May, the Saint goes forth from the parochial
church en route to the campina where he spends the night at
various altars erected by individual families and where also
religious ceremonies take place. These frequently turn into
carousals (se tornan en jaranas) and gorgings (comzlonas)
where the chicha, the liquor of the Incas, flows from gourd
to gourd (de poto en poto) and from mouth to mouth. Great
quantities are consumed until the Saint arrives at an altar
near the Huaca del Sol. From that point commences what
is known as the “descent of the Saint” (/a bajada del Santo)
and exactly in the evening of the 14th the Patron of the
Crops enters the pueblo accompanied by a great crowd which
has dressed in its best clothes (de gala) for the occasion.
A curious note in the celebration is the dance of the Devils
(Diablos) who do not cease to dance from the moment of
the Saint’s entrance until the evening of the 16th, enlivened
by drinks (avivados por las copas) and the joy of serving
the Saint. A band of musicians welcomes the Saint upon his
entrance into the pueblo and he leads the procession to his
altar erected beside the church. Covered with flowers, the
progress of the Saint is the center of attention for natives
and strangers. Afterward come the vespers, which have two
stages, one inside the church and the other outside. The fol-

28 Not to be confused with St. Isidore of Seville, whose feast day
is April 4 (Cabrol, 1934, pp. liv and 841).

¢
=

ioe)

lowing day the Mass is celebrated and afterward a proces-
sion through the pueblo. At 3p. m. the distribution of fruits
of the harvest takes place. An arch erected over the Saint
and his scepter (bastoén) are loaded with offerings for the
Sefior priest (Sr. cura), and the remaining offerings are dis-
tributed to the poor. The following day (the 16th of May),
the will (festimonio) of San Isidro is read, which assigns
tasks to those who have not fulfilled their obligations to the
Saint.

FISHING

The third and, from the point of view of the number
of inhabitants, smallest of the three major divisions
of the Moche community is the playa, or beach.
Physically the beach is squarely divided by a re-
cently built summer resort called Las Delicias, given
over during the hot season to the pleasure of Tru-
jillo residents who can afford to own or rent cot-
tages there. A number of shops, a cement-sidewalked
plaza with electric lights, a seaside promenade, and
a casino made of planks constitute this vacation set-
tlement, in addition to some 30 cottages (pl. 8,
middle, left). However, Las Delicias normally is
inhabited only during the latter part of December
and the months of January and February. It is
an outside intrusion which plays no functional part
in the community life of Moche, other than as a
temporary source of sales and employment for a
few Mocheros during the “‘season.”’ During the re-
mainder of the year it is totally deserted. The pro-
fessional fishing families of Moche are distributed
along the dunes overlooking the beach for about
a half mile on each side of Las Delicias. There are
seven houses to the northwest and seven to the south-
east. Counting a few chozas about the mouth of
the river to the northeast and a few more fisher
families who maintain their dwellings back from the
beach (mas adentro), the total fishing community
consists of perhaps 30 families. It is said that this
is considerably less than in former times, and that
as recently as 10 years ago there were as many as
50 fishermen’s houses on the beach.

When speaking of the fishing element in the com-
munity, I refer to those families whose principal
activity is devoted to fishing, which is their main
source of livelihood. Almost everyone in the Moche
community goes to the beach occasionally to try his
luck, and also fishes in the ditches and the river,
but only the fishers (pescadores), properly speaking,
try to make a living out of it.

Except for occasional short trips with the Huan-
chaco fishermen, who sometimes visit these waters

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

during the summer season, the Moche fishermen use.
no water craft in their profession and all fishing is
done either from the shore of the sea or in the river
or the irrigation ditches. The following fishing ap-
paratus is used: (1) The cahudn, a dip net for
catching shrimp, crabs, ete. (pl. 8, lower (right));
(2) the chinchorro (pl. 8, upper (right)), a large
two-man net of the general shape of a tennis net,
but wider and longer, used for fishing off the beach
by wading into the surf; (3) the atarraya, a casting
net; (4) the red, a set net staked out at night;
(5) the naza, a conical trap of cane set out in the
river or irrigation ditch; and (6) the espinel, a set-
line with hooks (fig. 1).

SEA
SHORE LINE

BEACH

CUERDA (f)

UNDERTOW
x

FONDA (b)

TIRA(a)
N.W.

CURRENT

Ficure 1,—Explanatory diagram of setline used for fishing
(espinel), (For explanation, see p. 29.)

All of these appliances are made by the fishermen
themselves. The cahudn is made of cotton thread.
As can be seen from the photograph (pl. 8, lower
(right) ), the net is a purse-shaped affair supported
on two sticks held in the hands. Across the front
edge runs a thin rope to which are attached several
small lead weights, totaling about one-half pound,
which keeps this edge deep in the water when fishing
for shrimp, crabs, and small fish. The mesh is fine,
about one-quarter of an inch. The net is used both
in the sea and in fresh water. Two kinds of shrimp
are caught, imuy-muwy (sea shrimp), also called

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 29

camarones del mar, and caimarones del rio (fresh-
water shrimp). The m«y-muy are about the size of
half of an English walnut shell and do not have the
long, meaty “tail” of the fresh water shrimp. The
usual method of eating them is to take the whole
animal in the mouth, audibly sucking out the meat
inside the shell, and finally spitting the remains onto
the floor.

The chinchorro varies in length, one being as long
as 100 feet; 40 to 50 feet is the more usual length.
The net is about 5 feet wide and the mesh is about
an inch. The bottom edge is weighted with small
lumps of lead and the top edge is supported by floats

made of globular gourds (chunos). At each end the
net is attached by small ropes to a wooden stick
about 5 feet 4 inches long. One man grasps each
stick and the team walks into the sea, dragging the
net between them. Plate 8, upper (right), shows one
of these nets drying over a wooden framework on
the beach; the small boy is holding one of the end
sticks. Although there is no direct evidence that
the ancient Mochicas used this type of net for fishing,
a similar net was used by them for hunting on land.
The atarraya net is roughly circular in shape. A
thin rope is threaded through the edge around the
circumference and is weighted with small lumps of
lead. A slit or opening leads from the circumference
of the circle to the center and hand ropes or cords
are attached to each side of this opening on the cir-
cumference. In use, the fisherman holds one of these
in his mouth or in his hand, makes the rest of the
net into a bundle, and flings it over the water so
that it lands spread out on the surface and the
weighted edges quickly sink to the bottom. With
the hand ropes the net is drawn together and pulled
to shore, with the fish imprisoned within.
The red (net) is usually a comparatively short,
rectangular net somewhat like the chinchorro in shape
but provided with larger meshes. It is staked out
overnight in a stream, rarely in the sea. It is a
gill net in which the fish are caught by poking their
heads into the meshes.
The naga is a conical basket trap made of cajia
brava or bamboo (Guayaquil cane). It may vary
in measurements, but a useful size is about 5 feet
long by 18 inches in diameter at the mouth, from
which it tapers to a point at the rear end. The pat-
tern seems to have first appeared in the Chimu cul-

ture. The trap is staked down in a small channel
of the river or an irrigation ditch overnight, with
the open mouth upward.

The espinel or setline is perhaps used more on the
Moche playa than any of the other types of equip-
ment. In the sketch in figure 1, a-f, the various parts
of this apparatus are shown. The tira (a) is a light
three-ply rope which runs out to the sea perpen-
dicularly from the shore line to the fondo (b), an
anchor of stone or old iron. The other end of the
tira is fastened to the shore above high water mark.
About 30 feet out from shore the cuerda (f), a
cotton three-ply line, carrying the hooks, is attached.
Hooks are attached to the cuerda about every 7 feet,
and a good espinel will carry about 100 hooks. The
hooks (d) are pointed but without barbs (this seems
to be a Mochica survival) and are attached to the
cuerda, as shown in the inset of the sketch, by wire
5 to 6 inches long. (This is the ‘“‘best type” of
espinel; some do not have wire attachments, and
consequently lose many hooks.) The hooks vary
in size according to the type of fish sought, but the
most generally used size is about 3 inches long (about
4'4 inches long, if straightened out). The hooks
At the farther
end of the cuerda is attached the gourd float or
chuno (c) which in shape and method of binding also
seems to be a Mochica survival. From the chuno
a light rope, called the cuadera (e), continues on-
ward some distance parallel to the shore line and is
eventually carried ashore and fastened on the beach.
Total length of cuerda and cuadera may reach 1,500
feet. The purpose of the tira and anchor is to hold
the cuerda with its hooks out from the shore at a
controlled distance and at a controlled depth. The
prevailing current up the coast from the southeast
keeps the cuerda with its hooks stretched out along
the shore to the northwest, while the undertow from
the surf tends to keep it offshore. The chuno float
keeps the line from dragging on the bottom. The
large types of fish are caught with this equipment—
the bonito, bacalao, corvina, etc.

are baited with two mzy-muy each.

Two main types of instruments are used in mak-
ing nets, needles (agujas) and blocks (mtalleros).
These are used in various sizes for the different
types of nets. The needle is made of bamboo, and
has a point and a cut-out tongue. I have not made
a study of the knots used, but have been told that
two types are current, de chinchorro and de red.
Fishermen are usually at work on their nets, when
not otherwise employed. It is said to require about
3 months of part-time work of this sort for one man
to make a chinchorro, and the material which goes
into it costs about 50 soles ($7.65). The material in

30 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

a caliudn costs about 8 soles, but a ready-made
article sells for 20 soles. The playa dwellers obtain
a certain income from making dip nets and casting
nets, which they sell to Mocheros of the campuia
for fishing in the river and in the irrigation ditches
for shrimp and small fish about the size of sardines.

The fishermen rise between 3 and 4 o'clock in the
morning. The night’s catch and that of the day be-
fore are placed in baskets and their women carry
them by bus to the markets in Trujillo and Salaverry.

The fishing community is apart from the rest
of Moche physically and to some extent socially. As
a rule the people are poorer than the pueblo and
campiina Mocheros and are looked down upon
slightly. Also, they have a reputation of being very
irritable and hard to get along with (coléricos).
They do not seem to be united even among them-
selves and, in keeping with the general Moche pat-
tern of individualism, are engaged in feuds and
quarrels. Several families living side by side on the
beach do not speak to one another, and refuse to visit
one another’s houses. The seven houses to the north-
west of Las Delicias all belong to families named G.,
who are relatives.
east are occupied by families of the name of S. The
fishing occupation seems to be traditional and is
passed on from father to son. Most of the fishing
families have a chacra somewhere in the campiiia
and supplement their subsistence from it. In a
number of cases, however, a single chacra has been
inherited by the heads of a number of immediate
families in common, a fact which seems to account
for some of the quarreling.

Fishing has become a distinctly secondary activity
in the economic life of Moche itself. In order to
round out a picture of fishing along this immediate
coast, some notes on the village of Huanchaco, where
fishing is the primary activity of the community,
are presented below.

Five of the houses to the south-

NOTES ON THE FISHING VILLAGE OF
HUANCHACO*

Following the coast line about 17 km. northwest
from Las Delicias (the resort settlement on the Moche
playa) one comes to the fishing village of Huanchaco
(pl. 1). By highway, passing through Trujillo, the
distance is about 21 km. In the region of Huan-
chaco it is considered that it is a “Moche village,”
that it (together with Huaman and Moche) is one

My friend Sefior José Angel Mifiano of Trujillo has allowed me
to check his notes against my own, has discussed the material with
me, and, on one occasion, accompanied me to Huanchaco and put
me in touch with many persons I would not otherwise have known.

of the remnants of the prehistoric population, and
that certain aspects of its modern life are “survivals”
of ancient times. Since the natives of Huanchaco
are on the whole dedicated to professional fishing,
both deep-sea and inshore, a brief description of
their methods and organization is of interest from
a comparative point of view.

At present Huanchaco is a village of about 700
inhabitants situated in a shallow and arid indentation
or bay of the coast. The beach slopes upward gently
for a distance of about half a mile from the sea to
the foot of an escarpment 150 to 300 feet above sea
level which rises to the general level of the coastal
plain stretching inland to the foothills of the Andes.
A large church, rebuilt in modern times, sits on
the lip of the escarpment and dominates all views of
the town below, which is laid out back from the
beach. During the early years of this century the
town was developed into a port for the shipment of
sugar and as a summer resort for residents of
Trujillo, A railroad connected the port with the
Hacienda Roma and also, according to my under-
standing, with Trujillo. The motivator of this
development was the late Sefior Victor Larco Her-
rera, the Peruvian millionaire and
philanthropist. He is still spoken of as the “patron”
of the pueblo. About 1925, however, Seftor Larco
disposed of his plantation holdings. The railroad
tracks were removed and the summer visitors
abandoned their villas in Huanchaco. The town was
left once more to its native inhabitants and the sum-
mer villas stand now, mostly in a semiruined state,
along the street nearest the seashore. Senor Larco’s
house on the beach has been turned into a Govern-
ment-supported rest school for the underprivileged
and tuberculous children.28 A good pier with steel
supports and wooden flooring, also owned and main-
tained by the Government, provides tie-up facilities
for sailing boats and launches and is the central
feature of the beach. The sea bottom close inshore
is covered with cobblestones to which cling several
varieties of seaweed and shellfish, which are gathered
by the women of the community; back of the high
water mark the shore is covered for the most part
with smooth sand, over which caballitos del mar
(small rafts made of fotora, a species of reed; see
fig. 2; pls. 8, lower (left), 9, lower and middle
(left) ) as well as wooden fishing boats of larger
dimensions can be hauled without damage. The

well-known

*87 wish to acknowledge the helpfulness and hospitality of Sefor
Daniel F. Ugarriza, Director of the Colonia Victor Larco Herrera in
Huanchaco, who entertained me royally in the village.

9

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 31

- wooden-hulled sailing boats used for deep-sea fishing
are also made and repaired on crude scaffoldings
erected on the beach.

The people of Huanchaco are Indians and cholos.
Although one gains the impression that the propor-
tion of white blood is slightly greater than in the
population of Moche, the Huanchaqueros are on the
whole definitely more Indian in physical features
than the general population of Trujillo. However,
consciousness of an ethnic bond uniting Moche and
Huanchaco, if it ever existed, seems to have dimmed
with the years in both communities. Family re-
lationships uniting the two communities seem to be
very few, or, at least, very poorly remembered. A
few Mocheros have friends in Huanchaco, and the
converse is also true, but the number of friendship
bonds between Moche and Huanchaco at present
seems to be less than those involving Moche and
Paijan, Ascope, and other villages. Most of the
Huanchaquero contacts with Mocheros are with the
inhabitants of the Moche playa, because at certain
times of the year the Huanchaco boats come down
the coast and pick up Mochero fishermen for several
days of joint activity. Following is a list of the
principal family names in Huanchaco. These are
all family names of “true Huanchaqueros,” as dis-
tinguished from forasteros.

Aguilar Huamanchumo
Aguirre Leyt6n (from ‘‘Leighton” ?)
Arroyo Ordio

Asencio Pimichumo
Azola Sanchez
Beltran Segura

Berna Ucanian
Carranza Urcia
Chilmaza Vanegas
Cumplida Villacorta
Diaz Villaneuva

It is to be noted that only two of these—Huaman-
chumo and Sanchez—are to be found in our list of
Moche patronyms on page 103. Of the Huanchaco
list, only the following appear to be possibly aborigi-
nal: Chilmaza, Huamanchumo, Pimichumo, and
Ucafian. It is doubtful that any of these four is
Mochica or Chimu in derivation.

Inland, back of the church, are cultivated lands
belonging to the community. But they have water
only during the tiempo de abundancia (January—
March) and, therefore, produce only one crop per
year. These lands are rented to individuals by the
municipalidad (local government), and most families
have one of these plots on which they raise small

crops of maize, rice, beans, etc., for family use.
However, these agricultural activities are insufficient
to maintain the people and are distinctly secondary
to fishing.

Four general methods of obtaining sea products
are practiced by the Huanchaqueros: (1) Fishing
from sailboats or motorboats of wood; (2) fishing
from caballitos del mar (literally “little horses of the
sea”) ; (3) gathering of shellfish and sea plants by
wading; (4) fishing with hooks and lines from the
shore.

FISHING FROM BOATS

The boats are made of planks, with wooden keel,
ribs, and gunwales, in the European fashion. They
have square sterns, are open (without decking except
for a short weather cowling aft of the bow), and
contain wooden crosswise benches. They are from
18 to 21 feet in over-all length, from 41% to 5% feet
in beam at the gunwale, and draw about 4 feet of
water when loaded. Each sailboat has a single mast
stepped into the keel about one-third of the distance
ait of the bow. The mast is steadied by four guy-
ropes attached two to each gunwale, while a fifth guy-
rope runs from the masthead to the bow. The sails
are triangular, but of the latan type. The longest
side of the triangular sail is attached to a single boom,
one end of which is attached to the bow of the boat,
while the boom as a whole is suspended from the
top of the mast by a pulley rope attached to the boom
about one-fourth of the distance from its upper end,
as illustrated in plate 8, upper (left). It is possible to
tack against the wind with this type of sail, but when
the tack is changed the sail must be lowered and then
raised again for best results.

These sailboats are made in Huanchaco and also
in Salaverry. In 1944 there were two specialist boat-
wrights in Huanchaco. A boat costs between 5,000
and 6,000 soles ($765 to $918), and this price does
not include the sail, fishing nets, and other equip-
ment. Although this is a large investment accord-
ing to local standards, a boat, if properly handled,
will serve, with luck, for as long as 30 years. After
building, the boat is launched by a minga, in which
a group of 20 to 25 friends join to provide their
strength in return for festive food and drink provided
by the owner and his wife.

There are 20 sailboats in the Huanchaco fleet.
In addition, there are 6 Jlanchas (motorboats),
powered with Diesel engines (pl. 9, lower (right) ).

The lanchas are decked fore and aft and have a

32 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

cockpit in the middle. None are being built along
this coast at present owing to inability to obtain
motors, but before World War II, it is said, a motor-
boat cost about 50 percent more than a sailboat. Its
advantage lies, of course, in greater speed, inde-
pendence of wind conditions, and ability to operate
with smaller crew.

All boats of the Huanchaco fleet are painted yel-
low, to distinguish them from boats based on
Salaverry (blue) and Puerto Chicama (white).
Fach boat has a name, often, though not invariably,
painted on the stern. Following are some of the
names. Sailboats: Santa Cecelia, San Gabriel, In-
tendente de la Torre, Huascar, Defensor Cahuide,
Santa Cruz, San José, San Lorenzo, San Andrés,
San Francisco, Santa Fe, San Miguel, Miguel Grau,
Compafiero del Mar, Santa Lucia, Santa Barbara,
San Antonio, and Jesus del Gran Poder. Motor-
boats: Nuestra Senora de Socorro, Santa Rita,
Santa Maria, Santa Luiza, and Santa Isabel. Every
boat carries a saint’s image or picture, even those
which do not bear saints’ names, usually placed under
the weather cowling at the bow. The saints involved
serve as protectors of the boat, and when a boat
carries a saint’s name it also carries the saint’s image
and protection.

As a rule each boat has a single owner, although
two of the motorboats are owned by a partnership of
three men. The owner of the boat sometimes owns
one or more nets, but not necessarily so. The proper
crew for a sailboat is four men, one of whom is
One of the men (not
necessarily the boat owner) is the commander or
patron. He is an expert in managing the boat and
the other three crew members take their orders from
him. He has no other privileges except his power to
give orders and to exact obedience. Failure of a
crew member to obey the patrén results in his ex-
clusion from the crew and inability to sail under
this patron in the future. Other patrones will also
be chary of taking him into their crews. The in-
dividuals forming a crew are sometimes relatives, but
just as often not. Election or recognition as a patron
is said to depend upon an innate ability or knack ; fre-
quently the patrén is the youngest man in the boat.
Take the boat, Santa Fe, for example. Mercedes
Arroyo is palrén,; he is about 21 years old, and all
the other members of the crew are older men. Pedro
Pimichumo is owner, but when at sea, takes orders
from Mercedes. The other members of the crew are
Manuel Arroyo and Antonio Gordillo. Manuel is

usually the owner of the boat.

the oldest of the crew and is uncle of Mercedes and
Antonio. Pedro, the boat’s owner, does not sail
every day and when on the beach substitutes his son
in the crew. Santa Fe operates four nets.

The division and counting of the catch also fol-
low a peculiar system. Nets belong to individuals,
not to boats (although the owner of a boat may also
be the owner of one or more nets). There is no
definite number of nets which a boat should operate,
although 4 for each is regarded as a proper minimum
while some boats carry as many as 20. The catch
from each net is divided into two parts: one-half of
the catch “belongs to the net” (i. e., the owner of the
net), while the other half is divided share and share
alike among the members of the crew and the boat.
Thus, if there are four crew members, the second half
of the catch is divided into five parts. The boat re-
ceives a share equal to that of one crew member.
The patron, or commander of the boat, receives the
same share as the other crew members. <As each net
is drawn up, the fish from it are marked with a
knife cut which identifies them as having come from
that net. For example, a chip from the left side near
the head marks the fish from one net, from the right
side near the tail, another net, and so on. When the
boat returns to shore, the fish are unloaded from the
boat by stringing them through the gills onto large
poles of “Guayaquil cane,” about 2 inches in diameter
and 8 to 9 feet long, which, with their loads, are car-
ried between the shoulders of two men. On the
beach the fish are first sorted into separate piles be-
longing to their respective nets. Each pile is then
sorted into separate piles by species of fish (which
approximates sorting by size). Division by halves
then takes place with the “‘net’s half” being set aside,
and the crew’s and boat's shares being placed in
common piles (according to species or size). After
all the net shares have been separated, the crew and
boat shares are counted off into piles, beginning with
the large fish and working into the smaller ones.

The whole fleet and the profession are organized
informally. I*elipe Carranza, the best patrdn, is
recognized as “chief pilot” of the fleet, and Lino
Segura is called “chief of the port” and also primer
sargento de los pescadores (first sergeant of the
fishermen). These titles are recognized by the de-
partmental government in some vague way, which 1s
not entirely clear to me, but the real authority of
the offices depends upon respect accorded to them
by the other fishermen. Thus, all boats are bound
by the opinion of the chief pilot regarding the

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN a)

weather. If, im his judgment, a storm is brewing and
he advises against sallying forth, no boats leave port.
The chief of the port assigns anchorages and tie posts
to the various craft and settles disputes, which, how-
ever, are said to be very rare. He also acts as a

-spokesman for the fishermen, who are not yet organ-
ized as an official “syndicate” (legal union or workers’
group) under the provisions of the Peruvian labor
laws.

Sails are made in Huanchaco and in Salaverry
of regular sailcloth, which has been scarce during
the war. Specialists do the best work, although a
number of boat owners make their own sails. A good
sail is said to cost about 200 soles ($30.60) or more.
Sail ropes must be of manila fiber.

On the other hand, everyone, even women, knows
how to make nets. They are of the same general
shape as a tennis net, although both longer and
wider, about 4% feet wide by about 100 feet long.
About every 3 feet along the upper edge is fastened
a slab of cork, so that an ordinary net has from 30
to 35 of these floats to support it in the water. Along
the lower edge are affixed an equal number of lead
weights. At each end of the upper edge is a
lateral projection or extension called a cabecera
(head) or an oreja (ear). To each of these ears is
attached a chuno, a float made from a large spherical
gourd about 12 to 15 inches in diameter held by a
binding of light rope. One is larger than the other
and serves as a marker buoy in case the net is de-
tached from the boat. Also extending from each
ear of the net is a hand rope, made of manila fiber,
about one-half inch in diameter and varying in length
from a few feet up to more than 100 feet. Although

occasionally these nets are trawled between two
boats, the usual pattern is to cast them out from a
single boat, with both ends of the net secured to
the boat by the hand ropes. Motion of the boat and
the current carry the fish against the net. The inter-
_ stices of the net are about 114 to 2 inches on a side.
- They are holding nets, which catch the fish behind
the gills.
Nets are made from three-ply cotton twine pur-
® chased in the stores at a price now varying between
: 10 and 12 soles ($1.53 to $1.84) per pound. At this
_ rate a net costs up to 150 soles ($22.95) for materials
alone. The fishermen complain loudly of being ex-
ploited by speculators. Nets are made in the same
‘manner as at Moche, using the bare foot and toes
to hold the line, and a netting needle of cane with
cut-out and small tongue. Two types of knots are

used, el derecho, a slip knot, and el cruzado, a tight
knot.

Ropes for nets are made of cabo fiber, which is
made in factories and bought by the fisherman in
stores, but which they themselves twine into ropes
in Huanchaco. Net ropes are called fayas.

When a new net has been completed and before
it is used for the first time, it is subjected to cere-
monial treatment. The owner finds a brujo curan-
dero (curing witch), who “‘cures” the net. Although
I have not seen this treatment, it is said to involve
filling the chunos with juice of herbs, pouring it out,
and officially sealing them, together with sprinkling
of the net itself with herbs and powders used in
ordinary brujeria (witchcraft). Also, each net be-
fore it is wetted (antes de mojarla) undergoes a
padrinazgo ceremony. The owner chooses a padrino
(godfather) and madrina (godmother) for the net.
Their relationship to the owner is expressed as
compaieros de la red (companions or partners of the
net). They have only the obligation of arranging
(and paying for) the fiesta on this occasion. The
principal ceremonial activity of the fiesta consists of
laying out the net in the form of a cross and sprinkling
it with holy water.

Occasionally a net falls into a period in which it
seems to be unable to catch anything. The owner
will soon come to the conclusion that someone /a
hecho dao a la red (has done harm to the net),
in other words, some enemy has hired a malero (evil
witch) to cast a spell upon it. In this case, the
owner again seeks out a brujo curandero to “cure”
the net once more.

The daily fishing cycle begins about noon, when,
if the weather is favorable, the fleet leaves port for
the high seas (pl. 8, middle (right)). Tach boat is
loaded by its crew with their personal belongings,
the nets (which have now been dried, repaired, and
folded into bundles on the beach), food, and ballast
(gunny sacks full of sand, which may be dumped
overboard as the catch loads down the boat). Oars
may be used to move the boat out of the lee of the
dock. Since there is always a heavy swell, at least,
running in from the Pacific, the boats are tossed
excitingly as they climb the swells and disappear into
the troughs until they are well out at sea. The daily
sailing of the fleet is a decidedly picturesque spectacle,
with the women, children, and old men lining the
dock and the beach and waving farewell to the

sailors. Several men and boats are lost each year,

34 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

so that each sailing has an element of some un-
certainty.

The boats stay at sea, often well out of sight of
land, until dawn of the following morning. The
crews carry food and chicha for the voyage and
normally sleep several hours, in shifts, during the
night. The night is spent in darkness, as a light in a
boat attracts sharks and sea-lion which damage the
nets. Time is kept by the stars. For example, ac-
cording to Felipe Carranza, the Lucero de la Manana
appears in November at about 4a.m.; Las Cabrillas
(Pleiades) about 3 a. m.; and El Arado sets between
3 and 4a. m., at about the same time that the Cruz de
Mayo appears. When these astronomical signs show
that the hour is between 3 and 4 o’clock in the morn-
ing, the boats begin to return to port. Usually the
boats are out about 16 to 20 miles and require be-
tween 2 and 3 hours to reach Huanchaco in the first
gray dawn. Arrived at port, the boats tie up to the
lee side of the dock and the fish are carried to the
beach on poles as already described, or, in the case of
large fish, one man may carry a fish in each hand by
the gills. The women, children, and old men are
waiting. After the catch has been properly divided,
as described above, the women of those who have
participated in the division proceed immediately to
clean the fish on the beach, using the sea water in the
process. Livers are collected by three men, who ship
them to Lima, but the other viscera are usually
thrown into the sea. Although this practice serves
to attract some fish and crustaceans to the Huanchaco
beach, larger numbers could probably be attracted by
collecting the fish viscera and throwing them into
the sea at a point of the coast a kilometer or so south-
east of the town, since the prevailing current along
the shore sets from the southeast.

In the division of the catch, a few odd-sized fish are
usually given to one or the other of a half-dozen town
indigents who gather at the beach for this purpose.
They are four superannuated fishermen and two wives
of fishermen lost at sea.

By 6 a. m. the women have usually completed
their work and have packed their fish in baskets,
ready to take to the market at Trujillo. They usually
leave on the truck at 6 o'clock. Transportation is a
sore spot with the Huanchaqueros at present, because
of what they consider the high fares. Round-trip
fare for a person is 1 sol ($0.153); the charge for

each basket of fish is 80 centavos; and for a single’

large fish, 20 centavos. Many of the women have no
plaza (stall) in the Trujillo market and have to sell

their fish at a discount to other women (revenda-
doras) more fortunate. However, all commercial
transactions involved in marketing the fish are in the
hands of the women, just as marketing produce is
women’s prerogative in Moche.

The men, having cleaned up their boats, carry the
nets ashore, using the same pole of Guayaquil cane
between two men as was used in unloading the fish.
The nets are laid out on the beach to dry. Then the
men go to their houses for breakfast and an hour or
two of sleep. Between 9 and 10 o’clock they again
appear on the beach and set to work mending the
nets. By about 11:30 a. m. the nets are mended and
dried. They are then folded into neat bundles and,
by the more careful owners, put into gunny sacks.
Suspended on two-man poles they are carried aboard
the boats about noon. By this time the women have
returned from the market, and the daily cycle begins
again.

Summer (December to June) is regarded as the
best fishing season. During this period the fish run
closer to the surface of the sea. In the winter when
the fish are deep the nets are frequently submerged
with anchors of rock. The winter season is bad off
Huanchaco, and the boats usually fish off Guafape,
Chao, and as far south as the mouth of the Rio Santa.
However, in any season “la buena pesca depende de
la buena comedura’ (good fishing depends on good
fish food). The comedura consists of schools of
anchovy upon which the larger fish feed. Also, it
is said, “el bufeo trae la lisa y la lisa la larna, y la
larna la cachema,’ meaning that one type of fish is
followed into a given fishing ground by a series of
others in succession. “La pescadilla anuncia la buena
pesca.” (Small fish announce good fishing. )

Certain persons are “unlucky” fishermen, as is
stated by the common saying, “Fulano no puede tocar
mi red porque tiene mala mano.” (So-and-so can’t
touch my net because he has a bad hand.) Another
common saying is, “La luna nueve siempre trae buen
aire, alborota el percado, y lo hace amainar.”’ (The
new moon always brings good wind, wakes up the
fish, and makes them tame.) ‘“Circulo del sol es mal
augurio.” (A circle around the sun is a bad sign.)
More faith is placed in the stars, however, than in
the sun. For example, “Rio Jordan claro, buena
pesca.’ (When the Milky Way is clear, there is
good fishing. )

CABALLITOS DEL MAR

The use of the “little horses of the sea” is perhaps

at once the most romantic and most “primitive”

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 30

aspect of Huanchaco fishing. These craft are made
of a species of reed (totora) bound in bundles into
the shape shown in figure 2 and plate 9, upper (left),
lower (left), and middle (left). In essence, the
cabillito is a one-man raft with a pointed bow and
a square stern, made of four tapering cylindrical
bundles of reeds. The entire population, including
children of 10 years and older, know how to make
these craft, which are used by children for sport
and by children and adults alike for line fishing and
the catching of crabs. The caballitos vary from 9
feet 8 inches to 11 feet 4 inches in length (3 to 3.5
m.) and vary from 20 to 28 inches in width at the
widest part. They are propelled by a paddle about
8 feet 114 inches (2.5 m.) long and 3 to 4 inches
wide. It is simply a flattened piece of split ‘“Guaya-
quil cane,” which is held by both hands in the mid-
dle and used as a double-ended paddle, but without
having a special treatment at the ends in the form
of paddle blades.

As shown in the sketch in figure 2, a-e, the typical

HUANGANA (€)
QUIRANA (4)

Ficure 2.—Explanatory diagram of a caballito del mar, as used
in Huanchaco.

caballito consists of the following parts: Four
bundles (bastones) of totora reed, two of which
(a) are large, basal bundles tied side by side to form
the body of the raft, and two smaller and shorter
bundles (6), tied side by side and on top of the
(a) bundles. Some caballitos consist of only the
two (a) basal bundles (as in pl. 9, middle (left) ).
The (0) bundles end 18 to 24 inches forward of the
stern of the craft, leaving a small flat cockpit (c),
known as the caja of the caballito, where the operator
sits or kneels and where he carries his fishing gear.
The forward end of the caja is protected slightly
from the waves by the wall formed by the ends of
the (b) rolls of totora. The binding of the individual
rolls of totora is called quirana (d) and is a light
rope or heavy cord made of /Julo de pavilo, which is
wound around the totoras of the roll in spiral fashion.
The heavier binding which, in turn, encircles the

four rolls and holds the entire craft in shape is called
the huangana (e) and is made of cabo de manila,
The totora itself is obtained from Huanchaquita, a
small settlement situated a few kilometers down the
coast, near the ruins of Chan Chan. Two soles will
buy enough for a large caballito. If in constant use,
one of these craft either becomes waterlogged or
starts to disintegrate after 12 to 14 days of use. They
are always dragged out of the water and stood up
on the beach on the stern end when not being used.

In operation, the fisherman sits or kneels in the
caja. Some prefer to dangle their legs in the water
on each side, as in riding horseback (hence the name
of the craft, perhaps), although this is chilly in
winter. Otherwise, the legs are doubled up under
the operator, who is kneeling in the caja, or in other
cases straddle the part of the craft forward of the
caja. Occasionally caballitos venture out of sight of
land, but usually are used for fishing within a mile
or two of shore, beyond the zone of breakers and
heavy swells. Considerable practice is required to
prevent a caballito from turning over in the sea, but
an experienced operator has no difficulty in cross-
ing heavy swells and breaking waves of consid-
erable height. A favorite sport of young boys is to
“ride the waves” with the craft in to shore in the
manner of surfboard riders. Whatever the manner
of operation, even the most experienced operator must
be prepared to have at least the lower part of his
body thoroughly wet. So far as I know, adult women
among the Huanchaco population never venture out
in these craft.

Deep-sea boat fishermen resort to caballito fishing
during periods when the fish at sea are not running
well. The craft is used for three types of fishing:
crabbing, line fishing, and net fishing. Every craft
carries a net, called a calcal, which is a bag net about
2 feet deep with a purse-string mouth, which can
be opened up for casting when fishing, and can be
drawn shut when the net is used as a container for
crabs and other booty. The interstices of these nets
are about 1 inch on a side.

The crab trap or saca is shown in plate 8, lower
(left). As shown also in the sketch in figure 3, a—-g,
it consists of a square frame (a) of four pieces of
cane (bamboo) tied together at the corners. Over
these is stretched a net (b) which hangs down below
the level of the frame to a depth of 6 to 8 inches
in which the bait is tied in place. The four corners
of the frame are weighted with cobblestones (c) tied
in place for the purpose of carrying the apparatus

36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

beneath the surface of the water. To each corner
are attached four suspension cords (d) of equal
length which are in turn united to a cable, called a
rabiza (ec). This is about 23 feet long (7.0 m.) and
attached to it at intervals are small bundles on

’

lA
ward
(CHUN Ot Y Le
SURFACE OF SEA nd
ff
f
J
f
fp
/
ce
A

fo (0) CABLE
(SUSPENSION CORD—__-F

== _(C)STONE WEIGHTS
(a) F RAME
i————— () NET

Ficure 3.—A crab trap, as used in Huanchaco.

trozos of totora (f) which serve to give the line
a certain underwater buoyancy and thus prevent
its fouling on rocks along the bottom. Near the
upper end of the line is a chuno (gourd float) (g),
somewhat smaller than those used on deep-sea nets.
Finally, the upper end of the line is either held in
the hand or attached to the caballito. The bait, con-
sisting of entrails of the bonito and other large fish,
or of cow liver, ete., is tied to the net. The crab
locks his pincers on the bait, gets them tangled in
the net, and is thus held fast until drawn to the
surface.

Lines may have one or more hooks and are also
provided with a lead sinker and a chuno float. They
are not used with poles. In fishing with line from
the caballito, one drops the line overboard in still
water, or attaches the line to the craft and trawls.

COLLECTING

Women and children collect a variety of small
clams, snails, shrimp, crawfish and crabs, as well as
several varieties of seaweed from the cobblestone bot-
tom off the beach during low tide. There are three
types of seaweed of which I am aware: yuyu, moco-
cho, and (Quechua, ‘“‘water plant’?).
There are three types of crabs: (1) cangrejos and
(2) biquin, both of which are found in the sea, and
(3) carreteros, soft-shelled crabs of the beach. They

cochayuyu

are used in the homes, and also considerable quantities
are taken to the Trujillo market for sale. Much of
such seaweed as is consumed in Moche comes from
Huanchaco.

SHORE FISHING

Shore fishing with hook and line follows the same
methods as those employed on the Moche playa.
Relatively little attention is paid to this activity in
Huanchaco, which regards it as a Moche speciality.
It is recognized in Huanchaco that the use of cabal-
litos is unsatisfactory on the Moche beach by reason
of the high surf there almost the year around. Dur-
ing the summer months, the Huanchaco boats fre-
quently stop off the Moche beach to pick up the
Moche fishermen and their nets (and their advice).
During this time of year the fish are near the surface
and run close inshore to the Moche playa. While
this attention to the Mocheros is a form of courtesy,
it is also mutually advantageous. to both sides. The
usual rules of division of the catch prevail on such
occasions.

It is estimated that an ordinary fisherman, with one
net, but without a boat, is able to make from 600 to
1,200 soles ($91.80 to $183.60) per year in cash
money. Many remain in this condition, however, be-
cause they spend their funds on liquor and fiestas
instead of putting it into boats and nets. Three men,
at least, are said to have incomes of over 10,000 soles
($1,530) per year.

RELIGIOUS ASPECTS

The patron saint of fishermen is San Pedro, whose
feast day, June 29, is celebrated in the community.
Ironically, at this season of the year there is rela-
tively poor fishing. La Virgen de Socorro (The
Virgin of Suecor) is believed to take a special in-
terest in Huanchaco and once every 5 years the
image of the Virgin is brought on a pilgrimage
from Trujillo, under the supervision of the Her-
mandad de Socorro. Leaving Trujillo the 30th of
November the pilgrimage makes the journey by
easy stages, one of which is a 3-day stop at the
chapel built for this purpose about midway along
the road by Don Victor Larco Herrera, and arrives
in Huanchaco the 24th of December to pass Christ-
mas. The principal dances at this fiesta are those of
the Pastores (shepherds) and of the Negritos de
Caiiete (Negroes of Caiiete).

Huanchaco has its Cross cult, as has Moche. Some
seven crosses are to be seen on various heights

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN ih

back of town, each in charge of a mayordomia of
four to six men, who have the obligation to take
down their cross on the 3d of May, paint it, offer
fruit and other products to it, and put it back up
In Huanchaco, in contrast
The tak-
ing down and putting up, however, are occasions for
a fiesta in charge of the members of the group.

The following two Huanchaco
found in Moche. When a child dies, the church bells
toll Ja seguidilla, i. e., lightly and in rapid succes-
sion, which is said to sound like “es angelito, es
angelito” (it’s a little angel).

at the end of the month.
to Moche, the crosses have no padrinos.

items are not

When an adult dies

The dead in
Huanchaco are buried with all of their personal be-

the doble is sounded as in Moche.

longings, even old items

all clothing, ornaments,
pocket pieces, and the like.

In summary, we may see in Huanchaco a special-
ized fishing community which possibly has devel-
oped from the same prehistoric cultural matrix as
Moche. At all events, the orientation in Moche has
developed toward agriculture ; in Huanchaco, toward
fishing. And in both communities colonial and mod-
ern culture have overlaid the earlier elements very
thickly.

HABITATIONS

LYPES OF STRUCTURES

As can be seen from plates 11 and 12, the house
types and architecture of Moche show considerable
variation. Generally speaking, the style of domestic
architecture may be regarded as a simple colonial
form in which, in many structures, has been incor-
porated certain elements reminiscent of prehistoric
cultures. In the pueblo, especially, the houses do
not look notably different from those seen in many
a Peruvian coastal village or town. They stand in
solid blocks with their white plastered fronts flush
with the sidewalk (pl. 10, lower (right) ). It is
mainly in the campiia that one finds the “‘typical”
Moche dwelling, which exhibits a variety of dis-
tinguishing characteristics.

When all minor variations are left out of account,
Moche dwellings and shelters may be classified into
the following types, in order of frequency: (1)
Adobe houses, (2) quincha houses, (3) totora
shelters, (4) tapia houses. In keeping with the very
mixed character of all Moche culture, it is not in-
frequent to see a house embodying features of several
of these types (pl. 11, upper (right), middle (left) ).

Adobes are made by specialists. There are also
some ordinary citizens possessing skill and facilities
who make their own adobes when building their
houses. In the pueblo the specialists are relied upon
more than in the campina, and in 1944 adobes sold
for 60 soles ($9.18) per 1,000. Five years earlier

they were obtainable for as little as 20 soles per |

1,000, the rise in price being blamed on “the war.”
The adobes are of the common type used at present,
so far as I know, throughout the coastal region.

They are rectangular, with right-angled edges, and,
according to my measurements, vary from 18 to 24
inches in length, 12 to 14 inches in width, and 3 to 4
inches in thickness; the lower figure in all cases is
“standard.” The adobe is made of clayey dirt which
is dug loose in the ground itself and puddled by
pouring water over it. It is mixed with grass which
has been chopped with a machete into lengths be-
tween 1 and 2 inches. A spade is used for mixing.
It is usually carried from the mixing spot in gunny
sacks (camales) to a nearby flat piece of ground
where it is pressed into a wooden frame of proper
size on a flat board platform. After it has been
properly smoothed on top with the spade, the frame
is removed and the adobe is slid off the board plat-
form onto a clean flat piece of ground (sometimes
covered by a petate), and left to dry in the sun. A
week of drying before use is considered desirable.

Adobe walls are, by preference, laid up by pro-
fessional masons (albajiles) of whom there are 15
in the community. In the campina, however, many
a house has been built by the householder with the
help of a group of friends and relatives in a modified
munga. In such a case it is considered desirable to
hire a mason to supervise the job. Lines are
stretched to keep the wall straight and a plumb line
is occasionally hung from the top to maintain verti-
cality. Occasionally scaffoldings or boards are used
to support the workers, but more often than not a
heap of dirt on the inside of the wall serves the
purpose. It is built up as the wall increases in height
and shoveled away when the job is finished.

Adobe walls may stand in their original state (pl.
10, upper (right) ), or may be plastered (pl. 10,

38 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

; The latter is
the ideal of all house owners, but many for want of
time, money, or energy never get around to it.
Plastering may take one of two forms; a white lime
plaster made of purchased materials (as there is no
lime kiln in the community itself) or a simple mud
plaster simply spread over the adobes by hand and
smoothed down with the edge of a board. The mud
plaster is sometimes whitewashed, in which case it
has an appearance resembling that of the lime-

lower (right); 11, middle (right) ).

plastered walls.

Although no complete new houses were built
during my time in Moche, I was told that a mason,
when employed, helps to lay out the plan of a new
house. The mason may stake out the position of the
walls and partitions on the ground, connecting the
stakes with cord lines. Often the house owner or the
family lays out the plan “free hand,” simply marking
the position of the walls with lines drawn on the
ground. Only the adobe and tapia houses are laid
out with any care.

In the house with walls of tapza the walls are made
in the same manner as that employed in constructing
the tapia fences. The ancient Mochicas knew the
tapia process, but seem not to have used it in house
construction.”® Plate 11, upper (left), shows a house
constructed of tapia. Although this process is
cheaper than adobe, it is not preferred because it pro-
duces a very thick wall which, with the technique in
use, is hardly ever perfectly plumb. Tapia construc-
tion is often used to patch adobe walls and to make
additions to adobe houses.

The procedure and artifacts in making tapia,
whether in house walls or in fences, are as follow.
The two principal artifacts, in addition to the spade,
are the cajén (mold made of boards) and the sogas
(ropes) for tying the cajén together. When a tapia
is in two or more levels, the lower one is called
arrastrada (creeping along the ground). For
making this, four stakes are driven into the ground,
one for each corner of the cajén, which actually con-
sists of four parts, the four sides of the mold. Then
the four elements of the cajdn are tied to the stakes,
tied together, and adjusted to give the proper shape
and also to make certain that the cajén does not
come apart. The earth of the ground alongside is
wetted and left to stand for 4 days. Then it is
mixed and puddled with the spade, and shoveled into
the cajon. If the puddling place is distant from the

* Personal communication of Rafael Larco Hoyle and Manuel
Briceno.

site of the fapia, the wet earth is carried to the cajon
in gunny sacks or baskets. Once in the mold it is
stamped down by a man working barefooted therein.
Then the sides of the mold are removed and the sides
of the tapia while still moist are slapped with the
flat of the spade in order to smooth and consolidate
them. The upper block of a tapia is called ensimada
(on top). Two bars of iron are laid across the lower
block, one at each end, and to these are tied the
cajon, so that it does not fall down. The tying is
done with a double rope, and sticks are twisted into
these ropes to tighten them. The sticks are called
toltol and the capstanlike arrangement is called
cabresta. (The Spanish Academy, I believe, favors
“‘cabrestantes.” )

A second type of wall, much used for patching
tapia fences, is called sanja tapia.2° This is made
entirely with the spade and without a mold form.
Moist earth is simply shaped by the spade. The
top of a tapia fence is usually horizontal and is often
used as a pathway, because it offers a better surface
than the sandy lane. Some tops, however, are made
in the form of a pitched roof, in order to prevent
their use as sidewalks, which tends to wear down
and to break down the fence. In Moche, practically
all tapia making, whether for house or fence, is done
by minga (cooperative work), but in other nearby
communities it is done by specialists, who in 1944
charged 1.50 soles per cajon for their labor. Five
years before that the price was 80 centavos.

The quincha type of wall is found throughout the
Peruvian coastal communities. Two general types,
a primitive and a sophisticated, occur. In both types
upright canes (cavia brava) are inserted side by side
in line in the ground. They are usually stuck into
the ground from 3 to 6 inches, and if the surface is
dry, a crowbar may be used to make the hole. On
occasion, however, the canes are not inserted at all
but have a footing of mud built up around their butts
to a height of 3 to 4 inches. The upright canes are
then interlaced with two or more series of horizontal
canes, called tientos. This is to say that every odd
cane passes outside the horizontals and every even up-
right passes inside, as in checkerboard weaving.
Usually there are only two series of horizontals, one
about middle height of the wall and the other near the
top. Sometimes there are three sets of horizontals.
These horizontals are usually arranged in a series
close together; the series varies from two to three.

*[ have not secured a clear meaning for “sanja.”’ Can it be

Quechua, ‘“‘sankhu,”’ dense? See Farfan (1941, p. 22).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 39

Most frequently there are three horizontals in the
middle series, and two in the upper series. In the
“primitive” type of quincha, stability is given to the
construction by tying some or all of the upright mem-
bers to the horizontal members with rawhide strips
of cattle hide. In the “sophisticated” type, stability is
provided by upright posts of sawed lumber, rectan-
gular in cross section and about the size of a “2 by
4.” These upright posts have holes bored in them
into which the horizontal canes are inserted, thus pro-
viding stability and support. In this type of quincha
the uprights and horizontals are seldom tied to-
gether. Ina well-made quincha the projecting upper
ends of the canes are cut off on a_ horizontal
level to produce a clean-cut top, but this is not
universally practiced. After the construction of
the cane wall, as described, the inside and outside
are plastered with mud in a very moist state, just
short of liquid (much more maleable than is necessary
in making adobes or tapias). A well-made job will
have several layers of mud which completely elimi-
nate any trace of the cane and which are smoothed
down on the surface with the edge of a board and
often plastered or whitewashed. In this case the wall
is distinguishable from plastered adobe only by care-
ful inspection. However, many quincha walls are only
half-finished, even when incorporated in dwellings.
Also, the guincha construction is used in conjunction
with almost all dwellings as a form of windbreak for
the outdoor arbor, in which case the canes are often
only partially covered with mud and their tops are
allowed to protrude in an irregular line toward the
sky. :

Shelters made of totora have no particular plan
or shape. Only occasionally are complete dwellings
made of this material (pl. 11, lower (left)) and
usually only by families who are waiting to con-
struct a more permanent house. Occasionally shel-
ters of totora are erected for guests, and lean-to
sheds, made of totora mats leaned against a house
wall, are not uncommon. Totora mats are also used
for partitions, as windbreaks for kitchens, very oc-
casionally as shades for outdoor arbors, and in other
ways as adjuncts to architecture.

Wooden rafters and uprights occur in all houses,
except those of the totora type, in which a frame-
work of saplings is used. In the more elegant houses
in the pueblo, the rafters are made of sawn lumber,
obtained in Trujillo, about the size and shape of “2
by 6’s,”’ and the roof framework is fastened to them
with nails. In the campifia it is more common to

construct the rafters of small logs of wood, usually
willow, which grows along the banks of the acequias
(irrigation ditches). These are cut and trimmed
with steel axes of the usual European model. Not
a few houses in the pueblo use this type of rafters
as well.

In the pueblo all houses have doors of wood.
Sawn lumber roof frames, doors, and door frames
are usually fitted and made by professional car-
penters, of which there are 19 in the community. A
door may cost from 20 to 60 soles ($3.06 to $9.18),
or even more, with hinges and lock, depending upon
its elaboration. Doors frequently have barred, glass-
less openings in the upper panel. Except in houses
built by forasteros in the ‘Peruvian coastal’ style,
windows are practically unknown in Moche houses.
Light for the inner rooms is provided by a square
or rectangular hole in the roof, which may be com-
pletely open, or may be covered by a hinged trap
door which opens upward. In the most elaborate
constructions a small square lantern or cupola with
or without glass windows on all four sides covers
the hole in the roof.

No roofs in Moche are watertight, and cracks of
light are usually visible from within, even in the
more permanent types. Since it “never rains” ex-
cept at intervals of a generation, the roof serves
mainly as protection against the sun and the wind.
Whichever type of rafters is used, they are laid in
parallel fashion, horizontally set into the adobe or
tapia walls usually within 3 to 6 inches of the top
of the walls, in some cases in mere notches in the
top of the wall. In the house with quincha walls
the rafters are supported on stringers which are in
turn supported by upright forked logs, set in the
ground, and irregularly placed, although tending to-
ward two in each of the four corners. The frame-
work is tied together with split reed used in basket
making. The few houses having nothing but quincha
walls, however, are, with one or two exceptions, all
roofed with petates (reed mats), so that the sup-
porting rafters and uprights do not have to be large.
The petates are simply laid on and tied to a light
framework of saplings, canes, or very thin logs.

In the “permanent” type of roof the rafters are
crossed by a series of canes, laid side by side at right
angles, and over this series lies another series of
canes at an acute angle to the direction of the rafters
(pl. 12, lower (center)). Over this second layer
of canes is placed a layer of petates. The two layers
are nailed to the rafters when the latter are sawed,

40 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

and usually tied at intervals with split reed (carrizo )
when the framework is of unsawed wood. Finally,
a layer of mud, mixed with chopped grass, is laid
over the whole for a thickness of 1 to 2 inches, and
smoothed down. From an old roof there is a con-
stant settling of fine dust, so that the furniture in
the house will be covered with a film even in so
short an interval as overnight.

So far as I know, tiles are not used for roofing
on any house in Moche, the campiiia or the playa. A
few houses, however, have a layer of light cement
over the mud covering of the roof, as a protection
against the next heavy rain.

Although from street level one has the impres-
sion that most houses are flat-roofed, this is actually
true in only about one-third of the cases. Practi-
cally all roofs have a low-grade slope. In the pueblo,
this is most often a single slope from the front of
the house to the back (pl. 12, middle (left)). Low
pitched roofs occur in both pueblo and camtpina,
supported by ridge poles laid on the points of low
gables (pl. 12, upper (left)). Single-slope roofs
also occur with open-ended structures in the case
of single rooms, arbors, and sheds. The pitched
and the sloped roofs were characteristic of ancient
Mochica domestic architecture. There seems to be
no functional reason for their survival at the present
time other than that these types of roof frame re-
quire fewer long heavy beams than the flat type.

In the pueblo houses the roof is often hidden from
the beholder on the street by a low parapet.

In addition to the features outlined above, many
other variant details and treatments occur, especially
in the pueblo. Not uncommon is a series of metal
spouts projecting through the parapet on the street
wall. Although these are supposedly for the dis-
charge of rain water, they are actually only decora-
tive—if that—for those examined were stuffed with
dirt from the rooftops. Since rain is practically
nonexistent, their functional use is very infrequent
at all events.

Windows of the Peruvian colonial type, with
support, cap, and metal grill protruding outward
from the wall, occur, but are rare. Occasionally a
simple small window will be seen in a newer cam-
pita house. Also, it should be mentioned that
recently forasteros have constructed in the pueblo a
half dozen cement walled houses with “modified
colonial” architectural treatment.

The arrangement of the house is quite variable.
In town, owing to the fact that all houses are flush

with the sidewalk, a certain uniformity is presented.
In figure 4 is shown a typical house plan for a pueblo-

ST REE a

se:
S
BEDROOM a |

KITCHEN - ARBOR

i]
!
BACK YARD
!
|
1

Common plan of house in Moche pueblo.

dwelling Mochero’s house. The patio is not a feature
of the plan in Moche, but each house has an open
space in the rear of its lot. In some cases this is
nothing more than a dusty yard in which domestic
animals and fowl are confined, but, if water is avail-
able, an attempt is usually made to cultivate flowers
and fruit trees. Emerging from the back room of the
house, one usually finds himself in an open-air,
shaded arbor composed of a wooden trellis or frame-

work. The shade may be provided by fpetates or
vines. Among the latter, grape and twimbo* are
favorites. There is a wooden plank table with

benches (pl. 13, upper (left) ) and perhaps a chair
or two. This is the living and dining room of the
family and the place where they usually meet their
friends.

The Mocheros live in the open air. The closed
rooms of the houses are only for sleeping and stor-
age. In the caimpiia the house plans take numerous
forms, often owing to the fact that new portions have
been added at various times. One feature which is
almost constant, however, is the partly open wall
surrounding a sort of porchlike room (pl. 11, middle
(right); 12, lower (left) ). At least one of the
“porches” is found in houses of all types, usually
located on the lee side of the house. (The prevailing
wind is from the sea.) In these structures is often
seen the use of square pillars (pl. 11, middle (right) )
to hold up the roof. Although at present the “cut-
out” openwork walls of Mochica times do not exist,
nevertheless, the partly open wall and the square

*1 Passiflora quadrangularis L.; this vine produces a large, melonlike

fruit which is much prized for food; it is indigenous to the Peruvian
coast.

pillar (which was a definite Mochica feature) are
‘both reminiscent of Mochica architecture. The
“porch” of the playa houses is always tnade of
quincha, roofed with petates, and is located on the
landward side.
campina houses usually possess an arbor and a
garden (/werta) facing it,
gardens are at best only rudimentary on the playa
owing to lack of irrigation water.

The great majority of floors are of hard-packed
earth, which is preferred by the true Mochero,
because he sleeps on an estera of totora laid on the
floor, and he claims that cement and tile floors are
too cold for comfort.
cated and rich Mocheros live in houses with wooden
plank floors, and one or two have cement and tile
floors. The forastero houses usually have tile.

In addition to these open-air rooms,

whereas arbors and

In the pueblo some sophisti-

WATER SUPPLY

Water supply in most houses is a matter of fetch
and carry. In the town there are six pitas or public
spigots from underground pipes. When water is
running in the acequias (irrigation ditches) in town,
people also obtain water therefrom. Outside of
town, water is obtained only from the aceguias.
During the dry season when a given ditch has water
only every 9 or 10 days, considerable labor is some-
times required; for example, when the nearest run-
ning ditch is 2 km. away, on the other side of the
campina. In such cases donkeys with pack saddle
and two metal cans are sometimes used. Otherwise,
water is usually carried to the house from the source
by women using pails or clay pots.

A number of houses in town—relatively few out-
side—have wells (pozos) in the back yard. I am
unable to understand why all houses do not possess
this convenience. In town the water level is between
2 and 3 m. below the surface, depending upon the
season, so elaborate work is not required for the
sinking of a well.°? These wells are lined either with
the shells of oil drums or with brick, and the water
is drawn up by means of a metal bucket on the end
of a rope.

SANITARY FACILITIES

Sanitary facilities consist of the nearest adobe wall
or fence off the immediate premises. So far as I

32—n 1934, the water level of nine wells in the town ranged from
0.5 to 3 m. below the surface and averaged 2.28 m. Data from blue-
print No. IT-APM-S0, Consejo Provincial de Trujillo, Inspeccién
Técnica de las Obras de Agua Potable, Agua Potable de Moche,
Proyecto de la Red de Distribucién, Diciembre, 1934.

653348°—47—4

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 41

know, there is no water closet, indoors or outdoors,
available to any Mochero. One of my informants,
visiting me at the hotel in Trujillo, found himself
completely confused when I showed him into the
bathroom. Small children relieve themselves on the
street, the sidewalk, and almost any other public
place, and I have never seen one reprimanded or
punished for this behavior.
modest, the sight of a man urinating or buttoning
up his trousers in plain view of the general public
is very common.

Although women are

Enamelware chamber pots are
possessed by about a third of the Mochero families,
according to my count, but the regularity with which
they are used is questionable. During one night
spent in a Mochero’s house in the campijia in a
curing session, I noticed that several members of the
family sleeping in the adjoining room apparently
openly urinated on the floor during the night.

Garbage and other refuse is commonly thrown into
the middle of the street. There is a garbage man
(baja policia), with a horse-drawn cart, who comes
around at infrequent intervals to carry the refuse
away.

In the pueblo the houses, as shown on map 1, are
arranged along the streets, which are laid out in a
rectangular, although slightly irregular, grid plan. In
the campina, they are located at irregular intervals,
usually shaded by trees. A campina house is usually
located in the corner of the owner’s land, not in the
middle of the plot. On the beach, the fishermen’s
houses are strung out at irregular intervals for about
11 km. on each side of the small seaside resort of Las
Delicias.

A good many chacreros have two houses, one in the
pueblo and the other in the campina, “on the chacra.”

HOUSE FURNISHINGS AMONG TRUE
MOCHEROS

A North American even of lower economic status
might consider even the better furnished Moche
houses somewhat bare and old-fashioned. Also, the
constant sifting of fine dust from the ceiling prevents
the rooms from ever looking spic-and-span in the
sense employed by a good housekeeper. It is some-
what difficult to describe the furnishings of the “typi-
cal” Moche house at present, owing to the varying
influences of acculturation and differentiations in
wealth. As has been the case with many indigenous
groups in various parts of the hemisphere, it would
seem that Moche had achieved a form of “stabilized
native-colonial” culture compounded of aboriginal

42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

and Spanish colonial elements. This rather stable
culture seems to have persisted without great change
from shortly after the Conquest—let us say, from
the end of the 16th century until the beginning of the
20th century or perhaps a little later. Precise dates
cannot be given in the absence of documentary rec-
ords. Much of this native-colonial culture remains in
the community at the present time, although con-
stantly subject to intrusions of newer elements, over-
lays, and reorientations. As might be expected, the
newer elements are found most frequently in the
houses of the pueblo and among the more well-to-do
families (familias acomadadas).

Until about 40 years ago at the most (as a con-
servative estimate), it would seem that the great
majority of Moche households got along with the fol-
lowing basic furnishings (later introductions are sug-
gested in parentheses) : Dirt floors (instead of floors
of boards, tiles, or cement) ; mates, large plate-shaped
shallow gourds for eating (instead of tinware and
enamelware plates); wooden spoons, hand-carved,
and frequently none at all, no forks (instead of
metal factory-made spoons and forks) ; potos, globu-
lar cuplike gourds for drinking (instead of glass
tumblers) ; earthenware cups for hot liquids (in-
stead of glazed chinaware coffee cups); esteras
of totora used for mattresses and partially for cover-
ing, for sleeping directly on the dirt floor (instead
of cotton mattresses and wooden or metal bed-
steads) ; woolen hand-made blankets obtained from
the Sierra in trade (instead of cotton and woolen
factory-made blankets); hand-made earthenware
and shallow one-piece carved wooden vessels (bateas)
as containers for liquids, for clothes washing, etc.
‘(instead of metal, enamelware, and wooden board
buckets, washtubs, water storage jars, etc.) ; earthen-
ware cooking pots (instead of iron pots and pans) ;
use of mats for sitting and eating (instead of tables
and benches or chairs); woolen bags for storing
clothes etc. (instead of wooden and metal trunks) ;
for lighting, candles and earthenware tallow lamps
with rag wick (instead of kerosene lamps of various
degrees of elaboration); and long-necked gourd
bottles (porongos) for chicha (instead of beer bottles
of glass).

The following “native-colonial” items are present
in practically all Moche houses today, rich or poor,
although they may exist alongside newer items and
may not be used in the old way. (1) Mats of reeds
(esteras de totora) are found. (2) Fireplaces on
the ground consisting of three or four stones to sup-

port a cooking pot are present (pl. 14, lower (left) ).
(3) “Botijas’” for storing chicha are in use. These
are elongated, cigar-shaped containers of baked
earthenware understood to hold 100 beer bottles of
chicha. The pattern seems to be Spanish, but those
in Moche are said to have been imported from Pisco
in times past, filled with the well-known brandy of
the same name (pl. 13, upper (right)). Steel oi!
drums have supplemented these containers in cer-
tain chicherias requiring a comparatively large stor-
age capacity, but practically every house has at least
one. (4) Gourd drinking cups (potos) are present,
even when the household possesses glasses and china
cups. The Mochero prefers to drink his chicha from
a poto, claiming that the true flavor can only be ap-
preciated in this way.

Although kerosene is quite extensively used for
lighting, there is, to my knowledge, no kerosene stove
or metal stove of any type in the community. In
the more elegant houses (usually in the pueblo)
hanging kerosene chandeliers are present. There is
no electric light, even for the streets, in the com-
munity. Factory-made furniture, such as carved
dining-room tables, sideboards, dish cupboards, sofas,
etc., occur in a few of the richer houses, as well as
framed oil paintings by local artists, oleo portraits,
and colored lithographs. In the poorer houses pic-
tures from magazines and newspapers, colored ad-
vertisements, and religious calendars usually con-
stitute the wall decorations, although several houses
have had the inside walls decorated with frescoes
by the owners or members of the family. Although
door curtains of the portiere type are affected in
one or two rich houses, rugs for the floor are totally
unknown in Moche.

I was unable to make a systematic statistical sur-
vey of the houses for want of staff and for reasons
of delicacy. The people suspect officious question-
naire filling as a scheme of the Government to col-
lect taxes, and it was desirable that no such suspi-
cions upset my relations with them at this stage of
the work. However, three of the informants were
each asked to visit what they would consider a poor
house, a middle-type house, and a rich house, to
memorize the furnishings of each, and to write them
down. The lists given below are a collation of these
data, together with observations made by myself in
numerous visits to all types of houses, and are pre-
sented as the next best thing to a statistical survey.

There are no social classes formally defined and
recognized in Moche, but there are differences in

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 43

wealth or expenditure, which are readily recog-
nizable, at least in house furnishings. A rough esti-
mate, on which the informants are in substantial
agreement, would indicate that about 70 percent of
the families of the community use “poor-type” fur-
nishings; about 25 percent live in ‘“‘middle-type”
surroundings; and probably not more than 5 percent
live in houses furnished according to the “rich type.”
It is, however, improper to speak of “upper, middle,
and lower classes’ in Moche at the present time,
at least when considering the true Mocheros alone.
Many of the more respected older residents live in
houses furnished in the poorest style. The three types
of house furnishings among the true Mocheros are as
follows :

List of House Furnishings
Poor-type house:

Two small tables, three benches.

Five enamelware plates.

Four mates (large flat gourds) for eating.

Five earthenware pots.

Five tablespoons of brass; seven hand-carved spoons of
wood.

Seven or eight potitos (small gourds) for drinking.

Five esteras (mats) used on ground as beds.

One enamelware chamber pot.

Three blankets, and some rags of discarded clothing used
as bed covering.

Fireplace on the ground, consisting of lumps of adobe
and a few stones; burns manure.

Dirt floor.

Hand broom of brush.

Middle-type house:

Six modern chairs, one dining table.

One old, hand-propelled sewing machine.

One trunk.

Two kitchen tables with one bench of wood.

Two wooden beds with bedclothes, including sheets and
pillows.

Two enamelware chamber pots.

Eight plates, mixed, part of enamelware, part of granite-
ware,

Seven tablespoons of brass (/atén), and three kitchen
knives of same.

Six earthenware kitchen pots of different sizes.

One iron frying pan.

Two botijas for chicha.

Tablecloth.

Adobe stove burning wood.

One large dishpan of enamelware.

Five glasses.

Eight small spoons of latén.

Dirt floor.

Hand broom and full-sized broom.

Rich-type house:

One sideboard (aparador) with sets of glasses, cups,
copita azapate, large and small napkins, garrafa of
crystal, one of earthenware (barro), tablecloth.

One dozen chairs (sillas americanas) and others.

One dining table.

Four trunks.

One clothes rack.

One Singer sewing machine.

Three bedsteads with bedclothes, sheets and pillows; one
bedstead of brass.

Five enamelware chamber pots, two of children’s size.

Two iron pots.

Ten earthenware nacional pots.

One frying pan (sartén), plates, cups, graniteware pots
(about five visible), five iron plates, enamelware; a
collection of tablespoons, forks, knives of imitation
“alpaca” silverware with wooden case.

Two large kitchen tables of wood for service.

Four benches, six mats, one skimming ladle with holes.

Two botijas of barro for chicha.

One stove of adobe and stone adapted for wood.

Two bateas for washing clothes.

Wooden or tile floor.

Some curtains and textile hangings in the sa/a (parlor).

Two hand brooms and two full-sized brooms.

The foregoing lists include the essential furnishings
of houses of the three classes considered. The
Mocheros are not self-sufficient in furnishing their
houses and must buy the majority of the articles in
the markets or stores of Trujillo or other towns. All
items of cloth, metal, glass, and pottery are either
bought ready-made or are made of materials obtained
from outside the community. The local carpenters
make tables, benches, and chairs of the types used in
lower- and middle-type houses. Finer finished
wooden furniture is obtained elsewhere. A table
capable of seating eight persons costs at present about
30 soles ($4.62). A small bench costs about 6 soles
($0.92). Adobe fireplaces are made in Moche as
well as wooden spoons and containers, although the
last two items are also purchased in outside markets.

THE TOWN

This section on habitations may be eoncluded by
quoting, for comparison, Squier’s description of
Moche, published in 1877,

... Aride of another league, over a flat country and a dusty
road, brought us to the Indian pueblo, a considerable town,
regularly laid out, of low cane huts, their roofs of reed-
matting supported by crooked algarroba posts, and covered
with a thin layer of mud to keep them from blowing away.
There were a few houses of crude adobes, roofed in like
manner, the whole presenting an aspect of squalid monotony.
We rode directly to the house of the gobernador, a full-

44 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

blooded Indian. His dwelling was merely an immense shed,
with some compartments fenced off with adobes or canes, for
such of the occupants as affected privacy. The bare earthen
floor was strewed with the aparejo of mules and rude imple-
ments of husbandry, for the gobernador was both muleteer
and husbandman... We rode through the silent streets,
fetlock-deep in dust, to the plaza, one side of which wa
occupied by the church, a quaint, old, tumble-down edifice, its
bell-tower reached by a flight of stone steps outside the
building. [Squier, 1877, pp. 126-127.]

“he town of Moche seems to have been somewhat

modernized since Squier’s time, although many of the
town dwellers still complain loudly of the “lack of
attention on the part of the authorities.” As can be
seen in plate 10, upper (left), the plaza is now paved
with cobblestones and cement, and an ugly modern,
imitation brick facade, erected after the flood of 1925,
hides the old church referred to by Squier. Presum-
ably, however, the original edifice remains behind this
attempt at face-lifting, for the outside stone steps
leading to the bell tower are still exposed to the sky,
although hidden behind the new facade. About a
third of the street mileage in the pueblo is now paved
with cobblestones, and several streets near the plaza
are bordered by cement sidewalks (pl. 10, lower
(right). The great majority of houses in the pueblo
are now of adobe, or at least present a plastered adobe
front to the street. And a considerable sprinkling
of more elaborate forastero houses for outsiders who
live here, using Moche as a suburb of Trujillo, or who

come here during the summer season, gives the town
a “mixed” appearance, doubtless considerably differ-
ent from the squalid Indian village of Squier’s obser-
vations.

Among the “civilized” structures of Moche to be
seen at present are (map 1, Nos. 1-17 and C): The
two-story Escuela de Agricultura (School of Agri-
culture) near the railroad tracks (No. 13); the rail-
road tracks themselves, which skirt the east edge of
town, although the former station has now been re-
moved ; the silo of Senor G.; the partially dilapidated,
but formerly elegant, house of the O. family with
elevated wooden lookout platform; the facade of the
Government buildings (pl. 11, upper (center) ; map
1, Nos. 1-5) ; the slaughter house (No. 15) ; the new
school for boys (No. 9); the movie theater, rarely
used and not impressive from the outside (C); two
houses with second stories near the plaza.

This sprinkling of attempts at sophisticated archi-
tecture and hard-surfaced streets is mixed with the
dominant atmosphere of adobe houses, guincha fences
and windbreaks in the backyards, low sloping roofs,
and dusty streets frequently littered with garbage and
refuse. Moche is no longer “pure,” and for that very
reason is the more interesting to a student of cultural
The over-all impression a stranger receives
In the

change.
of the pueblo is one of ragged rusticity.
campina the rusticity is complete.

FOOD AND DRINK

THE CONTENT AND THE ETIQUETTE OF
BOARD AND BOWL

The Mocheros are not an easy people to become
acquainted with, but once one has established rap-
port with them, their hospitality is extensive and
continuous. They are the envy of persons from all
parts of the coast because of the time and the re-
sources they lavish on the consumption of food and
liquor. In fact, eating and drinking are their prin-
cipal relaxation and recreation. Generally speaking,
they are not gamblers, they care little for bull-
fighting and cockfighting, they have developed only
a vapid interest in the movies, but they love their
causas and their chicha.

Eating and drinking, in addition to being activi-
ties essential for the maintenance of life and health,
are great socializers and producers of interaction,
generally with a pleasant emotional overtone. The
dishes served on Moche tables and their ingredients

are not exclusive to this community, but it is widely
claimed that they have a flavor not found elsewhere.
Although the use of peppers and other “hot” sea-
sonings is common to most of Peru, the food of
Moche makes an unusually sharp assault upon the
taste buds of the novice and even brings tears to
the eyes of the initiated. The Mocheros consider the
flavoring of the cooking in other areas insipid. One
of my friends spent 10 days in Lima and returned
to Moche much disappointed. He told me that he
could not get enough to eat, that the yucas were
measly small things, the fish stale, and so on—but
worst of all, the food had no flavor. He was under
the suspicion that the Lima cooks substituted achote
(a reddish coloring powder) for the strong, tear-
jerking peppers of his native campina.

To a North American the three most outstanding
features of Moche repasts, aside from details of vari-
ous recipes, would probably be the picante, the dishes
made in various ways from raw fish, and the chicha,

}
:

or maize beer. The first and second of these items
in one form or another are characteristic of the whole
of Peru, and dishes prepared from raw fish are
found throughout the coast. Therefore, Moche is
to some extent representative of Peru as a whole in
a general way and unique primarily in details.

Picante is a general term referring to what North
Americans might call “hot seasoning.” It appears
in various forms, but its principal ingredients are
red and yellow peppers (the red are the hottest),
salt (bought in the stores in the form of rock salt),
black pepper (the berries are bought in the shops
and ground at home), onions, garlic, parsely, azafran,
and citrus fruit juices, especially lime juice. Of all
these, the red and yellow peppers (aji colorado and
aji amarillo) are the most important, since they ap-
pear in practically all food preparations. All cooked
foods usually are blended with picante during the
process of preparation, and raw fish (seviche) is
“cooked” in citrus fruit juice and eaten with pepper.
A small side dish or gourd of picante sauce usually
stands on the table, in case one is not satisfied with
the flavoring of the dishes set before him. And,
just to make sure that one’s gastric juices are suf-
ficiently stimulated, one often holds a small green
pepper (unripe red pepper) in one hand to nibble
between mouthfuls, after dipping it generously into
a dish of salt and black pepper. This faithful devo-
tion to picante among the Mocheros has a certain
appearance of masochism. Many a time I have dined
with persons whose eyes were streaming with tears
and whose mouths were admittedly burning, but
who were apparently deriving huge pleasure from this
self-inflicted pain. “Ay, ay, caramba. Pica fuerte,
no? Que bueno. Que rico.” (Ouch, my goodness.
It stings sharply, doesn’t it? How good. How ap-
petizing. )

Raw fish is served in the form of seviches; in this
the fish is first “cooked” in lime juice, then covered
with cold picante sauce, and served with corn on
the cob, yuca, sweetpotato and often other vege-
tables, the whole garnished with leaves of lettuce.
Crabs and shrimps are also eaten raw after similar
treatment, as well as being steamed or boiled. A
particularly charming custom is the “bocadita’; a
lady at the table, often the hostess, will pick up a
muy-muy (sea shrimp) and after sucking it deli-
cately will remove it from her mouth and insert it
between the lips of a gentleman, accompanying the
gesture with a kissing sound. This procedure may
be employed with any other tidbits, and after the

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 45

chicha bowl has made the rounds a few times, the
morsel may be transferred directly from the mouth
of the lady to that of the gentleman. Only the more
sophisticated persons think it necessary to use table
forks or other implements for eating, and spoons are
used only for soup. Frequently a single mate
(calabash plate) is set in the middle of the table.
Each guest takes a piece of lettuce which he places
on the table before him, proceeding to lift the food
with his fingers from the central dish either directly
to his mouth or to the lettuce leaf at his place.
Water, as water, is considered to be essential for
the irrigation of land, as useful in cooking vege-
tables and meats (although some cooks use only
chicha), and as pleasant for an occasional bath, if
convenient. But it is regarded as little short of
poisonous if used as a drink by man. No doubt this
is an eminently hygienic attitude, considering the fact
that many available supplies of the liquid are pos-
sibly contaminated. Tea made of yerba luiza and
also coffee are consumed by both children and adults,
usually for breakfast only (also milk, cocoa, and soda
water in comparatively small quantities by children).
Nevertheless, the principal drink for all persons
above the age of puberty is chicha, a maize beer.
Three main meals are consumed by the Mocheros,
breakfast, lunch, and dinner or supper, but they are
interspersed with lunches, called causas (verb,
causear). Even when guests do not drop in or the
family does not go out, it is normal to enjoy at least
one causa during the morning and at least one during
the afternoon. <A lunch of this sort may consist of
anything from a small bit of fish and a morsel of
yuca to a meal consisting of several dishes, and it is
always washed down with mature chicha, if it can
be obtained. A friend visiting a house is always
invited to sit down at the table in the arbor cr in the
back yard. Within a few minutes the lady of the
house sets out a causa, which may consist of no more
than a couple of boiled eggs, and the guest eats and
then is offered chicha. The ethnologist visiting a
number of houses during a day finds this hospitality
agreeable, but also a burden upon his capacity. If
one comes uninvited, it is customary to offer money
to the hostess to pay for the chicha and food,
although this will be refused if one is a compadre of
the household or has elsewhere kept up his end of
the entertaining. In addition to household hospi-
tality of this sort, food and drink are obtainable upon
payment in many houses operated on a small-scale
commercial basis. Many a housewife augments the

46 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

family income by making chicha and causas to sell.
The chicha sells, according to quality, for 10 and 15
centavos a liter, and an ordinary causa is worth 10
centavos. Owing to the rigid etiquette of drinking
which requires even a commercial hostess to drink
with her guests, many of these women who sell
chicha all day become more or less thoroughly intoxi-
cated by evening. Such places of refreshment are
called chicherias, although the word is less used than
in certain other parts of Peru.

Some of the more conservative families still eat on
totora mats placed on the dirt floor, but the great
majority now have rough rectangular tables, some-
what like those for kitchen use in United States
farmhouses, around which they sit to eat and drink
on benches made of sawed boards.

There is no rule against men and women eating
together and for ordinary meals and small gatherings
this usually takes place. At festive meals the women
of the household are usually in the kitchen during
the meal, occupied with the preparation and serving
of the food, and at any meal the women are usually
up and down, serving the meals, moving back and
forth between table and kitchen.

All responsibility of preparing, cooking, and serv-
ing the food and chicha is customarily in the hands
of the women. Although the women do the work
they also have the authority, and a man is supposed
to secure the agreement of his wife before issuing
invitations. If a visitor drops in, the man will ask
his wife if she has something in the way of a causa
and some chicha. If he wishes to buy chicha, he
usually asks his wife for the money. To be sure,
certain men dominate their wives or companions
sufficiently to make these requests more in the nature
of a command than a pleading, but in the pattern and
phrasing of the eating and drinking situation the
woman is supposed to have the controlling role.

Proper relaxation is required for the healthful
digestion of food after eating, according to local
belief. Reading, riding horseback, and sexual inter-
course within an hour or two after a meal are re-
garded as extremely dangerous. This is summed up
in a frequently quoted proverb, which I believe has a
general Peruvian distribution :

Después de comer,

ni un papelito para leer,

ni caballo, ni mayer.

(After eating,

neither a paper to read,

nor a horse, nor a woman.)

During my time in Moche one of the local foras-
teros was suddenly taken ill and, 2 days after being
removed to the Trujillo hospital, died of a ruptured
duodenal ulcer, according to hospital attachés He
was a strong, healthy man in his thirties, and the
Mocheros were agreed that he met his end by reason
of his habit of immediately mounting his horse and
riding off to his work after eating.

CHICHA

This drink and the customs concerned with it
deserve a fairly long section, not because of its
inherent interest for tipplers unacquainted with the
beverage, but because, for better or for worse, it
plays so large a part in Moche life.

Maize grown in the countryside is used principally
for roasting ears (choclos) and for making chicha.
Certainly the latter use absorbs by far the major part
of the maize consumed in the community. The con-
sumption of chicha, according to my data, seems to
average about 2 |. per day per adult (over 18 years
of age) for its “normal” or thirst-quenching proper-
ties, as an accompaniment of meals etc., with an
additional liter per day per adult as a conservative
estimate for chicha consumed because of its festive
properties. These are only estimates, based on
relatively small samples of families, but seem to be
on the conservative side, if anything; for when the
Mocheros become festive, the amount of chicha con-
sumed is prodigious. The fact that they are, for the
most part, independent proprietors of their lands
allows them the leisure and the opportunity for such
relaxations.

The word “‘chicha” is in general use for rustic
drinks in all parts of Spanish America, and it does
not seem to be a term native to Peru.3* The Quechua
terms are “acca, aka, asuha, khusa, aqha.” 34 The
material preserved in the Museo Arqueoldégico
“Rafael Larco Herrera” in Chiclin seems to show
clearly that chicha, or a similar beverage, was in
common use during Mochica times. Many in-
formants have insisted that large sealed pots con-
taining chicha in a “good state of preservation,” i. e.,
potable, have been recovered from the Moche ruins
"$3 Arona sees the word as an old Spanish term meaning “sustenance”
or “nourishment,” the same root involved in salchicha (sausage)
(Arona, 1938, pp. 165-166), although in another place he raises the
question whether it may not be an Antillean term (ibid., p. 177). It
is impossible to translate the word as ‘‘beer,’”’ as will appear later,
when beer itself is discussed. In Moche the word jora (actually the
mash from which chicha is brewed) is used frequently to refer to the
beverage.

*%4 Valdizan and Maldonado, 1922, vol. 2, p. 69 ff.; agha is Farfan’s
rendering (Farfan, 1941, p. 34).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 47

themselves, although I have found no one who has
personally seen or tasted this allegedly well-aged
brew.

It is said that in Inca times all fiestas, as well as
deaths, etc., were celebrated with chicha. According
to Cieza de Leon, nobles and plebians alike drank to
the point of being unable to hold their drinking
utensils in their hands (Valdizan and Maldonado,
loc. cit.). According to Garcilaso de la Vega, chicha
was offered as a sacrifice to the sun, earth, and the
huacas. It was customary first to dip a finger halfway
into the chicha, gaze respectfully at the sun, and flip
a drop of the liquid off the finger. After this they
drank to their heart’s content. During the Fiesta of
the Sun,*5 called by Garcilaso Intip Raymi, the Inca
drank from a gold vase and gave it to kneeling rela-
tives to drink from. This chicha was made by the so-
called Virgins of the Sun. The curacas, not being of
royal blood, met in another plaza, Cusipata, and were
given the unsanctified chicha which the Inca women
drank. According to Juan de Betanzos (1880),%°
the cult of the Orejones owes its origin to chicha. The
cult was founded, according to this source, by the
Inca Yupanqui who required the Incas to begin a
30-day period of fasting. Before starting they were
ordered to make four large jars of chicha. During
the 30 days they had nothing but chicha made by a
virgin. At the end of the month they were required
to drink all of the four large jars of the liquor at once,
whereupon they fell into an unconscious state and had
their ears bored before they regained consciousness.

Although drunkenness was prohibited by Inca law
and repeaters were supposed to be executed, it seems
to have been fairly widespread, according to Guaman
Poma de Ayala (1936). Lastres says—

A people essentially idolatrous and superstitious, they had
to find release from their anxieties in the immoderate use of
stupefacients. And chicha was the imperial drink of both
nobles and commoners. From its immoderate use came
psychic and organic upsets ranging from simple drunkenness
to the Hatunmachay, or loss of judgment. [Lastres, 1941,
p. 122.]

Thus, whatever else may be said about the “chicha
complex” in modern Moche, it seems to be directly in
line with the cultural usages of early (Mochica) as
well as late (Inca) prehistoric times.

In Moche there is a sort of cycle involving eating

% Cited by Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. 75); see
Garcilaso de la Vega (1919, vol. 2, pp. 188-193).
% Cited by Valdizan and Maldonado, loc. cit.

and chicha drinking. It is thought necessary for adults
to “settle” (sentar) all meals except breakfast with
chicha (although some individuals do not hesitate to
“settle” breakfast as well). At least one bowl of
chicha is essential for this process. “Ya vamos a
sentar el almuergzo” simply means, “Now that we have
had lunch, let’s have a drink.” Conversely, it is re-
garded as unseemly and unhealthy to consume any
considerable amount of chicha on an empty stomach.
Since one bowl of the liquor after lunch frequently
induces the desire to have another, and so on, drink-
ing and eating frequently progress hand in hand from
midday until bedtime.**

Fresh chicha (fresca) with little or no alcoholic
content is used, if available, as a thirst quencher at
breakfast and to be carried in bottles to the fields, etc.
This fresh drink is, of course, merely the regular
product before it has fermented (when it is called
chicha madura).

Judging by its effects (and not on myself alone),
well-matured chicha must have an alcoholic content
close to that of a heavy ale, perhaps 12 to 14 percent
by volume. The strength of the brew is increased up
to a certain point proportionately to the amount of
chancaca (brown cake-sugar ) or sirup mixed with the
jora (mash made from sprouted grains of corn).

Except for the probably excessive consumption of
alcohol which it induces, chicha in itself would seem
to be a comparatively healthful beverage. As will be
seen from the standard recipe in a later section (p.
53), it is made from sprouted corn or other grains.
This is not chewed up and spit out as is done in the
manufacture of certain beers in the jungle portions
of South America. The mash, or jora, thus made is
then boiled with water for from 24 to 48 hours, which
is, of course, sufficient to kill contaminating germs.
The fermentation process serves the same end.*° It
is, however, in the etiquette of drinking that all atten-
tion to modern rules of cleanliness disappears.

37In a footnote in Prado (1894), 1941, p. 181, the late Dr. Pablo
Patrén sustains the thesis that asi and coca counteract the effects of
alcohol and he gives references which I have been unable to locate
that ‘‘English therapeutics” uses coca and asi to break the drink habit.
If there is any truth in this, so far as ajf is concerned, might there
be something in the theory of ajf as a counter irritant? Or would it
be beneficial to alcoholics because of its allegedly high vitamin con-
tent?

38 According to the anonymous author of ‘‘Relacién de las costumbres
antiguas de los naturales del Peru, Tres Relaciones 7 1879;
the Inca physicians invented chicha as a means of preventing con-
tamination from infected water, and at least one modern physician
has recommended its use for this purpose, in order to prevent infec-
tion by drinking water in the campina of Arequipa. See Escomel
(1913), cited by Valdizan and Maldonado, vol. 2, pp. 69 ff., 1922.

48 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

The brew is stored in botijas *® (large jars trom
Pisco) and ladled out with a small gourd called a
cojodito (“‘little lame one’) into a large gourd called
a poto. Then the single cojodito serves as the drink-
ing vessel for all who may be present. The affecta-
tion of certain more “modernized” Mocheros of
serving the drink in a glass tumbler serves only to
render visible the slime leit by many mouths on the
rim.

The etiquette is as follows. The host or hostess
dips out a cojodito full of the drink, saying, usually,
“A ver, que usted tome conmigo” (Look, drink with
me). Frequently, this is shortened to merely, “d
ver.’ Sometimes it takes the form of “A ver, salud,
pues,” or “Que dice? A ver.” The phrase of in-
vitation is accompanied by a bow toward the guest
and a raising of the cup to the mouth, followed by
draining the contents at once. It is a gross insult to
refuse an invitation of this sort and implies, as a
refusal to shake hands among ourselves, that the
guest wishes to have no social relations with the
offerer of the drink. After swallowing the liquor,
the host or proposer again fills the cup and passes it
to the invitee or guest. The latter then makes a
similar proposal to someone else present; the latter
person, after draining the cup, then proposes to
another, and the process is repeated. If one is a
guest at a home or a fiesta, one must “‘drink with”
every other person present in this manner; and
minor quarrels sometimes occur because one person
has overlooked this salutation to someone else
present. The customary reticence of the Mocheros
disappears as the bowl makes the rounds, and singing
and dancing begin, together with the constant eating
and drinking. Food is spread on the table and, after
everyone has sat down to eat, there is usually a good
deal of toasting. The general effect is often
heightened by a few small glasses (copitas) of pisco
brandy, or, more commonly, cafaso (drinking alco-
hol distilled from sugarcane juice). Among the
more common toasts are the following:

Al proporeton del burro son los capachos.

(The capachos—rawhide containers fastened on pack
saddles—are selected in proportion to the size of
the donkey, i. e.,
others. )

some people can drink more than

39 The botija “has a yard and a half of height and a half-yard widest
diameter; it has the form of an inverted cone; it contains 23'%4 regular
flasks (frascos), and in them (the botijas) are sent to the kingdoms

of Tierra Firme, Guatemala and New Spain, the wine, aguardiente,
olives and other things.’’ Quoted by Valdizdn (1938, vol. 2, p. 187)
from Alcedo, Diccionario de Peruanismos. Guaman Poma de Ayala

(19 iso uses the word.

Paz para el alma, salud para el cuerpo.
(Peace for the spirit and health for the body.)

Jesus, te invoco que esto para mi es poco.

(This is not too much for me.)

Sali’ compa’. Mi amor se va con usted.

(Health, compadre, my love goes with you.) Reply:
Esta y otra, lo que siento es la demora, (This one
and another, what I don’t like is the delay.)

Tres cantos tiene la encula.
(The dove has three songs, i. e., the woman serving
the drink has three drinks for me.)

Tomar y tomemos

con gran placer y contento,

y sino fuere asi,

se le fusile al momento.

(To drink, let us drink with great pleasure and happi-
ness, and, if it were not so, one would be shot im-
mediately. )

Esta copita de chimoy

tome ahora porque contigo me voy.

(Chimoy is said to be the old name for Trujillo;
translation: take this cup of Trujillo liquor, because
I am going away with you now.)

No hay primara sin segunda.
(One is no good without a second.)

A man arriving at a house and wanting a drink
will often use the phrase, “Seco, lavao, y voltedo,”
(I am dry, washed, and upset).

The present writer is not sufficiently acquainted
with rural drinking customs in other parts of Peru
to know, but he believes that these toasts, except for
the pronunciation, are not unique to Moche, but are
fairly common throughout the country.

A strong prejudice against factory-made beer
(cerveza) exists in Moche. There is a brewery in
Trujillo which produces both light beer and dark
beer, which experts say are of good quality and
which sell for about 50 centavos (714 cents in United
States money) per liter in bottles. This price com-
pares with 10 to 15 centavos per bottle for chicha
and may have something to do with the prejudice,
which in the main, however, seems to be a matter
of taste reinforced by traditional beliefs. As a sign
of ostentatious spending and to humor a forastero
friend, a Mochero will order some beer from the
shop and will drink it, but he actually does not like
it as well as chicha. Not only is beer felt to be
tasteless or disagreeable, but it is believed to be
dangerous. Many ailments are said to be brought on
by light beer, colds and other respiratory troubles in
particular. Added to this is the general belief that
brewery beer contains arsenic as a preservative.

When one sees a Mochero friend and discovers that
he is not feeling well that day, the Mochero will
frequently say that he believes the cause was that he
was “in Trujillo yesterday and drank a bottle of
beer.” Everyone knows that such a lapse is sufficient
cause for illness. I had a persistent cold and cough
during the month of June in Moche, and no one ever
tired of warning me not to touch any light beer.
Dark beer for some reason is not regarded as so
dangerous. This attitude toward light beer also
seems to be tied up with the general classification of
all foods into “cold” and “warm” categories. Beer
is among the “cold” substances, but light beer is
colder than dark beer.

OTHER DRUGS AND NARCOTICS

Aside from brewed and distilled alcohol the Mo-
cheros are very little addicted to the use of other
drugs, except occasionally as medicines.

Coca is available in the shops, costing 5 centavos
the handful, but no Mocheros are habitual coca users
in the sense that they have a cud in the cheek all of
the time. Many men buy a handful of coca which
‘they chew with lime (a pinch is thrown in with the
‘purchase as a form of “yapa” or good-will extra) to
keep them awake when they have to stay up all
night. Coca leaves are also used for making a tea
which is said to be good for aches and pains, but is
not drunk habitually as a beverage. No lime gourds,
‘spatulas, or other implements are used in the con-
sumption of coca. A man merely carries his pur-
chase in the paper in which the shopkeeper wraps it.

Tobacco is used only in the form of cigarettes, and
‘there are practically no heavy smokers among the
Mocheros. Many men do not smoke at all, others
usually only when relaxing. A cigarette is a special
‘treat rather than a daily or hourly necessity.
Women do not smoke at all, except as a joke or
when drunk. The resistance to the tobacco habit at
present is easily explainable superficially by its cost.
Tobacco is a Government monopoly, and the cheapest
package of cigarettes available costs 45 centavos, a
high price for Mocheros. It is illegal to roll
cigarettes by hand.

Aside from considerations involved in the psycho-
social structure of Moche life, which will .be dis-
cussed later, the resistance to coca and tobacco seems
to be supported by historical tradition. There is no
clear evidence that the habitual use of either narcotic
was widespread in the Mochica or Chimu cultures ;
in fact, it is doubtful that the use of tobacco was

‘a c
q

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 49

general even under Inca domination, and the extent
to which the Inca introduced the use of coca on the
coast remains to be studied.

PREPARATION OF FOOD AND DRINK

In the preparation of food, the following items
are used.

Fireplaces of two types—(1) Fireplace consisting of three
or more stones for supporting the cooking pot on the ground
or floor of the kitchen (pl. 14, lower (left)). (2) “Stove” of
adobe about 36 to 40 inches high off the ground. Two parallel
ridges of adobe run perpendicular to the front of the stove
on its top; between them the fire is laid and on them, or on
iron straps or other supports laid across them, stand the
cooking pots (pl. 14, middle (left) ).

Fuel of three types—Wood obtained from the areas near
the river and from trees growing on the plot and alongside
the irrigation ditches, charcoal, and manure of domestic
animals.

No ovens are used in household cookery. Bread is not
invariably eaten, yuca being the “bread” of Moche. All of
those who have acquired a taste for bread buy it in the
tiendas, from peddlers who visit the houses, or from the
households which bake it.

Cooking pots (callanas) of various types and shapes
(pl. 14, middle and lower (left) ).—Made of earthenware by
Indians of the Sierra or of the region about Chiclayo. No
pots are made by hand in Moche.

IVater storage jars (olla manca).—Large earthenware pots
(pl. 13, middle (left)), dug up from the Moche ruins.

Gourd vessels of four general types—Mates, the plate-
shaped gourds; potos, the bowl-shaped gourds (small-sized
bowls or drinking cups are called cojoditos) ; and porongos,
the bottle-shaped gourds. All of these are made to some
extent in Moche, but the better specimens come from the
region of Chiclayo. The latter carry fairly elaborate, if
crude, external designs etched with hot irons or (a new
introduction) with nitric acid and black and red inks.

Fans (abanicos) for blowing up kitchen fre—Made of
carrizo woven to give the fan a diamond shape and a handle
of carrizo ends about 6 inches long.

Hand mills or grinding stones—These consist of two
parts, the mano, or movable part, and the batdn, or base.
Neither is shaped in a regular pattern. The batdi is a flat-
topped stone of variable shape, but usually approximating
18 inches in diameter; it may be worn into a shallow depres-
sion by use, but does not have a raised rim about the edge
as do the Mochica specimens. The mano is a stone of vari-
able shape which has a smooth rubbing surface along one
side about two handbreadths in length. Some are cylindrical,
but others are hump-backed, brick-shaped, etc. In modern
times, they are selected (like the bafanes) for their shape,
rather than being worked into shape (pl. 13, middle
(center) ).

Wooden spoons.

Chicha containers (botijas)——These have already been
described.

30 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

The foregoing is a list of the essential items used
in food and chicha preparation and eating. To this
list, which is more or less aboriginal and characteristic
of the stabilized native-colonial culture, have been
added items of more recent introduction, e.g.: Gaso-
line cans as containers for liquids; oil drums as water
containers and cooking utensils; iron and enamelware
pots and pans of various types, of which the metal
frying pan is perhaps the most radical innovation
(there is considerable doubt that the aborigines of
this region fried food) ; tin cans and glass bottles of
all types and shapes; glass tumblers; china drinking
cups: knives, forks, and spoons of metal, for eating
and for handling the food on the fire.

As with all other aspects of Moche material culture,
it is notable that most of the introductions are sub-
stitutions for less efficient older items, but that there
has been no tendency to adopt new-fangled mechan-
ical devices. For example, the primus stove would
be a useful item, and likewise the hand-cranked coffee
grinder. Both are within the economic means of
many Mocheros, and, while there may be a family
here or there which possesses these contrivances, I
have not seen them, nor have my informants located
any.

The one mechanical improvement, involving the
principle of the wheel, which has had wide acceptance
in Moche is the sewing machine.

MIDDAY IN A MOCHE HOUSEHOLD

Before presenting more details it may be of interest
to set down a description of Moche kitchen manage-
ment and the noonday household events of a typical
menage as seen through the eyes of a North Ameri-
can woman, who is a good cook (in North America),
but not an ethnologist. The following notes have
been contributed by Helen Norgord Gillin. They
cover a household in the pueblo. The senora men-
tioned is a pure Mochera.

I arrived in Moche at the house of Sefora P. about 10 a. m.
According to our plan she was going to show me how to
prepare the meal which the two families were to enjoy
together about noon. She was all ready and had collected
in the kitchen: cabrito, yuca, potatoes (white and yellow),
beans, lemon, fish, and rice.

Her kitchen is a large dirt-floored, mat-walled room at the
back of the house. A large door opens into the sala (main
toom), A roof of mats covered the kitchen, but various
large uncovered patches in the roof and walls allowed ample
light to enter. In one corner was a good adobe stove. Under-
neath the top on which the fire was laid was a hollow space
used for storage of pots and pans, with a few Tags put down
as a bed for the hairless “Chinese” dog she owns. She claims

the dog was given to her by one of the Chinese in town and
that the Chinese eat these dogs. The top of the stove, made
of wood, but thickly covered with adobe, was used for mak-
ing the fire, and two ridges of adobe ran down each side from
the front to the back of the top. Stretched across these were
various pieces of old iron which held the pots over the fire.
In the wood supports of the mats of the wall beside the stove,
nails had been driven where the wooden cooking spoons were
hung.

In front of the stove was a large flat-topped stone (batdn)
with a stone grinder on it. A large old wooden table stood
against the farther end of the wall. In the corner next to
it was a wooden cupboard with doors on it in which were
stored dishes, food, etc. A wooden bench at the side of the
cupboard held a wash pan and a bar of soap. Toward the
opposite side of the room, as one enters it, was a long wooden
table covered with a wornout oilcloth. On either side were
benches, and three chairs were grouped around the ends.
This is the dining table and the place for drinking in this
house. In addition to the sala, two enclosures opened off the
kitchen, one a poultry yard, and the other a small storage
room for chicha. The latter formed a small adobe addition
to the house proper.

After the older daughter had pinned a large, much-patched
apron on me, I was first taught how to grind ayi. The large
red pods are put on the grinding stone and the grinder
(mano) is moved rapidly and heavily over them, with a sort
Also treated this way were onions and
garlic. The aji was made into a sort of paste in this fashion.
Salt had been brought from the store in the form of large
crystals and these also were ground on the batdn. Meanwhile
the cabrito was cut up inte small pieces and placed in an
earthenware pot on the stove to boil in water seasoned with
ground salt. Later vegetables were mixed with it. When all
was ready the table with the oilcloth was set.

A small drawer in the table held assorted knives, forks,
spoons, and two lavender napkins. A place was set for me
with knife, fork, spoon, and napkin. The younger daughter
took out of the corner cupboard five large spoons which she
cleaned by rubbing them with salt, then put them around the
table. Six soup plates were then produced from the cup-
board and wiped off with a dirty towel before the soup was
served in them. After the soup we had the cabrito, rice and
beans, very pitcante. (For recipes, see below.) The two
daughters started to eat with us, then the sefora’s nephew
came in, and finally the sefora sat down. While we were
eating, Sra. P.’s next-door neighbor and comadre came in.
Her husband, she said, was dying of a toothache and had the
left side of his face all swollen up. Naturally, it was a
neighborly gesture to relieve her of getting lunch while he
was ill. Sra. P. said that she would go over to put hot
compresses on his face after lunch. Meanwhile the comadre
sat down and partook of some nourishment with us, while
Sra. P. scolded her for not making her husband have his
tooth extracted.

About 10:30, while we were preparing the meal, Sra. P.’s
sister, a most attractive woman somewhat younger than
Sra. P., had dropped in with a friend-to grind some rice on
the grinding stone, so that she could make pepidn de arroz,
which she promised to send over for our lunch, also. Now,
while we were eating, she came in with the pepidn in a large

of rocking motion.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN D1

gourd plate (mate). She was dressed in an embroidered
white blouse with a full dark-blue skirt, with an embroidered
petticoat of muslin under it, and she had yarns of brown
cotton braided into her hair which was twisted around her
head in a sort of crown. She was barefoot. The two ladies
had to drink a glass of chicha with each of us in turn.

After we had finished eating, the plates and spoons and
glasses were washed in a little cold water poured out into a
shallow gourd (mate) and then they were dried with the
same dirty towel. The pots and pans were not washed. The
remaining food was just left in them.

The Sra. P. and her comadre went next door to attend to
the ailing husband, so they brought over the 2-month-old
baby for me to play with. It was a fat, smiling, apparently
bright child, but dirtier than any I have ever seen. In her
ears the dirt was in great cakes, her face was black, and her
head was covered with scales. The ladies told me that a
baby should never be bathed during its first year. During the
second year it is never wise to bathe it in the winter. This
one had had one bath about a week before, and, so they said,
nearly caught pneumonia, so they would wait until warmer
weather or an older age. Its clothes were comparatively
clean, but the child was filthy.

About 1:30 in the afternoon Sra. P.’s husband and my
husband returned. They brought with them Don V. The
sefiora said that she must immediately prepare a causa, which
consisted of fish with onions (pescado encebollado). I helped
her, and, as a contribution to the entertainment, we sent one
of the daughters out for six bottles of beer. Before long,
three other men, all compadres of the family, of course,
wandered in and were invited to causear. By this time the
party consisted of the sefora and me, her two daughters, her
sister, her comadre from next door and the baby, and the
three compadres who had dropped in. In addition to the
beer, I noticed that the bowl of chicha on the table was filled
four times before we left. Don V., who probably had a
few copitas before, was slightly drunk and started making
mock-serious speeches making fun of various people. We
managed to get away about 3:30, by which time the causa
was going strong and everyone was very merry indeed.

BUTCHERING

All meat is supposed to be slaughtered and dressed
in the local slaughterhouse, called the camal.*° The
slaughterhouse is owned by the municipality, which
employs a municipal butcher (camalero). A fee of
3 soles is charged for slaughtering and dressing a beef,
1 sol for a full-grown pig, and 40 centavos each for
sheep. There is a cement floor with a drain running
through the middle. Sheep are unceremoniously held
with their heads hanging over this drain, and the
throat is slit. Blood is collected in tin cans and used
to feed ducks as well as to make certain kinds of blood
pudding. Blood sausage is unknown here, I am told.

# This word is a widely used term in the country and appears to be
a Peruvianism. See Arona (1938, p. 113). The Mocheros know the

word matadero, but do not use it except when explaining to a gringo
what a camal is.

A beef is tied with a rope around the horns to an iron
ring set into the cement floor. The butcher sticks it
with the point of a sharp knife just behind the horns,
as in a method of despatching bulls in bull rings. This
seems to paralyze the animal, but does not kill it. The
killing is done by slitting the arteries of the neck al-
lowing the animal to bleed to death, while the blood
is collected in tin cans. Sheep make no noise when
their throats are cut, other than three or four very
profound sighs as the air leaves the lungs. Pigs are
hamstrung before their throats are slit.

Carcasses are immediately skinned and hung up.
The meat not needed in the owner's household is sold
to the local meat shops (carnecerias) and to vendors
in the markets. In both cases it is displayed, hung
from hooks over head, or laid out on wooden tables.

Nothing is thrown away. Even the intestines are
sold for soup and meat (mondongo). The intestines
are frequently cut into thin slices or shreds and fried,
somewhat after the manner of making chitterlings. A
local meat seller said that bull’s penis is particularly
good to eat if the animal is young, not when it is old.
When from a young animal it is “puro nervio,” and
gives one strength if he is run down or nervous. This
is a curious belief in the realm of contagious magic,
which, however, is not completely diffused throughout
the community. Some persons had never heard of it.
Beef penis is, however, generally eaten, regardless of
its alleged powers, and most frequently appears in
sancochado. Bulls’ testicles are much prized in san-
cochado as well.

In Moche—and this is true in most of Peru—there
is little attention given to butcher’s cuts of meat. It
is generally cut or hacked into hunks, regardless of
the part of the carcass from which it is taken. Chops
or cutlets are unknown as such in Moche. Lomo is
practically the only recognized “cut,” but it is only
a flat piece of meat which can be fried or broiled like
a beefsteak. It may be taken from any part of the
animal, from the rump to the shoulders, and it may
represent either a cut across the fibers or along them.
Most meat is prepared either guizado or sancochado.
Both processes make use of hunks or cubes of meat,
regardless of cut. Thin slices of meat (carne
mechada) are cut from boiled joints and served cold
in sandwiches.

So far as I know, there is no manufacture of ham
or bacon in Moche and no consumption of these prod-
ucts. Sausage is made, by a local forastero butcher,
for sale in Trujillo, but little is consumed by
Mocheros. The only means of preserving meat of

52 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

which I am aware—if they can be considered in this
category—are the customs of frying long strips of
meat in fat, after which they may be hung up in the
kitchen for some days to be eaten at the convenience
of the household ; the boiling of joints to be preserved
for some days cold; and the drying of small lizards.

Despite the fact that all animals are supposed to be
butchered in the municipal slaughterhouse, private
butchering takes place as well, especially in the
campiia. So far as I know, the methods are essen-
tially the same. Animals are never struck on the head
with an ax or club, but are always either held down
or tied down, and their throats are cut. Poultry are
also killed by slitting the throat. Poultry blood is not
collected. At the present time no explanation of this
method of slaughtering is given, other than the desire
to use the blood of larger animals. What its true
historical origin or basis is I am unable to say.

MISCELLANEOUS DISHES

In this section is presented a short and partial
checklist of foods or dishes not necessarily familiar
even to those who know Spanish, if their experience
has not included Moche or the north Peruvian coast.

Sancochado.—This is a dish, or at least a term, common, I
believe, to the whole Peruvian coast. In Lima, it often
appears to resemble something like a “New England boiled
amie and beef boiled
separately and placed separately on the plate. In Moche,
however, the “pepper pot.” It
always contains meat of some kind, yuca, and, usually, boiled
corn on the cob. Frequently other vegetables are included.
All are boiled together in the pot with a plentiful seasoning
of ayi.

Pepidén de choclo.—A thick soup or mash is made of green
corn kernels mashed up, strained, and cooked with meat.
Pepian is also made of rice.

Panes con mecha.—These are actually small sandwiches,
made of bunlike “breads” bought in the shops and slices of
cold meat (carne mechada) cut from a joint boiled with
spices and cut cold.

Frijoles entreverados—Hard beans mixed with meat cut
into small cubes and made into a sort of stew.

Arroz fogoso.—Boiled rice, not wet, not dry, of “just the
right consistency.”

dinner,” consisting of various

sancochado is more like

Chochoca.—A sort of mush or soup made from meal of
a special yellow maize which is imported from the Sierra.

Tajadas de yuca.—Pieces of boiled yuca cut into lengths of
about 2 inches and split in half or four ways. The ta/ada is
picked up in the hand and eaten as bread. “La yuca es el
pan de Moch« o”? :

Arrozg con cebolla—A mixture of rice boiled with onions
and picante.

Lenteja scrrana—Small lentils grown only in the Sierra,
but imported and used commonly in Moche. Not to be con-

fused with the lenteja bocona, also called the lenteja mochica
or lenteja mochera, said to be native to Moche. ’

Caiianes.—Small lizards. These animals are caught as
previously described and disemboweled, after which they are
dried in the sun and kept in bundles of a dozen or so. They |
are cut into short pieces and eaten (heads, feet, tail, and all) ©
in seviches and sancochados, and are also boiled with vege-
tables (ayiaco.) f

A FEW RECIPES 4!
Cabrito Encebollado

1. Cut cabrtio (kid) meat into pieces about 1 inch square or
cube (depending on the piece you are working with) and
wash. This recipe is based on about 2 pounds of kid meat
(1 kilo).

2. Put meat in earthenware jar and cover with manteca
(lard).

3. Grind aji (chile peppers), both colorado (red) and
amarillo (yellow), one of each, and add paste to pot; stir.

4. Cut up four green onions into small slices, but do not use
green stems; add to pot.

5. Chop up culantro with a knife and add to pot.

6. Grind salt and black pepper seeds; add to pot, according
to taste.

7. Cut up two tomatoes in small pieces and add to pot.

8. Put ina bit of orégano.

9. Place on fire and stir occasionally until done.

Arroz con Frijoles

1. Grind four ajos (garlics) on batan. Place in earthenware

cooking pot (callana).

Add four wooden spoonfuls of manteca (lard).

until garlic turns yellow.

3. Add double handful of dry hard kidney beans and salt to
taste.

4. Add 114 Quaker oats cans of water, or according to
experience.

5. Wash double handful of rice two times, in shallow
gourds (mates), pouring from one to the other through
the fingers.

6. When the beans, etc., in the pot are boiling, add rice. If
the wooden spoon stands upright in the mixture without
support, there is just the proper amount of water. If
it falls over, there is too much.

i)

Cook

Pepidn de Arroz

1. Grind two yellow ajis. Place in cooking pot.

2. Add two cooking spoonfuls of manteca and cook until
well mixed.
3. Grind double handful of rice lightly, to break each grain

into two or three pieces, but not into a powder or flour.
4. Add water and boil. This mixture should not be quite so
“stiff” as previous.
5. After rice has come to a boil, add meat in small pieces,
if available.

-escado Encebollado

1. Put cut-up onions, yellow and red aji, and lard into pot.
Cook slowly for a few minutes.

41 Collected by Helen Norgord Gillin.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 03

2. Add cut-up washed pieces of fish.
3. Pour chicha over all sufficient to moisten well.
4. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Sopa Tedloga

This “theological soup” is an essential dish for special
occasions, such as birthdays, baptisms, marriages, births, etc.
It is also known as sopa de fiesta.

1. Bread is cut into pieces and moistened, allowed to stand
for half an hour.

Place in cooking pot with water.

In the meantime prepare a thick chicken soup or broth.
Pour this over the bread pap, boiling.

Red and yellow ayi (ground) added.

oe As

lsafran rubbed between the hands and dropped into the
pot.

La Boda

“Theological soup” is usually served on festive occasions
as part of a dish called “La Boda” (the wedding). This
feast is served in one large plate or shallow gourd and con-
sists of the following ingredients :

1. Sopa tedloga.
2. Maiz tostado molido, ground roasted corn kernels, often
called mdchica.

3. Pepidn de cancha, a stiff mush made of ground roasted
corn.

4. Jeta or geta, a sort of sauce made of dry lentils (lenteja
bocona) cooked to a mush, and beaten.

5. Yuca machada, boiled, mashed yuca.

6. A piece of chicken or duck.

7. A piece of kid.

The soup occupies the bottom and center of the plate with
the other items ranged about the edges. The piece of chicken
is placed in the soup and the piece of kid rests atop the
pepidn de cancha. All are well flavored with aji, onions,
salt, black pepper, culantro, asafrdn, etc. It is the manage-
ment of the seasoning which distinguishes an expert Moche
cook from an ordinary one.

Chicha

Chicha may be made from a variety of grains or
kernels, other than maize, e. g., peanuts, barley,
wheat, etc. In Moche it is always made cf maize,
although sometimes wheat grains are mixed with the
maize. It is boiled directly over the fire either in
large 50-gallon oil drums or in earthenware pots. In
Monseft (near Chiclayo) a chicha-making arrange-
ment was observed which consisted of four large
pots set into the ground close together but at the
four points of a small rectangle. The earth was
tamped well up around their outer sides, while a
fire was placed in the center and blown with a fan
so as to circulate between the pots. This pattern is
said to have been used in former times in Moche, but

has now completely disappeared. The following is a
standard recipe.

1. Prepare the mass of sprouted maize (chwio de maiz
nacido). Mature maize kernels are laid out on a damp
cloth, usually gunny sacking, in a shaded place. Then
they are covered with moist leaves or with a second damp
cloth. The kernels are sufficiently sprouted in 6 to 8 days.

Make the jora (chujio with water), placing the chufo in

the boiler, then adding water.

3. Boil for 24 hours or longer, up to 48 hours. At one house

where the writer observed the process, the ora was being

boiled in a 50-gallon oil drum over a cow-dung fire. The
woman in charge said that the chiwio involved in this
batch amounted to 114 arrobas (37.5 Ibs.) and that she

expected to get “slightly less” than two bottjas (200

bottles) of drinkable chicha after discarding the dregs.

During the boiling a plentiful scum accumulated on the

surface and was flicked off with a rough branch from

time to time. During the boiling process more water is
added to compensate tor that lost by evaporation.

Allow to cool.

Strain the jora through cotton cloth and/or a basket into

the botija or other container.

6. Add chancaca (a type of brown sugar in cakes), sirup,
molasses, or cane juice. Chancaca is most frequently
used, and the amount depends upon the experience of the
maker. Up to a point, the more sugar used, the more
alcohol will result.

7. Allow to stand 4 to 6 days until it has finished “working.”

Chicha made in this way will last about a month without

turning to vinegar.

ae

"HOT AND “COLD” FOODS

All foods are classified as hot (caliente) and cold
or cool (fresco). The classification seems to an out-
sider to have nothing to do with the physical proper-
ties of the foods themselves or the physical state they
happen to be in at the moment, i. e., cooked or
uncooked, just off the fire or standing cold, etc. In
Moche the classification seems to be based upon
obscure beliefs concerning the effects which the
various foods have upon the human organism in
certain states of illness or uneasy physiological
equilibrium. Beliefs concerning illness will be dis-
cussed extensively in a later section, but, among
others, there are two types of sickness in the view of
the Mocheros: (1) the illnesses which produce a
cold feeling (including colds themselves, resfrios,
catarros, constipados, etc.); and (2) the illnesses
which produce a hot feeling (fever). If one is
suffering from or is susceptible to a “hot” sickness,
he should avoid “hot” foods, and vice versa.

Common people are not always sure where a given
item is classified and seek the advice of curanderos
(healers) and old women in general, when in doubt.

ot INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

The matter is not an obsession with the ordinary
man or woman, unless he is feeling ill.

There may well be a magical background for this
belief, something embedded in the matrix of curative
magic. If so, it is my notion that the magical inter-
pretations have been lost. As we shall see later, the
corpus of curative magic is not a completely organ-
ized and consistent whole. It either represents a
collection of incompletely assimilated accretions from
various sources, or an older system now broken into
a number of more or less unhinged parts, or perhaps
it is both. At any rate, I was able to unearth no
hints of deeper meanings in the question of the food
classification, although, as with all other aspects of
this report, I would be the first to grant that the
period of field work was insufficient to be certain.

When one is well there is no harm in mixing “hot”
and “cold” foods in the same meal, but this is be-
lieved to be dangerous when the individual is ill.

There follows a partial listing of foods in each
category, upon which four supposedly authoritative
informants agreed. The informants consisted of a
professional curing woman (curandera or curiosa,
not a witch or bruja), a family matriarch, and two
men in their forties. None of these persons are
recognized relatives or close friends. Various other
food items which I tried to check produced disagree-
ment or uncertainty.

COLD FOODS

Carnero (mutton).

Pescado (fish in general).
Corbina (a large sea fish).
Mishito (another type of fish).
Cangrejos (crabs).

Maiz (maize).

Arroz (rice).

Papa (potato).

Tomate (tomato).

Chocolate (chocolate, cocoa).

Té (tea, but not including tea made from yerba luiza).
Mantequilla (butter).

Pan (bread).

Azucar (sugar, in all forms).
Dulces (sweets, candies).
Conservas (jellies, canned fruit).
Queso (cheese).

Leche (milk).

Palta (alligator pear).
Guanabano (a native fruit).
Carne de chancho (pork).

Frijol panamito (small beans).
Cebada (barley; because barley is “cold,” so is beer).
Cerveza (beer).

Cola (bottled soft drinks).

Platane de la isla (a bland plantain).
Trigo (wheat).

Quaker (rolled oats).

Avena (oats).

Choclo (green corn on cob).

HOT FOODS

Canela (cinnamon).

Yerba luiza (a common herb for tea).

Frijoles corrientes (most of the common beans).
Naranja (orange, but especially the peel, cdscara).
Carne de res (beef).

Carne de gallina o pollo (chicken meat).
Cabrito (kid).

Pavo (turkey).

Camote (sweetpotato).

Limon (lemon, lime).

Sal (salt).

Aji (red and yellow peppers).

Café (coffee).

Pisco (native Peruvian brandy).

Canaso (drinking alcohol of sugarcane).

Coca (sometimes made into tea).

Mango (a fruit).

Cuy (flesh of the guinea pig).

Platano (banana, except the variety called “de la isla”).
Garbanzos (chickpeas).

Vino (wine).

Chicha.

STATISTICAL STUDY OF FOODS
CONSUMED

In an attempt to obtain a more objective idea of
foods actually eaten throughout a typical day than
could be obtained from a merely impressionistic ac-
count and also in order to discover whether or not
there were actual differences in the diets or menus of
Mocheros as distinguished from forasteros, the help
of the local public schools was enlisted. A survey
was made during three successive week days of the
first week of July 1944 during which there were no
fiestas or general celebrations. The method followed
was similar to that employed in a Guatemalan town
in 19424 Through the kind cooperation of Sefor
Rafael Castefiada, director of the Government-sup-
ported boys’ school, the Sefiorita, directress of the
Government-supported girls’ school, and their as-
sociated teachers, a contest was carried out in both
institutions on the same 3 days. The contest was ex-
plained to the students as one in observation, composi-
tion, and penmanship. The students were instructed
to write an essay each day on the subject, “What I
ate yesterday” (Lo que comi ayer). They were to
"Gillin, 1943, vol. 1, particularly pp. 352-359. The similarity in

method does not imply detailed similarity in the two situations of
San Luis Jilotepeque (Guatemala) and Moche (Peru).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN oo

describe each meal of the day before, listing specif-
ically all types of food consumed, with quantities of
each in conventional terms (spoonfuls, cupfuls, pieces
of conventional size, etc.). At the head of each paper
the student was required to state his name, age, place
of birth, sex, school year, and ““Mochero” or “foras-
tero.”
students to avoid any suggestion that our primary in-
terest was the diet as such, and to avoid implications

Care was taken in issuing instructions to the

of invidious comparisons or prestige values which
might be involved. The contest was open to all mem-
bers of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years in both
schools. Four prizes were offered in each school and
a consolation award of 10 centavos for each pupil who
turned in his three essays in complete form eligible
for the prizes, whether he won a prize or not. The
teachers examined the papers and excluded those
which were incomplete. They also graded them ac-
cording to the scholastic objectives set forth for the
contest, and the prizes were awarded on that basis.
The whole idea was to obtain a naive report from the
pupils themselves.

After the returns were in, the papers were turned
over to me, and I checked all doubtful cases for their
social status, i. e., Mochero or forastero. Then, with
considerable labor the results which appear in tables
4, 5, and 6 were tabulated. (Anyone who believes
that Spanish cannot be misspelled should try read-
ing a collection of school children’s papers sometime. )
The material was also tabulated by sex, but since
the differences between the sexes on the whole did
not appear to be highly significant in either group,
these tables were omitted. Once the material had
been tabulated, the results were used for further
checking against observations of food habits, and
results of these checks appear in the descriptive
section on food and drink.

A similar attempt was made to obtain the same
type of data for the campiia by instituting a contest
in the rural school at Sun, but the director of this
school reported that he was unable to secure the
cooperation of the pupils on the project. Whatever
the difficulty, I was unable to press the matter under
the circumstances and with the time available, so it
is necessary to confine my analysis to the pueblo data.

A detailed discussion will not be attempted, but
for those who enjoy the juice which can be squeezed
from ‘‘statistics” the following drops are offered.
The usual warning should be issued to the reader,
that is, not to be too impressed with the appearance
of precision conveyed by numerals and percentages

set in columns. Very small values, in particular,
have no statistical validity as such, but they are
included to complete the record and they also serye
the purpose of showing the range of variety in the
menus. Several other cautions and explanations
should be mentioned. (1) Although it is not cus-
tomary for children to drink chicha for all thirst-
quenching purposes as do adults, checking showed
that a good many children had consumed chicha
during the period of survey, but had omitted to
include it in their essays because the hygiene lectures
by the teachers had taught them that chicha drinking
is considered officially undesirable. (2) Although
only the specific reports concerning seasoning items,
such as onions, have been recorded, it will be noted
that no students specifically reported aji, salt, black
pepper, and the whole range of ptcante seasonings.
Checking showed that invariably the cooked food
had been prepared and eaten with picante, but that it
never occurred to the pupils to consider seasoning
“food.” For this reason, there is no worthwhile
statistical comparison of the seasoning of the dishes
consumed between Mocheros and forasteros. (3)
The same is true in some degree of sugar. Warm
drinks, such as tea and coffee, are normally drunk
with sugar, but it did not occur to the students as a
whole that this was to be considered a separate item.
The sugar which was recorded was specifically
mentioned by the students, but checking showed that
many more had used sugar. (4) It must be re-
membered that the food consumed during 3 days in
July will not necessarily conform in all details to that
consumed during some other period of 3 days. The
actual details depend to some extent upon what is
available in the markets during the period in ques-
tion. Thus, beef was plentifully available at this
particular time and mutton was not, so the low
figures for mutton are not as significant actually as
they might appear to be statistically. Nevertheless,
some kind of meat or fish is eaten every day, and this
is the important fact when considering the food
patterns. (5) It is for this reason that, although
the items themselves are those written down by the
students, I have grouped them roughly into cate-
gories: beverages, soups, meat, fish, cheese and eggs
(animal proteins), vegetables and grains, fruits,
sweets, and miscellaneous. These categories cannot
be defended in strict terms from the point of view
of the science of nutrition, but rather conform to the
local ways of grouping food and talking about it.
“Tea” includes both herb tea and true commercia!

36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

tea. Individual checking showed that it is probable
that proportionately more forastero households use
commercial tea, but the majority use herb tea because
of taste and price. (6) It should be borne in mind
that I have no control of the accuracy of these re-
ports, other than that obtained by the usual ethno-
logical techniques of interview and recheck with
informants. Therefore, I have attempted no elab-
orate statistical manipulation of the data, have not
reduced them to constants, other than percentages,
and have not employed the standard statistical
measures of error. (7) Finally, no attempt has been
made to measure or tabulate quantities of food con-
sumed, either in bulk terms or in terms of nutritional
values. Although the subjects were asked to state
quantities in their reports, this was for the purpose
of focusing their attention upon the food objects
themselves, and they stated the quantities in un-
standardized conventional terms.

The purpose, in short, was to broaden the base
of the usual impressionistic ethnological report.
Some quantitative guide to the differences in patterns
and trends in food preferences as between the
Mochero and forastero groups was needed, and the
procedure used was the best that seemed available
under the circumstances. A more accurate statistical
study of these cultural phases of the food problem,
as well as of nutritional phases, could certainly be
obtained in Moche if one had the time to pursue
such questions exclusively for a period of months.

Except for the fact that children do not drink
chicha as much as adults, and that children do drink
milk, which adults disdain, the differences between
the meals of school children and their parents are
negligible. The three main meals, desayuno (break-
fast), almuerzo (midday meal), and comida (eve-
ning meal) are eaten in the same house and “from
the same pot” as the parents’ food, and there is no
pattern of preparing separate diets for the children
of the age range of our subjects. The after-school
lunch (lonche), on the other hand, may involve a
few centavos’ worth of sweets or bread purchased
at a shop on the way home from school, a feature
which would not appear in the adult menu of the
day. Except for lonche, then, we may consider these
reports as reflecting the menus of adults as well as
children.

If the limitations of the tabulations have been suff-
ciently well set forth, we may proceed to consider
briefly a few points of significance which seem to
emerge from the material.

The total sample consists of 111 pupils, of whom
83, or 74.8 percent, were Mocheros and 28, or 25.2
percent, were forasteros. In the Mochero group, 59
were boys and 24 were girls; among the forasteros,
18 were boys and 10 were girls. The age range was 8
to 16. Altogether, the reports covered 789 separate
meals of Mocheros and 305 separate meals of foras-
teros over a period of 3 days.

Summing up all of the items of food consumed
which were reported for all of these meals, we find
that the Mocheros consumed 2,451 items and the
forasteros 1,171. It thus appears that the forasteros
had more variety in their menus, for they had an
average of 3.83 items per meal in comparison with the
Mocheros’ 3.10 items, or 23.5 percent more variety.

Now let us consider the incidence of food items,
grouped into broad categories. In table 6, columns
1 and 4 show the absolute frequency of food items by
category, for Mocheros and forasteros, respectively.
In columns 2 and 5 these frequencies are expressed
as percentages of the total number of meals. Thus,
for example, the Mocheros reported 789 meals, and
therefore had that many opportunities to report items
from any one of the categories, but actually only 51.8
percent of the meals contained beverages, according
to the reports, whereas in the case of the forasteros
82.6 percent of the meals reported contained bev-
erages. If we divide 51.8 into 82.6, we obtain 1.556.
On this basis, then, forastero meals contain beverages
55.6 percent more frequently than Mochero meals.
In fact, the forasteros lead in all categories except
meat and fish. They have 27.4 percent more soups
per meal, 16.9 percent more vegetables and grains,
115.9 percent more fruits, 115.9 percent more sweets,
and 119.0 percent more miscellaneous dishes. The
Mocheros, on the other hand, enjoy 22.1 percent more
meats per meal than the forasteros. Although the
forasteros seem to have greater variety of foods per
neal, they do trail slightly in the total number of
distinguishable menu items reported. Thus a count
of the items in tables 4 and 5 respectively demon-
strates that the total forastero group reported 65
different menu items, whereas the Mocheros reported
69. The total range is governed by availability in
market, garden, and field, and is about equal for both
groups. The significant difference lies in the fact
that the average forastero meal presents more types
of food on the table or in the plate, than does the
average Mochero meal. Also, the chances of a food
item froma given category turning up in a given meal

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN vi

are better for the forasteros in all categories except
meat and fish.

Let us now turn to the over-all preferences of
Mochero as compared with forastero menus. In table
6, columns 3 and 6, respectively, will be found the
absolute frequencies of columns 1 and 4, respectively,
expressed as percentages of the total number of food
items appearing in the reports of each group, respec-
tively. For example, the absolute number of bever-
ages consumed by Mocheros was reported as 409, out
of a total of 2,451 menu items reported. In column
3, we see that beverages constituted 16.6 percent of all
items reported. Thus we have an indication of the
proportions in which foods of various categories ap-
pear in the over-all food consumption. It appears at
once that the Mochero menus are more concentrated
in the two categories of meat, fish, etc., and vegetables
and grains. The two social groups are about equal
in their liking for soups, whereas the forasteros prefer
proportionately more beverages, fruits, sweets, and
miscellaneous dishes. If we lump together the two
categories of meat, fish, etc., and vegetables and
grains, we find that 68.3 percent of the diet of the
Mocheros and only 58.0 percent of the diet of the
forasteros fall into these two categories ; or, in other
words, the Mochero diet is 15.9 percent more concen-
trated in these two categories. On the other hand the
forasteros lead the Mocheros in beverages by 29.4
percent, in fruits by 71.4 percent, in sweets by 60
percent, and in miscellaneous dishes by 81.8 percent.

Thus we see that not only is the average forastero
meal richer in variety but also the over-all diet
shows less proportionate concentration on staple
food categories. The slight place taken by fruit in
the diet is in part explained by the fact that the
survey took place in July, early winter, at which
season little local fruit is available. Even so, ap-
preciably more fruit was consumed on forastero
tables in proportion to their numbers.

We may mention a few differences indicated by
scanning the individual items in tables 4 and 5. Milk,
for example, is a much more important drink among
the forasteros than among Mocheros. It appears
63 percent of the time among them for breakfast
and appears in only 35.3 percent of the Mochero
breakfasts. Coffee as a breakfast drink appears nearly
twice as often on forastero tables as on those of
Mocheros (33.3 percent and 17.2 percent), whereas
“tea’’ is twice as popular among Mocheros as among
forasteros (34.5 percent and 16.6 percent, respec-
tively). Fish is much more popular among Mocheros

653348°—47—5

than among forasteros. It appears in one form or
another in 21.2 percent of the Mochero midday meals
(compared with 11.9 percent for forasteros) and in
18 percent of their evening meals (compared with
5.6 percent for forasteros). Both groups like other
meats about equally well.

Rice is the most popular starchy vegetable food
for both groups, being preferred slightly more often
by forasteros. Potatoes, although much less im-
portant than rice for both groups, are much more
popular among forasteros.
hand, show much more fondness for yuca than do
forasteros. Modern innovations, like rolled oats and
prepared cornstarch, play little part in the diet of
either group, but appear twice as often among
forasteros as among Mocheros. Both groups are
well converted to bread for breakfast and afternoon
lunch. Greens are several times more popular among
forasteros, who also show much more interest in al-
most all the green vegetables.

Dessert of sweets or fruit is seen not to be a stand-
ard feature of either Mochero or jforastero meals,
although items from both categories are consumed
proportionately more frequently by forasteros.

“Lonche”’ in the afternoon is a more firmly
established custom among forasteros than among
Mocheros. Among the forasteros 74.9 of the chil-
dren reported had lJonche at least once during the 3
days in question, whereas only 28.9 of the Mochero
children so reported. This snack meal was taken
on the average 63 percent as often as other meals
by the forasteros, only 16.8 percent as often by
Mocheros.

The outstanding differences between Mocheros and
forasteros as indicated by the data may be summar-
ized as follows:

1. The forasteros enjoy more variety of foods per
average meal than the Mocheros.

2. The total diet of the forasteros tends to show
more diversification and less concentration in a few
categories.

3. In respect to specific items or categories of
food, among the beverages forasteros show prefer-
ence for milk and coffee, whereas the Mocheros pre-
fer herb tea. Mocheros eat proportionately more fish
than forasteros. Both groups like rice, but forasteros
prefer potatoes, among the other starchy vegetables,
whereas the Mocheros prefer yuca. Forasteros eat
more sweets and fruits than Mocheros.

4. No major menu item of one group is tabooed
by the other group, and the differences noted are

Mocheros, on the other

58 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 y

statistical preferences or trends of taste, rather than
exclusive preferences reflecting rigid patterns of
custom.

The forasteros may be considered as representing
a broader and more varied cultural background than
the Mocheros. The forasteros are carriers of the so-
called criollo culture, the general culture of Peru,
which is a composite of highland, jungle, and coastal

aboriginal elements, compounded with colonial
Spanish, modern European, and North American
patterns. If these people show somewhat more
catholicity in their eating habits than the relatively
conservative Mocheros, it is not surprising. It also
will not be surprising to see the Mocheros trend
gradually toward criollo patterns in food as well as
in other aspects of their culture, as time goes by.

TapLe 4.—Foods, classified by meal, category, and menu item, reported as consumed by Mocheros
of both sexes for a 3-day period

Cc S

eS : Desayuno Almuerzo Lonche Comida Total or
Individuals, meals, and menu items (breakfast) (midday meal) (lunch) (evening meal) average
No. Pet. No. Pct. No. Pet: No. Pct No.
Individuals reporting ........-.-+0+++ 83 100 100 24 28.9 83 100 83
Meals: Teported “vise vaceade se ssas eK awe 249 100 100 42 16.9 249 100 789
Menu items consumed:
Beverages:
MDT \(COMEE) catawiee gs =:sto.n’orr 43 17.2
TE ea) tv ideacedscrce aves 86 34.5 &
Geeche (clic) iis av ave eeu pede 88 CBE Ea earner ie eich Pein ticic a:
Chocolate (cocoa) ......--.- 56 EP een gr) Cea re ooh
CHCNG aa face iis sak h eu wed ddd c558 eco bee hd Fecnt ais
EXmanada (lemoOnage), “erersierciend) | siaevtaa wk aeel| love eitie © castes
Agua (water): 95266 5is..0 00 Ba 9.2
Agua de cebada (barley water) 12 4.8
ats cas eaten sean was ae 308 123.6
Soups:
Sopa. Cyeretable coup)! «2064 til 2 lewis. seals abe eeeas
iCaldo? (meat SOuUp) “sicis ae cece pees eeeeces i ware EN
Vital wer wed take bhsenea dl eho sae ll hye eee
Meat, fish, eggs, cheese: | =
Carne (meat, unspecified).... 4 1.6
Carne de res (beef).......-. Seam
Carrie de ichanchaiin) c45 555-0

Lomo (beefsteak) ..........-
Carnero (mutton) ..... nae
Mondongo Naan
Cabrito (kid) ...
Pollo (chicken) ....
Pescado (fish, unspecifie
Marisco (shrimp, crab) ......
Cangrejo (crab) ...... Be
Corvina (a fish name) Sele
Seviche (raw fish preparation)

Huevo (egg) ....ceeeseeeees
Queso (cheese) ..........00.
TOAD ayes qawse es eerecs an 12 6.8
Vegetables and grains:
Pan Chread)| aisevessieis.ajesc's 236 94.7
Biscocho (biscuit) .......... 4 1.6
Rosca aide bread twist) ... 4 42
Trigo (cracked wheat) ......|.........c|eceececees
eroe (HGe): sé kciee nse texenaee Baek ta) EE ei
Quaker (rolled oats) ........ 4 | aa eee ee
Maizena (cornstarch) ....... 1 HEF ls ns ewe ual cat eae

Cereales (mixed cereals) ..
Chochoca (corn-meal mush) ..

Tallarines: (noodles) © saves 55). .s/ccccceleseeued dad
Fideos (vermicelli) ......... ei are 5 REPS (Te Oe Rete
POPNS CMOIRIONY Sa ieacms 68 ae vac eccsd Gs once wee Sf ar a0
Garbanzos (chickpeas) ......|_........ Jes. ceccee. 3A |' 30:6) ils Sues enone
Alverjas (vetches) ..........|..........|....-... Sf) Slate Gee ete ee eee
Frijoles Udidmey beans), 5 e2cs!oa2ceeecaalltenea acedn 37 A GS a eR es
Lantejas (lentils) casassecvasl...-.... |oncc. cone, a4) | scene tear aes
Pallaces' (large: beans)) scacusl’.. 2.20. lnsceeecens 17:4 —eb6:8 I eotemesleaneee ee
Gilden ee een S88 eo wqese anes |eesesicennal! OD ATH oat G.8)ilasnat wterase |essieieaceistes| inte cess ry eae 8
1
3
21
2
Hilicl evic (orcas ie Sheena ven CESS NeeN ay oi ‘iu w'a\a;sraraia%s: | je mre /ajersie eee 6
Lecluign (ethics) dembcaesd eae alae pe 1
Masdival: (erecta param aval ate Sk Soe pee eee acre Oc Or anaes 3
Cas re nTaCes ne ta Weel ats gh beg | Calete o 5: LQ |lssare srotarve stalls ata ajeteigs¢ -
Choclo (corn on cob) , Saeed = 308 : ae a

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 59

his

TABLE 4.—Foods classified by meal, category, and menu item, reported as consumed by Mocheros
of both sexes for a 3-day period—Continued
ES ———————

ra F Desayuno Almuerzo Lonche Comida Total or
Individuals, meals, and menu items (breakfast) (midday meal) (lunch) (evening meal) average

No. Pet. No. Pet. No. Pct.

(ofr | Pte Gn) AES eee SECO CROC Corre 5 TL? | Sata roteseseacl tena a orans Sieens
Mote (green corn kernels) ...]....--eeeefeceeseeeec|s aialas ruven locate wate |e ete ele axedere By aeinrenacotalat

Total ..ccccceccscrecseees 250 100.3 495 198.7 28 66.6

Fruits:
Platano (banana) .........+- 3 1
Naranja (orange) ........--- 3 1
(CRT iNTIO VAY 5 10s v > insa:ais'<,cln:n 5512 :©| [5 e:slnsersteiars [ms eielays'sa'n'«
Sandia peatcemeion) ins eine | ciaaiaiare Bla eediodelelsvie.
Granadil
Fruta (fruit, unspecified) Fr) Od ee eer

Ota fas cate aes were <>: 6 2.4

Sweets: :
Wileer (desserts tm Specie )ic 2 sreisasoseterssshs |'sieve are.o Gd a | sysyerarchosarereye [lech acwteeara-ae 5 11.9 1
Chocolates (chocolate candy) .|....---sce]e.-ceceeesecccc cece e [sence eeceslocnsrensec[eeeesceens 1 lesen
Azucre (sugar) ...... NAS 25 5

Miscellaneous:
Aceitunas (olives) ....
Mani (peanuts) ...... RAR
Mantequilla eres
Manteca (lard) ...
Sancochado .......

PRCA . Sacanieya elements -

Grand total .......
Average per meal .

TABLE 5.—Foods, classified by meal, category, and menu item, reported as consumed by forasteros
of both sexes for a 3-day period

- Desayuno Almuerzo Lonche Comida Total or
Individuals, meals, and menu items (breakfast) (midday meal) Q(unch) (evening meal) average
No. Pet. No. | lar No. Pet. No. Pet. No.
Individuals reporting ..............-. 28 100 28 100 21 74.9 28 100 2
Beas: TEPOTtEM 1. <sawied aie’ Sad eas’ tees « 84 100 84 100 53 63.0 84 100 305
Menu items consumed: -
i bp
Café (coffee) .......0..0000- 28 33.3 3 o.5 17 32.0 6 VAC ocarersyeian © :
DE (tea) eases Se eee 14 16.6 8 9.5 15 28.9 22 26.1 ee
Leche (milk) ” aie laiaiare aie ei ais 53 63.0 3 3.5 14 26.4 4 Cy ae een re ae
Chocolate (cocoa) ............ 25 29.7 alee aia We leernlere sere 3 5.6 3 3.5" |vsecie ad
Soda (soda water, soft drinks)..|..........[seeeeeeees 1 UIA coonmiage nee le Deanne 1 Il-ieesase a nee
Limonada (lemonade) ......--]...... seatetett oatecetchatotetelie!| Sister td iehertiets nibIGiujelainintes | ota Sje me asoler’ Lijeieja(atata ernie | Ged esis aol pate olepaja alee Weer aye te wate
Agua Gwater): sco: syseisaicese 12 14.2 7 8.3 7 1332 4 Ce a estes 7
Agua de cebada (barley water) .|.........e)eceeeeeees 1 128) |e cwierta sos Walehateteiaaye 1 Wed Vtg amit re
BV Otal Alecia aravareye
Soups:
Sopa (vegetable soup) ..
Galdo. (meat soup)! 2 o.osrc0c0 os |. nic.ccccesicrere
STORE eratstahecalareta(eisssstneioiessisiare

Meat, fish, eggs, and cheese:
arne dere unspecified) ;
Carne de res (beef) .....
Carne de chancho ..
Lomo (beefsteak) ...
Mondongo (intestines)
Cabrito (kid) ...
Pollo (chicken) ... Aone
Pescado (fish, unspecified) : 2 23
Seviche (raw. fish preparati n). i erstee eesarai lleva: naar elaige ate

N
w
w

Huevo (egg)
Queso (cheese)

Ota ebewacansa geese Apec: 10

Vegetables and grains:

Pan (bread) ....... HO ce 82 97.6 3 3.5 41 48.8 a hh Pee ee
Biscocho (biscuit) .........2-]....0. Aen | CA A papataxtsd mantel ofareia selon 1 1.8

Rosca (sweet bread twist) .... 2 PES eal eine eel] Peer Aca ba eral aeeings | laters p eee 1

Trigo (cracked wheat) .......]...... ee cecil ushaipie afsie'eia 1 131 1 1.8 BO CEN ears ‘ait
HASTOZ (LICC) Miciieiats ctera ststataisiaiesy 1 1 | 78 2: Biel ee otahaei eis nee aretarara wioleleve 75 89.2
Quaker (rolled oats) ......... 7 eae Maras atcam ual cin sia riaista ete oe al 1.8 2

Maizena (cornstarch) ........|...... menial s/ayaneis’sisysyeta 2 2-3 levatere ce ala tareia'| daatates sisevs lee eteig@ eis = | anise
Cereales; (mixed/ cereals)” sic). ccicsvecasclee esses ae é eaaeis me oOn BA Gar een Mermaraista, fx

60 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

TABLE 3.—Foods, classified by meal, category, and menu item, reported as consumed by forasteros
of both sexes for a 3-day period—Continued

Desayuno Almuerzo Lonche Comida Total or
Individuals, meals, and menu items (breakfast) (midday meal) (lunch) (evening meal) average
No. Pet. No. Pet: No. Pet; No. Prk:
Tallarines (noodles) .....-++- [eee ce cece afer eeeerees 3 3.5 1 1.8 5 5.9
Fideos (vermicelli) .......00-[eeceeee ere [reese eeres 12 EO emia ie ce ot 25.0
Papas (potatoes) .....eee eee s[eeeeereeec[erreseeers 14 16.6 Beep tatemeip ole a'| Smet eremaiaveaeys 9 10.7
Garbanzos (chickpeas) ......-!... ee ce eeu [seen eeeeee 2 Bod: linisrsrs alae aioe [irate wets 5 5.9
Alverjas (vetches) .......0.+-[ecceeeeees[ereceecees 8 DIS: [avis cc ciene |i ¥.dealsines 7 8.3
Frijoles (kidney beams) «1... .feeseeeeeee|ereereeees 13 DOs iia afaata was [snare che aaa 15 17.8
Lentejas. (lentils): cessor candi cuss cence |feeere eens 5 5-9 Joreeececes[eseeeenees 8 9.5
Habas (broadbeans) ....-... [esse eeeeelereeeenees < Zed feces cece leew esc wees [ese cececerlesssoecsns
MY ifGG) se aie lates reps @ orcnthe one W cscnaiithasm sh tae! @rsismra a8 eis 9 LOS? | oseravsveicsvecatd oe recelsearvas 3 3.5
Zanahorias (carrots) ...-..s-s[eeceeeecee[eceeeeeses 9 10.7 bincasaeacart Seal vies hE wheels 3 35
Repollo (cabbage) .......2eeee [ere e rec ee|er eer teeee 4 Gil Wy ina eele Soy emnateinels 1 5 Hp |
Zapallo (squash) . en neers Cee eee 3 BES N, Gsavere voters ser |iarg aniacareietaby | sate atoranarenie ta atéieiaieins
(eT Ee ere rat Pees ee peeieaceimr 4 AST Vis sovscc ta sin llyine w alo esee pias eaiaterel|\ncenerg Serena
Camote (sweetpotato) a eh pater amie 4 Wee: hots meyer fore nampaanan Be
Frijol verde (green beans) ...'....ceecccleccecceeen|escenerecclesssceeseelesesvcressleccsesaces 2.3
Lechuga (lettuce) ..... 1:1
Verduras (greens) ... oh 5.9
Otc i nae tie Tene 355
Choclo (corn on cob) 1.1
Gebolla, Gorin) sie vs aireren eine Lyi)
Tomate (tomato) .....s.0e5- 28
Espinaca (spinach) 11
Gtmbrydeag ae ene ye wet eas 2 A) 2 . a 215.4
Fruits: 7
Piatano (batt) st aauaenadd (ouewnsaues banaue a8 4 8 9.5 9 17.0 1 6 Oe eet
Naranjas(Oranee)| cc-c.sines cool secs've 840008 oe huc.dee coos 6 7.1 2 Fed ile uvarcoumse prowl Or eel ehatensrotstatetaval| Seteite eleRenareee
WGraredltha aq Soi o a oq iereteceralt va [nel b ocemeatcle 1p erg geet at 2 ra ie Ee eae t Wa ee SRO os FI IE Pete Ae te ey
Palta Calligaton (peal)) cciccieics ©] ¢'s'* sal 45.510] dticis rete lers's 1 cries onan ren ira ithe ok oe: racavoherasetaresal| eyeteverneareraiata
Fruta(iriit sG@nspecihed)) snc. 'scu esce soso mraatesyacers 1 Dads Vis" 5 ue acoteit/3)| gcprecg-a 9 asarere)| sme auctor ane aewioeatale Ee Boe
ORLY sejaie sn cticiorwn wretaiata ita ye alae bates manll aye eed ef eiers 17 20.2 11 20.7 1 re
—_——s oe
Sweets:

Dulee- (deesert, inspetified) cs J'.aiseasteeaelleagaue ac cet|ee dare s.40] veee sre aieaes 1 ; a eee ar $08 Pete pee See
Azwcre '(SU*AT)! ses siea ss saysie : 19 CA Eee ees COC ee ce 7 13.2 2 Dud" | bsaYe eicaraayeee
rita s Seles oss bt 2 19 22.6 17 20.2 8 15.0 2 23 29

a ee | | ee =
Miscellaneous:
Aceitunas (olives) ........... 13 15.3 1 1. 1 1.8 sien asainl| eeolaacetaese fll aheteeeees
Mani (peanuts) ............. 2 | eee gly fa gsiaaubalag semesctee | aaemenee: 1 ely eae
Mantequilla (butter) ......... 8 OS esas NN here re 1 PB chatter see til oR ee
Peanteces sla) s asucecc.e «ares 1 2 2 23 i 1.8 4 4.7
SANCOCRACIO) Maccta rw alate slo s Sart evclisciewie ereue| HaGtalerasale 18 PL ietete.ste gtbe | eke. ¥5 ele eteae 1 DTU | Soavorsinaererenees
BAnNGWIGHES: —.5.0.5 5 < ss:6) o0aacners 2 Vik fe AES ened Cea ee Let Fi are rae Heed eee Fe ener ar

.

TABLE 6.—Comtparison of Mocheros and Foresteros by food categories

Mocheros Forasteros
Category 1 2 3 4 5 6
P Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage
Number of total of total Number of total of total

meals menu items meals menu items
Lotal meals reported. J14 3's iccsiiseiarnsa dae 4 6.000 6 789 100.0 |.5---00teseee 305 100.0 | ..ececesecees
otal menu items reported ...........0.0.ee00ceee Beh k Nl shores, sect rence 100.0 WZ ile. , \avesavee sree atetave 100.0
Ratios between ‘totals og:s.s «ies 0.5.0. hsccoravarstaie,Sioieticic ales Ee oeermccn asl kp iretce at a SRST Wate ene o| seersieieo ears.
ea a Mite se re ciisa tag hear otaaare a.) Se ee a 409 51.8 16.6 252 82.6 21.5
ae GE, 9 erections S peoeitar By teores alan ctataiy heist gage jack Pave eacneee 228 28.8 Fe 112 36.7 9.7
ae RAE ae sigcltiadtigalone ¢ i4cnetid toes eh eee 449 $6.9 18.3 138 45.2 11.7
Seer ed Ota aa tee eh y:8 65 csi Os « ERG ouaenl Gh De 1,226 155.3 50.0 554 181.6 47.3
MUIR Beg CREW ac: dts Bint os on enautos eters hwiaqns Hate ecaeiaautnte.: 35 4.4 1.4 29 9.5 2.4
Eee tea BhCe te cto acpi achat a Lie vst eis bc ance aicd 37 4.4 1.5 29 9.5 2.4
OMISCEIAN CONS vases ons gandierdinh ears, dink wi ssuaverecale avearaledss 67 8.5 2.7 57 18.6 | 4.8

~Moche, so far as I am aware.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 61

DRESS AND ORNAMENT

Although the costume of the men of Moche might
excite some mild interest on Fifth Avenue, it is
essentially “modern” in all details (except for the
fact that men prefer to go barefoot) and so far as I
can see is of the general pattern in use for males
throughout the Peruvian coastal region. The cos-
tume and ornament of women, on the other hand,
does not on the whole conform to modern modes,
and until fairly recently the majority of women wore
garments which clearly set them apart from cholo
women of Trujillo and other cities of the coast. The
use of one-piece gingham dresses and other changes
are creeping into the women’s costume, however, and
it is doubtful how long the “picturesqueness” which
still lingers will last.

It is unnecessary to describe male dress in detail.
A study of the photographs will be sufficient for the
curious reader. Suffice it to say that the general
pattern is a pair of under shorts and under singlet,
a collar-attached shirt without necktie, conventional
trousers reaching to the ankles, and a jacket of con-
ventional modern design with two buttons and lapels.
This combination is completed at the nether end with
bare feet or sandals (llanquis) and at the upper end
by a high-crowned straw hat with broad rolled-up
brim. Some men omit one or the other or both of
the undergarments. The long trousers and jacket
are usually made of white or light-colored drill or
other cotton material, although a very few men have
woolen suits. A certain variety is to be seen in cut
and material; lightweight jerseys sometimes take the
place of shirts; an occasional man wears overalls
with bib instead of trousers held up with a belt; etc.
Most trousers are held up by leather belts of Euro-
pean type or rope. Some men wear sashes. When
working about his farm a man often appears in rags
of his former good clothes, but everyone has an out-
fit in which to “dress up” for fiestas and on Sundays.
Some men also have a pair of shoes which are used
for extremely formal occasions, and this is true of
all the young Mocheros who go to Trujillo to the
university or to high school (colegio). Only the
latter, among Mocheros netos, have felt hats, and
they practically never wear them in Moche. The felt
hat is the class mark of the forastero or cholo man in
the Moche community. Overcoats are unknown in
Some men have

ponchos made in the Sierra, but the use of ponchos

is not universal or typical.

The remarkable feature of the men’s dress in
Moche is its lack of protection from the cold during
the winter months.
ings during June, July, and August are distinctly
uncomfortable without woolen clothing, and during
this season many of the natives of Trujillo wear
woolen suits and topcoats. The “palm beach”
garments of the Mocheros are ill adapted to the cool
season, and this is the more curious in view of the
fact that their includes
woolen skirt and shawl.

Men’s garments are made by tailors, of which

Nights and cold dreary morn-

women’s older costume

there were two leading ones and four secondary ones
in the community during my stay. They use both
hand needles and machines. Their methods were not
studied, but it was understood that they are typical
of those followed throughout the country. One
Mochero has a tailor shop in Trujillo and lives there.

Women’s costumes may be roughly classified into
three general types: (1) The old costume (vestido
antiguo), (2) the modified costume, and (3) the
cotton-dress costume. The terms for the second two
are my own. The three are illustrated in plates
15 and 16.

The old costume (pls. 15, lower (right and left) ;
16, lower (right)) is habitually worn at present by
only a handful of older and more conservative
women. It is said to have been tniversal up to
1912. In this year a certain chief of police is said
to have collected all the women in the market curing
an epidemic of bubonic plague. He ordered them to
strip off their old costumes, which were burned. The
women had to reclothe themselves with cotton cloth
because of inability to replace the old quickly. This,
at least, is the local explanation of the loss of the
old costume. It consists of one or more white
cotton petticoats as undergarments, a dark-blue
coarse woolen (bayeta) wrap-around skirt with the
split in front, held up by a woven woolen belt with
red and blue woven designs. The upper body is
covered by a white blouse with a wide neck, either
square or rounded in cut, and with short sleeves
ending 2 to 4 inches above the elbow; the blouse is
made with a “yoke” over the shoulders and is shirred
below the yoke; it is worn tucked into the belt
which supports the skirt. Over the blouse, when
the temperature is low, a blue shawl of the same
type of dark-blue bayeta material as the skirt is worn.
This is called a rebozo. Rebozos vary in size, but a

62 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

convenient measurement is 8 feet in length and about
36 inches in breadth. One end is placed over the
right shoulder; the rebozo is drawn across the front
of the chest over the left shoulder around the back,
over the right shoulder and chest again, and the loose
end is finally thrown over the left shoulder to hang
down in back (pls. 15, lower (right); 16, lower
(right) ).

The essential features of the “modified costume”
(pl. 15, upper (right) and lower (center)) consist
of a skirt, sometimes of bayeta but more often of
cotton, attached to a sewn-on tapelike belt with loose
ends which can be tied in back. The skirt is a com-
plete tube, except for a slit over the hips at one side,
which enables the wearer to step into it. Over this
skirt is worn a waist. These waists differ among
themselves as regards the details of decoration, but
they all show the following basic features which set
this garment off from the blouse of the old costume:
they have high neck lines, the sleeves extend below
the elbow, and the lower border of the waist hangs
outside over the skirt. I do not know the technical
dress-making term for this type of waist, but those
who do can doubtless identify it from the photo-
graphs.

The cotton-dress costume is very simple. It con-
sists of a single garment of printed cotton cloth. A
variety of details occur, but the basic model of 1944
had a waistline effect, that is, consisted of a skirt and
bodice sewed together, rather than a simple tubelike
or sacklike effect. Although the other two types of
costumes usually feature skirts modestly near the
ankles, the cotton dress often shows a higher hem-
line.

Young ladies of marriageable age in 1944 appeared
in all three of these types of costumes, but they also
seemed to have a considerable variety of “modish”
dresses (in Trujillo terms) whose patterns had been
derived ultimately from North America and Europe.
I am incompetent to discuss how far these creations
lag behind the current modes of New York, Buenos
Aires, or other accepted style centers. Here is a
thesis project for a lady Ph. D. candidate. (See pl.
16, lower (left), for a picture of the leading “younger
set.”’)

Women almost always appear barefoot, even when
going into the city for marketing purposes and in
church, although the more advanced young women
have shoes of modern style (pl. 16, lower (left)). The
woman's hat is also of straw and follows a single pat-
tern. It has a proportionately higher crown than the

man’s hat and a narrower brim, which is turned dow:
rather than being rolled up as in its masculine
counterpart. A fringed shawl of wool or wool and
cotton, made in a factory, replaces the rebozo with
most women. This is a feature of cholo feminine
dress throughout Peru.

A majority of the women seem to know how to sew,
but only a minority have sewing machines. It was
surprising, however, to run across a large number of
women who did not know sewing, other than the
simplest patching. The general tendency is to have
women’s dresses and blouses made by specialist dress-
makers (cosereras). There are 17 of these specialists
who have been identified to me, and there may well
be more. In at least one household two sewing
machines are operated and the men of the family do
not disdain to make women’s dresses. An unspecial-
ized housewife will make her own or children’s clothes
for economic reasons, but sewing is not a general
female occupation. One does not see the women of the
house sitting about with their needlework as a com-
mon thing.

No weaving of textiles is practiced at present (with
one doubtful exception) and the bayeta used in the
old costume is purchased from traveling merchants
or in the market in Trujillo or other centers. It is all
hand-woven by the natives of the Sierra. The woven
belts are hand-made in the Sierra and in Monsefu.
The straw hats come from the region of Chiclayo,
where the neighboring towns of Monseftt and Lam-
bayeque are highly renowned for their hatmakers;
another source of supply is Celendin, in the highlands
northeast of Cajamarca. They are made from the
fibers of a palm leaf imported from the jungle areas
of the Marafién. In Celendin, bundles of this leaf
fiber were selling in 1944 at 1.5 to 2 soles. In 1944
a single Mochero had recently started in business as
a hat maker and was selling his product in the com-
munity.

Sandals are worn by men when doing heavy work,
traveling over rough ground, or when they happen
to have them. Many men have none at all. The
material for the sole is either untanned hide with hair
removed or automobile tire casing. The sandal tie
is shown in the sketch in figure 5. It is common to
the coastal region of Peru. Although it is said that
women occasionally wear sandals of this type, it is
apparently very rare, for I did not observe a woman
so shod in 5% months’ contact with the community.
Apparently no kind of sandal was worn by the
Mochicas. The sandal first appears in Chimu hori-

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 63

zons. Neither the Chimu nor the Inca sandals used
the tie that is in use in Moche today.

Ficure 5.—Type of sandal worn in Moche.

Space does not permit a thoroughgoing comparison
of the distribution of costumes in Peru in order to
shed light on the origin of the women’s “old costume.”
Two suggestions may be made in passing. One is
that it shows no resemblance to the everyday costume
of women during Mochica times, as depicted on the
vases, other than the short sleeves and the wide cut
of the neck of the blouse ; Mochica women seemed to
have been garbed in a one-piece dress of tubular or
sacklike characteristics, reaching from shoulders to
ankles, with (sometimes) short sleeves above the
elbows and a wide neckline. The second is that the
Moche skirt is suggestive of those worn in certain
parts of the Sierra.

Babies wear diapers of cotton cloth, dresses, and
tight-fitting cotton bonnets of European style. The
diaper is a longer piece of cloth than is customary in
North America, and, after passing between the in-
fant’s legs, is wrapped several times tightly about the
stomach with the ends tied together in front.

Toddlers and children up to about 6 years of age
(up to school age) are provided with a short shirt or
dress and nothing more for everyday wear (pl. 15,
upper (left) ) ; pants are not regarded as necessary at
this age except for status purposes. Each child in all
but the poorest families, however, has a complete out-
fit of underpants and suit or dress (according to sex),
acquired usually at the time it has its first haircut
(if a boy) or when its ears are pierced (if a girl).
The child is dressed up in this outfit on subsequent
occasions when it may be the center of attention or
appear publicly as a representative of its family’s
status. These children’s outfits follow modern North
American patterns for the most part. Little boys at
this age usually have knee-length shorts.

Children are fully clothed, except for shoes and
stockings, after the age of about 6 years. A con-
siderable variety exists in their dress, which is gov-

erned mainly by the finances, taste, shopping ability,
and frugality of the mother and the availability, of
cast-offs.
long trousers, overalls; some, but few, wear knee-
length shorts.
have never seen one in a miniature replica of the
“old costume.”

About the age of puberty the children begin to
take more interest in their clothes, as among our-
selves, and new-fangled and faddish excrescences
appear—shoes, fancy fabrics, an occasional necktie,
an occasional felt hat for a boy, etc. | have been
told that most of these innovations disappear after
marriage, although this may not be true of the com-
ing generation.

Ornament for men is practically nil. The short
haircut is favored by the majority, although some in-
dividuals with enough white (?) blood to have curly
hair affect a longer cut. Only the minority attempt
to maintain a part. My estimate is that the majority
of the men do not have sufficient beard to require
shaving more than once a week. Most men have
shaving instruments, however. The straight razor
is rare; this is because of its cost and the difficulty
of keeping it honed, according to some informants.
The complete safety razor is rare also. Many men
shave with the safety razor blade held in the hand
(without the holder), while others use a pocket
knife. The razor blade is a general utility imple-
ment about the Moche household. My impression is,
however, that the majority of men with beards of
any significance visit a barber shop about once every
week on the average. There are four full-time
barber shops in town, two of them operated by
Japanese, where a steady customer can get shaved
for 10 centavos. A haircut is 20 centavos. (The
barbers will, of course, charge more if they can get
it. The rate in the “first-class” shops in Trujillo,
however, is only 20 centavos for a shave and 40
centavos for a haircut, all prices as of June-
November 1944.) Adolescent boys use vaseline and
pomades on their hair.

The distinctive hairdress of the Moche women is
apparently disappearing, but is more persistent than
the women’s old costume in clothes. The hair is
parted in the middle and is braided into two strands
in back (pl. 16, upper (right)). Into the ends of
these strands are braided homespun yarns of algodon
pardo (brown cotton) to increase the length of each
braid by a few inches. The braids are then crossed
over each other and encircle the dome of the head

Boys wear shirts usually without tails,

Young girls wear cotton dresses. I

64 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

from opposite sides; the ends of the braids with the
strings of brown cotton are then knotted together in
front, above the forehead. A small knot of colored
ribbon and/or a flower may grace this knot. When
a woman does not have time or inclination to put
her hair up in this fashion, she allows the braids
to hang down her back, but usually tied together at
the ends. In former times, the women of Moche
were said to be famous for their gold ornaments
(alhajas). Gold palm leaves were inserted in the
crownlike arrangement of the hair-do just described
and gold ornaments in the shape of heads of wheat
were inserted in the hair above and in front of the
ears. Heavy gold collars and chains were worn
about the neck and elaborate pendant earrings of
gold were common. These ornaments were regarded
as important family heirlooms and symbols of status.
A woman received a set of them when she married.
A few of these ornaments are still in existence, but
the elaborate displays at the fiestas and masses of

yesteryear are no longer seen. It is said that most
of them have been pawned or sold for money. (At
a fiesta in Monseft near Chiclayo, I saw a consider-
able number of women wearing sets of this type of
ornament, indicating, along with other traits, the
greater conservatism of this northern Mochica vil-
lage.) One of the men of Moche has an oil paint-
ing of his mother (painted by a Mochero artist)
which shows her decked out in a complete set of this
finery.

All women wear earrings on festive occasions.
Hand-worked gold earrings are still owned by a
number of women, although one would judge that
they are on the average less elaborate than the enor-
mous pendants of former times; but the majority of
women wear cheaper earrings of silver, gilt, nickel,
as well as plastic innovations peddled in the Trujillo
market. Earrings are not worn every day, as a gen-
eral rule, but only for religious and family festivals
of first magnitude.

INDUSTRIES

Aside from agriculture and fishing, and service
specialties which have already been mentioned, the
manufacturing industries of Moche are few and
poorly developed. Moche is poor in this respect in
comparison with the northern “Mochica” village of
Monsefu, where weaving, hat making, and the manu-
facture and decoration of gourd vessels are well-
developed and well-preserved folk industries.

The fact has already been mentioned that gourd
containers are made in Moche, but as a rule not on
a specialized basis nor for sale outside the com-
munity.

The making of fireworks and firecrackers (co-
hetes) is a specialty practiced by three men in the
community. These explosive products are used in
all religious celebrations and in many other types of
festivity. During the recital of the mass in the
church on an important religious feast day, such as
that of SS. Pedro y Pablo, one can believe that the
plaza is under bombardment, because the faithful
members of the ermandad in charge of the affair are
stationed on the plaza just outside the church door
and enthusiastically let off a barrage of rockets at
each pause in the service. The use of noise-makers
and fireworks in connection with religious and other
festivals is, of course, common throughout Peru,
especially along the north coast. I am told that in

the region about Chiclayo the profession cf cohetero
has achieved the status of an art, with renowned
masters who are entrusted with the planning and
construction of elaborate and prolonged narrative
fireworks “effects.” In Moche the two effects most
in use are relatively simple. They are ordinary
rockets and rockets mounted on a pinwheel which
whirls around on a vertical axis while the attached
rockets are shot into the air (pl. 17, lower (right) ).
Other effects occasionally produced by the local
artists are La Vaca Loca (the crazy cow) and Rabos
de Zorro (foxtails).

The rocket maker must secure a license from the
police in order to secure the saltpeter, sulfur
chlorate, and antimony which he uses in his trade.
Since the police are wary of the manufacture of
explosives by irresponsible persons, the number of
coheteros in a given community is rigidly limited.
Otherwise there would probably be more than three
of them in Moche, since the trade is regarded as a
lucrative one. The rocket maker grinds his materials
on a flat stone, using a mano consisting of a rocker-
shaped river stone about 18 inches long (pl. 17,
middle (right)). The ingredients of the explosive
consist of charcoal, saltpeter (salitre), sulfur chlor-
ate (clorato de azufre), and antimony (antimonio).
If one has a license, these materials are obtainable

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 60

from the drug stores in Trujillo. The rockets,
known as cohetes and also as savillanas, consist of
the following parts. The noise-making or bomb part
is a ball of explosive wrapped in leaves, with a fuse
protruding. The rocket charge consists of explosive
powder. Both bomb and charge are stuffed into a
cylinder consisting of a leaf-wrapped section of cane
in such a way that the fuse of the bomb protrudes
backward into the rocket charge. The rear end of
the cylinder is stopped with leaves through which a
fuse projects. The cylinder in turn is bound to a
handle of split cane or bamboo. When the con-
traption is shot off, one holds the handle in the left
hand, pointing upward, and touches a light to the
fuse, which starts the rocket charge. The whole
thing, handle and all, shoots up 80 to 100 feet into
the air. By the time it reaches the top of its flight,
the fuse of the bomb is supposed to have burned
through and the bomb bursts high in the air, shatter-
ing the bamboo or cane cylinder. The light handle
falls to the ground. It is said to require considerable
skill and experience to be able to mix and place the
charges correctly so that all this happens as planned.
Ordinary rockets of this sort sell for 3 soles a dozen.

In connection with this chemical industry, mention
may be made of a fire-making custom. It is said that
when matches are not available in the campina, the
people go to the mountains and obtain a certain white
stone; there is a good deal of this on the Cerro
Blanco back of the Huacas. One rubs this against
his pants until it glows, then holds it against a piece
of manure and blows on it until the manure is glow-
ing. I have not seen this procedure.

Basketry is made in several households for sale.
There are at least a dozen households regarded as
specialists in this industry. The material is carrizo,
which grows wild and is also planted as cuttings in
some fields. The stems are split and smoothed down
with a wooden-handled kitchen or butcher knife
(pl. 17, upper (left)) into thin strips. All baskets
made in Moche are ovaloid or globular in shape,
often with stiff loop handles over the top, but without
lids. Trays, rectangular or cubical baskets, either
simple, or the telescoping type, are not made. Sizes
range from small arm baskets about the size of a
gallon container to large storage baskets 4 feet high
by 31% feet in diameter. All baskets have flat bases
of a discoid pattern. In making a basket, either
three or four sets of stiffening elements (“warps’”’)
are crossed at a single central point, as shown in
plate 17, upper (right), to give the effect of six or

eight radiations from the central base point. Each
stiffening element consists of a group of four split
canes, somewhat thicker than the strips which are
used for weaving the wickerwork. The base is then
started by weaving the crosswise element over and
under the stiffening elements, around the central
crossing point in simple spiral fashion. The weaving
is done with the hands while one stands on the
stiffening elements with his bare feet to hold them in
position. After a base a foot or so in diameter has
been woven, the ends of the stiffening elements are
tied upright to a cord passing about them, as shown
in plate 17, middle (left), to give the approximate
shape of the finished basket, after which the spiral
weaving continues. The rim is made by a continuous
strip of thin material bound in spiral fashion round
and round the two uppermost weaving elements and
tucked in on itself when the rim is finished.

It seems that textile weaving has fairly recently
disappeared in Moche, although it has not been gen-
erally practiced during the past 45 years. One old
lady living in the campifa has a belt loom, but she
says that she seldom weaves any more. Most women
formerly wove bayeta for the old costume; it is said
that, since the old trade pattern with the Sierra vil-
lages has disappeared (p. 80), it is difficult to obtain
wool and dyes, and it is more economical to buy
ready-woven material in the markets. Quite a num-
ber of the older women still spin, however. The pur-
pose is to make the yarn of brown cotton which is
used in the Mocheras’ hairdress, as described above.
The spindles I have seen have whorls of calabash and
a pointed, but hookless, end. They are spun with the
fingers and hang free when spinning.

The two types of mats, esteras and petates, previ-
ously mentioned as being extensively used in house
construction and furnishing are also made for sale.
The fetate is a simple checkerboard or twilled (two-
jump) mat made of split canes or carrizos; the ele-
ments are stiffer than the totora reeds used for
making esteras. The latter consist of reeds laid side
by side and tied together by crosswise running double
cords into small bundles of four to six reeds each.
The crosswise binder may be of cotton cord or of
thinly split totora itself. Two methods of binding are
used. One is the continuous double cord which is
twined and often knotted on itself between each
bundle ; the other method is the single tie, as follows:
Bundles of reeds lie side by side, A, B, C, D, ete.;
first a tie is made around A and B, and the cord is
knotted and cut off ; then another cord is used to make

66 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

a similar tie around B and C; the next tie will include
Cand D, and so on. A totora mat usually has three
horizontal (crosswise) sets of ties, whatever the
method used.

A few minor industries or specialities should be
mentioned, all intrusive in the community. There is
one tinsmith; there are two shoe cobblers; there are
five bakeries, or, more properly, households, in the
pueblo which bake bread for sale; there is one black-
smith, who seldom shoes a horse but whose work is
concerned with the repair of plows and other iron
work. One man is a diploma-holding embroiderer

and specializes on spangled velvet and silk cloths
given by the pious to their favorite saints. We have
already mentioned the carpenters, masons, adobe
makers, dressmakers, tailors, barbers, midwives,
curers, witches.

The so-called industries of Moche are of minor im-
portance in the over-all income of the community.
Only mats and baskets are sold outside the community
on any appreciable scale, and even that is small. The
remainder of the industries are actually service spe-
cialties whose product is for local consumption.

ECONOMICS

SPECIALIZATION AND DIVISION
OF LABOR

Because of the trends of change present in the situa-
tion, it is difficult to speak of the economic “system”
of Moche in general terms. For almost any general
statement made either there are exceptions in the
behavior of individuals or there may well be within a
year or two. The following remarks, therefore, are
to be understood as depicting the outlines of the situa-
tion as it existed, according to my information, in the
year 1944. A more precise measure of tendencies of
change and deviations from general patterns could
perhaps have been obtained by means of a systematic
collection of statistical information. But this, for
reasons mentioned in the Introduction, was impossible
to carry out on a large scale with the facilities at my
command.

DIVISION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES ON A
SEXUAL BASIS

In general, men do the hard and heavy work, while
women are concerned primarily with house and child
care and financial affairs. With respect to the latter,
the women handle most of the commercial trans-
actions and also handle, if they do not entirely control,
the household funds. Although the situation is not
actually phrased that way in Moche, many a super-
ficial observer has come away with the impression that
the man is culturally regarded as the fellow “with the
strong back but the weak mind.”

Men are primarily concerned with the following
activities: Plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting,
supervision of livestock, milking cows, digging,
cleaning, and watching of irrigation ditches, fishing
and the making of nets and tackle, and building

houses and fences. In the agricultural work, women
sometimes assist with the lighter tasks of planting,
harvesting, and weeding. The following specialties
are exclusively male: Carpentry, masonry, adobe
making, tailoring, barbering, fireworks making, shoe
cobbling, tinsmithing, butchering (women sometimes
kill animals for home use), blacksmithing, hat
making (one man). Only men are professional
musicians (playing in the bands and singing in the
church). Men also serve as mayordomos of reli-
gious fiestas which are mechanisms of potential
economic gain as well as of religious satisfaction.
Only men hold political offices and serve as public
scribes.

Women are primarily concerned with the follow-
ing activities: Harvesting of light garden crops for
home use; preparation and serving of food, including
baking for sale; manufacture of chicha; care of the
house; clothes washing; care of the children; such
spinning as is done; weaving (formerly) ; repair of
clothes and dressmaking, both for the family and on
order; transportation of salable goods to market,
selling such goods and handling the money or other
economic returns; professional midwifery. Un-
married girls and women occasionally help with the
lighter field work, but a married woman is not ex-
pected to work in the fields.

Both sexes take part in the following activities:
Light agricultural and horticultural work; cutting
wood for sale; house building (women may carry
bags of earth in tapia making, while men do the
heavy digging and lifting); making gourd con-
tainers; basket and mat making, although these
activities on a commercial basis tend to be men’s
work; dressmaking on a commercial basis tends to

women’s work, but there are a few men who take
; both sexes can be curers and witches, although
ere is a tendency for women to preempt the former
jalty and men the latter. Both men and women
e as teachers in the schools; in the pueblo, men
ch boys and women teach girls.
Children begin to do chores about the age of 6.
Girls are given tasks about the house, such as carry-
ing water or sweeping out the sleeping room. Boys
elp with weeding, watching the cows, and with the
irrigation. I have seen no young children doing or
trying to do hard labor.

} GEOGRAPHICAL SPECIALIZATION

It has already been noted that the playa tends to
specialize in sea fishing, while the campifia specializes
in agriculture and horticulture.

SPECIALTIES

The specialties will -be listed once more: Car-
‘pentry, masonry, adobe making, tailoring, dress
making, barbering, cobbling, blacksmithing, tinsmith-
ing, fireworks making, baking bread, basketry and
mat making, playing musical instruments, singing
professionally, embroidering, butchering, keeping
shop, reading and writing (serving as a professional
scribe), sea fishing, hat making, midwifery, curing,
witchcrait.

All of these specialties require special talents,
training, or economic resources. As already indi-
cated, few of them are sufficiently well represented in
the community to constitute distinct groups large
enough to be recognized and organized as group
units in the society. The only exceptions are the
carpenters, the masons, the fishermen, and the pro-
fessional musicians. The carpenters and masons are
not recognized as groups. The fishermen are set off
from the remainder of the community, but are not
organized among themselves. Only the professional
musicians who play instruments in the bands are
organized, but this organization is only that required
by the nature of band music and does not extend into
social life in general. There is only one blacksmith

(perhaps iron worker would be the better term), two
tinsmiths (both are Japanese at present), one hat
maker, and one cobbler. Two of the barbers are
Japanese. The scribes are not registered by the
Government, but work on an informal basis for
fees; they cannot be regarded as professional, and
their services are part-time—when some illiterate

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 67

Mochero needs help; the two most active scribes are
forasteros.

The curers and witches who operate on a profes-
sional or commercial basis number perhaps a dozen
in all, but, far from being organized, they regard each
other with mutual suspicion and rivalry. The drujo’s
(witch’s) calling is phrased in terms of aggression
and counter-aggression between brujos.

Division of labor and specialization exist in Moche,
but the specialties occupy no positions in the organi-
zation of groups within the society. This may be
partially due to the attitude of individualism which
dominates many aspects of life and which must be dis-
cussed later. Also, it must be recognized that Moche
is still a predominantly rural peasant society in which
one should not expect to find highly organized and
compact groups of specialists in economic activities.
There is still the tendency for every man to be a jack-
of-all-trades. As one of my informants said, quoting
a proverb of Lambayeque origin,

De brujo, de cohetero, « tinterillo, no hay cholo que
no entienda su poquillo.

(Of [being a] bruyso, a rocket maker, or shyster
lawyer there is no cholo [i e., man] who doesn’t
know his bit.)

In other words, evervone knows something about all
the specialties.

DISTRIBUTION OF MALE LABOR FORCE

Up to the time I left Peru in November 1944, de-
tailed reports of the age and sex composition of the
population of the District of Moche had not been
worked up by the Department of the Census. How-
ever, we may make a rough calculation which, in
round numbers at least, may be fairly near the truth.
The Department has already published age and sex
figures from the census of 1940 for the Department of
La Libertad, of which Moche is a part. For the De-
partment as a whole, males of the age group 20 to 59
inclusive constitute 21 percent of the total population
of the Department.** The total population of Moche
is given by the census of 1940 as 3,773. We have
subtracted 500 from this figure as representing the
forasteros, and we have subtracted 135 individuals
counted on the Haciendita and the “Hacienda Moche”
(students and staff of the Agricultural School), leav-
ing a total of 3,138 true Mocheros. Twenty-one per-
cent of this figure is 659, which, if our other

Censo Nacional, 1941, unnumbered table following p. 52, “Poblz-
cién Nominalmente Censada de Cada Departamento en los Grupes de

7

edad de 20259 . . .” 4

68 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

assumptions # and calculations are correct, represents
the number of Mochero men between the ages of 19
and 60 and therefore a group which might be consid-
ered the adult male labor force available in Moche.
We shall take 650 as a usable round number. Of this
number 92 were definitely known to be working out-
side of the community on a more or less permanent
basis in 1944. Taking into account 12 others said to
be working outside, but whom I could not identify by
name, we may assume that 100 is a safe figure for the
number of men who gain the major part of their
livelihood outside the community, while still maintain-
ing their homes within it. This does not take into ac-
count Mocheros who have moved their homes and
families to other localities. The outside workers are
distributed as follows: 17 work as stevedores and
cargo handlers in the port of Salaverry; 40 work as
road laborers for the Government, being shifted about
to various parts of the Department; 20 work as
masons, masons’ helpers, and carpenters for private
constructors in Trujillo; 8 are employed as masons
and laborers on the Government building project, the
Barrio Obrero (Workers’ Housing Project) in Tru-
jillo; 2 are peons on the Haciendita and 2 are chauf-
feurs for the same establishment; 3 are professional
arrieros (pack-animal drivers) ; and the occupations
of the others are unknown to me.

In other words, at the time of this investigation
about 15 percent of the resident true Mocheros of
working age were employed outside the community.
Some of them are landless men, but most have a
small plot of ground or a small interest in a piece
of Moche land (usually through inheritance), but
too small to support themselves and their families.
The number of outside workers fluctuates and those
that have land sometime have time to work it. If
they are busy on their jobs, however, they hire
stay-at-home Mocheros to do the work for them.
Work for the Government on the roads and build-
ing projects is the best paid and steadiest. During
1944 the men working in the port of Salaverry were
said to average only 10 to 12 soles per week, owing
to the scarcity of ships calling during wartime. The
Salaverry workers are required to be on hand every
day, but are paid on a piece-work basis. The work
is regarded as good and the pay desirable when

Th acai: er ere T
The unknowns are (1) The exact number of forasteros; our
figure, as explained on p. 8, is based on a count of households, not
of individuals; (2) the exact proportion of the total population which

is aged 20 to 59 inclusive and which is male; we are assuming that
this proportion in Moche is the same as in the Department of La
Libertad as a whole, namely, 21 percent.

there is steady movement of ships, as in normal
times. The work consists of handling bags of sugar
shipped to the port from the haciendas by railroad.
Since Salaverry is an open roadstead, the sugar must
be lightered aboard ship, and when the traffic is
heavy additional recruits are brought in from Moc..e.

It would be interesting to have more precise da.a
of a statistical nature concerning the actual land
holdings and average amount of land worked per
man. On the basis of the above calculations it would
appear that about 550 men between 19 and 60 are
left to devote their time to 976 hectares of cultivated
land (after subtracting the Haciendita holdings).
There are about 50 Mochero specialists in the com-
munity, but we leave them out of account since they
devote part of their time to agriculture and the por-
tion of their time devoted to specialties may be re-
garded in a rough way as balancing with the occa-
sional agricultural activities of the outside workers.
On this basis then, we would have the labor of one
man available for each 1.77 hectares (about 4.37
acres). If we subtract the areas occupied by house
lots and for other unproductive uses, this figure
might well be reduced to about 1.60 hectares. It
should be emphasized that these calculations are at
best only tentative. It must be left to agricultural
scientists to say authoritatively whether or not this
represents an oversupply of labor, taking into ac-_
count the methods used, the emphasis on dairying,
and the fact that a considerable amount of labor is
forthcoming from women, children, and men over
60 years of age. To me it appears to be excessive.

The primary interest of an anthropologist in a
matter of this sort is to gage the situation from the
point of view of cultural adaptation and probable
future changes. Unless the irrigated area of Moche
is considerably increased by the construction of new
irrigation ditches which would water the desert to
the southeast (and this is unlikely in view of the
present shortage of water in the Rio Moche), it
would seem that an increasingly large proportion of
the economically active elements of the population
will have to seek livelihood outside the community.

Flourishing handicraft industries—weaving, hat
making, calabash working—bring in a sizable income
to the people of the northern Mochica village of
Monsefu and seem to have protected that community
from the results of land hunger. But, as we have
seen, the native industries of Moche have practically
all died out—completely so from the export point of
view—and show no signs of revival. Whether or

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 69

not the official vital statistics quoted on page 9 are
accurate in detail, it seems certain that the rate of
natural increase is high. This pressure of popula-
tion upon the fixed land area, already too restricted,
will doubtless lead either to population shifts or to
cultural changes of a radical nature. There are only
atfew apparent possibilities: (1) The excess popu-
lation may be squeezed out of the community, dis-
inherited, as it were, and forced to settle elsewhere.
The large haciendas of the Chicama Valley with
their chronic labor shortages are glad to accept the
Mocheros into the barrack life. This eventuality
would make it possible for the remainder of the popu-
lation to carry on a small-scale farming life as at
present, although the repercussions of intrafamily
and interpersonal antagonism might be serious. (2)
The bulk of the Mocheros would continue to main-
tain their homes in the community, while an increas-
ing proportion earned its livelihood by outside effort.
(3) The whole of the irrigated land, with its in-
habitants, might be absorbed into some large hacienda
which would then redistribute the population
throughout its lands and, probably, destroy the whole
structure of Moche life as known at present.

Other possibilities, involving developments in com-
munity organization, might well avoid or change any
of these rather stark pictures, but these aspects of the
matter must be discussed in a later section.
MOCHEROS IN THE PROFESSIONS OUTSIDE
OF MOCHE

An increasing number of Mocheros are seeking
higher education and entering the professions, often
to practice outside of the community. In 1944 there
were about 10 Mocheros enrolled in the University in
Trujillo, 1 in Mexico, and 1 in Lima, and it is said
that there is a colony of about 30 Moche families in
Lima. This tendency to enter the so-called liberal
professions, provided the candidates are successful,
also relieves the economic pressure inside Moche, and
it may be expected to increase unless some block is
placed in the way of successful careers by Mocheros.
Insofar as the young men become lawyers, the trend
has certain disruptive features in the sense that the
tendency seems to lead to increased litigation, which
will be discussed later in the consideration of property
matters.

As a sample of the sons and daughters of Moche
who have made successful professional careers outside
the community, I give the following list, culled from
various informants. Except for a few, I do not know

the individuals personally. In Moche, at least, they

are regarded as distinguished personages.

A doctor of laws, accountant, and professor of mathe-
matics in the Colegio Nacional de San Juan and proprietor of
the Colegio de Renacimiento, both of Trujillo.

A doctor of medicine (surgeon), practices in Lima and
is on the staff of the Hospital 2 de Mayo of Lima.

A professor in the Colegio Nacional de Nuestra Sefora de
Guadelupe in Lima.

A doctor of laws and catedrdtico in the Universidad
Nacional de Trujillo.

A doctor of laws, practicing in Lima.

An accountant employed by the customshouse in Ica.

A lawyer, accountant, auxiliary catedrdtico in the Uni-
versidad Nacional de Trujillo, and professor in the Colegio
Nacional de San Juan in Trujillo.

Two lawyers.

A lawyer practicing in Lima.

A professor in the normal school.

A school teacher and professor.

A professor of domestic sciences in the Colegio Renaci-
miento, Trujillo.

Pedro Azabache, perhaps the most famous of all, is a
distinguished young painter who had a successful one-man
show in Lima in 1944; he studied in the Escuela de Bellas
Artes in Lima and was a pupil of the famous Peruvian
painter, José Sabogal. He has maintained his headquarters
in Lima, but plans to open a studio and school in Moche.

PROPERTY

We are often accustomed to think of a “primitive,”
“peasant,” or “folk’’ economy as predominantly co-
operative in economic activities and property con-
cepts, although various studies have shown that
cooperation is not invariably characteristic of both of
these aspects of economics, even on the primitive
level (Mead, 1937). However, all the evidence seems
to indicate that cooperation in work and a commu-
nistic or socialistic attitude toward property, whether
voluntary or forced, were characteristic of the
aboriginal communities of ancient Peru (Valcarcel,
1943, p. 143 ff.; Baudin, 1943, chs. 6-10), at all
events was insisted upon by the Inca conquerors.
Moche is in many respects a “peasant” or ‘‘folk’? com-
munity (Redfield, 1941, pp. 338-370), as well as be-
ing an heir of the ancient cultures of Peru, but cultural
concepts regarding property, particularly land, are
definitely individualistic. Even relatives of the closest
degree do not hesitate to engage in feuds and litiga-
tions with each other over questions of land rights.
This matter deserves a rather extended discussion
because it is the source of many of Moche’s troubles
and upon the form of its solution depends much of
Moche’s future.

70 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Formal definitions of property and its management
all conform to Peruvian law, which is governed by
the principle of the right of private property, in-
dividual and corporative. The Peruvian law also
contains provisions for collective and cooperative
property holding and management in the cases of
legally recognized “communidades indigenas” (in-
digenous communities), and it furthermore permits
and protects the formation and operation of produc-
ers’ and consumers’ cooperatives. The Mocheros
have not taken advantage of either the corporative,
communal, or cooperative features of the law, but
operate exclusively under its individualistic aspects.

At first glance the situation appears the more
strange because the intensely individualistic attitude
toward land is combined with a cooperative attitude
toward labor. The shared-work pattern in agricul-
ture, house building, and irrigation (formerly it was
on a completely democratic basis) operates side by
side with an apparently rather childish jealousy re-
garding lands, houses, crops, clothing, tools, animals,
money and all other forms of property, but particu-
larly land. Thus it might be said that a tendency
toward communism in labor exists side by side with
individual ownership and management of tangible
property. The idea that one’s labor is a commodity
which can be sold in exchange for property (or its
symbols, e.g., money) is an innovation in Moche, and
even yet perhaps only 15 percent of the labor force,
as we have seen, sell their labor abroad. Under the
older work-sharing pattern, labor was and is traded,
reciprocally to be sure, but in exchange for labor
and hospitality, not for money or goods. One ob-
vious explanation for this superficial paradox might
well be that, considering the realities of the Moche
situation, labor has always been plentiful, but landed
property and other forms of property derived di-
rectly or indirectly from it have been distinctly limited
and scarce for generations. There are many hands,
but few lands.

Land is the most important type of property in
Moche and, in truth, is the most important fact in
human life throughout the whole desert coast of
Peru. By land, I mean irrigated terrain, capable
of producing subsistence and/or commercially valu-
able crops, for no other type of land has any mean-
ing in this region, other than in terms of barren
distances to be traveled and the chances of death in
doing so.

Practically every adult Mochero man and woman
possesses a bundle or so of legal papers stored away

in a trunk in the house or, in some cases, it is said,
buried on his land for safe keeping. These papers
are supposed to prove the individual’s right by in-
heritance, purchase, or transfer to the land which he
claims to own. Their effectiveness in protecting land
rights in Moche is, however, affected by two facts.

(1) Many, probably the majority, of landowners
are unable to read and write, which leaves them ill-
equipped to contend with cases of litigation. (2) The
majority of the documents do not and under the cir-
cumstances probably cannot establish property rights
in land beyond any possibility of successful contrary
legal action, so that an unethical lawyer can always
try “to make a case.” Lawyers tell me that clearing
titles, particularly of small parcels of land which have
passed through many hands during the last 400 years,
is at the present time a most uncertain proposition
and is almost always exposed to attack provided the
opposition can dig up countervailing documents,
which, particularly in the case of small holdings, can
hardly ever be ruled out of possibility.

It is perhaps not generally understood in North
America that the Spanish colonial system saddled
Latin America with a tradition of intricate red tape
and required documents and reports and that certain
of these procedures are still followed. Applied to
illiterate natives, this system represents a striking
form of cultural inconsistency of a type which I have
previously termed inconsistency of pattern with pat-
tern (Gillin, 1944, p. 443). In land disputes, it gives
literate persons a marked advantage over those who
are illiterate (Cornejo Bouroncle, 1935).

Such a set of patterns—documentary legalism and
illiteracy—is inconsistent only if both are present in
the cultural system at the same time. Education will
eliminate illiteracy, but first there must be a transi-
tion period, which often is still one of maladjustment.
Moche is in such a period at the present time. With
the modern emphasis upon education and profes-
sional training a number of young men _ have
succeeded in obtaining complete or partial training
as lawyers in the University of Trujillo or elsewhere.
Many of these have followed a successful career in
the law, but some, unable to obtain a place in an
established office or to create a practice of their own,
turn not unnaturally, perhaps, to litigation among
their own people. With the increased pressure of
population on the available land, their hopes are not
long deferred. As heirs and subdivisions of in-
heritances multiply, so do quarrels.

There is no recognized communal or family

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 71

mechanism, other than mutual good will and good
sense, for the amicable settlement of such differences
in Moche at the present time. Litigation is looked
upon as a way out of difficulties, especially if the
litigants are stimulated by young lawyers from
among their own people. The result is that increased
education has brought about more litigation during
the present period.

The present generation of children will probably
all be literate. In the meantime, however, as many
illiterate property holders may be expected to live for
20 to 30 years more to carry on their quarrels, a
good share or all of the Moche land may be alienated
from the hands of Mocheros. In addition to qualified
lawyers there are a few fake lawyers, literate men
who have read some law and who pose as lawyers
to ignorant or illiterate people. The Peruvian term
for this type of gentry is tinterillo (little inker, re-
ferring to his preoccupation with documents).
These parasites are not apparently as numerous in
Moche as in many highland regions, but their
influence is just as prejudicial to the good interests
of Moche as a community.

The intrusion of the legal profession into a situa-
tion such as that of Moche not only entails the ill-
afforded economic waste involved in hiring lawyers
by individuals in a community of Moche’s compara-
tively meager wealth and standard of living, but has
two further consequences. (1) The lawyers stimu-
late conflict within the community and open wedges
for the entrance of larger and more powerful in-
terests. (2) Small-time lawyers, who are forced
for want of better business to promote litigation
among their home-town relatives and friends, be-
come the tools of bigger lawyers serving larger and
better organized clients.

Women as well as men own land and inherit it as
well as other forms of property. Transfer from the
older to the younger generation is made by gift
before death, by written testament, and by customary
division if the deceased has died intestate. In the
latter case, my informants tell me that it has been
customary for the spouse to receive half of the prop-
erty in life trust, as it were, with the remainder
divided equally among the children and_ their
mother’s share reverting, share and share alike, to
them on her death. Inheritances of this sort, how-
ever, run into many types of legal complications, I
am told, if the heirs are disposed to dispute the
estate, and give rise to numerous court battles. Even
written wills, of course, may be subject to legal ac-

tion. Another source of difficulty is the fact that
the estate frequently is too small to be efficiently
divided into shares, as when a man leaves one-half
hectare of land to a widow and four children. One
method of solving this difficulty is to allow one of
the heirs, often the oldest brother, to operate the
property as a single enterprise, dividing the proceeds
among the other heirs. However, it is not difficult
to see how such an arrangement may produce dis-
agreements, when there is a widowed mother and
the operating heir’s family to support, leaving a
residue for the remaining heirs which is almost in-
finitesimal. Such a situation is complicated by the
fact that the average Mochero has no idea whatever
of how to keep useful written records of his accounts.
Many such younger heirs are forced to seek work as
day laborers for their fellows with larger lands or to
obtain work outside the community.

Another method in such cases is to sell the land and
divide the money between the heirs. This has been
done relatively rarely up to the present. If it should
happen frequently and the sales were confined to the
community, it would tend to create a class division
between landed and landless families, which, although
it exists in incipient form at present, is not socially
recognized as a class division. Ifthe sales are made to
forasteros, as has happened in a few cases, the landless
still remain landless and the steady and much feared
encroachment of outsiders upon the Moche scene in-
creases. Old timers say that up to about 1900 there
were practically no forasteros owning real property
in Moche, and that it has been traditional for the
Mocheros to refuse to sell to or deal with outsiders.
The influx got under way on an appreciable scale only
about 15 to 20 years ago. I cannot be sure about
these dates, but I am convinced that the resistance and
reserve toward forasteros shown by Mocheros in their
personal relations is rooted in fear for their land.

Without more complete historical data it is difficult
to do more than speculate concerning the influence of
land scarcity on present-day Moche culture and the
character structure of the Mocheros. I know nothing
which would indicate that the Moche lands were at
any period since early colonial times greatly more
extensive than when the recent forastero alienations
began. The Mocheros have been surrounded by
forasteros for centuries. It does seem probable, how-
ever, that the pressure from the forasteros has
increased appreciably during the past generation.
First the railroad, and then the highways made the
Moche lands more accessible to outsiders; then cer-

(a

tain of the haciendas gradually grew into large,
tightly organized, and impersonal enterprises. Only
a short time previous to 1944, one of the haciendas
of the Moche Valley, a subsidiary of the largest sugar
estate in Peru, succeeded through legal action in
establishing claim to a fairly large piece of land,
formerly considered to be the communal lands of
the municipality.

With respect to landed property, then, the
Mocheros are divided within and beset from with-
out. If this is an actuality for only a portion of
the Mocheros at present, it is a potentiality for all.
Under existing conditions of sugar production for
export on the world market, an hacienda must at-
tempt to control as much arable land and as large
a labor force as possible, if it is to continue to carry
Especially in the case of
those enterprises controlled by foreign or absentee
capital, the hacienda’s approach to the problem of
land and labor tends to become impersonal and
grimly efficient. It is this type of hacienda in the
Trujillo region which exhibits the strongest expan-
sionist tendencies.

on a profitable business.

The student of cultural change must recognize
that the modern capitalistic hacienda system is a
mighty mechanism for alteration of the cultural and
social system represented by a small, independent
community such as Moche. The hacienda system of
the coast is incompatible with individual ownership
of small plots of ground independently managed,
with the production of crops on a small scale for
the internal or regional market, with “‘inefficient”’
methods of cultivation which do not involve the use
of machinery, with undisciplined hours of labor,
with time-consuming bargaining by small producers
over the disposal of their product, and with freedom
of the laborer to change his occupation at will. The
hacienda requires the people under its sway to ac-
cept a different set of cultural patterns: the worker
and his family are to live in a block of dwellings
all exactly alike; he is to labor a definite period of
hours each day, set by the clock, under the super-
vision of bosses; he has nothing to say about the
disposal of the product, but is paid a small money
wage; he is bound to the job for a definite period
by contract; he receives gratis part of his rations
and buys the remainder in commissaries and markets
under the control of the hacienda; he or his family
is not allowed to leave the hacienda without per-
mission. Under the leadership of the Hacienda

Chiclin (which has not shown expansionist ten-

qZ INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

dencies) and now under pressure of the Government,
many haciendas have instituted “welfare features.”
These features include free hospitals and medical
services, supervised housing conditions that result
in more hygienic dwellings, free or nominally priced
movies and other entertainments, encouragement of
athletics and sports, food furnished through the
commissaries at prices much below those of the gen-
eral markets and supervision of the quality and
healthfulness of the food, regular hours of labor and
discipline that cut down the consumption of alcohol
thereby improving health and morals, and others.

The development of the hacienda systems has
created a new set of conditions to which the culture
of the “independent” community such as Moche
must adapt if it is to survive as a free community
with an integral culture. Up to the present moment
Moche has developed no effective new cultural pat-
terns for adaptation to this alteration of outside con-
ditions, and, as already pointed out, certain existent
internal patterns (documentation of land claims and
illiteracy) are seriously inconsistent.

Thus, Moche is faced with “a world it never
made,” and unless a speedy and successful cultural
adaptation takes place, the prospects are good for
the destruction of the integrity of the culture and
the dispersal of the society itself. At present, there
is seemingly no general sense of community responsi-
bility on the part of the people. This attitude extends
beyond property matters (although it may be derived
from them) to practically all aspects of community
life. Other features of the matter will be discussed in
a subsequent section. During 1944, however, there
appeared two organizations, organized by the younger
elements, the stated purposes of which are to stimu-
late and develop community responsibility and pride
and to take practical measures for utilizing such
sentiments for the public welfare.

FINANCE AND BUSINESS DEALINGS

Very few Mocheros have bank accounts or in-
surance policies. Formerly everyone buried his
saved money in the ground. Nowadays most of the
younger adults keep their money in cash in trunks
or boxes in the house. No complaints have been
heard by me regarding thievery. One of the richest
Moche families apparently owes much of its present
affluence to an insurance policy. The head of the
house, now dead, was persuaded by his wife to take
out and maintain a 20,000 sol life insurance policy
payable to his wife. When he died a few years

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN

ago, his widow, by that time an old woman, prudently
bought land and animals with the proceeds so that
she, her children, and grandchildren are now able to
live in a good house in the pueblo, hire peons to
work the fields, take occasional trips to Lima, and
plan to maintain one of the grandsons in the Uni-
versity in Lima for the next 3 or 4 years. This
is the only case of life insurance of which I know.

As a general rule, families keep savings in cash
only sufficient to cover emergencies, such as funerals,
doctor bills, etc. Caches of money are also built
up in anticipation of religious festivals and family
festivals such as christenings, weddings, and birth-
days.

The most profitable form of investment is thought
to be cows or female calves. Not only does the in-
vestor obtain income from the sale of the milk, but
the investment steadily increases through the calves
produced, and with luck one does not have to wait too
long for a turnover. Cattle are always readily salable,
although not always at the desired price, and are thus
“liquid assets.” Even men without land or with
insufficient land invest in cows, which are pastured
on other men’s land either on a share basis (half the
proceeds from the cow) or on a fee basis. It is said
that pasturage may be obtained for 10 centavos per
day per cow. Some complaint is heard that cows
thus boarded out on a cash basis tend to be maltreated
by the owner of the pasture.

Land is also a good investment, although difficult
to acquire. No sales of land took place during my
period in Moche and, in any case, land is sold by the
piece after an appropriate amount of bargaining, so
that it is difficult to quote prices in terms of standard
areas. Several forastero men told me that “they
would gladly give 2,000 soles ($306) a hectare” for
good Moche land; another said he thought it was
worth only about 1,500 soles a hectare, while still an-
other claimed one would be lucky to get it for 3,000
soles a hectare. I do not know if these estimates
mean anything in practical terms or not, except that
scarcely any amount of money will buy his land from
a Mochero, unless he be in dire financial straits.

Those who own land as an investment usually rent
it on shares (a partidos). The owner furnishes the
land and pays the water rent; the tenant furnishes his
labor, the tools, and the seed. The proceeds are
divided equally between owner and tenant. The
municipality, however, has several parcels of land, all
of which are rented for cash; the income is used for
the municipal expenses.

653348°—47—6

oa |
ee)

Houses in the pueblo are another field for invest-
ment. Houses rented to Mocheros for ordinary
dwellings rent for from 3 to 8 soles per month, most
of them nearer the lower than the higher figure. I
rented one without bargaining for 10 soles to use as
an interviewing headquarters. The more profitable
type of renting is to forasteros, either those who make
the pueblo their suburban home or those who come
to pass 2 or 3 months during the summer season. I
was offered a house with six rooms (not counting
various small storage rooms), kitchen, small gardens
front and rear, and tile floors for 25 soles per month
during the winter. According to local opinion I
could have obtained it for about 20 soles on a year-
round basis, and would have had to pay about 25
soles for the summer season.

There are various other smaller ways to turn a
sum of money into a larger sum. For example, a
woman, if astute and lucky, may turn 12 soles into
15 or 20 soles relatively quickly as follows. She
buys from a woman who makes chicha a botija of the
brew for 12 soles, the standard “wholesale” price.
Then she sells it out retail at 15 centavos a bottle,
clearing 3 soles for her trouble. (A botija contains
100 bottles of chicha). If she can get 20 centavos per
bottle, her profit is 8 soles.

Women are engaged in deals of this sort all the
time, usually on a small scale. For example, one of
the women of my acquaintance operated during 1 day
as follows: Her husband milked the cows early in
the morning, obtaining 12 1. of milk, which the
woman sold to a revendadora for 28 centavos a liter,
3.56 soles. She left the 6 centavos in her savings
cache and pocketed the 3.50. Then she loaded two
donkeys with yucas (the donkey she rode carried
only a partial load) and set off for the market in
Trujillo, arriving at her assigned stall about 7 a. m.
By 10:30 she had disposed of the yucas for 4.10 soles.
She began to shop around the market, looking for
left-over fruit. The bulk of the retail selling in the
market is over by 11 a. m. and usually some of the
women have not succeeded in disposing of all their
produce and are willing to sell off the remainder at
reduced prices. My friend is a shrewd bargainer and
succeeded in getting her donkeys loaded with assorted
fruit in good condition for 4.50 soles, although it took
her until about noon to do so. She then set out for
Moche, arriving about 2 p. m. at her house in the
town. She set up a table just inside the front door
and spread out the fruit for display. She is known
as a seller of items from the market, and customers

d

soon began to come in. By about 5 p. m. she had sold
three-fourths of the fruit for 5.30 soles—she says it
was not a very good day. She took a few items for
home use and made a deal with her final woman cus-
tomer to exchange the remainder of the fruit for 2
kilos of shelled beans, which she took to market with
her next day and sold for 70 centavos. Thus her total
visible “take” for the day was 9.16 soles—3.56 for
milk, 4.10 for yuca, and a total profit of 1.50 on the
fruit deal. Expenses were 30 centavos for lunch and
chicha at the market, leaving a gain of 8.86 soles in
cash. She was involved in a number of other barters
in the market of which I could get no clear picture in
terms of the profit and loss. It will be noticed that
the 3.56 soles for the milk represents no effort to speak
of on the part of my friend and represents value pro-
duced by her husband. The value of the yuca is
mainly produced by her husband, although she pro-
vides transportation to market, time, and salesman-
ship. The 1.50 soles gained on the fruit represents
true commercial profit on the transactions involved.
In this day’s work my friend spent 12 hours and
traveled 16 km. by donkey.

This case in terms of money values represents the
median of the few cases which I was able to follow
through, but my series is so small that I do not wish
to suggest that the money values involved are in
any way typical of the “average woman’s” daily in-
come. In the absence of an adequate statistical
sample and check, I can say with practical certainty
that this represents “a very good day indeed.” Cer-
tainly, the data on family incomes I was able to
secure do not indicate that 8.86 soles per day in cash
is a usual average. This case does illustrate, how-
ever, the Mocheras’ way of doing business. The
woman is constantly on the lookout for propositions
which promise a small profit. Part of the transac-
tions are in cash, part by barter, and many of them
involve a whole series of trades sometimes running
over several days. No books are kept and practically
all deals are on a face-to-face basis with goods ex-
changed physically and immediately rather than
being taken out of stock.

Each Moche married couple is a sort of business
partnership in which the man is responsible for the
production of the agricultural and dairy produce and
the woman handles its sale and handles all finances.
Those men who work outside the community bring
home their wages to their wives who act as guard-
ians. Even funds for production expenses such as
the hire of a plow, the purchase of tools, etc., have

74 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

to be obtained by the husband from the wife. She
also provides him with spending money upon his
request. Some husbands working for wages hold
out a certain sum per week for their personal ex-
penses, but in most cases, I believe, with the knowl-
edge of their wives. When asked why they do not
conceal some of their money from their wives, men
say that “You can’t expect a woman to run a house-
hold if she doesn’t have the money,” or something
similar. My impression is that, far from feeling
henpecked under this arrangement, most men feel
well satisfied to leave financial matters to their wives.
Personalities differ, of course, but even when the
husband thoroughly dominates the wife as a person,
he seems to be content to allow the woman to handle
the money. To sum up, the arrangement as cul-
turally defined-does not seem to involve difference in
prestige or invidious comparisons between individ-
uals or between sexes. It is rather a form of division
of labor or function. Women are supposed to do
some things in this life and men other things, and
among the responsibilities of women is the handling
of money and finances. This is a cultural tradition
in Moche, and from the average man or woman’s
point of view, that is all there is to it.

It is obvious that this cultural. definition of func-
tions may change, particularly if men’s work for
cash wages becomes an increasingly important ele-
ment in family incomes.

The partnership arrangement between husband
and wife does not necessarily interfere with their
individual ownership of property. Thus, if a wo-
man has inherited a plot of land, she has a perfect
right to allow her husband to work it or to rent it
to someone else, as she pleases. Both arrangements
occur. However, the income is used by the wife for
household expenses as a general rule. When cash
savings of a married couple are turned into tangible
assets, as in the purchase of a cow, I believe that
they are usually purchased in the husband’s name,
i.e., regarded for formal purposes as his property.
Customarily the husband’s property passes to the
wife and children after his death.

Although the women, as I have indicated, are
commercially active in such fields as chicha, vege-
tables, milk, etc., they do not enter shop keeping.
All of the shops (¢iendas) are operated by forasteros.

So far as I know, there is no borrowing of funds
from banks by Mocheros. Needed funds are ob-
tained from friends or relatives within the com-
munity. Also, there is comparatively little use of

/ MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN (@

credit in the local shops, which make most of their
sales for cash.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CERTAIN
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

In the section on religion will be found a discus-
sion of certain religious groups called mayordomias
and hermandades (brotherhoods). Similar organiza-
tions are found throughout most of Roman Catholic
Latin America, sometimes being called cofradias or
confraternidades. In Moche there is a difference be-
tween a mayordomia and an hermandad, which will
be discussed later, but, although both are phrased
in terms of devotion to a saint or other religious
object or objective, these organizations have certain
economic aspects which cannot be overlooked. The
economic aspect appears as follows. A mayordomia,
let us say, is organized by a leader (always a man)
who is known as the mayordomo. He goes to per-
haps eight of his friends and says that he would
like to show his devotion to San Fulano on that
saint’s day. He asks the men if they would also
like to show their devotion to the saint and to the
church in general by joining with him in a mayor-
domia. Some men do not feel that they can afford
the time, the cash outlay, etc., but in time the mayor-
domo organizes a group which undertakes the
responsibility of carrying out the celebration of the
day of San Fulano. Each one has to make a con-
tribution in order to carry the preliminary expenses.
Five soles each is common. Arrangements are made
to pay for a mass (if the saint’s day does not have
an obligatory one), to hire a band, to buy the rockets
and fireworks, and to provide the food and drink
for the feast. Then, some days or even weeks
previous to the big day, the mayordomia starts can-
vassing the population for contributions. The mem-
bers go from.house to house asking people if they
do not wish to show their devotion to the public
celebration of San Fulano’s day. The people of
Moche seldom refuse such a solicitation. Individual
amounts vary from 10 centavos up to a couple of
soles. A cup of pisco is drunk from a bottle carried
by the solicitors, and the contributors’ names are
entered on a list to which publicity is given by word
of mouth and, sometimes, by posting the list in the
church entrance. The day before the celebration,
i. e., the afternoon before vespers, a band is hired
and a final public canvassing of the community takes
place with a further collection. After the religious
solemnities and parade of the saint’s image the fol-

lowing day, all contributors and almost anyone else
who wishes to come is invited to a large meal, re-
plete with ample liquor and music, usually at the
house of the mayordomo, Here again it is not
rare for guests, especially after feeling the glow of
the drink, to make further contributions to the good
saint. A plate is conspicuously provided for this
purpose.

It is most unusual that the original contributions
of the members of the mavordomia are not covered
by the solicited contributions. A good mayordomo
usually manages the affair so that all expenses are
taken care of and there is a comfortable surplus.
The church and the priest take no official interest
in these funds, and the members of the organizing
group have no obligation to turn the surplus over
to the church. It is usually divided equally between
the members of the group after all have been reim-
bursed for their original outlay and their contribu-
tions to the feast. The proceeds are frequently not
inconsiderable in Moche terms; two or three hundred
soles is a not unusual “profit.” This is one of the
few opportunities within the culture itself for men
to make cash profits directly through their own
activities. It is also considered highly honorable,
and the members of such a group enjoy high prestige
in the community. To be sure, considerable time
and some financial risk is involved, and many men
can afford neither. ;

The hermandades are more permanent organiza-
tions than the mayordomias, which are organized on
the temporary basis. They have now practically
died out in Moche. But until a few years ago, at
least one hermandad operated a sort of insurance
scheme. A certain amount of the proceeds from its
activities was kept apart, usually invested in cattle,
and from this fund the burial expenses of the members
were paid. The organization, however, did not renew
its membership, and finally all the members but one
died off and the group folded up. The surviving
member, I understand, was left with one calf from
the “funds” of the group.

DISTRIBUTION

The mechanisms for the distribution of economic
goods in the community are as follows: (1) Borrow-
ing and lending; (2) the public market and stores of
Moche; (3) the shops and saloons (salones); (4)
Trujillo and other markets; and (5) ambulatory
peddlers.

A great deal of informal borrowing and lending

76 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 \

between friends and relatives takes place, particularly
in foodstuffs, chicha, and the like. This is on a
strictly reciprocal basis, i.e., the lender is expected to
return the equivalent when he or she is able. Tools
and utensils (except plows) are also passed about
through borrowing and lending, although this takes
place mainly in connection with emergencies or un-
usual needs. For example, a man may wish to cut
a tree and will borrow an ax from another man. In
return he will supply some boards when the other
man wishes to make fapia. A woman may borrow
a large pan for making sopa tedlogo and reciprocate
later with an extra container for chicha when the
original lender has a party. However, everyone is
supposed to have a basic set of the utensils or tools
used in his work. A man could not get along as a
farmer by borrowing all the necessary tools year
after year. A woman could not keep house with a
complete set of borrowed utensils.

There is a public market belonging to and super-
vised by the municipality in Moche itself on the
Plaza de Armas. It is universally regarded as a
poor market (una plaza muy chicha, no vale la pena),
because the selection of goods available is very small.
A few Moche women sell their farm and garden
produce here on certain days of the week and a
few meat sellers offer their products. On many
a day there will be only three or four persons selling.
The market opens at 5 a. m. and is usually over
by 9 a. m. Both buyers and sellers will visit the
local market to see what is offered in the way of
customers and produce, and if things are not to their
satisfaction, they go on to Trujillo, where the selec-
tion of goods and the number of potential customers
are much larger. Many people of Moche never
bother to visit the local market, because they know
before hand that the variety is poor. The best days
in the local market are Thursday and Sunday.

There are eight shops in the town, as shown on
the plan in map 1. All of these are operated by
forasteros, seven by Chinese, and one by a Peruvian.
The stock of these shops is small and consists mainly
of staples (salt, sugar), cigarettes, soft drinks, bot-
tled liquor and wine, coca, dry grains (rice, olluco,
wheat, etc.), bread flour, a small selection of cloth,
shelled maize, china dishes, and metal pots and pans.
They also sell bread. All bread has to be bought
ready-made (except for the few households which
bake it for sale). It is provided exclusively in the
form of small buns or biscuits which sell two for
5 centavos. The five saloons (salones) offer mainly

refreshments—coffee and bread to eat on the
premises, sweets, drinks, cigarettes, etc. Cooked
meals are obtainable, but only if ordered in advance.
This occurs seldom, because the normal way to ob-
tain a meal outside one’s own home is to eat a
causa prepared at the house of a Mochera. Each
has a counter and a few tables with chairs. Two
have booths or private rooms with oilcloth-covered
tables and chairs for parties. Four have hard-
packed floors of earth, and the other has a front
room with tile floor. Of the five salones, two are
operated by Peruvians, one by a Peruvian married
to a Chinese, a third by a Chinese, and the fourth
by a Peruvian woman married to a Russian who
works outside Moche. The shops and saloons make
a practice of giving a yapa (a little something extra)
for any purchase of consideration. I have seen
yapa given to a small boy purchasing 10 centavos
worth of sweets. The shops serve mainly the hour-
to-hour needs of housewives in the pueblo. Princi-
pal purchases are made in the Trujillo market or
stores.

Trujillo has a large and active public market where
products and handicraft goods from other parts of
the country (particularly the Chiclayo region and the
Sierra) are available in quantity and variety, as well
as manufactured goods. A good many exchanges
between members of the Moche community itself
take place in Trujillo. In addition, the city has a
great many shops or stores. All purchases, even
those made in the stores and shops, are accompanied
by bargaining, although in this region one does not
see the prolonged haggling and gesticulating some-
times visible in other parts of Latin America. Many
of the Trujillo stores post signs that they sell only
at fixed prices. No one pays attention to this, how-
ever, and the proprietors are usually willing to shave
the price, especially for country people like the
Mocheros, who usually will not buy unless some
ostensible concession is made. Generally speaking,
in Peru, as well as the Trujillo region, the seller
will quote a price. The buyer will say that it is
too high. The seller will ask the buyer to “make an
offer.” The offer is usually too low, whereupon the
buyer will ask the seller to make a concession usually
accompanying his request with derogatory remarks
concerning the goods under discussion and tales
about how he can obtain the same for much less at
some other place. This goes on for a time until
agreement has been reached, but the discussion does
not become noisy. In most cases a concession of no

”

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN ie |

more than 10 to 20 percent of the quoted price is
made (I am not speaking of prices quoted to tourists,
foreigners, and strangers, which are often twice their
accepted value). The technique of the buyer walk-
ing away in a huff is not generally used. It is not
customary for the seller to come running after the
buyer with a new concession in an attempt to make
the sale. Such conduct is regarded as beneath the
dignity and honor of a Peruvian.

A few ambulatory peddlers come to Trujillo.
There is a bread man who comes every morning with
two donkeys. Each donkey has two large wooden
boxes tied on either side, holding the bread. The
peddler delivers to some small shops and also sells
from house to house. An iceman appears occasion-
ally on Sundays and feast days. He pushes his two-
wheeled cart on foot from Trujillo. The cart con-
tains a chunk of ice in a large chest, some bottles of
colored flavoring matter in racks on top of the chest,
an ice-shaving apparatus consisting of a blade set
in a block of wood, and a couple of glass tumblers.
His business consists of selling shaved ice colored
and flavored with liquid from the bottles, a tumblerful
at atime. Children gather around and pay 5 centavos
per tumbler for this refreshment.

It is said that the day before Christmas and the
day of the fiesta of San Isidro a feria takes place in
the plaza of Moche, with booths set up by local and
outside vendors. These ferias, or fairs, are impor-
tant mechanisms for exchange in many communities
of the Sierra and even on the coast. I visited one
in Monsefi in September to which people came
from all over the northern part of Peru. However,
no feria took place in Moche during the 51% months
that I knew it, and the entire complex of ferias seems
to have practically died out in the community. Prob-
ably, the good roads and ready bus transportation
which have oriented the people toward Trujillo, so
far as buying and selling is concerned, have also
killed the old fair and local market patterns.
Mocheros speak regretfully of the loss of the old
institutions of exchange and distribution, but say
that no one takes an interest, it is not worth the
trouble, when Trujillo is so near and so accessible.

COST OF LIVING AND FAMILY BUDGETS

It is very difficult to be precise about incomes and
cost of living in money terms without a long period
of intensive investigation, for the following reasons.

(1) Mocheros do not keep written accounts and
do not have good memories for figures, especially
expenditures. (2) A good part of the subsistence
expenses of the Mocheros costs them nothing in
terms of money. Most pay out nothing in cash for
(3) Barter
and reciprocal borrowing constitute income and out-

houses, a large part of their food, etc.

go, but often are not translated into money at all; in
other instances these profits and/or losses emerge
in the form of money ultimately, but only after a
prolonged and half-forgotten train of intervening
transactions. (4) The Mocheros are close-mouthed
about their financial affairs.

It is generally considered that an average of 15
centavos per head per day is a necessary minimum
daily cash expenditure for articles of diet and drink
not produced in the household and considered essen-
tial for the maintenance of life in Moche terms. This
presumes, of course, that other items of subsistence
are produced by the family. This, for a family of
five, is a minimum monthly cash requirement of
22.50 soles and for the year, 273.75 soles ($40.06).

The richest’ Mochero living in the community is
said to be worth 50,000 soles. I have no way of
knowing how near the truth this may be, except that
he does have a fairly well-made town house and
several parcels of land. Since he and his wife are
childless, there is a good deal of speculation among
his contemporaries as to what is going to happen to
his fortune after his death. The poorest man in
town is said to be the victim of one of the common
family feuds over land. It is said that his sister
managed to get his land away from him in a legal
scrape. He gets a bare subsistence by carrying
water from the public hydrants to private houses and
appears on the streets a pitiful object in rags.

It is doubtful whether the actual cash income of
the average family of Moche exceeds 45 soles per
month,

I have collected a number of family budgets which
are given herewith. These are based upon the
memory and estimates of the families involved and
are no more than suggestive. I had mimeographed
a simple weekly schedule of expenditures and re-
ceipts which had been distributed to about a dozen
families, but I was suddenly called away from Moche
before they were completed, and I have no hope of
receiving them by mail in time for this publication,
if ever.

78 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Basic yearly expenditures of family living on a chacra
(man, wife, 3 children in school)

Soles

CIDP sc ssp aueselea eo ai ile ior Se sie wears 70
Pleo Glonirinks Aas ncas de ens Gs set Laaeecp-enier 50
Religious contributions ...........eeeeeeeeees 5
ScHOOLieXPENSES! «corsa srsciccclew oi esac H008 15
MROTAL nae, iaajaeen Geka aoed inaeeassega sees 140

Monthly budget of another family living on a chacra (man,
wife, 3 children, 1 in school)

Estimated monthly income ........-0+seeeeeee 80
Estimated monthly expense for food (consume
34 kilo of rice per day, 30 centavos of salt
meat; some cheese; 10 centavos of manteca;
yucas and camotes; buy 20 centavos of chicha

CTR CLELVI) ho 41 re sae acaty’ asaty 6 ate Rletora Wid eters ae ar Sp
Estimated monthly expense for clothing and
REUOOL. Wma eae aie a 0s dino ns aise a Pa bS oY 25

This family has % fanegada of ground. They grow yucas
and vegetables for their own use and for sale. They have
chickens and 2 donkeys, no cows.

Monthly budget of a town-dwelling family (man, wife, and
5 children)

Income: Soles
Wife sells wood and charcoal, earning about 15.00
Wife sells chicha and earns about........... 20.00
Man is foreman in Salaverry and earns...... 150.00

Total monthly income.............0005 185.00
Expenditure:
FIGHSE TAME swiciny sa naineeuiunus Metaes castes 5.20
Pay to; Water Carrier. <2 od4.s,n064-a0440 erratic 1.60
Wood and icharcdala. «¢ssseresiedetiens ons ois 15.00
IV CAE sterssserccriiniaes nals siuia haadiame tans Coie 22.50
IGE Ne hewiidniawed (eves satuahna case eee cates 19.80
BSH eras ste versio rehire graain ate siete tena elev eames 4.50
BSTEAG! Ki, nis ciengilaais nike Suede se nt ecenmnns 9.00
WAT eis ics ait Ve weal ee eibtaet soe ails ceuaiet 9.00
DANE a lraaaee caeme hess aca’ pardereines aie e's 70
Miscellaneous food and drink............. . 40.00
Tuition for 2 children in colegio............. 3.00
Clothes and shoes for the children (estimated
S4 soles annually) y.ceda vhs acess seers t 7.00
Clothes and shoes for the wife (60 soles
NEALE). core unten cfstersa sua msnenae ot aceite 5.00
Clothes and shoes for the father (96 soles
BNMUAL) © Foc wats dues taeacain ce teesee &.00
Total monthly expenditure............. 150.30

This family enjoys a relatively high expenditure for
Mocheros. Another family of five, without land, the father
working as a stevedore in Salaverry, get along on 70 soles
per month, or a little less than 2.50 soles per day. They pay
3 soles per month for their house.

I asked my friend, Don Victor Razuri, to write
out his estimate of family incomes. Sefior Razuri
is a forastero who has lived in Moche for the past
25 vears and is one of the few outsiders who enjoy
the complete confidence, goodwill, and respect of the
Mocheros. He has shown himself their friend on
many occasions and has never shown any tendency
to acquire their land. He is in intimate contact with
many families and may be expected to know some-
thing of their affairs. His estimates, however, I
believe, are somewhat optimistic, if taken to refer
to the statistically average family. On the basis of
such information as I have, it would seem that he
describes the more properous families. He also
figures as cash the work of the man in the work-

sharing arrangement. His report, in translation,

follows.

My small knowledge related to the utilization of labor
in this place does not qualify me to have my data taken
with complete certainty, but rather they may serve as
orientation to direct attention to the ancient development
which still persists among the inhabitants, making them a
people in their mode of life distinct from many other valleys.

It is known by all that this valley is subdivided into small
properties among the agricultural population, so that each
farmer is usually owner of his parcel of ground, which he
has inherited from his ancestors. Thus it is that somewhat
more than two-thirds of the men may be considered peones
[servants] of their own interests. Naturally they preserve
their primitive method of working their lands, that is, with
the intelligent use of work-sharing (préstamos de brazos).
For example, Don Fulano decides to plant his small plot.
Then he invites the presence of two or three more workers
(brazos), and, accompanied by food and drink, according to
his economic situation, the planting is accomplished. Of
course, when he is invited to return the labor to the others,
he is obligated to do so. Thus, one after another, the neces-
sary tasks are performed. But, of course, not all men have
the same amount of land; so it is, that among themselves it
is customary to give their labor in return for daily wages
in cases where this is necessary. Here in Moche the agricul-
tural work is not hard and most men are content to earn a
modest living. Added to this is the fact that the major part
of this rich campifia has been converted into cattle raising,
so that each individual has at least two milking cows, which
should produce as a minimum 10 liters per day, not taking
into account the value of the calves, etc., or let us say, 3 soles
daily. Now let us evaluate the work of the Sefiora (or
woman of the house). She frequently dedicates herself to
the business of the chicha and the causa, which can be con-
sidered a matter of 15 days per month, with a minimum
intake of 2 soles per day. And when she is not doing this
she buys certain products, like yuca, camote, alberja, lenteja,
etc., at a low price and resells them at the market in Trujillo,
obtaining more or less the same average profit (2 soles) per
day. The labor of the children is absorbed in the production
of milk and crops, but occasionally they may obtain a few

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 79

centavos for running errands for neighbors, in which case
they are allowed to spend it for sweets or to keep it for
their own. We also must consider that the Moche people
raise poultry, the sale of which could be figured as bringing
in about 20 soles per month. Finally, we may calculate that
the sale of agricultural products other than milk and poultry
should bring in about 15 soles per month. Thus we have the
following list of income per month.

Soles
Wrarleor the tian jacwsccecats dese pieacce ceases 30
Work of the woman (selling chicha, causa, resell-

MIP EVEREIADICS) Meldc ce sistance a tsnuate case saris 30
Sale Of tills. Gea cadcs cede eseee seas catisseews 90
Sale of vegetable products..............2-200008 15
SEALS Co#2 Biro) 1s Ge nn ny Aer Dee aaa ee eee 20

185

Let us now consider the expenses of a household with 3
or 4 children. Nothing is paid for the house, for if the
family does not have one in the town, they have one on the
chacra. For food is spent conservatively 2.5 soles per day.
Clothing may be calculated at 10 soles per month. Chicha
and strong drink would cost about 1 sol per day. For other
diversions, 0.5 sol per day; cigarettes, 0.2 sol per day;
school expenses, 0.2 sol per day; religious contributions,
0.2 sol per month; taxes to the government, 1 sol per
month. We should also add a contingency fund, as when
the family celebrates a Saint’s day or other festival, makes
contributions as padrinos at baptisms, diverse gifts, expenses
in temporary illnesses, etc. For all this we may consider
25 soles per month. We may now make up the following
table of expenses, per month.

Soles

Wood at2:5\SOles! per daVie sisi. oles dis «4.0 seis s vee 75
Ol tbs pine wecise ee iacsiath sane snl isiiee wun Oaiitea ee os 10
Ghiche and hard iquor.tss ss. css ness 000 en estes. 30
THersdi Versions: awe csies sume cree semas.. ve ner 15
Cigarettes, occasional coca, etc. .........eceeeeue 6
ICHOO EXPENSES Wis cise tcl cole end ecle SaegesSe 6
Religious contributions ................eeeeeeee 2
Contingency expenses ........0.ceececcccreccess 25
GOVEIMENE 1aKES: fsec.c05 cc dedenincccecdas seca. 1
WU OLAML a tart eie sire wice es Site seisiesie ew fiecarel ate © 170
Monthly balance for saving.............4. 15

To this small balance saved each month we must add the
value of the calves, donkeys, and poultry which each year
adds to the reserve and which in case of serious illnesses or
deaths serves to save the situation.

Let us now consider the type of family which has some
land, but which also enjoys an income from a trade or other

outside labor. Income may be calculated as follows. Pay
of the man, 60 soles per month. Earning of the woman of
the house, selling chicha and causa and trading in vegetable
products, 60 soles per month; in this sum is included the
labor, if any, of her minor children. Sale of agricultural
products, milk, maize, poultry, etc., 120 soles.

Soles
Manis: work “wiles vc¥iew leks ove * eevcks foley vinalee as 60
Wicd: S*WOrksnn sinatra (Gin td ds wets tates 60
Sale Of Products. mcteramseee <teys amines ere aang oes s 120
SUGtalancaueorcn dase neha Wit ane ii eters 240
As expenses, we calculate the following:

OOM 2 azanaaec cn netiees eae, co eG ane Te. 90
Wlothingyce.dcusd coe ees tee tes as a ees 15
Ghiche/and hard liquor... 3.6.6 eens &cldctev seas 36
Other’ diversions #21eeeee eee sire ie ces eee ae 15
Giparettes® Getty; <tc a-nees eee ann ancemestecnenins 6
School escpenses = ac;asdaei< cee enaentueeereas 6
Religious contributions ...............eeeeeeeee 2

Government) taxes ose os %saise sss samaceanines pea
Contingency expenses ..........ccececceeecssees 35
DOtaly tases cetnatencien tiie oe cieeere eae 206
Monthly balance jcc. .3-220cccec cece ws oe 34

If we make a disinterested examination of the situation we
may conclude that the standard of living of this community
is relatively satisfactory in comparison with that of the peon
who works in large cities or on plantations, whose income
frequently is insufficient to cover the high cost of living.

Our workers have never suffered the pain of a strike or a
stoppage of work, because in reality they have no employer
(patron). Therefore, it seems to me that our people are
privileged to Providence, and they have ample time and
opportunity to celebrate fiestas, etc.

In summary, we may say that, whatever an
“average” figure might be exactly, the cost of living
and the amount of cash needed to maintain life and
a family are, in terms of North American values,
very small in Moche. It is also obvious that the
standard of living, especially in clothing, house
furnishings, reading matter, etc., is different and
cheaper in money terms from that of even the poorer
categories of North American society. One can
live in Moche and maintain a family of five not too
uncomfortably, according to Moche standards, for
40 to 50 soles cash per month (roughly $6 to $7).
It is doubtiul that any Moche family has a cash
budget exceeding about $30 per month, and such a
family would be among the minority.

SO INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND THE EXPANSION
OF THE MOCHE WORLD

THE OLD WAY

The importance of the human foot and the donkey
as a means of transportation in Moche have already
been mentioned (pp. 24-25). The use of wheeled
vehicles by Mocheros within the community is, so far
as I know, totally absent. Not even the wheelbarrow
is used.

In carrying loads afoot the principal apparatus is
the alforja, a woven shoulder bag of cotton or wool,
with two large square pockets separated by an un-
pocketed strip of equal width by which the con-
trivance is slung over the shoulder, one pocket in
front and the other behind. These bags are also
carried in the hand in a similar manner, and are
likewise used as saddle bags, being slung over the
back of a donkey with one pocket on each side. No
straps or ties are provided. The bags and their
contents are kept in place by gravity. The alforjas
vary in size, according to the use for which they are
designed. They are obtained in trade from the
Sierra and from the region of Chiclayo. Those
from the Sierra are usually of wool, while those
from Monsefi (near Chiclayo) are often of cotton
with very elaborate floral designs of Spanish colonial
provenience. The tumpline arrangement, which was
apparently universal during Mochica times, does not
appear in modern Moche at all. Babies are carried
in the arms or against the mother’s side or hip, but
not astride it.

People carry heavy loads only for short distances
and the donkey seems to have displaced the human
pack animal almost entirely. Horses, as already
mentioned, are little used by the Mocheros, and
mostly for riding rather than packing.

From the reminiscences of old residents it appears
that modern developments in communication and
transportation have constituted one of the most im-
portant factors in the change of patterns and
orientations of the Moche culture. In the old days,
up to about the first of the century or a little later,
it appears that a regular system of exchange between
Sierra and Moche, employing donkey transportation,
was in operation. Simbal, one of the so-called Mo-
chica towns, which lies in the coastal foothills of
the Andes, served as contact for commercial ex-
changes from the two regions. Regular trips were
made by the Mocheros with donkey trains to this

town. The trip required about 3 days, and tambos,
or rest houses, were located along the road, providing
food, chicha, and rest for the night. In Simbal the
Mocheros came in direct contact with people from
the Sierra with whom they did their trading. These
contacts, together with the goods exchanged, would
seem to explain the presence of many Sierra traits
in Moche today. It would seem that something
similar to this pattern of exchange between coast
and Sierra goes back into antiquity, undoubtedly
previous even to the Inca conquest of the Chimu
region. In the Mochica material may be seen Sierra
plants, animals, and other traits whose presence on
the coast can only mean regular contact between
the two areas.

Moche, of course, was not unique among the
coastal villages in maintaining this commerce with
the Sierra during colonial times and the last century,
although some informants would have it that Moche
did most of the trading and carrying for the com-
munities of the region, such as Viru, Huaman,
Guinape, etc.

In the exchange carried on in this manner, the
following seemed to have been the principal products.
Moche provided dried and salted fish, aji, caiiancs,
salt, cords of brown cotton for hairdressing and
weaving. In return Moche received from the Sierra
wool for weaving, maize, potatoes, wheat, quinoa
(which was formerly much eaten in Moche), cho-
choca (maize flour), hams, and live sheep. Through
these contacts a good many intermarriages took
place, particularly involving Sierra men who came
to Moche, married, and settled down. There seems
to have been some arrangement of trade friendships
and a certain amount of specialization on both sides,
but I have insufficient information to expound the
details.

This system of trade must have broken down
fairly recently, because its existence, if not the de-
tails, remains in the memory of many persons. It
is possible that the opening of hard-surfaced high-
ways and the development of bus and truck trans-
portation wrought the change, or at least destroyed
the donkey-train pattern. The railroad from Sala-
verry via Trujillo to the Valley of Chicama has
been in operation since the 1870's (Paz Soldan,
1877, p. 858).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 81

MODERN MEANS OF CONTACT WITH THE
OUTSIDE WORLD

The railroad, connecting Salaverry with Trujillo
and points beyond, a narrow gage line of 0.914 m.,
passes along the east edge of town, as shown in
map 1. At the present time it runs no passenger
cars or trains and therefore exercises no appreciable
influence in the life of the Mocheros. Until a few
years ago, however, it was a principal means of
mechanical transportation for trips outside of Moche.
A station and siding stood beside the line just op-
posite from the plaswela where the windmill now
stands, and a branch line turned off here, passed
westward on Calle Alfonso Ugarte to Calle Inclan,
where it turned southward and continued to Las
Delicias on the shore. This branch line was torn
up and abandoned less than 10 years ago. Discarded
rails are to be found as uprights in a few houses.
The autobuses and the shortages of wartime have
conspired to suppress the passenger business of the
railroad.

The town of Moche lies in a Y formed by two
first-class highways, each two lanes in width and
smoothly asphalted. Final work on the surfacing
was completed only 3 or 4 years ago. To the north
of town the Pan-American Highway (Carretera
Panamericana) passes southeastward on its way to
Lima. Along the west side of town runs the high-
way from Trujillo to the port of Salaverry. Only
the latter is important for Moche. The busses run-
ning between the port and the city turn off the high-
way and proceed to the Moche plaza, sounding their
horns loudly as they enter the town, so that pas-
sengers may come running from their houses to the
plaza. The trip between Moche and Trujillo re-
quires 20 to 25 minutes and one-way fare is 20
centavos, having been raised from 15 centavos in
1944. According to the posted schedule, Moche is
served by 48 trips per day in each direction, an aver-
age of one every half-hour, with a couple extra dur-
ing hours of heavy traffic. In 1944 the first bus
was supposed to leave Moche at 5:05 p. m. for Tru-
jillo, and the last bus was supposed to leave at 12
midnight, arriving in Trujillo about 12:20 a. m.
The last bus out from Trujillo to Moche left about
11:40 p.m. Although there is some complaint about
the high cost of the fare, the majority of Mocheros
use the bus, because of its convenience and speed.
It is prepared to carry the bundles of agricultural
produce (except alfalfa and other excessively bulky
bundles) and the cans of milk on its roof. The

busses also deliver the papers and mail early in the
morning.

The surfacing of the highways also brings some
trucks to Moche. A delivery truck from the Panifi-
cadora, a large Trujillo bakery, comes every day.
Mocheros, both men and women, catch rides on
these vehicles and also on trucks passing along the
highways, as a further means of mobility.

There is a telephone “central” in the town of
Moche on the Calle Espinar. It belongs to the Com-
pania Naciofal de Teléfonos, but its facilities are
little used by the general public because it has only
one branch line, that to the police station. The in-
strument in the “central’’ itself is used, however,
in emergencies, and one may call a person in Moche
from Trujillo by long distance with some hope that
a messenger will be sent out to bring him to the
central office. A post office is maintained in the town,
also on the Calle Espinar, which also theoretically
receives and accepts telegrams. There is no house
delivery of mail. The postmistress calculates that
an average of about 15 pieces of incoming mail are
handled daily.

According to my count, there are eight radio re-
ceiving sets, all in the pueblo; five of them belong
to forasteros and three belong to Mocheros. None
of the Government agencies has a receiver with
loudspeaker for the benefit of the public, as is the
case in many Peruvian towns. One of the radios
is in a salon (drink parlor) and thus available to
the public, as it were, and the others, in private
homes, can be listened to by friends. There is not
much interest in radio, however, and the extant sets
exert practically no influence on opinion or custom.
All are battery sets, owing to the fact that Moche
has no electric power, so they are turned on only
for a few minutes or an hour a day, and several of
them are usually out of order at any given time
for want of batteries. No gasoline or oil motors
for the generation of electricity are in operation in
Moche, so far as I know.

The lack of electricity, together with the general
orientations of the culture, probably contributes to
a relatively low interest in reading, or may be ex-
pected to retard its growth, although the dim, flicker-
ing light available in many a small Peruvian town
which does have electricity is as discouraging to
reading as the most primitive candle or oil lamp.
Newspapers have a surprisingly large circulation
for so rural a community, but they are read in day-
light by those who can read. The Lima papers,

82 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

especially the “Comercio,” were printing in 1944 a
total of 20 to 25 full columns of news of all types
daily, but the Trujillo papers, especially the “Tn-
dustria,” carry much less reading material. All in-
formants agree that the total circulation of daily
papers in Moche cannot be less than 200. The follow-
ing figures were obtained by me from the respective
circulation managers and agents. “La Nacion” of
Trujillo reported for June, 1944, 49 paid subscrip-
tions in Moche and estimated a street sale by news-
boys of about 15 daily. “La Industria” reported
paid subscriptions in Moche for July 1944 as 79,
with no sale by newsboy. The agents for the dis-
tribution of the Lima papers report a sale of “about
25” papers daily to customers in Moche. This gives
a total of 168, to which must be added an unknown
number bought by the plageras (women who go to
market) in Trujillo in the early morning. All in-
formants agree that this unknown figure would be
at least 32, making a total of 200. I did not have
the time to trace down these recipients of news-
papers to get a figure showing the precise proportion
of the total who were Mocheros, as distinguished
from forasteros. However, the cream of the news,
so far as it is available in the papers, circulates widely
among the Mocheros, even in the campina, and the
average native was usually quite well informed of
the latest battles of the war, governmental decisions
in Lima, and outstanding doings of the Prefectura
in Trujillo. All of the salones, shops, and barber
shops, as well as the municipal office, take at least
one paper, which is read or glanced over without
charge by customers and loafers.

As previously mentioned, a large proportion of
the Mocheros, especially those above the age of
50, are illiterate, and of course do not read the news-
papers. I have been surprised on several occasions,
however, by the interest with which these people

follow the news purveyed to them verbally by their
literate friends and relatives.

A biweekly newspaper was started in Moche itself
in October 1944 under the name of “Inti” (Quechua,
“sun”), published and edited by the organization of
young men called Moche en Marcha. It is a four-
page, four-column sheet printed in Trujillo, but
edited in Moche, and is devoted entirely to Moche
affairs. The mere fact that a Quechua word was
chosen for the title is another indication, I felt, of
how deeply is the Mochica tradition buried in the
past.

Aside from newspapers, there is no regular inflow
of reading matter. An occasional magazine is pur-
chased in Trujillo, but irregularly and at long in-
tervals. The preference seems to be for picture
magazines printed in Chile, Argentina, or Cuba, al-
though “Selecciones del Reader’s Digest’? seemed
to be arousing some interest in 1944. Most of the
literate Mocheros do not have the habit of reading
as a means of cultivating the mind or even as a
means of passing the time, while many cannot read
at all. On the other hand, there are exceptions here,
as in all communities, and quite a number of young
men who are in colegio or university in Trujillo, take
themselves somewhat seriously as intellectuals. A
number of these individuals have fairly large collec-
tions of books (20 to 30) and magazines.

All of these media of transportation and com-
munication tend to break down the cultural isolation
of Moche. Of all of them, the good highwavs and
frequent bus transportation are probably the most
important at present. These media serve to place
the Mocheros in contact with other cultural currents,
but, of course, such contact does not necessarily
guarantee that the outside cultural elements in ques-
tion are or will be adopted by the Mocheros. A
discussion of these matters will be postponed to a
later section (p. 159).

RECREATION AND ART

DRINKING AND EATING

To eat, drink, and be merry is the customary idea
of the proper way to relax and enjoy oneself in
Moche. As indicated in the section on the etiquette
of food and drink, the Mocheros are prone to recrea-
tion of this informal type about the house even on
ordinary weekday afternoons, whereas the consump-
tion of elaborate meals and prodigious amounts of

chicha and cane alcohol is a standard feature of all
holidays, religious or secular.

In order to give some idea of the atmosphere of
the informal weekday affairs which somehow get
started without much planning or intention, I quote
from my notes concerning an episode in which I was
involved during my first days in Moche. _ Inci-
dentally, it should not be assumed that either dis-

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 83

approval or approval of a moralistic type on my part
is implied in this description or in other recording
of Moche customs.

{On this afternoon] I was going down the street in the
pueblo with one of my Moche friends, looking for an old
lady said to be able to give me details about the former
customs of the community. As we passed a certain house,
my friend R., said “There’s C. A. Let’s go in and see what’s
going on.” We entered the house and went out toward the
back, where we found an old man, named C. A., drinking
chicha with some friends, and already in a state of consider-
able enthusiasm. The house was that of S. R., a middle-aged
woman, who is his compafiera (mistress). Also present
was M. A. J., viuda de S., who, it turned out, enjoys the
distinction of having had, in addition to the late S., three
other “husbands,” namely P. R., J. R., and Q., whose first
name she does not remember. Another guest was one P. N.,
a protestant (evangelista) who lives in the campina. Al-
though he was dressed in the usual white suit, straw hat,
and bare feet of a Moche man, C. A. insisted jokingly that
he was a doctor en derecho (doctor of law). It later ap-
peared that instead of being a doctor at laws, he had
actualy finished only the primaria (primary school), but
was a serious-minded chap given to reading and to the
Seventh Day Adventist doctrine. Another guest was B. de
N., an aunt of S. R., the lady of the house. Also present
was a woman named M. A. and another man whose name I
did not catch at the time.

The affair was taking place in a rather dark back half-
room which opened onto a small and mean back yard con-
taining a kitchen, but not large enough for an outdoor arbor
and garden. As soon as we entered, the lady of the house
rushed out to boil a couple of eggs for my companion and
me, in place of the causa which the others had already con-
sumed. I was welcomed heartily by C. A., whose mind was
dominated by the fact that, although he was 75 years of
age, he was only awaiting a call to take a rifle and begin
Operations against the Japs, Germans, and all other at-
tackers of La Unidad de las Américas. He and I would go
forth to battle together, according to him. In the intervals
when C. A. was occupied with drinking or going out to the
back yard to relieve himself (in plain view of the as-
semblage), the talk revolved about two other topics. We
discussed colds and the family relationships of those present.
I had a bad cough and inquired what to do for it. I was
overwhelmed with suggestions. Each woman had her own
remedy which was chattered at me at the top of her voice
at the same time all the other women were doing likewise.
This bedlam was punctuated by C. A.’s giggles, and inter-
spersed with his speeches in favor of American unity. Oc-
casionally he would lean over to me and say, “Don’t pay any
attention to this advice. Rub some kerosene on your chest
tonight. Tomorrow you will be cured and we'll go out
together to shoot Japanese.” When the medical topic played
itself out, all the guests started telling me at once their
genealogies, since they had heard that I was interested in
such matters. If one person managed to go along under-
standably for as much as a minute, she would be invariably
interrupted by someone else who would tell her that so-and-
so’s grandfather’s second mistress was B., not A., etc. At

one point the Seventh Day Adventist made a speech in the
usual Peruvian flowery style, in favor of the great ideals of
North America, I replied in an imitation of the same style,
thanking him profoundly and pointing out that we appre-
ciated the confidence of our friends, the Peruvians. This
speech was greeted with many cheers and renewed quafling
from the gourd cup. Shortly thereafter a man came in with
a guitar and, after a few drinks of chicha, started playing,
while some of those present started to sing and dance.

About 5 p. m., C. A. insisted on taking me and my friend
R., who had brought me to this house in the first place, out
to the salon of Don Juan Olimpico, for a “copita.” We took
a booth and he ordered a cuarto (quarter of a liter) of
canaso and some sandwiches made of buns with two black
olives in each. His talk continued in the same way, inviting
me to come to his chacra whenever convenient, proposing a
Jap-hunting expedition on the morrow, etc. He also had a
sad period during which he expatiated on being all alone,
for his wife had died several years before and his mistress
did not take her place.

Recovering from his melancholy, C. A. insisted on order-
ing a second cuarto, which, however, by means of a few
winks and whispered words I managed to have the pro-
prietor dilute considerably. However, old C. A. was not to
be deceived, and complained loudly that he would never come
to this place again, because the caziaso was nothing but water.
He sent the bottle back and had a new one brought, After
C. A. had disposed of most of the second bottle, I had to
order a third to respond to his hospitality (corresponder),
so that he would not feel insulted. By this time, however, he
was very drunk and knew it. He insisted on taking his
leave, after having one short drink from the third bottle and
effusively thanking me for my hospitality. One of the most
comical aspects of the afternoon was the process of getting
him out of the place.

We were sitting in a booth with something like beaver-
board walls, around a table covered with oilcloth, C. A.
was very polite and still enthusiastic about my proposed visit
to his chacra and about inter-American unity, but he was
not very well oriented. He put on his straw hat, which had
a leather lining, and pushed it back on his head. As he did
this, the leather lining came loose and remained as a sort
of skullcap down over his eyebrows, while the hat fell off.
There was an interval during which C. A. angrily claimed
that he had been blinded by the foul liquor purveyed by this
place and apologized profusely for having brought his dear
ally who was going to hunt Japs with him to such a den.
Finally he got his hat on again, but the lining stayed down
over his eyes. We all shook hands as C. A. once more
took ceremonious leave, and, turning purposefully, tried to
walk through the beaverboard wall. He was quite obstinate
about it and attempted to continue nonchalantly with legs
working steadily, but face pushed up against the wall. R.
would say, “No, man, the exit is over here, man,” to which
C. A. would reply, “Don’t ‘tell me that R. I know perfectly
well where the door is. Do you think I am drunk?” This
dialogue took place several times, with C. A. all the time
leaning against the wall with his leather skullcap down over
his forehead and the straw hat on the back of his neck, trying
to walk through the wall. Finally we got him out through
the door, staggering, but still polite.

84 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Later acquaintance with C. A. showed him to be
normally a most reserved and rather melancholy
man, whose expansiveness and aggressiveness ap-
peared only when released by alcohol.

This episode illustrates several features of the
typical chicha-and-causa relaxation complex. (1)
The affairs are impromptu and guests may attend
without prior invitation, although strangers without
an introduction by a recognized friend would not
be admitted. (2) The ordinarily quiet, if not taci-
turn, natives of Moche become voluble. Inhibitions
are released and utterance is sometimes given to
statements which it is extremely difficult to pry out
of a Mochero when sober. A certain jocularity ap-
pears, which is seldom attempted during sobriety.
Singing and dancing are indulged in freely, whereas,
when sober, the typical individual feels embarrassed
by activity which draws attention to himself. (3)
The removal of inhibitions leads to expression of
suppressed aggressions, as in the case of C. A.’s
remarks about his mistress and his eagerness to
shoot Japs. Overt physical scuffles sometimes occur
during these affairs, and the aftermath of every large
fiesta usually includes several persons in the local
jail for fighting. Conversely, expression is given
to friendly and sympathetic feelings which otherwise
are not demonstratively expressed. In fact, it seems
that the typical Mochero does not know how “‘to be
himself” without the help of chicha. When sober
he may be personally pleasant, but he is either re-
served and noncommittal, or taciturn, or on the de-
fensive. Of course, a stranger and a foreigner such
as myself would receive this impression more forcibly,
but as confidence in me developed and my acquaint-
ance deepened, I was even more convinced that
chicha provided a welcome release from anxieties or
other tensions among and within the Mocheros.
Strangely, only one person in his cups expressed
dislike and aggression toward me personally during
my time in Moche. Fortunately, after a tussle be-
tween us one day, he became a great friend who
thereafter annoyed me almost as much with his
effusive abrasos (a form of embrace when men
greet each other) as he had previously with his in-
sults. His first antagonism toward me was at least
in part based upon a long-standing grudge against
gringos, apparently dating from an unfortunate ex-
perience with an employee of the railroad in his
boyhood. (4) The pattern is to get drunk, but not
“dead drunk.” One drinks and eats causa with his
friends to enjoy himself, not to “pass out.” C. A.’s

insistence on leaving when he felt that he was in
danger of not being able to walk is fairly typical.
A “passed out” drunk is a rare sight in Moche.
Individuals usually go home when they cannot hold
more. There are exceptions, to be sure, but the
Moche pattern is not that of an orgy in which the
participants seemingly wish to blot out all conscious-
ness save that of the high-keyed nervous pleasure
of the dissipation itself. One might say that the
Mocheros unconsciously wish to submerge, by means
of drink, the consciousness of certain restraints which
prevent them from fully expressing and enjoying
their own potentialities ; but once the state is achieved,
they wish to prolong it, not to blot it out also.

The comparative rarity of quick and stupefying
drunkenness is, of course, reinforced by the pattern
itself; chicha rather than hard liquor customarily
forms the major part of the drink; it is always con-
sumed with food; and one drinks in the stimulating
atmosphere of the presence of others. Nevertheless,
there is no acquired cultural drive leading one to
quick drunken oblivion. I believe that I am safe in
characterizing the Moche drinking-and-eating pat-
tern’s cultural goal as relaxation, relaxation of
psychosocial restraints, rather than debauchery.

Another feature of possible significance is the
comparative moderation of language at Moche drink-
ing bouts. Although people become voluble and loud,
the standard tension-releasing words of Spanish
are not very much employed and the obsessive inter-
est in sexual, scatological, blasphemous, and obscene
topics displayed by many Mestizos in other parts of
the country, even when sober, seldom appears in the
Mocheros, even when in their cups. Sex matters
may be discussed a little more freely, but not with
unusual affect, for sex and bodily functions are com-
mon topics of conversation in mixed company at any
time. The sonorous oaths and obscenities in which
the Spanish language is so rich are not perhaps as
much used in Peru as in certain other Latin Ameri-
can countries; but Peru has an ample, if compara-
tively restricted, fund of them in common use. Yet
I have seldom heard much of the standard Peruvian
swearing in Moche.

SPORTS

Modern team sports make an appeal primarily to
the younger generation.

Football (of the type called “soccer” in North
America) is played enthusiastically on Sunday after-
noons, usually before an audience of at least 40 or

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 85

50 onlookers. The sport is handicapped by the lack
of a permanent field, and play and practice have to
take place on fields which happen to be out of cultiva-
tion at a given moment, such as cornfields awaiting
the next plowing, and the like. The sport owes a
good deal of its impetus to one of the forasteros, a
player of some regional renown in his younger days.
At present he is the operator of one of the salones
in the town. Six football clubs are in existence and
are named as follows: Atenas, Olimpico, Once
Amigos, Alianza Moche, Esport Boys, Santa Cruz
de Chorobal. The expenses for shoes, uniforms, foot-
balls, and the like, are paid from the membership
dues and contributions. Games are played among
the Moche clubs and also with teams from the
haciendas of the region.

Basketball (usually called simply ““‘basquet’) is
played by only one team, representing the Club
Atlético Espartano (Spartan Athletic Club). It is
said to be played on the court which exists in the
patio of the Government school for boys, the only one
available. During my stay in Moche this court had
only one basket in position and no games were played.

Tejos is thought of as the distinctive Moche sport,
and in its present form, at least, is claimed to have
been invented and elaborated in Moche itself. The
prime stimulus of the tejos movement has been Don
Manuel L. Briceno y Vazquez. Don Manuel is a
man of many and real talents, who, with Don
Victor Razuri and Don José Eulogio Garrido, is one
of the three forasteros who have lived for many
years in Moche, have taken a hearty and sympathetic
interest in the community, and have won the complete
confidence of the true Mocheros. Sefior Bricefio is
a water-colorist of recognized accomplishment, an
architectural engineer, and a practical archeologist.
For many years he has been employed by the Larcos
of Chiclin and, among his other accomplishments, has
made a definitive study of Mochica architecture,
which has been embodied in a large portfolio of all
the known types of Mochica constructions, shown in
floor plan, elevation, and also reconstructed in the
form of water-color paintings in perspective. These
documents, if the money and opportunity to publish
them can ever be found, will doubtless prove to be
of immense value to the entire public interested in
the north coast of Peru.

Sefior Bricefio has written a monograph embody-
ing his evidence concerning the origin of the tejos
game and setting forth the rules as standardized by
himself. Although this work has not been printed,

it is circulated in typed form among the various fejos
clubs of the region.

The word tejos means “quoits,” and the game is
played with brass disks 2 cm. in diameter which are
supposed to weigh 80 gm. Sefior Briceno suggests
that certain unperforated disks found in the Mochica
and Chimu archeological material may show that a
similar game was played in ancient times. Various
games involving the throwing of small disks are
played throughout modern Peru, but, except for the
Trujillo region, in my own travels in provincial parts
of the country I do not happen to have discovered
any conforming to the Moche game in details. The
most common quoits game throughout Peru is that
sometimes called sapo, which consists of throwing
a disk about the size of a silver dollar at a brass frog
sitting with his mouth open on a box top that is
perforated with a number of holes slightly larger
than the disk. The player scores according to the
hole into which his quoit falls. The highest scoring
play is to throw the disk into the frog’s mouth. This
apparatus is found in chicherias and loafing places in
almost all parts of the country.

In Moche the tejos game is played on the ground,
and it is a sport well adapted to shady arbors with

al
a

ee ee ee ROO aise eee

4 - - Oe OH OH He HH HH KH --- O0RAI- - - - - — — -- - - - -- - 3

Ficure 6.—Left, scale diagram of standard quoits court (tejos);
right, three additional designs of targets.

S6 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

causa and chicha near at hand. The standard court
is laid out on smooth, hard-packed earth and con-
forms to the measurements shown in figure 6. The
court is 12 m. long by 3 m. wide and the player
throws his quoit at a target area, made of adobe set
flush with the ground surface, whose closest point
is 8 m. from the throwing line. The target (raya)
itself may take one of four forms, shown in figure 6.
The most common is that appearing in the plan of the
court. It consists of a longitudinal line bisecting the
target area, with a cross line 10 cm. from the farther
end. If the disk lands within the target area with-
out touching its borders, the player scores one point ;
if it lands on the longitudinal line, he scores two
points; and if it lands on the cross of the two lines,
he scores four points. Each player has two disks,
and part of the game is to prevent one’s opponent
from scoring by knocking his disk out of the target
area while landing one’s own disk in scoring position.
The game is much more difficult than it appears at
first glance. As in other sports, there are many
theories and usages regarding techniques: the stance,
the wrist motion, the arm motion, and so on, are
analyzed in detail by the experts. Individuals may
play, each winning his own score, or the game may
be played between teams of partners.

Moche has its tejos club, which has been granted
official recognition by the Prefectura in Trujillo, and
has organized a sort of league of clubs in haciendas
and communities in the Moche and Chicama Valleys.
Tournaments are played and the Moche club posses-
ses a collection of loving cups, diplomas, and other
trophies won in these tournaments (pl. 18, middle
(right)). Considerable pride is shown in the
successes of the team, because this is the one activity
in which the community possesses recognized leader-
ship and prestige throughout the region. During the
Peruvian national holidays of 1944, the Moche team
accepted a challenge from the team of the Hacienda
of Laredo. The preliminaries took on somewhat
more solemnity than one would have thought neces-
sary, not knowing the importance of tejos in Moche.
The challenge was received in writing, signed and
sealed with a rubber stamp by the secretary of the
Laredo club. A meeting of the executive committee
of the Moche club was called, at which I happened
to be present, to discuss the matter; and the accept-
ance was finally sent off, inscribed on the printed
letterhead of the Moche club, formally signed and
sealed.

Small boys play marbles, using round choloque

seeds or factory-made glass marbles. Top spinning
is also popular among the very young. The tops are
either bought or made at home; they are of wood
with an iron point, and are spun by first winding
them around with a length of string, then throwing
the top to the ground while holding onto the end of
the string. Climbing trees, wrestling, playing on
rope swings hung from tree branches, etc., are also
among the childish amusements.

Only males engage in sports. Women do not even
play tejos.

Making string figures on the fingers is a favorite
past-time of children. Small girls have dolls, but
not invariably. There are probably other childish
games which I have not noted. After they are able
to walk, most small boys and girls are occupied part
of the time with baby watching. They carry the
babies about from one part of the arbor or garden
to another, using their arms, but one does not see
small nurses with babies tied to their backs in
blankets walking or standing about for hours at a
time as in the Sierra. (See pl. 14, upper (left),
for a group of children eating their midday meal
together on the ground under the trees. )

THE CINEMA

The town has a motion picture theater located
one-half block off the central plaza. It is served by
a traveling apparatus which comes to Moche about
once a month and gives shows every night for a week,
carrying its own electrical generating outfit. The
theater building is owned by a forastero. It is a
plastered adobe building furnished with wooden
benches and chairs, and a booth for the projector.
Capacity is about 150 seated patrons. The hall is
also used for meetings. The screen is of white cotton
sheeting, torn and spotted in several places, and the
projector is said to be capable of improvement.
Perhaps more interest would be aroused in the
movies by better equipment, but at the present time
Mocheros are not “movie fans,” generally speaking.

MUSIC AND DANCING

Music appears in the following forms, to consider
the instrumental types first. (1) There are two
brass bands in the community, composed of the
typical European instruments, such as cornets, tubas,
bass drum, etc. These organizations are hired by
mayordomuias to lead the parade on saints’ days when
the image is paraded through the streets, and they

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 87

also furnish alleged music during the mass in the
church. (2) A couple of fiddling orchestras, con-
sisting of violins, piano, and drums, are available
for occasional fox-trot dances. (3) Several men
play the “old-time” instruments in certain costumed
dances and parades. These old-time instruments in
Moche consist of the reed flageolet (quena) and the
hand-made skin-covered drum. The only costumed
feast day which occurred during my stay was the
fiesta of Cristo Rey or Nuestro Senor de la Miseri-
cordia. A woman of the community has provided a
set of “Indian” costumes for the men and a set of
“angels’’’ costumes for the young girls. The In-
dians are dressed in a mixture of the North American
wildwest movie version of red Indians, with feathered
war bonnets, etc., and certain modern additions, such
as colored goggles, mirrors, and toy pistols (pl. 18,
lower (left) ). An unformalized allegorical dance
takes place while the image is being paraded. The
burden of the “plot” is a sort of contest between the
bad “Indians,” or diablos (devils) as they are usually
called, and the angels. The parade is led by a couple
of flageolet players and drummers. One man dressed
as an “Indian devil” was playing both the flageolet
and the drum at the same time. The brass band
participates likewise. The woman who is patron of
this fiesta keeps the costumes put away in trunks
between the festival days when they are used.
(4) Guitar music is very popular, especially for the
informally arranged dances which develop along with
drinking and eating in the households. The guitars
use steel strings and seem to be played mostly by
younger men. There is one man in town who re-
pairs and tunes the instruments, on a semiamateur
basis. (5) One household in the pueblo has an old
and badly tuned piano, which the owner of the house
bought second-hand some years ago for 200 soles
(about $30.60). The owner’s son has become an
efficient pianist, considering the instrument he has
to work with, and fiestas in this house are popular
on this account. As of the present, this young man
has not turned his talent into commercial channels,
but he is now organizing an orchestra with some of
his friends. The pianist for the fox-trot orchestra
which occasionally performs is a forastero.

Vocal music is not much developed as an art, but
rather as a form of recreation. During a drinking
spree, when the guitars have become well warmed
up, almost everyone will sing, or emit sounds said to
be singing. There is one professional vocalist among
the Mocheros. He has a good bass voice, and earns

money singing in the church as cantor, and also in
Salaverry and Trujillo. He happens to be the owner
of the piano and the father of the young pianist. His
old father, now 93 years of age, tells me that he
was a professional cantor in his prime, and his father
before him. Thus we may speak of a family musical
by tradition, but, of course, the musical forms em-
ployed are native neither to Moche nor to Peru.
This man is also leader of the church choir, which,
however, is a comparatively small and unstable
group consisting mainly of young boys whose at-
tendance is not as regular as desired.

There is no original composition in music of which
I am aware.

Dancing appears in the following forms: (1) Al-
legorical dancing of the type indicated above in re-
ferring to the “devils” and “angels” is characteristic
of certain religious festivals. (2) Occasionally, on
the day of a special fiesta, the public market, which
has a cement floor, is turned into a dance hall for
modern dancing by couples. This type of dance is
called “fox trot,” regardless of the fact that it may
include tangos, two-steps, waltzes, etc., as well as
fox trots. Only the younger and more sophisticated
natives of the Moche undertake this type of dancing,
and at these affairs the majority of couples are
forasteros. (3) The typical folk dance of the Mo-
cheros, the dance which characterizes household
fiestas and drinking parties, is the marinera. This
type of social dancing is common to Sierra and coast
alike, throughout Peru, and hundreds of pieces of
special music have been composed for it (not in
Moche, however). The dance involves both sexes
but does not permit bodily contact between men and
women. Without going into a prolonged description,
the movements consist of the male partner’s doing
a sort of two-step on the floor around his woman
partner while he waves a handkerchief in one or both
hands. He makes sudden turns, lunges, and ap-
proaches—which she coyly and rhythmically avoids.
The dance is very energetic for both partners and
they usually perspire copiously during its per-
formance. The usual pattern is several couples
dancing on the floor, while the rest of the party looks
on from the side lines, yelling encouragement and
making boisterous remarks.

ART

In the realm of pictorial art the stranger is im-
pressed by the general interest in an attempt at
painting. It is tempting to see this as a cultural

pss) INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

heritage from the Mochicas, who, for their time and
place, produced excellent work in the medium of
painting on vases and other ceramic objects. Moche
has produced one painter whose work has been
nationally recognized artistically and in the form of
financial awards. This is Pedro Azabache, 26 years
of age in 1944, whose one-man show at the “Insula”
in Lima in June of that year earned him critical
acclaim and the sale of 14 of his canvases. It is rare
that an ethnologist finds a competent artistic in-
terpreter of the culture of the people he is studying
among the people themselves. Therefore, by special
permission of Sefior Azabache, a number of his
paintings are reproduced herein (pls. 19-21). Aza-
bache was a pupil of the internationally renowned
Peruvian painter, José Sabogal, who has done so
much to turn artistic interest in Peru toward the
interpretation of the native scene, and who has led
somewhat of a revolt against the colonial tradition
of servile copying of classical themes and composi-
tions. Azabache paints his own people almost ex-
clusively, and, although influence of Sabogal is readily
discernible in his style and technique, he is gradually
developing a manner of his own. He is unmarried
and, when in Moche, lives with his parents in the
campijia, where one room of the adobe house has
been arranged as a studio. He received his technical
training in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Lima.
Although I do not attempt to predict his future
course, it is worth remarking that his present suc-
cess is doubly remarkable because of the cultural
climate of Peru. An artist who paints “Indian”
subjects and themes has a difficult time getting a
showing and a hearing in Peru because intellectual
and artistic circles are still dominated in large part
by the spirit of hispanismo which sees everything
that is good as coming from Spain and the “glorious
Spanish tradition” of colonial times, and disparages
criollismo and indigenismo (interest in Peruvian
native and aboriginal subjects). Insofar as there
is no active prejudice against native subjects and
Indians themselves, the attitude is often that they
are best ignored. Therefore, an “Indian” -painter
who paints ‘‘Indian” subject matter has a doubly diff-
cult task, if he is to achieve any sort of recognition.

In addition to Azabache, Moche has three other
Mochero professional painters, namely, Teofilo Ro-
sales, Nicolas Asmat, and Juan Manuel Rodriguez.
None of these men have had Azabache’s training,
nor do they apparently possess his talent. However,
they each sell a few paintings within the community

and the region and do some professional work in the
decoration of churches and the like.

Many persons who do not pretend to be profes-
sional artists seem to have an impulse to paint or
draw. I have no statistical measure of the extent
of this tendency, but a considerable number of houses
possess inside walls decorated, often rather crude
to be sure, with painted scenes and designs. Although
many of these efforts are crude from the point of
view of the higher art criticism, nevertheless they
are not childish scratchings, but show respectable
technical competence in the use of perspective, shad-
ing, foreshortening, and so on.

Among the forasteros mention has already been
made of Senor Manuel L. Bricefio y Vazquez, who
is an accomplished water-colorist, whose works are
even now collectors’ items among those who know
them. Senor Briceno, however, has painted for his
own pleasure and his work has been turned out for
his own amusement. Sefor José Eulogio Garrido,
who is the Government-appointed mayor (alcalde)
of the town, maintains a permanent art collection in
his private house in Moche. For years he has been
closely associated with many national artists who,
from time to time, have presented him with samples
of their works. Sefior Garrido is also a writer in
his own right and has recently been appointed Na-
tional Curator of Folklore of the North. Among his
other posts he is editor in chief of the Trujillo daily,
“La Industria.” Up to the present his considerable
corpus of writings has been published only as articles
in provincial and Lima newspapers, but he is under-
stood to be collecting and preparing for publication
a goodly part of this material in more permanent
form. He is said to have three volumes of material
on Moche itself which, when published, should make
a valuable contribution to our knowledge. I have
not had the opportunity of seeing the latter material.

Two organizations of younger Mocheros of both
sexes have appeared recently, having among their
stated purposes the stimulation of artistic and cul-
tural interests. They are Moche en Marcha and La
Asociacién Mochera Cultural. The membership of
each is exclusively, or almost exclusively, composed
of true Mocheros, most of them under the age of 25.
Moche en Marcha has begun, as previously men-
tioned, the publication of a biweekly newspaper,
“Tnti,” which affords an outlet for a certain amount
of writing in the form of poems and essays, while
both organizations hold regular meetings in which

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 89

the members recite their literary compositions and
listen to musical performances.

FIESTAS

Latin America is a land of fiestas and holidays.
Peru has 20 official holidays throughout the year
in addition to Sundays, and Moche adds at least 7
‘semiofficial local holidays to this list, not to mention
fiestas organized sporadically by mayordomias for
the celebration of certain saints’ days. These are
all fiestas involving the entire community. Family
celebrations must also be taken into account. In a
later section I discuss in more detail the rites
de passage. For example, there are 11 types of
padrinazgo (godfather or godmother relationship)
in Moche. The establishment of any one of these
is the occasion for a fiesta.

It is more illuminating to discuss the details of
the various fiestas in connection with their func-

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

The symbolic patterns common in Moche are
mentioned at appropriate points throughout this re-
port, and in the following section merely a few
miscellaneous items are recorded. A good part of
what is ordinarily considered lore and learning will
be found in the sections on agriculture, fishing, and
medicine, as well as elsewhere.

FORMAL EDUCATION

Instruction is provided by two Government-
supported schools, one for boys and one for girls.
Each gives instruction through the sixth year. Each
school is manned by teachers, including a director,
all of whom are forasteros. The staff of the boys’
school is male, and the staff of the girls’ school is
female. The fact that there are only four teachers
for six grades in each school means that there is
a doubling up in the classes. I have made no thor-
ough investigation of the instruction, but the plan
of the boys’ school, at least, is modern and, on the
whole, the equipment seems to be good. The director
of the boys’ school recently established a school library
with a gift from the manager of one of the haciendas.
In addition to the public schools, there are two
“colegios” in the pueblo. These are merely private
elementary schools, conducted in a private house by
the housewife, often while she spends part of her
time in her household tasks. Tuition in the private

653348°—47—7

tional relationships with specific aspects of the cul-
ture, and to make here the general observation that
the fiesta is the institutionalized form in which appear
almost all the other types of recreation and art men-
tioned above, except the actual production of pictorial
and literary art. Even modern sports have a place
in most of the community fiestas.

All of the officially recognized fiestas have a
serious purpose (or I may say, are parts of funda-
mental orientations of the culture), such as the com-
memoration of a personage or event, religious or
patriotic, as the case may be. This aspect of the
fiesta pattern must not be overlooked or minimized,
but to the individual the performance of a fiesta
brings relief from daily strain and monotony and
a certain exaltation. Thus, the fiesta furnishes both
relaxation and recreation to the individual and the
group.

OF LORE AND LEARNING

schools is 2 soles per month, and some parents
prefer to send their children to these teachers because
they believe the children receive more individual at-
tention than in the public schools. A public rural
school exists in the small settlement, called Sun, in
the midst of the northern campija. It is coeduca-
tional and is manned by a male director (who at
the same time is a student at the University in Tru-
jillo) and two female teachers. This school offers
instruction only up to the fifth year.

On the whole, the people of Moche seem to be
anxious to have their children learn the basic skills
of literacy, and attendance in school is said to be
good. There is, therefore, reason to believe that the
coming generation of Mocheros will be completely
literate. In addition to the elementary instruction
offered in the community, intermediate and high
school instruction is available in both public and
private institutions in the nearby city of Trujillo, as
well as the public university offerings.

PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMS

The use of the proverbial saying and the epigram-
matic turn of phrase is much appreciated in Moche.
The following I heard frequently enough to remember
and to jot down, but I do not suggest that they indi-
cate the extent of the Moche repertoire nor that
many of them are native to Moche. On the con-

90 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

trary, my impression is that the Mocheros are not
adept at the invention of the bon mot, but rather
depend upon stock phrases when they engage in
repartee. Some of the following are so overworked
as to have almost the standing of cliches. A few
examples, however, may be of interest in order to
show the patterns of thought transfer, metaphor,
and phraseology which have some currency in Moche.
Drinking toasts are found on page 48.

Zorro que atrevicsa,
Pronto estards tiesa.
(“Fox which meddles, soon you will be stiff.”"—Play
on words in ticsa, which also may mean “stuck up”.)

La mordidura del perro,
Con la misma lana se sana.

(The Peruvian version of, “I need some of the hair of
the dog that bit me.” More or less literally: “The bite
of the dog is cured with the same wool.” This is said to
be based on a Sierra custom of clapping a tuft of sheep
or llama wool on a wound to stop bleeding).

Tanto tienes, tanto sales;
nada tienes, nada wales.

(“You come out in this world according to what you
have. If you don’t have anything, you’re not worth any-
thing,” or, more literally, “As you have, so you make
out; having nothing, you are worth nothing.”)

El hombre propone, Dios dispone,
llega la mujer y todo lo descompone.
(“Man proposes, God disposes; comes a woman and
upsets it all.”)

Quien con lobos anda
a aullar se cnsena.
(‘He who goes with wolves, is taught to howl.”)

Lo que fué buen vino es buen vinagre.
(“Good wine makes good vinegar,” i. e., a good young
man is a good old man.)

Mads vale morir debiendo que vwir para pagar.
(“It is better to die in debt than to live only to pay.’’)

Lo mismo que di por verte,
diera por no haberte visto.

(“The same that I gave to see you, I would give for
not having seen you.” Used in situations which would
be appropriate for the restrained and icy use of the
American expression, “If I never see you again, it will
be too soon.’’)

Quien con lo ajeno se viste,
en la calle lo desvisten.
(He who masquerades as another will be unmasked
by the public.)
#5 The unpolished English translations attempt to convey the sense

in the North American idiom, but no endeavor is made to convert
the rhythm, rhyme, assonance, or play on words into English.

Gallina no tiene agua para tomar
convida pato a nadar.
(“Chicken doesn’t have water to drink, she invites the
duck to go swimming.”)

clguja sabe lo que cose,
dedal, lo que empittja.
(‘The needle knows what it is sewing and the thimble
what it is pushing.”)

Mads vale llegar a tiempo
que ser convidado,
(‘It is more important that you arrive in time for the
fun than that you are invited.”)

Mds pesa una libra atras
que un quintal al hombro.
(“A pound weighs more when you are pulling it than
do a hundred pounds on your shoulders,” i. e., it’s easier
in the long run to do the job right.)

Todo hombre debe de tener
nueve concubinas, diez con la mujer.
(“Every man should have nine mistresses, ten count-
ing his wife.”)

Nada debe decir
de esta agua, no he de beber.

(Literally, “You should not say anything about this
water, you don’t have to drink it,” usually in the sense
of, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, mind your own
business.”’)

These pithy epitomes of folk wisdom may be com-
pared with a few examples picked up in other locali-
ties known to the Mocheros.

The following were recorded in Huamachuco, in
the Sierra, directly inland from Moche.*®

Oue sabe el burro el freno.
(“The donkey must learn to know the bridle,” a way
of saying that a certain person must learn to know who
is boss.)

El gallinazo no canta en puna,
y si canta, es por fortuna.
(‘The black buzzard’—referring to Negroes—‘does
not crow in the puna’’—high plateau of the Andes—‘‘and
if he does, it is only to make his fortune.”)

Solo lo falta, que lo pongan jadquima y
capachos para rebusnar.

(As with a donkey, all he needs is that they put the
halter and hampers on him to start him braying, i. e.,
some men start complaining as soon as they have work
to do.)

Abril, aguas mil,
Si no, cabe un barril.

(In April there is usually no end of rain—in Huama-
chuco—but if there is not a lot, a barrel will hold it all.)

46 Rafael Larco Hoyle, my genial host on the short trip to Huama-
chuco, introduced me to several residents of that town.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 91

Quite a number of proverbs and epigrams which
might appear to be “indecent” in English translation
are also current in Moche, even in mixed company.

TIME

Modern Moche operates on clock-measured time
and this seems to be no recent innovation. The clock
in the church has a loud bell which strikes the hours,
the quarter, and half hours, and its striking can
usually be heard all over town and in most parts of
the campina. It was shown in the section “Back-
ground of Moche” that the community had a church
bell as far back as the beginning of the 17th century,
which, according to the records of the Cathedral
chapter in Trujillo, had been cast in Moche itself.
A considerable number of persons possess watches
and cheap alarm clocks, as well. As previously
mentioned, a number of cultural activities are oper-
ated on measured time: irrigation, hired labor,
transportation to and from Trujillo, school hours,
etc. Cows must be milked at a certain time, for
example, if the lady of the house is to catch the early
bus to Trujillo. Children must eat breakfast at a
certain time if they are not to be penalized at school.
Men who work in Trujillo and Salaverry must leave
home at a regular hour. And so on.

Another time indicator is the service of the Com-
pania Faucett de Aviacién (Faucett Aviation Co.)
whose airplanes fly up and down the north coast.
They fly fairly low over the Moche District to and
from the landing field in Trujillo. The plane from
Lima and the south crosses the campina at just about
11 o'clock every day, 7 days per week, and the plane
from the north crosses in the opposite direction en
route to Lima about 15 minutes later.

The fact that the Mocheros usually know the time
of day does not mean that they are always punctual in
terms of the North American ideal patterns. In the
community itself a meal, for example, scheduled to
begin at 1 p. m. frequently does not actually get under
way until an hour or two later. Even the masses in
the church are sometimes delayed as much as an hour
after the announced time, because the priest is late in
arriving from Salaverry where he has conducted the
early mass. The parade of a saint may be announced
for 9:30 a. m., but does not start until about 11. In
cases of this kind, however, there is not necessarily an
inconsistency between the representational pattern
(dinner will be at 1 o’clock) and the actional pat-
terns‘? (sitting down to eat at 2:30). It is generally

47 Gillin, 1944,

understood that “1 o'clock” means “about 2:30.”
The maladjustment which a foreigner feels at first
is due to a semantic difficulty arising from the
fact that his experience in the local situation has
not equipped him to understand the meaning of the
verbal symbols in use. Among the Mocheros, then,
there is one type of situation, usually of a social or
recreational nature, in which a verbal statement of a
given hour actually means an hour to 2 hours later
than that stated. There are other types of situations,
however, usually involving obligations between indi-
viduals, appointments of a business nature, school
hours, etc., in which there is a close correspondence
between the verbal pattern in its literal meaning and
the action pattern correlated with it. In other words,
the Mocheros have learned to keep appointments
punctually when they stand to lose by not doing so.
For example, informants who promised to meet me at
a certain time and place were seldom late. Men
working outside the community arrive promptly at
their posts in time to begin work. The responsible
parties are always on hand at the time when water
is supposed to be turned into their irrigation ditches,
etc:

MEASURES

The metric system of weights and measures is in
use and fairly well understood by the Mocheros,
although apparently it is not as firmly bedded in their
thinking as the older Spanish colonial system. For
example, the people prefer to talk of land areas in
terms of fanegadas instead of hectares. The legua
(league) as a measure of distance is frequently used
rather than the kilometer. In weights, it is more com-
mon to use the arroba, the quintal, and the carga than
to speak in terms of kilograms. In liquid measure,
the botella is most commonly used, and is assumed
to be equivalent to a liter, although the large beer bot-
tles under reference actually hold slightly less than a
liter. For small weights, onzas (ounces) and libras
(pounds) appear in conversation almost exclusively.
I have never heard a Mochero spontaneously use the
term centigramo or muligramo. On the other hand,
the kilo (kilogram) is a standard measure of weight.

This preference for the Spanish colonial system is
characteristic of all of coastal Peru. The practical use
of the Inca land measure, the topo, is unknown in
Moche.

HISTORICAL TRADITION

A striking negative aspect of “lore and learning”
is the lack of historical traditions. There is no time-
worn body of tales or legends concerning the past of

2 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

the community or the region.*8 This is apparently
correlated with the lack of community pride and
solidarity. There is, to be sure, a certain vague
feeling that the people are descended from an im-
portant culture of ancient times, but no details have
been elaborated, and the distinction between the
Incas, the Chimus, and the Mochicas, for example,
is not evident in the thinking of the people, even in
disguised form. One family named Azabache
(there are a large number of Azabache families)
speak halfheartedly of the fact that they are
descended from the “‘curacas’ of ancient times.
Other families are willing to admit this in con-
versation, in part at least, because it means nothing
to the community as a whole. The Azabaches are
willing to derive some prestige from their allegedly
noble descent, but they have no impressive details
with which to bolster the hazy tradition. Of course,
they have no explanation of the fact that they now

43 A considerably richer body of traditional material, partly aborig-
inal, seems to exist in Lambayeque. See Barandarian, n. d.

have a Spanish name. (Azabache means “jet,” the
black stone).

The ruins are regarded on the whole by the
Mocheros as something as curious and foreign to
themselves as they are to foreigners and all other
persons. The ancient inhabitants are usually spoken
of as gentiles (heathen) whereas the Mocheros are
distinguished from them as cristianos. As for the
traditional history of colonial times, it is conceivable
that prolonged dredging of the memories of the older
people would bring up something coherent, but in
5 months I was unable to obtain anything of signifi-
cance. The two important historical events most
often spoken of are the Chilean invasion of 1879 and
the floods of 1925.

One cannot escape the conclusion that a com-
munity which has no strong solidarity and pride in
itself as a group at present cannot be expected to
have pride and interest in traditions concerning its
past.

SOCIAL FORMS AND ORGANIZATION

POLITICAL CONTROLS

It was not my business to make a study of the
Peruvian Government agencies in Moche, other than
to consider their relation with the local culture and
social situation. Therefore, no elaborate analysis
will be attempted, and the following remarks have
to do mainly with the functional aspects of the local
government as seen from the point of view of an
anthropologist, not that of a political scientist. The
situation is described as of 1944.

In brief, the political controls in Moche are as
follows. The town is the seat of the Municipalidad
de Moche (Municipality of Moche), which is in-
cluded within the Distrito de Moche (District of
Moche) which also has its seat in the town. The
District of Moche is a subdivision of the Province
of Trujillo, which is one of the 7 Provinces com-
posing the Department of La Libertad, which, in
turn, is one of the 23 Departments composing the
Republic of Peru. The Prefect, whose headquarters
are in Trujillo, is the deputy of the central govern-
ment and supreme political authority for the Depart-
ment of La Libertad. He appoints political officers
for the various municipalities and districts with the
advice of his staff and the approval of the central
government in Lima. The Department is repre-

sented in the National Congress by three elected
senators and several deputies, but there are no
elected representatives of districts or municipalities
as such.

The appointed political officers in Moche are as
follows. The District is presided over by a gober-
nador, who has an assistant and deputy called a
teniente gobernador. They appoint a number of in-
formal assistants, known as tenientes del campo, who
carry out errands pertaining to their own neighbor-
hoods. The municipality is in charge of an alcalde
(mayor), who has a deputy, the vice-alcalde, and
who is advised by a group of appointed consejales
(councilors). The only constituted judicial author-
ity is a justice of the peace (juez de paz). There is
a police post (puesto de la guardia civil) composed
of five men under the orders of a corporal. They
are directly responsible to the departmental co-
mandant of police in Trujillo, but may be called in
by the political officials when needed. With the
exception of the police personnel, none of the political
officials is paid for his services.

The municipal government is supposed to govern
the town and certain surrounding territory and the
District government governs the remaining territory
of the District. Economic support is understood to

’

be derived mainly from income from municipal lands
plus a few fees. The two governments have offices
side by side on the main plaza of Moche. During
my time, the municipal office was seldom open,
except for the occasional meetings of the council.
The District office, on the other hand, maintained a
‘secretary who was paid a salary of 60 soles per
month. Usually the gobernador or the vice-goberna-
dor was also present during the morning.

The central government has shown discretion in its
choice of officials, and the incumbents of the various
offices were personally well liked. The gobernador
was a tailor by profession, a forastero linked by mar-
riage to Mochero families. The teniente gobernador
was a respected true Mochero. The mayor was one
of the most trusted forasteros, and the vice mayor was
a true Mochero.

Public services maintained by the municipality in-
clude the garbage collections (one man with a two-
wheeled cart and horse), the water system (a
windmill and tank, with pipes leading to six public
outlets in various parts of town), and the street
lights (square kerosene lamps hung or perched on
brackets fixed in house walls at street corners). The
District seems to concern itself mostly with the
issuance of required documents and the registry of
vital statistics, etc.

The local irrigation administration has been previ-
ously mentioned. During a part of my stay a com-
mission of sanitary engineers was working in the
District on the problem of malaria control. During
a period of perhaps 2 months the commission en-
trusted with the surveys for the new land register
(catastro) was also present. Finally, the Government
agricultural school maintains a staff of four to six
employees.

In summary it is impossible to speak of a unified or
unifying political organization for Moche as a whole,
which has roots either functionally or historically in
its own culture. Such unity as exists is imposed from
the outside, and follows the pattern of local adminis-
tration prevalent throughout Peru in 1944. There
are various arguments advanced in favor of this sys-
tem, most of which seem to boil down to the basic
fear of the national administration that “revolution-
ary” elements would get out of hand if local self-
government were permitted. And it can rightly be
claimed that surface order and tranquillity, at least,
prevail under the system. On the other hand, there is
nothing explicit in the attitude of the Government

1 |
) MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 93

which would prevent community organization for
nonpolitical purposes.

In Moche individuals are not molested in their daily
private activities (unless they are suspected of belong-
ing to the suppressed Aprista party), but they are
definitely discouraged from attempting to participate
on their own initiative in any way in decisions af-
fecting the community as a whole, although as indi-
viduals they are legally allowed to make complaints
by means of written depositions made out in proper
form. The governmental policy in Moche in 1944
was not that of a rigid dictatorship, but rather a fairly
tolerant and enlightened paternalism.

A considerable amount of grumbling is current,
however, and the complaint is common that ‘“‘Moche
is neglected” and has no effective way of making its
wants and needs known to the higher administrative
centers. The governmental system has no social
mechanism pertaining to the community as a whole
for the settlement of those disputes and complaints
whose importance have been previously discussed, no
mechanism, that is, other than formal legal proceed-
ings. I am not aware that the law specifically pro-
hibits the formation of an informal community
council, or something similar, but the fact is that
Moche has not organized one, and the present set-up
affords neither encouragement nor training in non-
legal means of settling disputes amicably. In Moche,
as elsewhere in Peru, no public meeting may legally
take place without the previous issuance of a police
permit, which is obtainable only after full explana-
tion of the purposes and expected constituency of the
gathering, its place, time, and program. The objec-
tive of this regulation is to prevent the formation of
disorderly mobs or subversive organizations.

FAMILIAL AND PSEUDOFAMILIAL
RELATIONSHIPS

Although Moche as a community lacks solidarity
and organization, each person is supported by three
nets of relationships, as it were, of a familial or
pseudofamilial type: (1) his blood relationships,
(2) his marriage relationships, and (3) his cere-
monial kinship relationships. If Moche were a
primitive tribe we should probably follow the ethno-
logical habit of calling the whole complex the kinship

system.
SEX

A boy begins to have sexual relations when he is
about 12 or 13, but such relations are restricted.

49 Most of my information on this topic came from male informants.

94 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 i)

Seduction of adolescent boys by mature women was
not reported. Most boys seem to have their first
experience with girls of about their own age or
somewhat older. The more common practice seems
to be for a boy to waylay a girl as she passes alone
through the campifa. Sometimes a group of boys
waylays a group of girls. As a general rule, either
type of seduction is preceded by verbal plans or hints
and certainly by prior acquaintance. I have heard
of no cases of violent rape.

By the age of 15 or 16 a boy makes dates with a
girl to meet him at a given place in the campina
when she is supposed to be coming home from
market or is out on errands. Another opportunity is
during drinking bouts, when the parents are too
occupied to pay attention to the young folk.

There is a belief that a boy who has robbed a girl
of her virginity and is apprehended will be brought
before her parents. He has the choice either of
paying 500 soles (approximately $76) or of marrying
her. Some informants said it is the law; others, that
it is only a custom. None, however, was able to
point out an instance in which such compensation
had been paid. To judge by my observations, it
would seem that most parents ignore the matter if
the couple is not caught in the act and unless the
boy is a “good catch” for their daughter. Indeed,
there is little else that they could do, for a young
adolescent boy is able neither to pay 500 soles, which
is a small fortune in Moche, nor to set up a house-
hold for himself and the girl. There is a pose taken
by most adults that premarital intercourse by girls is
reprehensible, but the typical Mochero really takes it
for granted in both sexes. The boy and girl receive
a beating if apprehended in the act, and the parents
may insist on at least a customary “marriage.”
Generally, however, it is more convenient to hush
the matter up.

The modern Peruvian lower-class pattern is fol-
lowed in requiring that a girl be accompanied by
another girl, by a group of boys and girls, or by her
parents or brother when she is in public. Actually,
she is not very strictly guarded, and there are
Opportunities for arranging trysts. The Mocheros
are, however, neither promiscuous nor obsessed with
sex. To the contrary, sex is not an emotion-laden
topic, and it has no great interest to them. Although
many individuals are somewhat promiscuous during
the first year or two of experimentation, a man and
a girl usually form an attachment which lasts for
months or years before either of them is old enough

to think of marrying or settling down. Mistresses
show great fidelity, and men do not circulate promis-
cuously. Furthermore, the chaperonage system
somewhat restricts promiscuity.

With respect to perversions, there seems to be no
bestiality with animals. Several informants had
never heard of such a thing; a couple of others had
heard some jokes about it, but these referred to the
Sierra and the informants were not very interested.
Two men have been identified as male transvestites
(maricones). One, a Mochero, is obsessed with
religion, dresses like a monk part of the time, and
is said to have avoided relations with women. The
other is a forastero. Neither has been attributed
homosexual tendencies. There are some women who
are said to have no interest in men. They are spoken
of in whispers as homosexuals (mariconas), but I
do not know if they actually practice perversions.
On the whole, Moche seems to be remarkably free
of unnatural sex -practices.

There were no professional prostitutes living in
Moche during the period of study. It is said that
some appear during the big fiestas at New Year’s
and San Isidro, but they do most of their business
with forasteros and visitors. Four married women
have been mentioned as willing to add to their earn-
ings furtively, and there may be more. I am under
the impression, however, that prostitution for gain
is very little practiced or patronized by Mocheros.
Comparatively few Mocheros seem to have an in-
terest in or even knowledge of the brothels in the
nearby city.

The modeled vases of the ancient Mochica depict
a large variety of heterosexual positions and perver-
sions, and a good many of these motifs linger on in
Chimu art. Modern Moche seems to have lost most
or all of these. Sexual relations are accomplished in
the so-called normal manner.

In the household, the adult pair try to have a
sleeping room to themselves. Separate rooms, how-
ever, are not possible in many cases. The parents
occasionally go outside the house for their relations
or send the children out. Perhaps the majority of
children, however, have seen intercourse at an early
age, and practically all children know about it in a
vague way by the time they are 8 or 9 years old,
though they fail to understand its details or biological
purpose. There is no puritanical attitude about it, |
and there is no effort to withhold knowledge from
children, though privacy is preferred in the act.
Intercourse during menstruation is taboced, but

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 99

there are no restrictions when a woman is nursing
a child.

Mechanical and chemical means of birth control are
unknown, and pregnancy is not uncommon among un-
married women. Means are known, however, of pro-
ducing abortions. One method explained to me by
a respected curandera is the following (reference to
some other methods will be found in the chapter on
medicine). A plant called zavarriala, which comes
from the Sierra but which can be obtained from herb
sellers in the Trujillo market, is used. After about
a quart of water has been brought to a boil, a handful
of savarriala is put into it and allowed to steep. The
resulting tea is mixed with bees’ honey and all of it is
swallowed by the patient. This is alleged to “make
the period come when it is stopped” and will produce
abortions up to the fifth month, after which any
method is unsafe. Quinine is said by this source to be
too strong. “It breaks up the child inside the mother”
(Sancocha la criatura dentro de la mujer). This
woman says she is consulted quite frequently in these
matters and that many women and girls know the
techniques themselves. Ii abortion is practiced, it
seems to be kept secret from the men, for the latter
profess to know little about its methods or the extent
to which it occurs.

There are various indications of the accretion of
European attitudes on a simpler, perhaps older cul-
tural complex having to do with sex. For example,
the disapproval of masturbation seems to be more
half-hearted than real. People do not talk about it
with the affect so often displayed by Europeans and
North Americans. The basic attitude seems to be
that it is natural if no other release for the sex drive
is present, and informants said it was common among
boys under 6 and over 12, the latter sometimes per-
forming in groups. Children are not corrected for
acts evidencing autoeroticism, but a concession is
made to Europeans mores. “Of course it is bad,”
they say, but children are not lectured on its baleful
effects nor hounded to desist. The official attitude is
negative, but the basic attitude is one of indifference.
The same is true regarding premarital intercourse.
Officially, it is disapproved by married people, and
there are certain forms of behavior that are supposed
to guard against it. But very few parents think that
an affair will ruin their daughter’s life. As a result
of these affairs not a few girls have children, called
ninos de la calle, “children of the street.” They are
not thrown out of the house or disowned by outraged
fathers, nor, in fact, is any serious obstacle put in the

way of their continued normal social development. If
the father of the child is economically suitable to the
girl, her parents will try to force the pair into setting
up a household together ; if not, the girl and her child
continue to live with her parents. Practically all such
girls eventually settle down with some man and form
a family without any great social stigma attached
either to them or to the child. Men do not disdain to
marry or set up a household with an unmarried
mother. The main bar to illicit unions is Church dis-
approval. The guilt felt on this score, however, is
somewhat assuaged by having illegitimate children
properly baptized in the church.

LOVE MAGIC

There are methods in use for attracting a member
of the opposite sex. This procedure is spoken of as
enguayanchar, or simply as brujar. A professional
witch (brujo) may be employed either to attract the
love or desire of a given person to his client, or in
cases of unrequited love and jealousy to cause harm
to befall the faithless or indifferent lover. I am not
completely acquainted with the methods used for at-
traction, because the curanderos and brujos with
whom I established good contact claimed not to prac-
tice it. The baleful love magic uses the same general
techniques used to cause harm to anyone, described in
the section “Native Medicine and Magical Curing.”
It is said, however, that one can enguayanchar a piece
of clothing of the beloved or other intimate article and
thereby arouse his or her desire. A plant called yerba
de la senorita is said to be used in this process.®?
Further reference to love magic and similar matters
will be found in the section on medicine.

The standard aphrodisiac in use in Moche and the
whole north coast is huanarpo (Jatropha macran-
tha).51 I have been shown specimens a few times
in Moche, but believe that it is relatively little used
here. In the general market of Chiclayo I saw
several specimens on sale. I do not know what this
plant looks like in nature, but the specimens kept in
houses or for sale look like a species of dried mush-
room. There are two kinds, male and female
(macho and hembra). The male type has a rather
shriveled stalk with a penislike head. The female
type has a very short stalk and a large soft head with
a fold in the middle, suggestive of a vulva. The
~ 60 See Camino Calderén (1942, p. 202, and passim) for reference

to this matter in the region of Lambayeque. The plot of.this novel
turns on love magic whereby a jealous stepmother induces her hus-

. band’s son to commit incest with his half-sister.

51 Identification given by Valdizin and Maldonado, 1922, vol. 2.

96 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

plant is made into a fine powder and a pinch is
administered in wine or other drink. The male type
is administered to men and the female type to
women. If one wishes to excite a lover, the adminis-
tration is done by stealth. However, it may also be
self-administered to increase one’s sexual power and
desire. I believe that, in Moche, the latter use is
even less common than the former. No chemical
analysis of this material is known to me which would
show whether it possesses any actual physiological
effect, or whether the alleged results claimed for its
use are merely psychological. However, overdosage
is said to be harmful and even fatal. For this reason
the fuanarpo is also known as “la muerte dulce”
(the sweet death).

Another aphrodisiac mentioned, which I have not
seen, is called achuni-hullu,°* also said to be adminis-
tered in drink in the form of a powder.

ABERRANT INCEST AND BRUJERIA

Although it is regarded as incestuous and tabooed
to have sexual relations with or to marry a person
of the same family name, and certainly one who is a
first cousin, the following aberrant case came to my
attention. An old lady named J. has a sister named
F. who in turn has three daughters by her dead
husband, C. J. These daughters we shall call X.,
Y., and Z. J. hada son named P., now 32 years old,
but still a “soltero,” i. e., not officially married.
Nevertheless, for a time he lived with and had sex
relations with his cousin X. Later he had sex rela-
tions for more than a year with her sister Y. Y. is
now ill and under treatment by a curing witch.
While these intrigues were going on, Z. fell ill of a
mysterious ailment and died. F. accuses her sister
J. of bewitching her daughters, first because two of
them committed incest with their first cousin; second,
because one of those who did so is now sick; and
finally she accuses the sister of having caused the
death of the third daughter by witchcraft. J. insists
that these accusations are baseless, but admits that
the so-called incest took place. It is known as an
open scandal in the community and the general
public believes that someone was bewitched, other-
wise the behavior would not have taken place, but
opinion is divided regarding who did the bewitching
to whom.

52 According to Camino Calderon, 1942, p. 193, achuni is the Ama-
zonian otter or nutria (Nasua socialis) and hullu is a corruption of
Quechua “tullu,” meaning bone. Achuni-hullu is, according to this
source, the penis bone of the Amazonian otter.

COURTSHIP

Young people of opposite sexes become acquainted
in each other’s homes when they and their parents
go visiting, especially during drinking sprees, in
school, in church, during the community religious
and patriotic fiestas, and through chance meetings
and arranged appointments in the campifa and the
village.

When a couple decides to set up housekeeping
together, the boy is supposed to ask the girl’s parents
for permission. The proper way to do so is as in
the following case, which actually occurred during
the period of investigation. The brother of one of
my friends, M., is regarded as a correct young man
in these matters, and his request for his intended’s
hand followed these lines. The whole process 1s
called “intencionamiento.” The brother, or novio,
came to M. and to M.’s uncle, Tio Pedro, and asked
if they would intervene. They arranged to go with
him to the girl’s house at 5 a. m. one morning,
carrying with them a bottle of pisco, si por acaso
(just in case). M. says that his brother had pre-
viously had nothing but words with the girl, and that
he would not sleep with her until they were married,
even after the betrothal had been formally announced
by exchange of rings. This, if true, is atypical of
the majority, but nonetheless is regarded as the ideal
pattern. Tio Pedro knocked at the door of the girl’s
house. After some time, the father came and acted
very surprised to see them there and asked what he
could do for them. First Tio Pedro told what was
on their minds, then M. The novio kept discreetly
silent. The father expressed surprise and said he
had never heard of such a thing, but he invited them
into the outdoor arbor of the house to hear more.
He turned to the novio and asked if it were true that
the latter had a compromiso with the daughter. The
novio replied in the affirmative. The father asked
how long this had been going on and accused the
novio of being a sly and underhanded character to
be able to reach this stage without the father’s know-
ing anything about it. He, of course, had been
aware of the whole business for some months, as the
couple had made no secret of their affection and the
young man had been at the house and at other
houses for chicha and causa with the girl various
times in the presence of her father. The father next
called in the girl and in a tone of incredulity asked
her if she had a compromiso de amor with this—this
mere boy. (The novio was 24 years old.) The girl
admitted that it was true and that she wished to

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 97

marry the novio. Tio Pedro and M. chimed in
assuring the father that it was true and that every-
thing had been done on a strictly honorable basis.
The father, enjoying his position, proceeded to
harangue them for their secretive methods, their lack
of frankness and confidence with him, etc. After he
had held forth in this wise for some time, it was
next up to Tio Pedro to inquire whether he perceived
any objections to the proposed union. The father
called in the mother, and they retired into the house
for private conversation, leaving the young couple
and their agents in an embarrassed silence. Finally
the father came back, looking doubtful and annoyed.
The girl and her mother withdrew. There followed
a long discussion in which Tio Pedro and M. pre-
sented the fine points of the novio, his prospects, and
the advantages to be expected from so suitable a
union, while the father interposed objections and
doubts. Finally, there was an agreement on the
general proposition, involving also the practical
arrangements concerning presents to be made from
both families to the couple. The novio was pinned
down to commitments regarding his circumstances,
plans, and projects. After everything had been
agreed, Tio Pedro and M. brought forth their pisco
and everyone drank a copita to seal the agreement.
The atmosphere immediately changed to one of com-
plete good will and affability, the bottle was finished
off, and the meeting broke up about 7:30 a. m.

This is said to be the only decent way to get a
woman, although some couples merely set up house-
keeping without consulting the parents of the bride.
There is no formal dowry pattern, but the girl’s
parents, if properly approached, usually expect to
contribute something to the impedimenta of the house,
and the boy’s parents expect to contribute something
to the stock of tools needed. The question of land
and house site is also worked out. The interventors
for the groom may include his father, another blood
relative, or one of his compadres or padrinos. Rela-
tives are preferred, because only they usually have
authority to speak of economic arrangements involv-
ing the boy’s family.

Properly, such a proposal is followed by a formal
engagement fiesta with padrinos, as described in the
section on ceremonial kinship (p. 111), and ultimately
it is followed by a church marriage ceremony. In
many cases the betrothal and wedding ceremonies are
simply omitted or postponed and the couple proceeds
to set up housekeeping and to live together at once.
Until their own house is ready, they may live with

either the boy’s or the girl’s parents, depending on
arrangements in each case.

MARRIAGE

An informal type of marriage, more common than
the formal, is accomplished by the couple simply start-
ing to live together, as previously mentioned.

“Marriage” and its derivatives (casamicnto, casar,
casado, etc.) have the technical meaning in Moche of
a union formally sanctified by the Church. This
terminology is often difficult for a North American to
grasp at first. He may inquire if Don Fulano is mar-
ried; Fulano will reply that he is not married, that
he is a soltero. Later the North American finds that
Fulano has lived in the same house with Maria for
the past 20 years and that they have eight children.
He begins to wonder whether he heard correctly in
the first place or whether his Spanish is failing him,
If, after Fulano had said that he was not married, the
North American or anyone else had asked, “Do you
have a compaiera?”’ Fulano would have replied
readily in the affirmative and would have shown no
hesitation in supplying further details. This technical
purity in the use of the word “‘marriage” is, of course,
quite common throughout Latin America, and, having
passed through the stage of bewilderment in Ecuador
and Guatemala, I was prepared for something similar
in Moche.

For sociological purposes, compaiieros publicly liv-
ing together on a permanent basis are married, and in
the following section “Family and Household” I call
this type of arrangement “‘customary marriage,” and
discuss the relation of the various types of marriage
to the family structure. Here I shall consider only
briefly the formal marriage with benefit of clergy, as
follows.

First the couple must announce their intentions in
the gobernacion, await the period of the banns, pay
a small fee, and secure a certificate properly signed
and sealed. From the civil or legal point of view, they
are now married. Although some advanced persons
in other parts of Peru are satisfied with this, no one
in Moche is. The advantage of merely a legal mar-
riage is that one can be divorced, but in Moche a mar-
riage without the Church ceremony carries with it no
prestige and is not satisfying to the bride or her
family. The groom is obligated to buy the wedding
garments for both himself and the bride, as well as
another set of new clothes for the following fiestas.
He also pays the priest’s fee, which is 12 to 14 soles
plus whatever the groom is inclined to add. The

98 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

groom chooses a padrino and the bride a madrina,
who act as their sponsors at the church, and who are
often older persons. They usually give presents to
the couple. After the ceremony in the church, there
is a fiesta the first day in the house of the groom’s
parents. The next day there is a fiesta in the house
of the bride’s parents. The third day the fiesta con-
tinues wherever convenient, sometimes in the house
of the padrino. Late at night on the third day the
couple go to their own house to live. There is no
ceremony of crossing the threshold nor any fiesta in
the form of a housewarming. If the house has been
recently built, the housewarming fiesta may take place
later. The heaviest expense of these celebrations falls
on the groom or his family. The feast at their house
should include the slaughter of a bullock. This and
expenses of clothes, feasts, and priest’s fees amount to
at least 350 soles, while 500 soles is said to be closer
to the average. The economic requirements are suf-
ficient to encourage the postponement of many a mar-
riage.

Following is an account of an atypical marriage,
which may serve to illustrate some of the attitudes and
motivations surrounding marriage.

I did not get married in the regular way myself. I had
lived seven or eight years with my compafiera and had five
children, when a sudden epidemic of pneumonia carried two
of them off suddenly. My woman at the time was pregnant.
She felt very sorrowful about the loss of the children, and
one day she fainted in the chacra, the result of which was
that the fetus (fefo) died inside her. She had to be rushed
to the hospital in Trujillo, where the doctors opened her
stomach and womb and extracted the dead baby. It looked
to me as if she were going to die and I wished to visit her
and be with her in the hospital. But the nursing mothers
would not allow me to enter because I was not married to
her. They told me that, if we got married, I could come to
see her. It is said to be improper in the sight of God for
a man to visit the mother of his children, even when she is on
the point of death, if he is not married to her. (This was
said with emotion.) I told them that I would be married
then and there. That was about 10 a.m. I had to go out
and get two witnesses (festigos) and a padrino and madrina.
The mothers got the certificate for me and the banns were
waived. I got my uncle for padrino because I had no time.
The priest married us at the side of my wife’s bed that
afternoon at 2 o'clock, with the regular service with ring
and coins. It did not cost me anything, as it would have in
church. Why didn’t I get married before this? Well, I
was always ashamed of being married in the church, and
having all my friends laugh at me as I marched in all dressed
up. Then there was the question of expense as well. You
have to have two sets of new clothes, one for the ceremony
and the other into which you change after you leave the
church. And the man is supposed to buy the outfits for
himself and the bride both. Then there is the question of the

fiesta, the pisco, the chicha, the bullock to be killed, and so
on. Since I was left an orphan when I was three years old,
I never had any money.

Marriage, of whatever variety, of course, increases
a man’s or woman’s social resources. In time of
trouble or need the “in-laws” will usually do what
they can to aid. An individual always is respectful
toward his or her parents-in-law but real intimacy
of a cooperative type also often develops between the
individual and his in-laws.

No cases of formal annulment or divorce in Moche
are known to me. Effective divorce is accomplished
by one or other partner leaving the common dwelling
and refusing to come back to it. Attempts are usually
made by the respective families and by the ceremonial
relatives, especially the marriage padrinos, to effect
a reconciliation. If this cannot be accomplished, the
estranged spouses usually form another household
with other partners in the course of time.

FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD

The Moche household normally consists only of a
pair of spouses and their unmarried children, who
constitute the family (or immediate family). This
family group is the only universal functioning group
in Moche which is based on blood relationship (actual,
potential, or putative). Although some households
exist, composed of an older couple or a widowed
parent and married children, they are distinctly in the
minority and will be discussed below. The woman,
as previously mentioned, has effective control of the
finances, but the man is always spoken of as “‘chief
of the house” (jefe de la casa). However, there is
no tendency toward patriarchal control by the man,
and his formal position as head of the house seems
to be in the nature of a concession to Spanish customs.
On the contrary, if any tendency of dominance is to
be noted, it is in favor of the woman, since she con-
trols the finances and the operations of the dwelling
itself. Both parents discipline the children, although
infants are handled almost exclusively by women.
Physical punishment by slapping with the palm of the
hand or light switching is used, but not extensively.
My data on the everyday details of Moche family life
are not as complete as desired because I did not live
day in and day out, around the clock, with a Moche
family. However, informants and personal observa-
tion lead to the impression that the typical family life
is tranquil, at least so far as surface manifestations
are concerned. There is generally an absence of loud
scolding of the children, and discipline would seem

;

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 99

to be relatively light. Nursing infants are usually
near the mother constantly and are given the breast
whenever they cry, although between nursing they
are often carried about and amused by older small
children.

Quarrels between man and woman do occur, of
course, and even lead to physical violence between the
partners. However, both spouses seem on the whole
to take a more or less equal part, and violence is most
likely after one or both have been drinking. Wife
beating is not any more common than husband beat-
ing, and I know of several cases of husbands who
have been driven out of their homes by their wives.
Jealousy and the aggressions released by drink, or
both combined, seem to be the most frequent causes of
violent outbreaks. Both partners may leave the house
if fighting takes place. Women tend to go back to
their parents’ house, but men tend to hide out with a
ceremonial relative or to leave the community tem-
porarily, if the matter is serious and especially if the
man is embarrassed (tiene vergiienza). Persistent
quarreling usually leads to break-up of the household.

The details of division of labor and function in the
household have been previously described. Those
families which can do so have at least two sleeping
rooms, one for the children and the other for the
parents, because the children are very inquisitive
about sexual intercourse (los chicos son muy curi-
Osos).

The immediate family as a social structure shows
certain inconsistencies which seem to be the result of
the fact that it is a combination of a folk institution, a
legal institution, and a religious institution. On the
one hand, we may see the Moche family as a primary
group composed of father, mother, and children per-
forming certain functions, such as economic produc-
tion, training of children in crafts, techniques, and

attitudes, proferring relaxation and recreation, pro-
_ viding shelter, maintenance, and employment for its

members, furnishing some religious training, and of-

fering an opportunity and a background for making
_ friends and social contacts. In fact, the family in this
sense fulfills all the functions normally expected of a
family in a folk society and would show no cultural
inconsistencies were it not that the Spanish legal and
social system has imposed certain forms upon it, and
the Church likewise. Let us try to elucidate this
situation as follows.

A family is established de facto simply by a man
and woman living together publicly in the same
_ quarters—setting up housekeeping together, in other

words. A family is established de jure by filling out
certain forms in a Government office (civil mar-
riage). Finally, a family is established de religio
by participating in a sacrament of the Church ad-
ministered by a qualified priest. We may speak of
these, respectively, as the customary, the legal, and
the religious family. A specific family group how-
ever, may be only customary, without the legal and
religious sanctions. Or it may combine the cus-
tomary, legal, and religious institutions. (Legal
marriage without the church ceremony is practically
unknown in Moche.)

We should not overlook the distinction between
family and household. At any given time a house
is usually occupied by a family and this unit forms
the household. Households, however, may be broken
up by separation or death of the spouses. Such an
event does not break up the family in the legal sense.
That is, the members of the former household may
still be members of the family in the sense that they
may have claims against the persons or property of
other members. Thus, although households seem to
be characterized by tranquility and lack of disputes,
families in the legal and kinship sense are less so.
Most of the quarreling over property which occurs
between siblings takes place after their common
household has been broken up or after they have
left it.

As regards the status of the members of a family,
there is no cultural difficulty so long as the customary
aspects alone are considered. Complications arise
when we (and the Mocheros) begin to consider the
legal and religious aspects.

First, to consider the religious aspect, a union
sanctioned by the Church may not for practical
purposes in Moche be dissolved in the eyes of the
Church. The training behind this attitude and the
solemnities of the religious wedding ceremonies are
such as to invest the status of religious marriage with
a heavy charge of emotionalism. Although such
marriages are occasionally dissolved by the partners
simply breaking up the home and going to live with
other partners, the guilt feelings involved and the
community pressures brought to bear are disquieting,
to say the least, to the individuals. Rather than face
the responsibilities which a church wedding lays
upon them, many a couple elects to dispense with it
as well as the preceding legal formalities. The man
must take the initiative in arranging a church wed-
ding, and some men apparently are reluctant because
the lack of this solemn seal upon their family life

100 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

gives them a certain hold over their partners. If the
woman does not behave, the man can break up the
partnership without being damned for breaking his
solemn religious vows. Doubtless some women look
at the matter in the same way, although none of my
female informants have said so.

From the legal point of view, unless a woman is
legally married to a man, she may have difficulty
obtaining a share of the inheritance unless expressly
provided for in a written will or by voluntary
acquiescence of the legal heirs. The same is true
of children born out of legal wedlock who are not
legally recognized by their father. Also, they do not
inherit his name. A man may, on the other hand,
recognize his children, even when not married to
their mother, by a relatively simple procedure in one
of the Government offices.

Let us now consider the statuses of individuals as
they actually may occur in the Moche family.

The couple under consideration may be married
or unmarried at the moment, or they may marry
later. The woman, not uncommonly, may have one
or more previous children by another man who may
or may not have been married to her. Some of the
children of the present union may have been born
before the couple was married, others after. A child
may be in any one of the following statuses. (1) He
may be the product of a clandestine affair of his
mother before she ‘‘settled down” with anyone, and
at present has not been recognized as the child of
any man. In this case he bears his mother’s maiden
family name. (2) He may be the child of a former
unsolemnized union of his mother, but has been
recognized by his mother’s former partner. In this
(3) He may
be the child of a former marriage of his mother, in
which case he carries her former husband’s name.
(4) He may be the product of a former unsanctioned
union of his mother, but has been recognized by her
present partner (adopted) and now carries the
present partner’s family name. (5) He may be the
product of the present union which has not been
sanctioned by Church or State and remains legally
unrecognized by his father, in which case he has his
mother’s maiden family name. (6) He may be
recognized by his father, the present partner of his
mother, although they are not officially married. In
this case he carries the present partner’s name.
(7) He may be the offspring of a fully recognized
marriage of his mother and father who are now in

case he carries the man’s family name.

union, and, of course, he carries his father’s name.

Normally there is no stigma attached to being
illegitimate in the strict sense of the word. The
word is, in fact, little used. The general tendency is
for the young children of the mother by previous
unions to be taken into the household of her new
husband or companion, and arrangements to this
effect are usually made before the partners decide to
live together. Such children form a regular part of
the new household and there does not seem to be any
tendency for the man to grow emotional about their
presence. He may even legally adopt them. As for.
his own “illegitimate” children, a man tends to
recognize them, if at all, after they have reached the
age of adolescence, particularly if they turn out to
his liking. The main practical importance of such
recognition 1s that they may share his name and his
property.

It should not be supposed that the typical Moche
household is notably unstable as a result of these
somewhat conflicting patterns of the family institu-
tion. As previously indicated, a few liaisons are
expected by both sexes before settling down into the
customary family. But changes are not frequent
thereafter. Of a sample consisting of 46 couples now
living together, all over 45 years of age, the average
number of permanent relationships including the
present one, was 1.30 for men and 1.19 for the
women. Forty of the women had been married or
partner of a man only once, 5 twice, and 1 three
times. Twenty-four men had been married or
partner of a woman only once, 10 twice, and 2 three
times. Of the 46 present unions, only 27, or 59
percent, claimed to be legally and religiously married.

LOVE MAGIC IN MARITAL SITUATIONS

Magic, or brujeria, can be and is used in marriage
as in most other situations of life. The case of the
wandering spouse is not unknown, and magical
means may be used both to break up the home and
to recapture the affection of a wayward partner. The
techniques are essentially the same as those used in
courtship magic. Following is a case, translated from
the words of one of my informants but omitting
names, as taken down in Spanish.

It was not many years ago that I first knew a couple to
whom I was united by a certain degree of friendship. They
vere people of a certain grade of education and of regular
economic position... My friend, the man, not content with
the good spouse which he had in his home, elected to take
up with another woman, or sweetheart (querida), of whom
he was also fond and whom he supported. All right. With

the passage of two years or so, the sweetheart, being com-
pletely convinced of the affection of her lover, wished to be
mistress of his heart (duefa) forever, but her ambition
would be realized only if she could eliminate from this life
the true spouse, who was a model woman of the house.
She had to have recourse to crime, by means of /a brujerta
y el mal. All this she had to do without the intervention of
her lover, because he felt a true affection for his legitimate
woman. From this arose the fatal drama of the sweet-
heart. On various occasions, when the adulterous husband
visited her, she insisted that he bring her some bread from
his other house. The innocent husband, whether by lack of
attention or forgetfulness, failed to do this and his sweet-
heart pretended to be angry and would not permit the
caresses which he had previously enjoyed. He could not
understand what motive pursued his sweetheart and said to
himself, “Every day she asks me to bring bread to the house.
To save trouble I shall just take some of her own bread
from her kitchen as I come to visit her the next time.” This
he did, presenting the sweetheart with some partly eaten
bread which he had found in her kitchen when she was other-
wise occupied. Great was her satisfaction to see in her
hands the desired bread and many were the caresses which
she lavished on her lover. Repeatedly she asked him if the
bread was from his house, to which he replied, “St, si, si,
hijtta,’ not having any presentiment of the cruel denouement.
As soon as the bread was in her power, the sweetheart ran
and delivered it into the hands of a brujo (witch), who had
been previously advised to produce certain desired effects in
the innocent victim [the man’s wife]. But the opposite took
place. A short time thereafter the second woman fell ill;
she was completely incapacitated and the médicos could not
diagnose the sickness, until finally the crisis arrived. In her
delirium and the pain which she suffered, she could do
nothing but call to her bed the husband and invoke his pardon
for the wicked act which she had wished to do to his legiti-
mate senora. And at the same time she told him, “If you
wish to save my life, go to the back yard of my house and
in a corner there is a small barrel with a large stone on its
top. Take away the stone carefully and inside the barrel
there is a toad with the bread in its mouth. Take the bread
out of the toad’s mouth and throw it in water.” The man,
bewildered and not accustomed to performing these offices,
did the wrong thing. He took the top off the barrel, and
without intention, dropped the stone on the toad, killing it.
When he arrived at the side of his sweetheart, her condition
was hopeless and he could understand only these words,
“Now you have killed me. You never really loved me.”
She died almost immediately, only shortly after the death
of her nefarious friend the toad.

My informant says that his friend, the man involved,
told him the whole story because he himself was not
involved in any magical plot against his wife. The
man is now said to be reconciled with his wife, and
both regard the experience as a good lesson. It
would seem, however, that the wandering husband’s
preoccupation with the matter is not his sexual in-
fidelity to his wife, but the possibility that he might
have been implicated unwittingly in a magical at-

} MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 101

tack upon her. He felt no profound guilt over his
“betrayal” of her in the sexual relationship, but he
would have been seriously disturbed had he been
involved in a magical assault upon her health or life.

LARGER FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

By means of genealogies, I “placed” 206 adult
Mocheros with respect to their blood relationships.
I was obsessed at the time with the notion that there
must be some structurally recognizable type of ex-
tended family or kinship grouping. Now, however,
I am convinced that such is not the case.

Although an individual’s blood relatives beyond
the immediate family are recognized as such, they
are not recognized, either by the individuals involved
or by others, as a group with internal functional or-
ganization or with recognized status relations vis-a-
vis other groups. Extended families or kinship
groups are not among the constituent units of Moche
society. So far as its structural features are con-
cerned, the Moche family and kin are very much
hike those of North America, except that they and
the individuals involved are less mobile, both physi-
cally and socially. As a result of the latter circum-
stance, the average Mochero has more face to face
contacts with a large number of his relatives than
is perhaps the case with the average North Amer-
ican.

There are a few exceptions in which a group of
siblings and other kinsmen maintains a certain soli-
darity and unity. In all cases the unity seems to
be imposed by the personal influence of a “matriarch,”
an old woman, usually the mother of the siblings.
In one of these cases, the brothers consulted with
and took orders from their mother, a strong-willed
widow in her seventies with a sense of family pride.
Each of the brothers, however, maintained his own
household for his family of procreation. It is also
worth noting that this old lady, who was sometimes
spoken of as the “curaca”’ (chieftainess) of the
campina, exerted a somewhat similar influence over
the actions of other persons not her relatives who
were in the habit of approaching her for advice and
counsel and who often obeyed her suggestions even
when the latter were not solicited. Another “matri-
arch” of this type is the old lady, previously men-
tioned, who inherited the proceeds of an insurance
policy with which she acquired considerable property.
Several of her children and grandchildren live with
her in her house and she effectively controls this

102 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

group. Formerly, one of her sisters, likewise an
elderly widow, also lived with her. Another elderly
widowed sister, however, is not on speaking terms
with her, and a public feud is known to exist between
them.

Old people, particularly parents, are always treated
with respect and gentleness, which together with the
prominent position of the woman in the household,
to some extent accounts for the influence of old
women, such as those mentioned above. However,
the cases in which they have succeeded in holding a
group together under their orders or influence are
the result of personality factors rather than social
status.

FAMILY NAMES

Detailed discussion of the facts emerging from a
study of the genealogical material must be postponed
to another publication, but we may note that the
family name identifies individuals in a limited way,
i. e., only with the immediate family and closer rela-
tives, not with an extended group. For example,
there are many immediate families named Asmat,
but all the Asmats do not consider themselves a
group. Although the chances are that all individuals
named Asmat are blood relatives (actually or puta-
tively), it is typically impossible for a member of
Asmat family No. I to tell one how he is related to
Asmat family No. X. Usually he will not suggest
spontaneously that he is related to family No. X,
family No. XII, or whatnot. It is only after one
says, “You must be related, you have the same
name,” that he will say, “Yes, I suppose we are.”

There are two reasons for this state of affairs.
(1) Without written records the people have diffi-
culty in remembering the names of relatives beyond
the grandparents’ generation, so that many collateral
lines of relationship, the junctures of which must be
sought several generations back, are lost. (2) The
extended family or group of relatives has no impor-
tance in the social system, so that there is no drive
to keep a reckoning of distant relationships in mind,
even in the absence of records.

What are found, then, are loose informal groups,
each composed of several immediate families, within
the larger aggregation of those bearing the same
family name. These are immediate families de-
scended from a known, identified ancestor. Thus,
we may speak of group A of the Asmats, all of whom
are Asmats descended from a man still living or
recently dead, named Asmat,;. Then there is the

group B of Asmats, all descended from Asmate, and
so on. The same will be found in the cases of all the
other widespread family names. Even these groups
are not socially recognized as discrete entities; we
call them groups merely because they usually define
the limits within which an individual can accurately
describe his blood relationships.

The inheritance of names theoretically follows the
Spanish pattern, i. e., one inherits his father’s and
his mother’s family names, but one passes on to the
next generation only his father’s name. The mother’s
name is commonly used only on documents and |
formal occasions, not in conversation. Thus a man
might be named José Federico Fulano y Sutano ;*%
Fulano is his father’s name, Sutano, his mother’s.
He may marry a girl named Maria Cristina Mengano
(father’s name) y Piedra (mother’s name). After
her marriage, her full name is Maria Cristina Men-
gano y Piedra de Fulano. And after her husband’s
death, her full name is Maria Cristina Mengano y
Piedra viuda de Fulano. Her son might have the
baptismal name of Juan, and would be Juan Fulano
y Mengano; her daughter, Juanita, would be Juanita
Fulano y Mengano. It is thus clear that this system
is patronymic and that family names persist for more
than two generations only through the male line.
The principal surface difference between this system
and the “Anglo-Saxon” North American system, is
that the mother’s maiden family name is added to
the official cognomen of the child, and that the hus-
band’s family name is added to the wife’s maiden
family names.

In Moche, a woman does not add her husband’s
family name to her own unless she is formally
married to him. She may have lived with a man
for 30 years and have 11 children by him, but will
still call herself Maria Cristina Mengano, without
adding her husband’s name of Fulano. This, of
course, adds to the difficulty of genealogical reckon-
ing. There is a simple legal process whereby a
father may “recognize” his children, even though he
is not married to the mother, in which case the
children carry his family name without that of the
mother. If the father does not recognize the children
either by marrying the mother or by the other type
of recognition, they carry their mother’s family name
only.

Perhaps because relatively so many mothers are
RWS Gupeeineatens will know, Fulano, Sutano, Mengano are words
used in Spanish in the same sense as ‘‘Doe, Roe, and Poe,” ‘‘Smith,

Jones, and Brown,” or ‘Tom, Dick, and Harry.’’ No one in Moche,
or anywhere else, actually has such names.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN , 108

legally unmarried to the fathers of their children, it
is customary for most women to be known by their
maiden family names, although the courtesy title,
“Sejiora,” is used in polite address, whether they are
married or not.

The family name, in addition to identifying family
lines of a limited range, serves as a symbol of incest
taboo. Although bearers of the same family name
do not typically recognize functional membership in
an extended kinship group, unless closely related, it
is regarded as “bad” to marry or set up a household
with a person bearing the same family name. This
is borne out in fact by the showing that among the
206 persons in my genealogical material not one has
married or set up housekeeping with another of the
same family name.

The family names of persons rated as true Mo-
cheros are the following:

Angahuaman. Ipanaque.
Asahuache. Jacobo.
Asma. La Rosa.
Asmad. Melgar.
Asmat. Mendoza.
Azabache. Navarro.
Bracamonte. Nique.
Bustemonte. Nique.
Cafo. Pumayaga.
Calasan. Ramirez.
Calderon, Ramos.
Cedefio. Rodriguez.
Celestino. Rojas.
Colisan. Rosales.
Cornelio. Sachin.
Delgado. Sanchez.
Fernandez. Sicche.
Fuentes. Suysuy.
Garcia. Valverde.
Gutierrez. Variado.
Huaman. Vega.
Huamanchumo. Vergara.

Of these 44 family names borne by Mocheros, it
will be seen that 30 are unquestionably Spanish. The
remaining 14 may be Indian: Angahuaman, Asa-
huache, Cafo, Calasan, Colisan, Huaman, Huaman-
chumo, Ipanaque, Nique, Nique, Pumayaga, Sicche,
Suysuy. Of these Angahuaman, Asahuache, Hua-
man, Huamanchumo, Ipanaque, and Pumayaga seem
to be definitely Quechua. I am uncertain as to Cafo,
Calasan, and Colisan.

Among the list of Mochero family names only five
stand a chance of being Mochica in origin, namely,
Nique, Nique (these must originally have been the
same name), Sachtin, Sicche, and Suysuy, although
all of these may be Quechua or derived therefrom as

well. (In a personal letter to the author, dated
October 30, 1944, Dr. J. M. B. Farfan suggests that
Sicche may be Aymara (seqcli, “ragged’’). )

SUMMARY REMARKS ON KINSHIP

The usual Spanish terms are used for kinship.
These differ from the apposite English terms only in
the fact that sex distinction of relative is recognized
for grandchildren and cousins. First cousins are
always called “‘primos hermanos” or “primas her-
manas.” The terms for “son” and “daughter” (hijo,
hija) are commonly extended in address to nonrela-
tives who are on intimate terms with the speaker.
The terms for “uncle,” “aunt,” and “grandfather”
(tio, tia, abuelo), on the other hand, are not usually
extended to nonrelatives, as they are in some Latin
American communities, nor are other terms thus gen-
eralized. The use of the affectionate diminutive is
common both in address and when speaking in the
third person, if the individual thus referred to is ac-
tually in close and frequent social contact with the
speaker. Thus people frequently speak of “papacito,”
“mamacita,”’ “abuelito,”’ etc. “Padre” is never used
as a kinship term; the male parent is always “papa”
or a diminutive of it, while “padre” is used only in
referring toa priest. “Padres,” on the other hand, is
generally used to mean “parents.” “Madre” is
usually used as a relationship term only in the third
person, and then but rarely, in solemn or formal dis-
course. The usual term for “mother” is “mama”, or
a diminutive of it.

Among 20 adults from whom I was able to get
complete kinship records, the average man or woman
could without difficulty call the names of about 45
blood relatives and about 18 affinal relatives. Others
were recalled only after hesitation, a period of cogita-
tion, or consultation with some other relative. Time
was not sufficient to study these cases in great enough
detail to determine the degree of interaction between
each individual and his “relatives,” but the fact that
one can call by name without difficulty a certain num-
ber of relatives may be taken as a rough indication
that his social relationships with the individuals
named are fairly frequent and meaningful to him. To
be on the conservative side, we may reduce these
figures to 35 and 14, respectively. To this number
may be added a very conservative figure for the aver-
age number of fully functioning ceremonial kinship
relationships, which can hardly be less than 20.
These figures would eliminate occasional duplications.

On this basis, it is probably safe to say that the

104 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

average adult individual is supported by and helps
to support a “net” of at least 69 relationships con-
necting him by socially significant ties to as many
different individuals in the society. He may expect
help from and must be ready to give help to any one of
these individuals. The relationships are distributed
as follows: 35 blood relationships, 14 affinal relation-
ships, and 20 ceremonial relationships. Of the 3
types, the ceremonial relationships are the most per-
manent and least likely to be broken in times of stress.

It is this network of kinship relationships, rather
than a structure of organized groups, which forms a
basis for the security of the individual in Moche. The
affinal strands may be broken by separation or effec-
tive divorce, and the blood lines show a tendency to
burst under stress of inheritance disputes, but the
strong and abiding fabric is composed of the cere-
monial kinship bonds. Two apparent reasons for this
are that ceremonial bonds are not normally subject to
the strains of cooling “love,” sexual jealousy, and
other emotional factors, on the one hand, nor to the
strains involved in property division and inheritance,
on the other hand.

CEREMONIAL KINSHIP OR
COM PADRAZGO

The system of relationships called the compa-
drazgo or padrinasgo (co-godparenthood and god-
parenthood) is perhaps the most important body of
interpersonal relationships in Moche. It is also the
most foreign to North American customs and ways
of thinking, for even that minority of North Amer-
icans who possess or are “godparents” find them-
selves enmeshed in no such web of relationships as
do the Mocheros. It is strange that this type of
linkage between persons and families has not received
more extensive treatment in the sociological and
ethnological literature. Its presence constitutes one
of the outstanding differences between the basic
social organizations of “Anglo-Saxon” North Amer-
ica and those of Latin America.®4

The essence of the system in Moche is an “arti-
ficial” bond, resembling a kinship relationship, which
is established between persons by means of a cere-
mony. The ceremony usually involves a sponsorship
of a person or material object by one or more of
the persons involved, and the ceremony itself may
Sal The-ouly analyses of a system of this sort of which I am aware
are in Spicer (1940, pp. 91-116) and Beals (1946, pp. 102-104). See
also Redfield, 1931, passim; 1941, pp. 122-125, 192; Parsons, 1936,

passim; see also Rojas Gonzales, 1943, for aboriginal antecedents in
Mexico,

be relatively informal. However, in Moche it seems
to be placing the wrong emphasis to label the whole
system, in Spicer’s terms, ‘ceremonial sponsorship.”
In many cases the sponsorship is secondary in im-
portance and is merely the mechanism whereby the
social relationships are set up. The emphasis in
Moche is upon the relations between sponsors ( padri-
nos, madrinas) of an individual or thing, and between
them and other persons (the parents of the godchild
or the owners of the thing sponsored )—in other
words, relations between adults rather than between
adults and children or things. ‘Sponsors and other
unsponsored persons so linked together are compa-
dres and comadres to each other, and the re-
lationship involved is compadrazgo, whereas the
relationship between a sponsor and a child is that
of padrinasgo. However, human beings may also be
sponsors to inanimate objects, such as houses, hotijas
of chicha, and altars, in which case no social bond
exists between the “godparent” and the object, but
only the bond between the “godparent” and the
owner or proprietor of the object, who are mutually
known as compadres or comadres. Not only in this
formal aspect, but also in everyday behavior, the
emphasis is placed upon the relationship between
adults who are linked by compadrazgo. Finally,
there is one type of compadrazgo which involves no
sponsorship whatever. There are no persons in
Moche who do not have compadres, and some per-
sons stand in this relationship to scores of other
persons. It is the nature of the system that, for
every godchild an individual may have, he will have
several compadres and comadres.

The whole idea of this type of relationship has
been carried to extremes in Moche. There are more
types of padrinazgo in this community than in any
other concerning which I have seen reports. This
fact may be linked with the absence of spontaneous
community organization and solidarity. The cere-
monial kinship system provides security for individu-
als which is not provided otherwise. It would seem
that the ceremonial kinship ties are even stronger
in some respects than the relationship ties of blood
and marriage. Although various cases of quarrels
over property between blood and affinal relatives are
known to me, I have been unable to find a single
case of such feuds involving compadres, comadres,
padrinos or madrinas and ahijados or ahijadas. One
may speak sharply and with relative impunity to
one’s blood relatives or in-laws, but it is a cause for

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN L105

widespread comment if any cross word passes be-
tween persons linked by ceremonial kinship.

The following types of ceremonial kinship are
recognized in Moche at present. In order to simplify
the terminology, I shall speak in terms of the types
of godparents and it will be understood that, except
as noted, females as well as males may be involved.

A. Spiritual padrinos. (They sponsor persons.)

1. Godmother of birth (madrina de alumbramiento).
The midwife who delivers a child stands there-
after in relation of comadre to the parents of the
child.

2. Godparents of baptism or christening (padrinos de
pila or de bautismo). The child has one such god-
parent of each sex.

3. Nail-cutting godmother (de quitar uiias), when the
child’s nails are first cut, usually a woman only
(madrina) serves as sponsor.

4. Water of succor godparents (del agua de socorro)
when an unbaptized child is in danger of death
and is baptized with holy water by someone who
is not in holy orders.

Haircutting godparents (del corte de pelo), when
the male child has his first haircut.

6. Ear-piercing godmother (de la apertura de orejas,
or de abrir oidos) when the girl child has her ears
pierced for earrings; followed at age 10 to 12 by
ceremonial presentation of earrings.

Confirmation godparents (de confirmacton).

8. Scapular godmother (de escapulartos), when scap-
ulars are hung on the child; usually a woman only
(madrina) serves as sponsor.

9. Engagement godparents (del cambio de arcos),
when a couple exchange rings as a sign of
betrothal.

10. Marriage godparents (de matrimonio), when a

couple is married.

unr

B. Friendship padrinos. (They sponsor things.)

11. Altar-lowering padrinos (de bajar altares). They
sponsor the ceremony of taking down the altars
and crosses erected by individuals, families, or
groups for certain religious feasts. The most
important of these is:

a. Padrino of the lowering of the Altar of the
Nativity (Altar del Nacimiento del Hijo de
Dios) on January 6.

12. House-warming padrinos (de la casa), when a new
house is opened for the first time.

13. Chicha padrinos (de la botija de chicha), when a
new container of maize drink is ceremonially
broached.

14. Carnival compadres (compadres de la cinta). No
sponsorship is involved here. During carneval,
several days of festivities preceding Lent, it is
customary that men and women be tied together
with strips of paper or thread in a mood of fun
while dancing. Either the man or the woman
may make the advances, and if the other accepts,

653348°—47—8

the two become compadres de la cinta. The rela-
tionship is extended to their respective spouses.

The ceremonies and relationships involved vary in
importance. In the above list they have been classi-
fied into two categories, “spiritual” and ‘‘friendship,”
which are the terms used by the Mocheros in speak-
ing of them. The “spiritual” padrinos sponsor
persons, and the “friendship” padrinos (de amistad)
sponsor things. (Actually the padrino helps out or
assists the owner or proprietor of the thing.) All
those ceremonies in the first category celebrate
recognized “‘life crises” or transition states in the life
history of the individual who is being sponsored,
whereas those in the second category celebrate an
event of importance only to the owner or proprietor
of the material object involved (although the
material object may have certain religious or animis-
tic aspects).

Another classification might be made. It will be
noted that certain types of padrinos are established
in connection with crisis rites of the Roman Catholic
Church, namely, padrinos of baptism, water of succor
(which is an approved emergency substitute for
baptism), confirmation, and marriage. In the estab-
lishment of this type of padrinazgo and compadrazgo,
the ceremonial kinsmen participate in Roman rites.
Certain other types of ceremonial kinship, on the
other hand, are also set up in connection with indi-
vidual life crises, but bear marks of being derived
from an aboriginal or “pagan” context. They are
the relationships involved in haircutting, ear piercing,
nail cutting, and scapular hanging (although the
scapulars now in use are church medals or at least
are blessed). Possibly the engagement ceremony
should be included in this category as well, although
it may possibly be derived from European or North
American cultural sources.

In the “friendship” type of sponsorship, the
padrino is said to sponsor a thing, but he is actually
sponsoring or aiding the thing’s owner or proprietor.
The word or relationship of ahijado (godchild) does
not appear in this type of ceremonial kinship, and the
only relationship between human beings involved is
between compadres and comadres. In this category,
the lowering of altars is the most serious type of
ceremony and involves Catholic religious beliefs,
although it is not enjoined by the church. Whatever
may have been the spiritual or animistic background
of the house warming, chicha, and carnival cere-
monies in the past, at present they are merely

106

mechanisms for creating social relationships between
individuals.

The most important of all the types of ceremonial
kinship is that based on baptism. The child is bap-
tized by the priest according to the usual ritual of
the Church, and actual baptism takes place at the
font to the right and just inside the main entrance to
the church. Children are baptized at almost any age
under 6, depending upon when their parents feel
financially capable of organizing the fiesta and the
ceremony, and there is no feeling of compulsion, as
in some North American Catholic families or com-
munities, that the child must be baptized within 8
days after birth. Following the church ceremony a
large meal accompanied by copious drinking—in

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

j

short, the typical Moche drinking-and-eating house-
hold fiesta—takes place with all friends of the family
invited. (In these affairs, noninvitees are not en-
couraged “just to drop in.”)

The statuses involved in a system of baptism
relationships are illustrated in the diagram in figure
7. They may be described as follows: (1) The
child being baptized, who is the ahijado of the god-
parents; (2) the godfather; (3) the godmother;
(4) the nurse (ama de pila) who carries the child
in her arms from the house to the church and
return (pl. 25, middle (right)); (5) the child’s
father; (6) the child’s mother; (7) the godfather’s
wife; (8) the godmother’s husband; (9) the
nurse’s father; and (10) the nurse’s mother. The

aS

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m

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eo S\ese relationship also
3 eo § 2 generalizes belween
ES 2 ; = these persons and
3 \ other adulis

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HOV a
cornpadre jcompanero de pila
We \\ |

is 2 o comadre —— Vas Ss compadre ———> S
Peete / —— compadre —> © _<—— cemadre 7

odmother's child's child's child's A child's Godiather's
husband ieee father mother Ce wife

A Qs A rn yo”

| 20, Po

Oy ilte we
compadres

Vv Vv

comaures

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child baptized
| 1

comadre —____;,

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Se ad
eS a
sE ss
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2 Oo <3)

nurse
Ficure 7.—System of relationships involved in baptism compadrazgo.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN

nurse is usually an unmarried woman or girl. Ex-
cept for herself and the child, all the other statuses in
the system are occupied by adults. The relationships
of all to one another are signalized by the use of
terminology. Thus to the child, the nurse is ama
de pila, and to the nurse the child is nino de pila.
The godfather is padrino to the child and the god-
mother is madrina. To both godparents the child is
ahijado (ahijada, if female). To the godfather, the
godmother is comadre companera de pila, and to the
godmother, the godfather is compadre companero de
pila. In everyday address these terms are sometimes
shortened to compadre and comadre, but the fact is
made plain that this is a special type of compadrazgo.
A joking relationship exists between these two
statuses. The jokes turn on the fact that the two
persons can “almost” be considered husband and
wife. ‘“Compaiero” and “‘companera” mean not
only “companion,” but in local usage mean “lover”
and “mistress” respectively.

In addition to this compadre and this comadre, the
system contains a number of other relationships
recognized by the ordinary, unadorned terms, co-
madre and compadre. Thus the godfather and the
father are compadres to each other; the godmother
and the mother are comadres to each other ; the god-
father is compadre to the mother, and she is co-
madre to him; the godmother is comadre to the
father and he is compadre to her. The same terms,
sex differences considered, then extend to include
the godmother’s husband, the godfather’s wife, and
the parents of the nurse. The nurse herself is co-
madre to the parents of the child, but her comadre
relationship does not extend to other statuses in the
system. It will be noted that the child is ahijado
only to the actual godparents, not to their spouses or
to other stauses of the system. The godfather’s wife,
when speaking of the child, will usually say, “He is
my husband’s (or my companion’s) godchild (ahi-
jado),” but will not attempt to claim the status for
herself.

Finally, the compadrazgo terms generalize to blood
relatives of the parents and of the godparents. Thus,
brothers and sisters of the parents always stand in
this relationship to the godparents and also to the
latters’ respective brothers and sisters. The relation-
ship even extends to cousins of the some generation.
Some informants say that it also extends to the
grandparents of the child, but in testing this I have
never heard a godfather spontaneously call his god-
child’s grandfather, “compadre.”

107

We may sum up this matter in our own terms as
follows: The baptism of a child creates a sociocul-
tural subsystem which we may think of abstractly as
a system of statuses. So far as the patterns and
customs are concerned, they fall into three groups.

I. The mental customs consist of the customary
ways of “thinking’’ about the statuses involved, e.g.,
“what a godparent should be in relation to all the
other statuses in the system.”

Il. The representational aspects of the system con-
sist of a series of ceremonial kinship terms. These
terms are used in reciprocal pairs, with sex of the
occupant of the status recognized in the terminology.
The terms (representational patterns) fall into three
general categories, reflecting three types of relation-
ships between the statuses involved: (1) padrinazgo
terms, referring to the relationship between god-
parents and godchild; (2) nurse-child terms, refer-
ring to the relationship between these two statuses;
and (3) compadrazgo terms. The latter are divided
into several subclasses according to falling degrees of
intimacy, right, and obligation: (a) first-degree
compadre-comadre terms are those in use between
the godparents and the mother and father of the child;
(b) second-degree terms refer to the relationships
between godfather and godmother; (c) in the third
degree are compadre-comadre terms used between
parents and godparents, on the one hand, and other
statuses in the “core” of the system as represented in
figure 7, except the status of child and nurse; (d)
fourth-degree terms are those in use between statuses
in the core of the system and statuses defined with
respect to the core statuses in terms of blood relation-
ship, which latter may be considered the “fringes” of
the system.

III. The actional patterns and customs will now be
discussed briefly. Individuals are invited to serve as
godparents either directly by the father or both
parents of the child, or by an intermediary, usually a
brother or close cousin of the father. There is no
fixed ceremony of invitation, but it is always done
solemnly with a sense of responsibility on both sides,
and if the godparent accepts, the parties drink a
“copita’ of pisco brandy together at the expense of
the parents to seal the arrangement. Godparents may
be blood relatives, but usually the attempt is made to
secure persons who are not relatives of either of the
parents. Not only Mocheros, but in these days,
trusted forasteros are chosen. From the point of view
of the parents, it is desirable to choose godparents
who are financially responsible, if not rich, and also

108 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

persons who have “influence” and prestigeful social
connections. The real function of godparents is to
broaden and, if possible, increase the social and eco-
nomic resources of the child and his parents and by
the same token to lower the anxieties of the parents
on this score. It is for this reason that relatives are
usually passed over, and forasteros, if trusted, are in-
vited. Also, the godparents have certain financial
responsibilities with respect to the ceremonies, and if
they do not perform properly, the family is
“ashamed.” Although padrinasgo is sometimes
abused in certain parts of Peru, this does not seem to
be the case in Moche, and it is not usual to attempt to
levy more than the customary obligations against the
godparents. It is, on the other hand, regarded as an
honor to be chosen, if one feels that he can meet the
obligations which, on the whole, are not heavy.

The padrino and madrina are not husband and wife,
and usually are not relatives. They have the obliga-
tion to provide printed announcement cards which
are given to the guests at the feast following the
baptism and either pinned on their clothes or tied on
with colored ribbons, and afterward stored away as
keepsakes. A typical announcement of this sort, con-
sisting of three parts, reads as follows:

[first card]
Flor Victoria Rodriguez Vargas
Nacio el 10 de Marzo de 1944
Se bautizé el 5 de Noviembre de 1944
PADRINOS
Luz Yupanqui de Tam
Abraham Diaz y Dias

{second card]
FLOR VICTORIA
Nacio: el 10 de Marzo de 1944
Se Bautizo el 5 de Noviembre de 1944

[third card]
PADRES:
Sr. Carlos Rodriguez
Sra. Elena Vargas de
Rodriguez

PADRINOS:
Sra. Luz Yupanque de Tam
Sr. Abraham Diaz

The padrinos are also expected to make a present, of
money, clothing, or a toy, to their godchild at the
feast. After the ceremony itself the padrinos have
the obligation to bury the child if it should die before
its twelfth or fifteenth year (informants are vague
on the year) and to render help to the child upon de-
mand. Usually a good padrino will make an occa-
sional present to his ahijado, especially on the latter’s
birthday, and will always be available for advice and
counsel. The godchild, on the other hand, has the

obligation to pay respect to his godparent at all times,
and for this reason does not trouble the latter with
trivial matters. Also, a good godchild should be will-
ing to offer assistance to his godparent when the latter
needs it. The padrino’s responsibilities and rights
extend only to the godchild, not to other brothers or
sisters. It appears that a number of lawyers, inter-
ested in fomenting litigation over land, have taken ad-
vantage of this fact by installing themselves as
godparents, and are quite ready and willing to contest
wills and claims of other siblings, ostensibly on behalf
of their godchildren (and, of course, for a fee). At
the feast of baptism, the godparents also frequently
contribute a bottle of pisco or some other delicacy to
the parents.

The nurse (ama) carries the child in her arms to
the baptismal font, where she turns it over to the
father. After the church ceremony has terminated,
the father gives the child to the nurse once more and
she carries it back to the house. She also is supposed
to look after it during the subsequent festivities. A
respect relationship continues between the child and
the nurse. This is the only ceremony in which an
ama appears.

The parents themselves are obligated to provide
as elaborate a party in their house as their circum-
stances will permit. Weeks before, they start col-
lecting poultry and make plans to get meat. In
this, as at all other times when help is needed, their
compadres assist and on the day of the feast the
comadres of the family are usually in the kitchen
helping to prepare and to serve the viands. (These
are comadres and compadres previously established,
not those established in the present ceremony.)
Chicha and hard liquor are provided, as well as mu-
sic and a place to dance the marinera. During the
feast numerous toasts are drunk to the health of
the child, its parents, and to the newly established
compadres. Aside from its recreational aspects, the
feast, in short, serves as a public recognition of the
newly established ceremonial kinship relationships.

In after years the compadres and comadres con-
tinue in a special relationship of mutual respect,
friendship, and disposition to aid each other. The
closest relationship exists between the parents and
the godparents, and so far as obligations between
these two pairs are concerned, the heaviest falls on
the parents, for they are under obligation to the god-
parents for the obligations which the latter in turn
have undertaken toward the child. Thus, if a man
is in need of assistance, he will tend first to turn to

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 109

his compadre de pila, meaning the father of his god-
child, before turning to another type of compadre.

The two godparents, who are compadres compa-
fieros with each other, share the mutual responsibil-
ities of the announcements and other matters previ-
ously mentioned as concerned with the feast, and
stand up beside the parents and answer for them
during the church ceremony. After the ceremony
and feast, they continue without formal obligations
to each other, although in a relationship of special
friendliness which, as already mentioned, usually in-
volves a joking pattern with sexual overtones. At
the feast itself, the two godparents are usually sup-
posed to start the dancing, by performing alone the
first dance, and the godfather frequently makes a
show of mock courting behavior toward the god-
mother. This is especially true if the two god-
parents are Mocheros. If one is a Mochero and the
other a forastero, especially if the latter is from out-
side the community, their mutual behavior is usually
more restrained and respectful.

Asa rather pallid imitation of this joking behavior,
the spouses of the two godparents will also some-
times engage in playful courting activity. All such
joking behavior is, of course, supposed to be per-
formed strictly in public and accompanied by the
laughter of the other members of the assemblage.
The two families of godparents now enter into a
relationship of special friendliness, the compadrazgo.
All the other persons who call each other compadre
and/or comadre as a result of this occasion are from
now on united into this type of bond. In general
terms, it means that one may approach his comadre
or compadre with less timidity or shame (vergiiensa)
than he would feel with other persons. One may call
on his compadres for help in social obligations, work
and emergencies, and one has the obligation to re-
spond to such appeals and even to offer aid and
assistance without appeal, as at times of sickness and
death. The work-sharing groups, for example, usu-
ally are composed of compadres. Pallbearers are
frequently compadres of the deceased. However, the
rights and the obligations are graded more or less
according to the degrees which we have indicated
in discussing the terminology of the compadrazgo.
When in need, one goes to a compadre or comadre
of the first degree first, and so on down the line.

Aside from the drinking of toasts and the practice
of newly established compadres and comadres danc-
ing together, there is no formal ceremony involved

No one
lectures the participants on their new obligations or
reads a ritual solemnizing their status.

in the establishment of this relationship.

Godparents
are, of course, registered as such in the baptismal
records by the priest.

Perhaps the foregoing discussion will make clear
the basis of the view that, although the ostensibly
central social feature of the baptism, aside from its
religious features, is the establishment of a bond be-
tween godparents and godchild, actually the most
important goal is the establishment of a group of
compadres. At least, this aspect has more far-reach-
ing social results than the godparent-godchild rela-
tionship. First, the latter relationship in itself has
reduced social importance, because, regardless of the
godparents’ behavior, the child is functionally inca-
pable of effective social interaction until it has passed
its infancy ; after that, the formal social and economic
obligations of the godparents continue only until the
child has reached adolescence and is supposed there-
after to be capable of fending for itself in case of
need. Second, the largest number of relationships
in the system established by a baptism are relation-
ships between compadres. By playing a role in such
a system an individual increases his range of intimate
friends, creates a net of relationships for himself, as
it were. From the individual’s point of view, one
might think of these relationships as something like
the ropes attached to mountain climbers, if such ropes
were spread from climber to climber in a number of
directions, instead of in a continuous line. The in-
dividual may get along all right by his own efforts,
but, if he slips or falls or has difficulty, he may lean
on his connecting ropes and be supported or pulled
out of the abyss. Conversely, if some other member
of the group slips or falls, our individual has to stand
fast and pull on his end of the rope to assist or res-
cue his fellow. In the baptismal system, the individu-
als who have the most “ropes” attached to them are
the parents of the child, not the child himself, and all
the other compadres and comadres are better linked
up by the system than is the child.

Although adults, by entering such a system of
compadrazgo, form a group of compadres, it must be
recognized that this is not an organized group with
status in the society asa whole. The relationships are
phrased in terms of social connections between in-
dividual statuses and the individuals who occupy
them. Although the child might be considered the
symbol of the group, there is no leadership, no group

110 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

activity, no right or obligation pertaining to the group
as a whole, and no internal organization. Further-
more, there is no word in use in Moche referring to
groups of this sort as discrete, functioning entities,
occupying a place in the social organization. In short,
there are no symbolic, representational, or ac-
tional patterns in the Moche culture which would lead
us to see these aggregations as status groups.

With this somewhat lengthy discussion of the sys-
tem set up by baptism, we may pass to a briefer
mention of the other types of ceremonial kinship
establishment. All of them establish compadre re-
lationships and extensions of them, although the
baptismal compadres usually outrank other types in
importance.

If a child falls seriously ill before it has been bap-
tized, the father and mother seek a padrino and a
madrina and ask them to perform the ceremony of the
Aguas de Socorro. This is a simple emergency af-
fair and involves no fiesta. The madrina holds the
child, while the padrino baptizes it with holy water
(Agua Bendita), a bottle of which is always kept in
the house. He simply says, “I baptize you”—giving
the child a name suggested by the parents—“in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.”
The only requirement is that the padrinos themselves
be baptized Christians. The purpose of this ceremony
is to prevent the child’s dying without benefit of the
church’s blessing (conveyed through the blessed
water). If the child recovers, it goes through the
regular baptism ceremony, but remains a godchild of
the godparents of Aguas de Socorro, although the
formal godfather-godchild relationship usually takes
precedence. In any case, the parents and the god-
parents are compadres.

Usually when the baby is about 2 months old, its
nails are cut for the first time. A small fiesta (de
quitar ufias) is organized and there is usually only a
madrina, no padrino, whether the baby is male or
female. The madrina has to buy a new pair of small
nail scissors with which she performs the operation
and which are later given to the child. Other persons
present may make small presents.

Between the ages of 2 and 3 years, boy children are
supposed to have their first ceremonial haircutting.
A padring and a madrina are chosen. They provide
colored ribbons with which the child’s hair is tied into
small tufts. A fiesta is organized at the expense of
the parents, and in the midst of the assembled guests
the child, dressed in its best clothes, is set on a stool
or chair in front of which is another stool holding a

plate or mate. Although there are some variations,
the padrino is suppossed to deposit a propina (gift or
tip) of money in the container, after which he takes
the scissors provided by the parents and clips off the
first tuft of hair below the knot of ribbon, so that it
remains a loose lock of hair tied with ribbon. He is
followed by the madrina, who deposits a similar or
smaller gift, and also cuts a tuft of hair (pl. 25, middle
(center) ). Then all the guests do likewise, although
they are not expected to deposit such large gifts. The
padrinos are expected to deposit something sizable—
5 to 10 soles—the others 50 centavos or 1 sol. In
theory, this is supposed to be the child’s money to be
used for purchase of childhood clothing, now that it
has passed from helpless infancy. The theory, at
least, is respected, and if the child wishes to play with
the money after the haircutting is over the parents, at
least in front of the guests, do not prevent it from
spilling coins on the floor, bouncing them against the
wall, and the like. By the time everyone has sheared
a lock of hair, the child has a complete, if uneven hair-
cut. The padrinos and guests pin the ribbon-tied
locks to their clothes during the fiesta and are sup-
posed to take them home as souvenirs.

The ear-piercing ceremony for girl children takes
place at the earliest at the age of about 3 months and
sometimes as late as 2 years. Frequently only a
madrina is involved, although some parents ask a
padrino as well. In the midst of the usual fiesta
with guests, the madrina opens the ears with a needle
and puts a loop of red thread through each lobe.
No tips or gifts are involved in this ceremony. About
10 or 12 years later the little girl receives her first
earrings from the same madrina, an event which is
celebrated by another fiesta during which the guests
often present the girl with small presents of clothing
or ornament. This second ceremony, which is called
the fiesta de aretces (celebration of earrings), might
be considered as signalizing the social recognition of
the beginning of the status of adolescence for girls.

Not all children are confirmed in church, but when
they are they have a padrino and madrina who
accompany them to church. The usual type of fiesta
takes place after church, although it often involves a
combination of several families, each of which is
celebrating confirmation of children. The padrinos
have the obligation of providing part of the confirma-
tion costume.

A scapular is usually a small bag of cotton con-
taining a sacred medal or a relic and provided with
a string from which it can be hung from the neck.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 111

The type for which madrinas serve are blessed and
are bought from the Carmelite monastery in Trujillo.
People may be sitting around talking and one of the
women will notice a child of the house playing about.
She will say, “Voy a ser madrina de escapularios,
porque quiero echar escapularios a este chico.” She
then goes to Trujillo, returns with the scapulars, and
in a small fiesta drapes them around the child’s neck.
There are usually two or more and they are supposed
to ward off various types of misfortune.

Betrothals are announced at a fiesta at which the
couple exchange rings, and publicly plight their
troth, usually with the announcement of the date on
which the church ceremony will take place. The
man chooses the padrino and the girl chooses the
madrina who act as sponsors before the guests. The
padrinos are usually older than the betrothed couple.
Even when this ceremony is not followed by the
church ritual, the couple are regarded as having done
the honorable thing by thus publicly announcing
their intentions.

A wedding performed by the priest is a serious
business because it is permanent and because it is
expensive. The groom chooses a padrino and the
bride a madrina, who function respectively somewhat
as do best man and bridesmaid or matron of
honor in North America. They have no obligations
other than to give presents to the couple and in case
of subsequent marital difficulty to try to patch mat-
ters up. The latter function, however, is apparently
often evaded.

May is “the month of the crosses” during which
the crosses set up in the countryside for the past year
are taken down and renewed. Some crosses are
cared for by an individual and others by a small
group or mayordomia, but in either case a padrino
and madrina are required to supervise the lowering
of the cross. The man in charge (due7io) places a
plate or mate before the cross, in which the padrino
deposits his contribution, followed by the madrina
and the other guests. After the lowering of the cross,
a party takes place at the house and at the expense
of the dueno or of him and his group. The funds
collected are supposed to be used for the refurbishing
of the cross.

At Christmas time some houses set up small altars
in the house in front of which is laid out a miniature
tableau of the Nativity, composed of toy animals,
figures, a manger, etc., either made at home or, more
usually, bought in the Trujillo stores. This is called
the Altar del Nacimiento del Hijo de Dios (Altar

of the Nativity). On January 6 these altars are
taken down (bajan los altares) and put away for
the next year. Padrinos and fiestas are required.

The padrinos of the housewarming fiesta are usu-
ally expected to furnish chicha or a piece of furniture
for the house. Other guests likewise bring small
gifts.

Occasionally a family wishes to have a party with-
out having to pay for it. They get a botija full of
chicha and cover the mouth with paper or cloth.
Then the husband goes out to find a padrino or
madrina or both, and to gather in their friends. The
padrino pays a propina of a sol or two for the
privilege of broaching the botija, after which every-
one else present lays some change on the collection
plate and the party proceeds to become inebriated.
Anyone who serves as pfadrino becomes compadre
with the husband and wife of the house, but is usu-
ally referred to expressly as compadre de botija and
with a laugh of pleasant reminiscence.

In the carnival type of compadres, there are no
padrinos.

It should not be supposed that every individual of
proper age in Moche has padrinos, ahijados, and com-
padres of all the types mentioned above. Although
it confers great prestige to be a padrino often, it costs
money and time. Likewise, many families cannot
afford to put all their children through all the crisis
ceremonies. The solution is to drop out some of the
ceremonies (baptism is, however, never omitted) and
to double up on others, i.e., to have 1 set of padrinos
and 1 fiesta for 2 or more children at the same time.
However, everyone has passed through some of these
ceremonies, and through the extension of the ter-
minology and behavior characteristic of the system he
is provided with a sizable group of ceremonial kins-
men. One of my informants isa poor man. He isan
orphan without land or other inheritance, and he
works in Salaverry as a stevedore. Yet he is able to
call the names of 27 living compadres and comadres
without difficulty, and by thinking a while can recall
11 others. He also has 7 padrinos and madrinas.
Among all his comadres and compadres, only 2 are
blood relatives (2 aunts) and none are affinal rela-
tives. Among his padrinos none are blood relatives,
and only 1 madrina (a godmother of baptism) is a
blood relative (an aunt). Among his comadres and
compadres are: The 2 midwives (parteras) who de-
livered his 7 children; 13 compadres-comadres de
bautizo (several of the children were baptized in pairs
to save money, the same padrinos serving both) ; 3

4 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

comadres of ear piercing for his girls ; 5 comadres and
4 compadres de cinta; and the others are extensions of
these relationships. His children have not yet been
confirmed, for lack of funds, but when they are, new
sets of ceremonial relatives will be added to his col-
lection. Among his padrinos, he counts 1 padrino and
1 madrina of baptism; 1 padrino of confirmation (the
madrina is dead) ; 1 madrina of scapulars ; 1 madrina
and 1 fpadrino of marriage; and a madrina of nail
cutting.

Another man, somewhat more comfortably fixed
economically, named 67 comadres and compadres and
15 godchildren. He claims that he has many more.
The ceremonial relationships which function best are,
of course, those which are kept bright with use, that
is, those in which contact between the individuals in-
volved is frequent and meaningful. Many of the half-
forgotten compadres occupy statuses, to be sure, but
the individuals in these cases have not practiced the
customs linking them sufficiently recently to maintain
the occupants of the status fresh in memory.

About 2 weeks before we had to leave Moche my
wife became a madrina de bautismo, and I became a
padrino de corte de pelo. The 2 children involved
were brother and sister in the same family, but there
were 2 other godparents in addition to us. Between
us we were immediately recognized as compadre or
comadre by 47 persons, according to the count we
kept, and the counted number of our recognizable
compadres and comadres would probably have in-
creased considerably had we had more time to fix in
mind and celebrate socially the extensions to other
relatives of the families involved.

NAMESAKES

Two persons who happen to have the same name
call each other tocayo or tocayito, and there is sup-
posed to be a mystical or a “spiritual” bond between
them. It is easier for one to become acquainted with
such a person and, once acquainted, two namesakes
tend to feel closer to each other than to other persons,
unrelated in any way. The namesake bond, however,
is not as strong as either the blood or ceremonial kin-
ship ties.

THE FORASTERO ELEMENT

Among the forasteros settled in the community,
there are 96 family names represented (counting the
Chinese and Japanese). Only 4 of these family
names are found in the list of Mochero family names:

Bracamonte, Rodriguez, Sanchez, and Vergara. This
would seem to indicate that the present forasteros
have had little to do with bestowing the Spanish
names which occur among the Mocheros. Also, the
large number of distinct family names (96 compared
with 44 for the Mocheros) among the forasteros
seems to be an indication in itself that the forastero
families are relatively recently established in the com-
munity; in fact, it indicates either that the great
majority of forasteros are of the first generation in
Moche, or that their descendants do not multiply,
marry, and settle in Moche. We know both facts to
be true from other evidence, but the great majority
of the strangers are comparative newcomers as resi-
dents in the community. Marriage and sex relations
between the forasteros and Mocheros are very rare.

Speaking in general, the forasteros do not form a
part of the community world of the Mocheros. Except
for about five families, they are ignored by the true
Mocheros and, at least subconsciously, resented. One
forastero who owns land in Moche, who has lived
in Moche for the last 7 years, and hires Mocheros as
peons from time to time told me that in all that time
he had never been invited to a Mochero house or had
any approach of a friendly nature made to him.
Mocheros will speak to him civilly, but when he tries
to engage them in conversation, they shut up like
clams. So far as I could discover, this man is guilty
of nothing more than being a forastero landowner in
Moche. His experience is typical of that of the other
forastero landowners.

On the other hand, certain forasteros fulfill useful
functions in the community. The Chinese are all
shopkeepers, the Japanese are barbers and tinsmiths,
several of the Peruvians are engaged in shopkeeping
and saloonkeeping. These strangers have more con-
tact with the Mocheros, and some of them seem to
be liked by the natives, although only a few are on
terms approaching intimacy.

Among the foreigners (non-Peruvians) only the
Chinese are known to be organized. If the five
Japanese have an organization, they keep it quiet.
The Chinese have a “Chinese colony,” of which the
leading shopkeeper, whose place of business is on
the plaza, is president. The Chinese are a familiar
element in this part of the coast. Considetable
numbers of their countrymen were brought into the
country during the past century as bonded laborers
for the haciendas. The usual term of bond was 12
years, during which time it is said that they were
often treated for practical purposes like slaves. It is

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN iS

said that at the present time there is no Chinese
laborer on any of the haciendas of the north coast.
Practically all of the Chinese have gone into shop-
keeping and into other types of business, and
throughout the region most of them have reached at
least the level of a lower middle-class standard of
living, and some are comparatively wealthy. This
seems to be an interesting demonstration of what
persistence, thrift, and hard work will do, even under
conditions which many a local Peruvian claims offer
no opportunities for advancement. For the Chinese
had neither wealth nor influence behind them in their
rise, and their economic situation at the start was
about as hopeless as could be imagined.

One of the Japanese, who has lived in Moche some
years, is married to a Peruvian woman and is said
to have become an ardent Catholic. This man has
ceremonial kinship relationships with several of the
Mocheros.

If all the forasteros together as a group are con-
sidered, with a few exceptions, it must be concluded
that they do not form a functioning element of the
society. They are an element of the population, and
that is all. Many of the families are actually Tru-
jillo suburbanites and their social position and func-
tion are to be found in the circle of Trujillo society
rather than in that of Moche, and in the city they
belong to varying social levels and interest groups,
a fact which robs the Moche forastero population of
functional cohesiveness. The forasteros as a group
have not attempted to define a position for them-
selves within the Moche social scheme. There is no
prestige in being a forastero, which is recognized by
both forasteros and Mocheros. Although certain
forastero individuals may consider themselves ‘‘bet-
ter” than Mocheros, there is no general claim made
out to this effect. Thus one cannot view the fora-
steros as a castelike group with generally recognized
rights and obligations vis-a-vis the “Indian” group
in the community, as is the case in some parts of
Guatemala, for example (Gillin, 1943). Also,
within the group the interests of individuals are too
varied to permit us to consider the total aggregation
as a social class within Moche society. In short, the
forasteros are physically present *° and are tolerated,
but under present conditions, they are a rather un-
defined, although disturbing, element in the society.

55 The black dots on the plan of the pueblo (map 1) show the loca-
tion of forastero dwellings, which will be seen fairly well’ scattered
throughout the town without evidencing a pattern of concentration
of or choice of location of social significance.

The patterns of relationship between the forasteros
and the Mocheros are characterized by avoidance and
their effect is to maintain maximum social distance
on the “horizontal” plane. It is for this reason that
the forasteros are not as effective in the acculturation
of the Mocheros as they might be expected to be
from a superficial consideration of their numbers and
physical proximity.

GEASS

There is no evidence of true social classes in
Moche at the present time. The following bases of
differentiation exist on which class distinctions and
structures might be reared in the future: (1) Dif-
ferences of wealth; (2) differences of residence, e.
g., town, campina, and playa; also the three neighbor-
hoods of the campitia; (3) differences between
forasteros and Mocheros; (4) differences in educa-
tion.

I have already pointed out the bases of my view
that the forasteros do not compose a class or caste in
the community at present. So far as the other
differences are concerned, there are no symbols,
privileges, obligations, or internal cohesiveness which
set off individuals who might otherwise be considered
members of one class from possible members of
another. The anthropologist or sociologist can
classify the population of the community according to
the differences mentioned above, but the society itself
has not reached agreement on the matter.

PRESTIGE

In the present situation, which may be one of
transition, such prestige as is generally recognized
in Moche attaches to individuals rather than to
groups, and is based upon what is considered valu-
able in individuals. Although one Azabache family,
as previously mentioned, vaguely promotes the idea
that they are descendants of the former curacas or
chiefs of the area, no visible or practical benefits to
their social position accrue thereby. One does not
achieve prestige, in general, because he belongs to a
certain family.

A man may achieve prestige and honor among his
fellows by his work in mayordomias and other reli-
gious functions, by the successful management of
his lands (thereby acquiring a respected position as
a good farmer), by having wealth (provided this is
combined with agreeable personal characteristics),
by being a generous entertainer (frequently inviting

oe

114 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

other persons to his house for eating and drinking),
and by personal characteristics which render him
agreeable and respected in the eyes of others. Among
the personal characteristics admired are geniality,
capacity for food and drink, honesty in dealing with
others, and a disposition to mind one’s own business.
Anyone who achieves distinction outside the com-
munity by becoming a successful professional man
also enjoys prestige among his fellows, although he
usually is no longer a functioning member of the
society. Ability to read and write and to acquire
“influence” with the powers that be is gradually
becoming a most important prestige-giving character-
istic, and therewith is developing a powerful “‘ac-
quired drive” (Gillin, 1942) within the culture which
should produce an increasing rate of acculturation.

Women acquire prestige by their beauty and sex
appeal while young. Once settled down, a woman
is valued for her housekeeping and child-raising
qualities (ability to perform woman’s tasks efh-
ciently), by her success in marketing, trading, and
financial operations (providing she does not habitu-
ally cheat the other women), by being a good enter-
tainer and providing good food and drink for house-
hold guests, and by personal qualities of affability,
virtue (i. e., not being a man chaser once she has
formed a household), and capacity for food and
drink. Literacy for women is likewise acquiring an
increasing value, and certain girls who have secured
positions of a clerical nature or as teachers outside
the community are highly regarded.

A man or woman who is a brujo (witch) or a
curandero (curer) has prestige because of power and
knowledge. The attitude toward such individuals is
mainly one of respect, mixed with a certain amount
of fear and awe. Since their profession is illegal,
the brujos are not publicly advertised or overtly
recognized. The prestige which a “bad brujo”
(malero) enjoys is something like that of a malevo-
lent, but powerful underworld character among
North Americans, while that of a “good brujo”’ who
specializes in counteracting black witchcraft 1s some-
thing like that of a North American lawyer who
“fixes’”’ the difficulties of people, although he has to
operate on the quiet and according to legally shady
methods.

Thus it is that prestige in the community itself is
rather loosely defined, and practically all of the
prestige statuses are of the “acquired” type.

SUMMARY OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

From what has gone before it appears that if I
were to portray the social organization of Moche
graphically, I could not use one of those neat “or-
ganization charts” so common in business organiza-
tions and government offices, in which clear lines
from top to bottom and side to side connect rectangles
representing groups, such as departments X, Y, and
Z, all neatly suspended from a higher rectangle rep-
resenting a group called “Board of Directors” or
“Executive Committee,’ and the like. In social or-
ganization in Moche, the only constituent groups are
the immediate families, and these, as we have seen,
often have a somewhat blurred position from the
legal and religious points of view. There are other
groupings to be sure, the association of irrigators,
the two cultural clubs, the body of Government of-
ficials, the amorphous group of forasteros set off from
the group of Mocheros, the neighborhood or regional _
groups in the campifa, the pueblo as set off from the
camtpina and playa, etc. But at the present time the
relations of these groups to each other are indistinct
and “unorganized”, i. e., no clear-cut general pat-
tern of relationships has been worked out. This
situation may well represent a phase of development
and change in the community and in the course of
time patterns of group and social organizations could
be expected to emerge.

As the case now stands, however, a diagram show-
ing the socially significant relationships in Moche
would depict individuals, each with a varying num-
ber of lines radiating from him. Most adult individu-
als could be enclosed in rectangles representing the
limits of their respective household groups, but even
so the majority of the significant relationships bur-
geon from the individuals within the household
groups leading to specific individual relatives, “in-
laws,” ceremonial kinsmen, and so forth.

Certain of these individuals would be placed on a
slightly higher prestige level than others because
they happen to be relatively wealthy farmers, or are
ardent and successful organizers of religious de-
votions and celebrations, or because they are lavish
entertainers, etc. However, their status would not
appear as a function of the family groups to which
they belong. If we may use the metaphor, we might
say that outstanding individuals in Moche zre those
who have the most lines of functioning social relation-
ships radiating from them; as a result of the more
numerous and more tightly drawn lines connecting

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN a (as:

them with other individuals, they are raised higher,
they are “better supported” socially than those of
their fellows with a paucity of social connections.
Thus they are raised above the multitude.

It would not be fair to suggest that in social organ-
ization Moche is necessarily typical of all the small
rural communities of Peru. Its proximity to a city,
its rapid and recently established communications

with the outside world, its peculiar land problems,
and probably certain imperfectly known features of
its cultural development are all factors which com-
bine to form a configuration the details of which may
be unique to Moche. The vegetative type of life
and a certain lack of development of community
enterprise and organization are not unknown, how-
ever, in other parts of Peru.

NATIVE MEDICINE AND MAGICAL CURING

GENERAL ORIENTATION

The complex of customs concerned with the curing
of physical and mental ailments in Moche exhibits
perhaps the greatest range of “primitive”? elements
of any aspect of the culture, and also illustrates most
vividly the mixture of old and new which is so
striking and sometimes so confusing a feature of
Moche in general. Characteristic of the latter is the
following incident.

One afternoon I was enjoying a leisurely causa
(typical Moche lunch) at the house of one of my
friends in the campiia near the Huaca del Sol. One
of the “accepted forasteros” was with me, but other-
wise the gathering was composed exclusively of
Mocheros netos—six men and their female compa-
jieras and seiioras. While the women were disposing
of the remains of the food in the outdoor kitchen, we
men continued sitting around the table, trading anec-
dotes and drinking chicha. One of the men told a
story concerning a discovery he had made in a
chicheria in Ascope, where, during his residence in
that community, he had for some years been in the
habit of eating cuy (guinea pig) and picante once or
twice a week. One day, when the proprietress
stepped out of the establishment to obtain some rice
from a nearby tienda, our friend slipped into the
kitchen and, to his surprise, found that the “guinea
pigs” which the good sevora had been in the course
of preparing were actually large, fat rats. The dis-
covery took away his appetite.

This story stimulated a pseudophilosophical dis-
cussion of the sources and preparation of meats.
Except for the “idea of it,” everyone agreed that
there was no reason why people should not eat dogs,
horses, and a series of other familiar animals not
actually used for meat in Moche. But rats were
different, because they lived in filthy conditions and
fed on garbage and offal. Then someone asked,
“How about pigs? <Aren’t they just as filthy?”

One of the Mocheros replied, “Yes,” and went on to
point out that pork must be thoroughly cooked before
eating, because it often contains “trichinosis.” The
actual word was used. Discussion continued as to
whether or not cooking actually kills the trichina,
with everyone using the words and the concepts in
what struck me as a most educated and modern
manner. At the same time, however, that my
Mochero friends were learnedly bandying about
words and theories of modern medicine, the single
chicha glass was making the rounds in the usual
fashion. None of the men paid any attention to the
slime and the lip marks on the common glass, which,
to me, were only too visible.

This tendency to use both the modern and the old
together, often in the same situation, but in what one
might call a dissociated manner,°® occurs in practi-
cally all aspects of Moche culture, but is especially
evident in curing beliefs and practices.

First of all, the Mocheros are acquainted with
modern medicine and with drug stores, called beticas.
Although there is neither a physician nor a drug
store in Moche itself, those of nearby Trujillo are
available and are used. The general attitude toward
physicians is a mixture of respect and lack of con-
fidence, and this is true of Mocheros, old and young.
Although I have discussed these matters both
directly and indirectly with many Mocheros, includ-
ing some who are attending the university and who
hold professional positions in Trujillo, I have yet
to find one who seems to have wholehearted and
complete confidence in the médicos. Yet most Mo-
cheros agree that in certain conditions if anything
at all can be done, only a médico can do it. For
example, even the curanderas and midwives agree
that a case of complicated childbirth, such as a breech
presentation, must be immediately taken to the hos-
eiea ri iieneeantecample of a violation of the principle of consistency

in culture, or of a cultural inconsistency as between representational
patterns and actional patterns, as discussed in Gillin, 1944.

116 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 i

pital in Trujillo if the lives of mother and child are
not to be lost. It is likewise agreed that all cases of
major surgical intervention must be handled by
médicos and, in fact, there are, so far as I know, no
“native” techniques of major surgery in practice in
Moche. However, the ordinary Mochero will usually
either express skepticism that surgery is necessary
in a given case or attribute the need for it to non-
scientific causes. For example, the great-aunt of one
of my informants died last year of cancer. At least
this was the medical diagnosis, and the family is
willing to admit that she had cancer. However, they
are firmly convinced that it was originally caused by
the fact that she had been britjada (bewitched). At
first she was treated by brujeria (curative witch-
craft). When she got worse, she was turned over to
a médico and, finally, at considerable expense, was
taken to Lima for an operation. The hospital care
and surgery were actually supervised by the then
Minister of Public Health, who took a personal in-
terest in the case, by reason of being a friend of a
friend of the family. The family, in short, was con-
vinced that the best of scientific medical care had
been provided for the old lady. However, after the
operation she was returned to Moche and, as is often
the case with postoperative cancer conditions, con-
tinued to decline after a short period of improvement.
Finally, as a last desperate resort, she was taken to
Salas, the great center of the north coast brujeria,
where, after a short period of treatment by the best
brujos, she died. Her body was brought back to
Moche in a truck for burial, and when the box was
opened after the journey, it is said that she had
turned over during the trip and was found to be
lying on her face—the final insulting result of the
original brujeria which had caused the sickness. Al-
though this case is slightly more spectacular than the
average, it is typical of many with which I was
familiar personally or through reliable accounts. In
the treatment of illness, however serious, the modern
Mochero oscillates between folkloristic methods of
treatment and modern scientific medicine (i. e., that
version of it which exists in this region), with the
balance usually tipped in favor of the folkloristic
The Mochero takes the stand that he will try the
médico, but if satisfactory results are not forth-
coming, he will seek out a brujo or curandero. A
common comment is, “Perhaps the médicos know
some things, but, among us people here, there are a
lot of things which they can’t cure. Take susto, for

i
example. The médicos don’t know anything about |
abe

As we go on with a description of the folkloristic
cures, it will be noticed that “‘modern” elements ap-
pear, even in the most esoteric parts of the brujeria
and curandismo. One “modern” institution appears
to be indispensable to folkloristic medicine in its pres-
ent form, namely, the drug store or botica.°* Without
the botica, neither the curanderos nor the brujos could
carry on their present practices, since certain products
which play a central role in their manipulations are
obtainable only from these institutions.

To sum up, the treatment of sickness among the
present-day Mocheros is handled by three general
classes of specialists: (1) Physicians, i.e., practi-
tioners of modern medicine; (2) brujos (witches),
and (3) curanderos or curers.

In addition, every adult person is acquainted with a
number of first-aid practices and the uses of certain
herbs and other remedies. This may be called the
unspecialized, household medicine. As in rural com-
munities in the United States, certain individuals,
usually older persons, have a wider knowledge of
these household remedies than others, without pre-
tending to be specialists or making a profession of
their knowledge.

Since the present section is not a treatise on modern
medicine, we shall leave the practitioners of this
science among the Mocheros to their own devices,
mentioning them and their arts only as they enter in-

8? Neither in the Sierra nor the coastal cultures of prehistoric times
do we find clear evidence of pharmacists or pharmacies, although, as
Valdizan says, we may see an antique parallel in the persons still
found in most markets dedicated to the sale of medicinal products.
Such specialists seem to date from prehistoric times. True pharma-
cists were introduced by the Spaniards, but not for some time after
the Conquest. ‘In the first years of the conquest there was neither
médico, nor surgeon, nor farmacist.’’ The first mention of pharmacies
occurs in the year 1537 (Libro de Cabildos). ‘The boticas of the
colonial period must have had some similarity to the present
stands of herbalists, since herbs and vegetable simples composed the
principal part of the therapeutic arsenal ot those times, when the
pharmacists had to store up a quantity of leaves, roots, woods, flowers
which served as the base for the preparation of ptsans and potions

The pharmacists kept a large quantity of lards, greases,
viscera of certain animals (the omentum of the hog, for example),
etc. To the Spanish system of weights and measures there was
added another, completely conventional, not only in Colonial Peru,
but in the whole world. We refer to the bits [focos or pocas], hand-
fuls, knife pointsful, papers.’’ Lickers (persons who lick the skin,
lamedores) and seringucros (persons who specialized in giving
enemas) were other colonial medical specialists. Mustard plasters were
much employed. The training of pharmacists during the colonial
period was by apprenticeship and practice, and it was not until the
establishment of the Colegio de San Fernando in Lima in 1808 that
formal courses in pharmacy were offered in Peru. More scientific
training and supervision of pharmacists began in 1856 with the estab-
lishment of the Facultad de Medicina in the University of San Marcos.
(See Valdizan, 1938, article ‘“‘Boticas,”’ vol. 2, pp. 173-186.)

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 117

to the customary or folkloristic beliefs and practices
of the Mocheros.

The practice of brujeria is not, of course, confined
to Moche. The casting of spells and the curing of
them goes back both into Inca culture and into pre-
Conquest Spanish tradition. Undoubtedly the Mochi-
cas practiced and believed in something similar. At
the present time both brujeria and curandismo are
illegal and frowned upon by the authorities, especially
the former, a fact which renders their investigation in
a situation like that of Moche doubly difficult, because
it adds legal sanction to the natural reticence of the
practitioner with a vested interest in his knowledge
and manipulations. Although these “superstitious”
practices are forbidden by law, they are, as previously
stated, extensively practiced, and the legal sanction is
rather more of a potential than an actual threat. Rela-
tively few arrests and trials have taken place in recent
years, and the general practice of the police is to act
only upon specific complaint, when a general hulla-
balloo or scandal breaks. out, or when a person seems
to have died as a result of the ministrations. Never-
theless, the practitioners do not take unnecessary
chances and are suspicious of any investigation until
their confidence has been won, which is a fairly long
process in some cases. I myself succeeded in estab-
lishing good relations with only one brujo and one
curandera, and for many weeks I despaired of being
able to accomplish this. I have personally watched
their various ceremonies and have held long discus-
sions with them on all phases of their work. How-
ever, each practitioner has specialties of his own;
information from the two informants mentioned,
therefore, does not necessarily represent the complete
range of practices in Moche. Although this has to
some extent been supplemented by information and
experiences proffered by laymen of the community,
I am not by any means sure that my informants have
exhausted their knowledge for my benefit. There
may be certain special secrets which only years of
association with the practitioners would bring out.
In this respect, however, the material at hand seems
to check well enough with such published data as
exists, the best two sources for which are Valdizan
and Maldonado (1922), and Camino Calderén’s fic-
tionalized presentation of 1942.

It would be possible to write an entire volume on
native medicine and magical curing in Moche. The
following pages present only the highlights of even
that material which I have at hand. A more extended
exposition awaits a later opportunity. Much of the

unused material at hand should be followed up by
longer period of investigation, not only from the an-
thropological point of view, but also medically and
psychiatrically. The “superstitions” of the common
people of the Peruvian coast are not mere ethnological
curiosities but form a setting for customary action
and thought which is extremely important for the
interpretation and understanding of Peruvian culture
as a whole. It also seems possible that a close study
of the native materia medica and the techniques of its
use might lead to discoveries of therapeutic impor-
tance to somatic as well as to psychological medicine,
which could be generalized to medical practice in
other parts of the world.

BRUJERIA®S

In Moche, as in most parts of Peru, there are
two kinds of brujeria, good and bad, or white and
black, with their corresponding practitioners. Ac-
cording to my information, which for reasons men-
tioned above, may not be complete, there are in the
community at least seven persons frequently men-
tioned as brujos (experts in or practitioners of bru-
jeria). Five of these are regarded as bad brujos,
usually called maleros or hechiceros, and only two
are good brujos, sometimes called brujos curanderos,
or brujos buenos. Three of the brujos are women,
and they are all said to be bad. I had at least a
speaking acquaintance with all of these individuals,
but I was intimately friendly with only two, and only
one of these discussed and demonstrated his brujeria
to me with freedom. This man is a good brujo, who
has studied his craft among the great experts of the
art in Salas. My impression is that there are actu-
ally only three professional brujos living in Moche
itself. All of these are men. Two are good brujos,

58 We shall use the Spanish word brujerfa, henceforward without
italics. It is pronounced, as ‘*Time Magazine’ might say, ‘“‘broo-her-
EE-ah,” rhyming with English “diarrhea.” Although this Spanish
word is usually translated as ‘‘witchcraft’” or “sorcery,” these two
English words have wider and more uncertain connotations for modern
American readers than has “‘brujeria’” for residents of Moche. Pos-
sibly this is because the witchcraft of North American tradition repre-
sented a historical complex (compounded of English and North Euro-
pean elements, involved with Reformation and Puritan formulations)
distinct from those which are the historical sources for Peruvian
coastal beliefs and practices (derived from aboriginal Indian, Spanish,
Arabic antecedents, involved with the Inquisition, etc.). ‘‘Magic”
in its anthropological connotation would be satisfactory except that
the Spanish equivalent, magia, is used in a different sense than is
“brujeria” in Moche. ‘Shamanism’ would likewise be satisfactory
except for the fact that it is generally used to refer to usages un-
touched by so-called higher religions involving belief in God or gods
and to usages entirely “primitive,” i. e., representative of cultures
basically unmodified by literate civilizations. Moche brujeria, on the

contrary, involves certain aspects of the Catholic region and is also
compounded, not only of “‘primitive’’ but also of Western elements.

118 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

one of them my friend mentioned above, and another
who is still in more or less of an apprenticeship
status. The “bad brujo” is an old man. Although
I was friendly with him, either because of his senility
or his slyness I was unable to extract any useful
information from him with respect to his art, but
everyone I know in the community claims that he
is a powerful malero. The other four individuals
frequently mentioned as brujos (including the three
women ), I am not inclined to regard as professionals.
They are either the victims of slander—and the ac-
cusation that one is a brujo is a favorite theme for
whispering campaigns—or else they are believed to
have accomplished certain feats of spell-casting
against their enemies, but without special training
or attempting to make a career of it.

When I say that an individual is to be regarded
as a “professional” brujo in Moche, I do not imply
that he employs all his time in this profession. No-
where in Peru, so far as I know, does an individual
usually devote himself exclusively to one calling, ex-
cept in agriculture. Just as the university professors
of Lima have their law practices, their drug stores,
and their haciendas, so the brujos of Moche have
their chacras and agricultural activities.

The origin of the black and white varieties of bru-
jeria is a historical problem, which perhaps cannot
yet be definitely solved. According to Guaman
Poma, an outstanding authority on many Inca cus-
toms, both “good” and “bad” brujos and curers seem
to have existed among the galaxy of specialists con-
cerned with such matters in the Sierra under the
Inca rule. Guaman Poma, however, makes it sound
as if the bulk of the brujos’ efforts were devoted to
undesirable activities, whereas the counteracting and
curing of such business was mainly in the hands of a
variety of herbalists and surgeons.°® Surgical inter-
vention seems to have been much more highly
developed in the “medicine” of the Sierra than on
the coast.6° On the other hand, Guaman Poma

©® Guaman Poma (1936). I have succeeded in obtaining this original
source (in the facsimile edition) for only a few hours’ study. Con-
sequently I have had to lean heavily, for the present, on Lastres (1941)
for a summary of the medical data and methods of curing set forth
in the original work. See also Dietschy, 1938. The French fac-
simile edition of Guaman Poma is apparently out of print at this
writing, and another facsimile edition, published in Bolivia, I have
been unable to purchase up to the time of going to press.

€ Although the Mochica ceramics in the Museo Arqueolégico “Rafael
Larco Herrera’ at Chiclin show that punitive surgery was extensively
used in the amputation of limbs, nose tips, and sexual organs of
presumed criminals, therapeutic surgery occurs very infrequently, both
in the ceramics and in the bones recovered from Mochica graves.

Trepanation, so common among the Incas, is extremely rare among
the Mochicas.

makes no mention whatever of the diagnostic use of
the guinea pig rubbed over the body of the patient.

The curing brujo with whom I worked was a
native of Viru, although he made his home in Moche
many years ago and has raised a family of Mocher-
itos. He has more white blood than many Mocheros,
however. He himself is a man of serious mien,
about 60 years of age, with large, “piercing,” blood-
shot eyes. He is somewhat reserved in manner, but
after a basis of confidence has been established, talks
in a frank way. His conversation is sprinkled with
quiet jokes and he speaks freely. With me, at least,
he made no great show of omniscience, eccentricity,
or of supernatural powers. He admitted frankly
that there are some things he does not know and
some conditions which he cannot cure, but he showed
a quiet confidence in those powers and that knowl-
edge which he believes he possesses. He himself got
into brujeria when he went to Salas in his early
youth to be cured of a “case of worms in the leg.”
One of the great masters of Salas cured him, but
since he had no money to pay the fee, required him
to stay 6 months and work out the payment of the
treatment as an alzador. In the course of time he
became interested in brujeria as a profession. The
master “tested” him for another year, during which
he continued to serve as assistant, living in a room
of the master’s house with bare subsistence. He says
that only those candidates are accepted for final in-
struction who the master is convinced have the “true
spirit.” One must have an innate ability to learn
the techniques, and to see visions, but above all, the
candidate must be absolutely sincere in believing
in the power of the herbs. He claims that his own
master could detect the slightest faltering in interest
or belief, and that he was thrown out of the master’s
graces several times before his “soul was pure.” He
says that the emphasis is on spiritual dedication and
honesty. Chicanery of all kinds is definitely ruled
out.

Although the most which the average Peruvian
medical man would admit regarding this is that there
may be honor among thieves, I am inclined to believe
that brujeria, at least the “good” type, does involve
a strong spiritual element regarding which its prop-
erly trained practitioners are quite sincere. Consid-
ered as a professional institution or cultural orienta-
tion, its symbolic patterns would seem on the whole
to be consistent with its representational patterns. If
laymen are “duped” by brujeria, so also in most cases

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 119

are the practitioners themselves. This does not mean,
of course, that the practitioner does not endeavor to
acquaint himself with all of the objective facts of a
case before he undertakes it, e.g., sickness and symp-
toms of the patient, his quarrels and other social re-
lations, his state of mind and prominent anxieties,
etc. Likewise the brujo does not fail to maintain a
certain air of mystery and authority about his treat-
ments and seances, and to guard his secrets from lay-
men. However, within the framework of brujeria,
this is, of course, regarded as no more unethical than
the practice of scientific physicians looking into the
economic and social circumstance of their patients
without directly interrogating the patient himself.
Likewise, a certain “window dressing” is employed
by the medical profession because it gives the
physician a position of dominance and authority in
relation to his patients—it helps him to “control” the
case, which is regarded as an essential part of the
treatment. Even the most enlightened modern patient
in North America expects his physician to assume an
air of certain seriousness when considering his com-
plaints, to wear a white coat or gown when perform-
ing surgery if not at other times, to keep his
instruments in a compulsively regular although per-
haps unnecessary neatness in their cases, and so on.
Likewise, the care with which the brujo lays out his
mesa, the solemnity with which he conducts the divi-
nation, etc., are “ethical” accompaniments of the
practice of the profession. And, of course, the brujo,
just as the modern physician, comes to convince him-
self that such ritual is an essential part of the cure
he is trying to effect. No doubt it is.

I do not wish to appear to defend brujeria against
modern medicine, but in many parts of America we
must face the facts that brujeria has existed for a
long time and is still firmly imbedded in the culture
of many of the common people. To persist in this
manner, it must be rewarding in certain ways to its
clients. It seems plausible that its materia medica
does possess real therapeutic value in certain physical
conditions, and that its procedures have the effect of
lowering personal anxieties in many cases. If any
curing system can relieve pain—either physical or
psychological—it is rewarding and will persist.
Therefore brujeria cannot be lightly dismissed as a
mere body of superstitions which can be legislated out
of existence. Modern medicine makes slow headway
against brujeria, especially in those conditions in
which it takes no account of the cultural factors which

produce certain punishing “acquired drives” © from
which individuals seek relief. In Moche, for example,
the complex of patterns and customs involved in be-
witchment or magical attack, in susto, in ojéo (evil .
eye), and so on are not purely “imaginary.” They
exist in the thinking of the people and in the culture
of the group and produce ailments which for all prac-
tical purposes are quite real. A man’s anxiety does
not have to be based on the germ theory of disease in
order to make him sick.

Only in certain areas of therapeutics has modern
medicine as practiced in the region shown itself to
the Mocheros to be more rewarding than the native
procedures, for example, in surgical intervention, in
difficult deliveries, and in violent infections such as
certain types of pneumonia and malaria.

THE SEANCE

A curing brujo operates by means of a séance called
the mesa de brujeria (table of witchcraft). Actually
the mesa or “table” is laid out on a white cloth spread
on the ground (pl. 22, upper and lower (left), upper
and middle (right). It is a sort of altar where the
herbs and simples, patron saints’ images, and other
magical apparatus of the brujo are laid out before him.
I attended one séance, after which my friend the
maestro put on another séance for my benefit alone,
in which he went through the actions slowly and care-
fully with explanations, and on a third occasion he set
up the mesa for me in daylight so that I could photo-
graph it and note down in detail all the elements com-
posing the collection of working materials. These
are listed in the following section.

The general theory of the standard séance is that
the operating brujo is carrying out the affair in order
to discover who has done magical harm to the patient
and how it was done. Once this information, pro-
duced by the séance, is obtained by the brujo, he may
prescribe remedies for the patient from among the
materials on the mesa. However, the theory always
is held that the patient is sick because some other in-
dividual has caused evil magic to be worked against
him. Hence, in the séance the brujo is always thought
to be working against a rival, la parte de la contra.
The rival brujo or brujos or their familiar spirits, the
shapingos, may appear during the séance as shadowy
forms with the intent of upsetting the proper course
of events, confounding the operating brujo, and con-
fusing the cure of the patient. In other words, the
rival evil brujo is constantly at work to prevent the

© See Gillin, 1942, for a discussion of these matters.

120 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 i

reversal of the evil influence which he has produced
in the health of the patient. It is partly for this reason
that séances are held at night and in secrecy, so that
the rival brujos and the individuals who have em-
ployed them to do harm to the patients may not learn
that their evil work is about to be undone.

Séances may be held for the benefit of two or
more patients, but the following description is in
terms of one patient. These affairs can take place
only on Tuesday or Friday.

The séance may take place either in the house or
in the open. In the former case, the brujo sets up
the mesa so that he is facing the door which is left
wide open, so that he may see the approach of the
shadowy forms of the counter influences, and with
his back against the wall. In the open the affair
takes place in a secluded spot. The brujo is called
the maestro de la mesa or simply maestro (master),
and is aided by two assistants, called alzadores
(literally “raisers”). The latter are sometimes
young men “studying” to be brujos themselves. The
assistants and the master form a team which always
works together, and the assistants each are paid an
agreed sum from the fees obtained by the master for
the treatment. In the team I know personally, one
of the assistants is a man in his fifties who has been
working with this master for the past 20 years. The
other is his son, about 20 years old, who has been
working at this profession for about 3 years and
hopes to become a master himself in the course of
time. The older assistant is the father of the woman
with whom the master lives, but was the master’s
assistant before this household was set up, and in
the affairs of brujeria at least, is thoroughly sub-
ordinated to the master at all times.

The mesa must be set out and ready to operate at
9 p.m. The master kneels on the floor or ground
with his back against a wall, if possible. First he
says the phrase of invocation in a pious voice, “Al
nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espiritu Santo.”
Then he begins the proceedings by laying out the
white cloth and sticking the protective dagger
(puvial) in the ground at the opposite end and with
the blade facing outward. Then he proceeds to take
the various articles which compose the content of
the mesa one by one from an alforja and to set them
out in their proper places on the cloth. The two
pictures of the saints are first set up against a bottle
of alcohol, and the other articles are then laid out in
their proper places. The two assistants stand,
crouch, or kneel facing him on the other side of the

mesa. All three members of the team should have
been on a diet for 3 days previous to the séance.
They cannot eat cow meat during this period, only
mutton, garbanzos, rice, and vegetables which stand
up off the ground, nothing which touches the ground
while growing, such as potatoes, sweetpotatoes, etc.
They are not to eat bread or pastry made with
shortening, or to drink milk. The patient likewise is
supposed to have dieted for 3 days during which he
eats no meat and partakes only of “cold” foods. (See
classification, pp. 53-54). Also, great care must be
taken that the patient’s food is prepared separately
from that of other persons. The pot must be con-
tinually watched, for, if any of the contents boils over
or spills on the ground or in the fire, the patient will
be seriously harmed.

The patient lies or sits facing the master and
behind and to one side of the assistants, alone or
accompanied by one or two friends or relatives. The
affair begins with the light of a candle, and the first
step is for the assistants to “raise the table” (levan-
tar la mesa). This “raising” procedure is the
principal activity of the assistants and recurs at
intervals throughout the séance. It consists of
snuffing up through the nostrils an alcoholic liquid
contained in a flat sea shell. The master takes two
of the smooth sea shells (Nos. 30-32; see list, p. 124,
and fig. 8) and places them before him. He pours
into each about a tablespoonful of cafiaso from the
bottle (No. 3). Then he pours in about a teaspoon-
ful of agua de florida (No. 47) and finally adds a
few drops of jasmine perfume (No. 50). This
process of mixing is repeated each time a “raising”
takes place during the séance. The assistants now
proceed to “raise the table, one hand to each side.”
They both kneel on the floor and place their respec-
tive shells full of the mixture before them. Then, in
unison, each takes his shell in his right hand, bows
down with his face to the ground so as to place his
nose against the edge and takes a large sniff through
the right nostril. Then, in unison, they raise the
head and the shells about 6 inches and take another
sniff, thus continuing in a slightly higher position
each time until they are kneeling upright. Then,
each raises his right knee, with his left knee still on
the ground, and takes another sniff; then they get
to their feet, and so on until they are completely
upright and all the liquid has been snuffed into the
right nostril and swallowed. The process is then
repeated, using the left nostril, the left hand, and
raising the left knee before the right knee. This

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 121

imbibing of a strong alcoholic mixture through the
nose produces violent eructations and belches from
the stomach and causes tears to run. The theory of
this snuffing is that the assistants vicariously purify
the situation by so doing. When they “raise” the
mesa at the start of the séance, they thereby purify
it and protect it from evil influences. When they
“raise” the patient, the latter is purified and pro-
tected. The procedure is said also to “raise the soul.”
Great care must be taken during this process that no
drop of the liquid is spilled, and the procedure should
be followed through smoothly without hesitations or
time taken out for lengthy belching and eye wiping.
If a drop is spilled, the master has to purify the
assistant, patient, and mesa by blowing white corn
powder, chewed in his mouth,® over all, and the
“raising” must start all over again. If an assistant
gets a nostril stopped up, the master uncorks one
of the bottles of seguro (Nos. 27 and 28) and gives
him a whiff to clear it up.

After the “mesa has been raised,” the lights are
blown out and the séance proceeds in darkness. The
master now begins by snuffing up the same mixture
in the same way, one shellful to each side. All the
time he is talking rapidly in an undertone, “Now
we'll see. Now let’s see. Ha, now it’s coming,”
and so on. Next he takes two or three noisy gulps
of the jasmine perfume and twice in succession sprays
a mouthful over the mesa to make it smell good. This
is supposed to keep the maleros away. Next he takes
a mouthful or two of agua de florida and twice in
succession sprays the table with this. Next he
“sweetens the table” (endulca la mesa) by blowing
a mouthful of white granulated sugar over it. None
of these perfumes or sugar is swallowed. Swallow-
ing a liquid through the mouth during a seance
makes the patient weak. Swallowed liquid must al-
ways be taken through the nose.

Now the master begins to call the spirits, which
are thought to be represented by the functional arti-
cles on the mesa, by beginning to shake his rattle
(No. 49) rhythmically, chanting and whistling a
special tune the while (each master has a sacred tune
composed by himself). At the start of this process
he cuts a piece of misha negra (No. 54) about the
size of a quarter-inch cube and puts it in his mouth,
chewing it slightly and keeping it in the cheek for
a while until he swallows it. Calling the spirits con-
tinues for about half an hour, provided no counter

€3 Blowing maize meal from the mouth was used by Inca brujos to
nullify the power of rivals. See Lastres (1941, pp. 147-148).

653348°—47—9

spirit (shapingo) appears. If this should happen,
the calling is stopped at once. Working in a house,
the master has to keep his eyes fixed on the door to
see the shadowy shapes. In the open he looks about
continuously, for they come from all sides. When a
counter spirit puts in an appearance, the proceeding
stops suddenly. The audience hears the iron magnet
crashing to the ground some distance away, accom-
panied by a few fierce curses from the master. It
is said that the magnet flies toward the evil shade
of its own power, although on a confidential level
the master admits that, of course, he throws it. Since
this heavy piece of iron may be flying unannounced
through the darkness at any minute, it is’ advisable
for all present to stay quietly in their places during
a seance, unless ordered to do otherwise by the
master. If the counter spirits do not go away after
being attacked by the magnet, one of the assistants,
on orders from the master, will seize the long dagger
or knife (No. 1) and fight a shadow battle, slashing
the air with the knife. If he is unsuccessful, the
knife will be seized by the master, who fights the
battle himself. It is said that occasionally a brujo
is overcome in one of these ghostly contests and falls
to the ground in a faint (or possibly from intoxica-
tion). This breaks up the séance and is exceedingly
dangerous, both for the health of the patient and the
reputation of the brujo.

Once the shapingo has been routed, all present
stand up, the master repeats again the phrase of
invocation, and then continues with his calling of
the spirits of the herbs. At 11 p. m. the counter
spirits begin to come in greatest numbers, and there-
fore it is advisable to “raise” the patient at this
time. This is done by the assistants, each of whom
sniffs three shellfuls of liquid in the process, which
is divided into three “manos” (beginning with the
right hand) as follows: (1) Up to the waist on each
side; (2) up to the neck on each side; and (3) from
neck up to top of head, one assistant in front and
the other behind. The patient stands up or is held
up, and as the assistants raise themselves sniffing
the liquid they press closely against the body of the
patient. After the third “mano” is finished, each
assistant places his shell upside down on the head
of the patient and rubs it all over the scalp. Then
the patient lies down to rest.

An even more powerful method and one also pre-
scribed for certain conditions of the patient—of
which the master must be the judge—is to administer

122 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

“<<

about a gallon of the San Pedro brew (No. 7) to
the patient after he has been “raised.” The recipe
for two patients is as follows: Peel one cactus, but
save the skin; the peeled cylinder is then disked and
quartered and placed in the gasoline can one-half
full of water, together with 16 grains of white maize,
and a bit from each herb in the bottle of seguro (Nos.
28 and 29). The mixture is heated over the fire,
but is cool by the time of the séance. Some brujos
administer this brew or something similar to all
persons present at the séance. It is said to produce
vomiting, diarrhea, and visual hallucinations.

Usually the brujo has divined the cause of the
trouble before the patient is “raised” for the second
time. While he is calling the spirits, he continues to
chew-misha, replenishing his cud from time to time,
and also has usually inhaled several shellfuls of alcohol
because of interruptions by contrary spirits. Gradu-
ally his singing, whistling, and monologic exclama-
tions increase in tempo and he begins to be more
certain. “Now they’re coming. Here it is,” and so
on, he mutters excitedly. Finally, when the posses-
sion is full upon him, he stops shaking the rattle and
lights a candle. Then he stops and sits motionless as
if in a trance, gazing fixedly at the framed pictures
of the saints on the mesa. Finally he sighs, and says
with conviction, ‘““Yes, now I see it. Aha, so that’s
the way it was,” and so on. He calls other members
of the company to come and look at the framed photo-
graphs. “You see that figure in back there. A man,
no? What is he doing?” In the flickering light it
is not too difficult to see a ghostlike form in the cloudy
backgrounds of the photographs. At the first séance
I attended, I was the only one for some time able to
“see anything.” The maestro announced to the others
that I was the only one present who had true spiritual
sight. The trouble with the others, he said, was that
they were letting their minds wander. Members of
a séance must concentrate only on the matter at hand.
After he has received some agreement that there are
forms or figures to be seen, the master then asks cer-
tain questions of the patient. ‘‘Did a woman visit you
on Thursday of last week? Did she have anything in
her hand? It was your cousin, wasn’t it?’ And so
on. If he has not completely made up his mind con-
cerning the cause, the identity of the persons involved,
and other features of the case, the master puts out the
light and continues to call the spirits for a further
time.

If he has decided in his own mind the diagnosis of
the trouble and how the case should be handled, he

tells the patient so, and advises him that he will de-
scribe the affair to the patient next day and advise
further magical measures to be taken. For the
moment, the next thing to do is to relieve the patient
of his symptoms. The patient is stood up again and
“raised” by the assistants moving closely alongside
his body. This time, however, the assistants move
over all parts of his body, not just along the two sides,
and, whenever they come to a part which hurts, the
patient so advises the master. The assistants then
finish the contents of the shells, holding their heads
closely pressed to the complaining spot, while the
master speaks reassuringly to the patient and prepares
one of the herbs from the mesa to be administered at
once and/or to be taken home. Patients usually feel
better after this treatment.

The work of the mesa usually continues until at
least 2 a. m., and often until daybreak, before all mat-
ters have been satisfactorily cleared up. Sometimes
the brujo requires two or three seances to cure the
case.

In this kind of cure, the patient always expects to
be told that some specific person has had black magic
worked on him. If the divination has been completed,
usually the next day the maestro visits the patient and
relieves his curiosity concerning the identity of the
enemy. The herbs are considered to act as neutral-
izers of this baleful influence.

Without a precise knowledge of the physiological
effects of the cures given, we may concede that they
perhaps have some therapeutic value. Serious illness
in Moche, however, is always accompanied by strong,
but diffuse, anxiety feelings. Doubtless this is true
of sickness in most human societies, but in the Moche
context the patient is certain that his trouble comes
from baleful magic wrought against him by some
person or persons; the uncertainty is the identity of
his persecutor or persecutors and the type of magic
which has been used. Once a plausible identification
of these elements has been provided by a séance,
the individual is able to reintegrate himself. His
diffuse anxiety is lowered by identifying its source
(channelizing it) and also by the protective or
neutralizing measures believed to be taken by the
prescriptions of the brujo. By countervailing magic
the patient may even transform his anxiety state into
aggression aimed at a definite object. This change
in the feeling state of the patient which is wrought
by the brujo’s treatment also is apparently thera-
peutically effective in certain types of somatic com-
plaints. From the point of view of psychosomatic

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 123

medicine it is not surprising that cures take place
under this type of treatment.

li we may grant that the cure may be at least tem-
porarily beneficial to the individual, we nevertheless
have to admit that it is unhealthful for the society in
which he lives. The results of these divinations often
serve to reinforce the aggressions and divisions
which, unfortunately, are too frequent in Moche
society in any case. Moreover, the briujo is in a posi-
tion to foment various aggressions which otherwise
might not exist. This is illustrated in the following
case told me by several informants and typical of a
number of similar cases. I set it down as told by one
informant, in translation.

Our good friend and compadre S, was the only son of his
parents and inherited all the goods of his father, some land,
house, cattle, yoke of oxen, donkeys, a horse, etc. His wife
was completely healthy and robust, weighing about 80 kilos.
We must believe that there are in this life envious persons
and characters of bad faith, but this case took place in the
bosom of a family and involved a person who was receiving
favors from that family. All right. The Sra. S. was a
person of good humor, loving, amiable with her friends. The
couple had been several years married and were educating
their children. The Sra. enjoyed life, but with no one more
than a female relative of the house, the daughter of one of
her sisters whom she had invited to live with her. This niece
knew how to make herself prized by preparing good causas
and food, and, in short, the family was very happy. Suddenly,
after New Years the Sra. S. became sick with acute liver
colic, which became so bad as to endanger her life. It was
at this time that our compadre S. began to dispose of some of
his property in order to attend to the serious illness of his
woman. Very just of him. The best doctors of Trujillo
could do nothing to cure these colics which were frequent and
painful. Finally they diagnosed the case as an incurable
illness and the Sra. remained sentenced to death. By this
time the weight of the Sra. had declined to only 46 kilos,
she could not walk, and was bedridden. Then arrived the
Angel of her salvation. Our friend C., propagandizer of this
art of bujeria, visited S., and learned of the illness of his
woman. He succeeded in convincing the suffering husband
that a brujo was needed and offered to bring one immediately
who was his compadre. Since the case seemed to S. to be
lost, he agreed. Previous to this S. had never believed in
the occult science, but the upshot was that he and the brujo
agreed on the fee to be paid and the work of cure was begun.
They had to go to a secluded part of the camptia where a
mesa de brujeria was prepared. Then the human cargo was
carried there and the seance took place. The next day the
sick woman was better and gave signs of life. It was neces-
sary to prepare a second mesa, which started work the night
of the following Friday. As luck would have it, this second
mesa was raided by the police, because, as you know, the
brujos are knocked about and persecuted by the authorities,
because it is believed that they needlessly take away the
money of the poor people. Bueno. But to S., in the midst
of his affliction, appeared the Virgin, as they say, for the

chief of the police party turned out to be one of his best
friends. S. offered to pay the fine if his friend the chief
would allow the brujo to continue and then told the sorrowful
story of his wife. The chief reminded S. of the dangers
which might ensue, but finally allowed himself to be con-
vinced, if S. would agree to take full responsibility. Pocket-
ing the fine, the police party left. The brujo, relieved of his
anxiety over the affair of law, proceeded with his treatment
with such success that the Sra. S. was completely restored
to health following this second mesa. As is usual, the brujo
told the Sra. (patient) that in order to be permanently cured
she should “see” the person who had caused her the harm
(davio). Of course, the Sra. was anxious to know. A third
mesa was organized and during the séance he showed her a
form in the glass plate covering the picture of the sacred
image and near this image a plate of food which she recog-
nized as one of her favorite dishes prepared by the niece
who lived in her house and by means of which the harm had
been transmitted to her. The surprise of the Sra. was great
to recognize the face of her niece in the glass, she with
whom she had shared her moments of pleasure and whom
she had befriended economically. This bad friend, this
ungrateful niece, upon learning that her plot had been uncov-
ered, fled from the community and is at present in Lima.

No one to whom I talked seemed interested in
further evidence regarding the culpability of the un-
fortunate niece. The evidence of the séance seems
to have been sufficient to satisfy all.

MESA DE BRUJERIA

In plate 22, upper and lower (left) and upper and
muddle (right), the process of setting up a mesa de
brujeria has been photographed, and in figure 8 the

Ficure 8.—Explanatory diagram of a mesa de brujeria.

“

various objects on the mesa in question are identified.
This, so far as I am aware, is the first time that a
brujo or his apparatus has been photographed at
work and is the first published account of the details
of the apparatus. As previously mentioned, each
brujo has specialties and peculiarities of his own
and, according to accounts, no two mesas are exactly
alike. The mesa in question is supposed to be
for white witchcraft, i. e., for the helping and cur-
ing of persons who have been attacked by witchcraft.

The mesa itself consists of a rectangle of white
muslin, actually a sugar sack, laid out on the floor
or on the ground, as shown in the photographs.
Before anything else is put down, the puiial, a large
wooden-handled steel knife, is stuck in the ground
at the head of the mesa (opposite end from the
operator) with its edge facing outward. This is
supposed to “cut” the interference of rival brujos
and must be of pure steel. The other items may be
listed as follows, according to the identifying numbers
which appear in the sketch (fig. 8).

1. Pufal, or knife.

2. A half bottle of cane alcohol with which to prepare

caiiaso.

3. Bottle of cafiaso, made from one-half bottle of alcohol,

fresh water, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar.

4. Frame containing pictures of La Virgen de los Dolores

de Viru, covered with glass.

5. Framed, glass-covered picture of La Virgen de la Puerta

de Otuzco. Each brujo has his own favorite saints’ pic-

tures. In them appear the visions at a certain point in
the seance.

A raw piece of San Pedro cactus.

Tin 5-gallon gasoline can for making infusion of San

Pedro cactus, with a cross made of carrizo stuck into it.

One-half the contents of the can are given to the patient.

8. Paper-wrapped package of an herb called flotacidn.
9. A bottle of holy water (agua bendita).

10. Paper package of white sugar.

11. Paper package of solimdn, a white powder which is used
dry in massage of the skin. It is a counterirritant. It is
powdered onto the skin with cotton, then rubbed with
the hand.

12. Yerbas para el aire, wrapped in paper. Included in the
package are five types which are mixed together in an
infusion and given to the patient hot: (a) toro stems,
(b) misha negra, a root, (c) piedra mineral negro, a
black root, (d) piedra mineral blanca, a root, and (e)
condor blanco, a root.

13. A cloth sack containing the following: (a) Mishpingo
fruit, about as big as a walnut, in a hairy shell; (b)
piedra imdn (iron pyrites), male and female; the male
pieces are covered with long exudations of rust which
look like hair and cling by magnetic attraction to the
female piece; (c) a cube of bone with an incised face;
design consists of three squares one within the other,

so

124 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 i

/
‘ mi

and seven dots on the face of the inner square; (d)_
metatarsal bones of a human “cristiano”; (e) three rusty
steel needles; (f) haylulito negro, a stone; (g) aserin,
loose flaky and dusty rust, which is called the food of
the pyrites (alimento del imdn). The contents of this
sack are used with the yerba para el aire to cure and
control “aire.” The seven dots on the bone cube indicate
that the remedy should be taken every 7 days, on Tues-
day or Friday, at 1l a.m. The piedra de imdan is placed
in a glass of cold water for an hour, then taken out and
dried with a cloth before putting back in the sack; then
the water in which it has been soaked is used for cooking
the herbs listed in No. 12. The bones and other articles”
in the package are considered ‘“‘food for the tmdn.”

14. Piedra de ara (“communion stone”). This is scraped to
make a powder which is administered one-half teaspoon-
ful in one-half a glass of cold boiled water for heart
troubles.

15. Piedra de lobo del mar. Comes from the body of the
sea lion. Powder is made from it By scraping, which is
mixed with powder of No. 14, and the two administered
for heart troubles.

16. Piedra de huaca del rayo. Ornament only. All items
called “de huaca”’ have been obtained in archeological
ruins.

17. Piedra de huaca del Cerro Blanco. Ornament.

18. Piedra de lobo del mar. More of the same as in No. 15.

19. Corazon. Ornament for the “heart of the mesa.” It is
a heart-shaped piece of chalky stone with piedra de huaca
set into it.

20. Caracol blanco de huaca. Ornamental shell.

21. Blessed image of San Antonio de Padua, patrdn of the
mesa. San Antonio de Padua was a brujo before be-
coming a saint. This image was blessed in the church
in Moche.

22, Piedra de ara oscura.

23. Piedra de huaca.

24. Piedra de huaca; quartzite?

25. Piedra de hwaca; quartzite? These two stones (Nos. 24
and 25) area part of the defenses of the operator. Dur-
ing the seance, when the opposition influence (“la parte
de la contra’) is nearby, these stones shoot off sparks
which warn the operator. He then takes the two stones
in his hands and rubs them together vigorously so that
more sparks fly out, which forces the rival to go away.

26. Round egg-shaped pebble de huaca, for decoration.

27 and 28. “Los seguros.” Two small glass bottles contain-
ing the most powerful drugs and plants (called pajas or
hojas) of the brujo. These are called “la fuerza de la
mesa.” The contents of these bottles is as follows: (a)
Trenzacia blanca, small sections of certain plants called
huaringas found in a large sacred lake inland from Salas
among the outliers of the Andes; (b) trenzacia negra;
(c) vira-vira; (d) botén de oro, a plant; (e) trenzacia
macho; (f) condor macho; (g) condor hembra; (h)
simora blanca; (i) simora negra; (7) hunguay; (k)
misha blanca; (1) misha negra; (m) piedra de ara,
small pieces. All of these remedies are surrounded in
the bottles by a liquid composed of the following sub-
stances: (a) agua calanga legitima extranjera; (b)
essencia de jasmin extranjera (foreign-made essence of

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN aay

jasmine, a cheap perfume) ; (c) agua de florida extran-
jera (a proprietary product made in the United States).
The liquid in these bottles is believed to have very strong
curative powers. If the patient is seriously ill, he is
given some of this liquid by drops in boiled, but tepid,
water. After the patient has been “raised” (alzado), one
of these bottles with contents inside it is rubbed over
the head and body. This is called limpiar al enfermo
con la botella. After this has been done, the bottle must
be “refreshed” by placing it next to some pulverized
white maize. Otherwise the contents will “burn” with
the heat from the patient, and lose its efficacy.

30-32. Three perlas de nacra blanca. Large flat sea shells,
bivalves, smooth inside and. outside. One for each
assistant and one for maestro for “alzar” (imbibing
through the nose) as explained in text.

33-35. The perlas de huaca. Flat sea shells with pink, ser-
rated edges, one smooth, and two with spiny backs
(Spondylus pictorwm). These are sea shells, but were
found in the Moche ruins. Bad brujos use these for
imbibing through the nose (alzar), but only by left
nostril. A good brujo imbibes from them when under
attack by rival, a situation which is made evident by
“yumores,” nearby sounds, like “ka-ka-ka,” during the
seance.

36-46. Twelve caracoles (spirally formed sea shells), for
ornament only.

47. One bottle of agua de florida legitimo, manufactured by
Murray and Lanman, New York.

48. An iron magnet (imdn). These may be purchased in
Chiclayo. This particular one was given to the operator
by a colleague in Viru.

49. A gourd rattle (chingana or macana) containing white
stones of quartzite (?) ; has wooden handle.

50. Olor. Bottle of cheap jasmine perfume, manufactured
by Laboratorios Maldonado, Lima.

51. A bottle of agua cananga legitimo.

52. Ten centavos worth of white maize kernels.

53. Ten centavos worth of white granulated sugar.

54. A head of the drug plant, misha negra. I do not know
the chemical composition of this substance, but it is
chewed in small pieces by the maestro and apparently
has the property of producing visual hallucinations.

The contents of the mesa thus constitute the
material equipment of the patterns of brujeria prac-
ticed by the master, his “stock in trade” from the
material point of view. These materials are seen to
be in total a strange mixture of the indigenous and
the European, of modern and medieval, of pagan and
Christian, of coastal, Sierra, jungle, and foreign pro-
venience. Yet each brujo feels that every item is
essential to his work. In this publication I have no
space to analyze in detail the origins of these various
elements. A few passing comments will suffice for
the present to indicate the diversity of cultural back-
grounds involved in this complex. The purifying
properties of white maize, for example, seem to be
an Inca trait, if not older. Guaman Poma, in discuss-

ing provisions made by the Incas in times of epidemic,
says that a diet of nothing but white corn was decreed
(Lastres, 1941, p. 132). Many of the allegedly
poweriul drug plants (often called “hojas’’—leaves),
especially the huaringas, mishas, and San Pedro
cactus come from the region of Salas, the head-
quarters of the north coast cult of brujeria, and may
be in part derived from the pharmacopoeia of the
ancient coastal Other items, such as
nushpingo, come from the jungle regions. The in-
sistence on a trade-marked foreign-made perfumed
alcohol called agua de florida alongside these
items is a curious touch, as is also the presence of
human bones of a baptized Christian alongside the
pictures of saints and a bottle of holy water. The
importance of the iron magnet and magnetized iron
pyrites might be derived from the use of the magnet
On the whole, the in-
digenous elements seem in the majority to be derived
from coastal rather than Sierra indigenous cultures.
The treatment with guinea pigs (limpia con cuy)
is said to be entirely different from “mesa work.”

cultures.

in 19th-century mesmerism.

OTHER PROCEDURES OF “GOOD WITCHCRAFT”

The type of seance in which a guinea pig (limpia
con cuy) is used for diagnostic purposes is, accord-
ing to the brujo with whom I worked, entirely
separated from “mesa work.” I have not personally
witnessed this type of session. It is a method of
diagnosis used when the patient is apparently suffer-
ing from some serious, but undetermined, internal
ailment and, in this man’s technique at least, is not
in itself concerned with discovering the human being
who has perpetrated the black magical cause of the
illness. He says that this is the view of all properly
trained brujos. Some use the guinea pig diagnosis
preceding the mesa in a single session. My in-
formant uses it, he says, as one of a series of sessions.
The session begins with an invocation and by the
brujo making the sign of a cross with his forefinger
on the head, chest, and stomach of the patient. He
then takes a live guinea pig, preferably red, in his
hand and starts to rub the entire body of the patient
with it carefully. If the patient is in an extremely
grave condition, the animal dies immediately. If
not, after the entire body of the patient has been
massaged, the animal is opened by ventral incision
while still alive to see if the circulation is normal.
If any part of the viscera is congested, the analogous
organ of the patient is the seat of his trouble. If
this type of examination is not convincing, after the

126 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

guinea pig dies, the master grinds white corn kernels
on a table with a bottle used like a rolling pin and
sprinkles powder over the viscera. Those portions
where the white powder darkens are, analogously,
the sick portions of the patient’s viscera. After this,
the animal is buried on its back in a hidden place.
First dirt is placed over it, then kitchen ashes, then
dirt. If anyone or any animal digs it up, harm is
done to the patient.

No alzadores or sniffing of alcohol appear in this
type of diagnosis.

The work of Valdizin and Maldonado (1922,
vol. 1) contains an extensive, although somewhat
diffuse, discussion of brujeria in various parts of
Peru. Mifiano, 1942, has reported some interesting
laymen’s accounts recorded in the town of Chicama,
near Chiclin.

The most vivid and detailed account of brujeria
seances of which I know, occurs in fictionalized form
by Camino Calderén (1942, pp. 179-185). I have
the pleasure of Senor Camino Calderén’s personal
acquaintance and I have his word for it that the
background material pertaining to brujeria in his
very successful novel “El! Dafio’”’ was obtained by
him at first hand during a period of a year and a
half, during which he lived in Salas and became
intimately acquainted with the leading maestros of
this center of north coast curing. Since his book
is practically unknown to readers of the English
language, I quote, in translation, several passages
bearing upon the subject at hand, with permission
of the author, in order to round out the background
of the present material recorded in Moche. The
brujeria of Moche of which I know lacks several
features mentioned by Camino Calderén. This may
be because it is a somewhat pale and “provincial”
reflection of the center of this art described by him
or because this account represents a literary syn-
thesis of the work of a number of different brujos.

Speaking of a certain practitioner, he says:

In addition to Spanish—which he spoke somewhat masti-
cated, in truth—he spoke in “lenguaraz,” or the Quechua
brought from the Sierra by the warriors which Tupac
Ypanqui sent to restrain the fierce men of Chota. (P. 176.)

Personality :

Narciso was very educated, very suave in his manners, and
belonged to a family in which the practice of the “limpia-
dura” dated from the ancestors and was practiced as a true
profession, with absolute orthodoxy, and with a spirit full of
charity and disinterestedness. (P. 176.)

Profession :

A “limpiador” not born in Salas is like a bullfighter not
born in Spain. Salas is the matrix of the brujos, the cradle
of the diviners, the mastic tree (almdcigo) of the love
magicians, the Lourdes of Peruvian curandismo, the Monte-
sinos cave of everything grand and supernatural.

Whoever does not know Salas, does not know the North.
Everything that is most fantastic and marvelous, takes place
in Salas... The mountains and the lakes, bewitched, pro-
vide miraculous pajas upon demand if one sings to the
rhythm of the chungana:

Cerrito encantdu
dd la ‘medicina
que la necesita
tanto desgracidu

Taita San Cipriano
con que Dios trabajas
guiame la mano

pda sacar las pajas...

... Every year Narciso Piscoya... went up to purify
himself and to receive new training at the Gran Guaringa
de Huancabamba where Quintin Namuche lived, an almost
mythological person who was the Pope of witchcraft and
the owner and distributor of the pajas which originated
there: the misha rey, the simora, the huachuma . . . divine
plants whose alcoloids awoke supernatural spiritual powers
and with which the curandero acquires a double sight which
extends beyond all scientific notions of time and space. In
this chilly pdramo whither he had had to flee from the
Guardia Civil, Quintin Namuche—the repository of the
therapeutic tradition of the Incas—uncontaminated by
maleros and humbugs, led a life of an anchorite, receiving
the homage of the neophites, initiating them in the secrets of
the pajyas [herbs] which must be employed for the welfare
of mankind and exercising an absolute power over the brujos
for 100 leagues around. (P. 177.)

To bring rain, a curandero goes to the sea to fill
jars with sea water, which is sprinkled on the fields.

“Mal de hombre, the finest brujo cures, mal de Dios, no
one,” said Narciso Piscoya, drawing near to the bed of Don
José Miguel. There was no time to lose. This same night
he would diagnose (rastrear) the patient with a cui ruco, in
order to find out which organs were affected and what type
of dajio was involved: bad wind, shadow cut with a dagger,
or soul lost. Late at night, Piscoya took out of his bag an
enormous cui ruco [red guinea pig], and whispering mysteri-
ous words, began to pass it over the back of the neck
and the head of Don José Miguel. Then he passed it over
the back, the ribs, and the lumbar region. Then the thorax,
and upon being placed over the heart, the animal let out a
squeak. ‘Pain. Pain. The sefior has pain in his soul,”
said Piscoya lowering the cut to the abdomen. Upon scraping
the knees of the patient, the poor ruwco had convulsions and
died.

As all grave and solemn facts which a limptador has to
announce, this also was announced in lenguaraz: Huanolonna,
Huafolonna...

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN eye

The diagnosis having been finished, Piscoya opened the cut
with a knife and examined the entrails carefully. “Chachu.
Chachu,” he exclaimed, “It is all chachu [irritated or con-
gested].” And so it was in fact. The viscera appeared irri-
tated and congested, covered with violet spots. There was
not an organ which was not affected. The congestion was
general—todo esta chachu.

Fortunately, it was mal de hombre, caused by an ayahuaira
—bad wind—and could be cured. It all depended upon using
the proper paja [herb]. Thus said Piscoya as he rubbed the
body of the cui with vinegar and gave it to be buried, warn-
ing that the face not be turned, under threat of the immediate
death of the patient. (P. 179.)

Following the diagnosis, a great difficulty developed. Tra-
ditional practice required that Don José Miguel be taken to a
solitary spot in the campo where at midnight, the /tmptador—
provided with his classic equipment: table, chonta, and rattle
(macana) and accompanied by the alzadores who would
raise the spirit of the patient, and by the rastrero who would
direct the treatment—would ask the saints, the mountains
and the sacred lakes which herbs Don José Miguel would
have to drink there in infusion, Given the prostration of
the patient, it was not possible to move his bed...

The preparations lasted only a short time. The following
night, Piscoya appeared with his bag and his group of
assistants: Casimiro Farrofian and Miguel Peche, “sorbe-
dores,” and Mateo Sernaqué, “rastrero.” Beside the bed...
the table was set up, consisting of a piece of cloth (tocuyo)
EI Inca, and the instruments were lined up: a rusty sword,
various images of saints in piedra Berenguela, bits of quartz,
sea shells (perlitas) and small idols taken from the huacas.
At the end of the table were the medicines, represented
mostly by the vegetable kingdom: sea weed, cactus and ver-
benaceas of the coastal plains, the gayas and perfumed
flowers of the mountain quebradas; the velvety and resinous
plants of the jalcas [high plateaus], the liquens charged with
metallic oxides and calcareous salts of the cordillera. And
together with these vegetables, the egg of the Angelote,
against the tuberculosis; the eye of the Gran Bestia, which
cures heart trouble; the grease of the Yacumama, without
rival in rheumatism. Finally, within a tin of “Bacalao de
Noruega sin espinas” were placed three powerful panaceas of
the jungles of Jaén: the o7é (Fincus glabrata), the Chuchu-
huasi, and the Ubos (Spondia momborin). And, inside a
bottle of Spey Royal Whiskey were two lizards and a centi-
pede, drowned in cane alcohol (cajiazo). (P. 181.)

When the arrangement of the table was finished, Piscoya
took his macana, made from a dry calabash, and rattling the
dry seeds within, opened the affair with an invocation to San
Cipriano, patron of the brujos:

San Cipriano, milagroso santo,
ddme la zwirti
pd la gloria de tus aiios, y de tu juventt. . .

“Tirense una perlita.” At this word of Piscoya, the “sorbe-
dores” filled the sea shells with a mixture of Agua Florida
and tobacco, and sniffed up, part of the contents in their
noses. The “rastrero” drank a glass of the infusion of
San Pedro de Cuatro Vientes (a cactus plant; the flutings
of the stem are called vientos; its power is thought to in-
crease with the number of flutings; also called huachwma;

best grown on the sacred mountain of Chaparri) and the
“mestro” began to chew some leaves of musha. By means
of these terrible narcotics, all aimed to place themselves in
a position to be able to “see” the cause of the “dano” and to
select the herbs which would cure the patient.

Various minutes passed; half an hour; an hour, and noth-
ing. The invocations to San Cipriano, the Cruz de Chalpon,
and the sacred lakes and mountains seemed to have no end.
Neither the limpiador nor his assistants alcanzaron a ver:

Santo San Cipriano
permilenos ver,
y que tu yerbita
Salga diondesté. . .

Suddenly the “rastrero”—who had never stopped drinking
the infusion of San Pedro constantly—began to stagger.
“Yerbita, what do you see?” shouted Piscoya, stopping the
rattle and going near to the rastrero. “I am seeing a malero
who wishes to do harm to the table,” answered the rastrero,
and getting hold of himself as much as possible, added, “He
is going to blow a remalazo [bad wind blown by an invidious
brujo]. Look out!” Upon hearing what the yerbita said
by the mouth of the rastrero, the sorbedores threw themselves
face downward, trying to cover the head with the poncho.
With a jump, Piscoya placed himself in the middle of the
table; and seizing the sword, he started to cut the wind, while
he howled:

Atrds Atrds sombra mala.

Estoy con Dios, y los santos;

Con el alto Yanahuanga,

Con el ancho Chaparrt.

No podrds contra de mi.

For a good while the sword, agilely wielded by Piscoya,
whistled through the air, while the rastrero did not tire in
“raising the spirit,” of the Maestro: “Crie valor, mestro.
Crie valor. Yd esté cortdu el ramalazo. Yd se jué. Ya
se jue.”

Now that the remalazo had passed, Piscoya wiped the
sweat off himself; he made the sorbedores get up—they were
completely stupefied—and replacing the sword with the
chonta, he started to dance.

There was a long period of singing and dancing:

Yerbitas, Yerbitas,
vamas yd vintendo,
porque el enfermito
mucho estd padectendo.

At this point, one of the sorbedores—not being able to re-
strain himself and inspired by a force greater than his will—
got up and placed himself in front of Piscoya, making the
same movements as the latter. With his eyes turned inward,
his gaze fixed on the maestro and the muscles of his face
shaken as by an electric current, the sorbedor had a horrible
and strange aspect. There was a moment in which, balancing
himself on the threshold, he tried to leave; but Piscoya, sure
of the hypnotic power which he exercised over the unfor-
tunate man, retained him with a movement of the chonta;
with another movement he made him return to his place; and
with another, he immobilized him. “Yerbita, qué ves?” he
demanded. “Una mujer gorda, con dos moios largos, esta

128 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

daiiando a Don Miguel.” Piscoya continued to ask, “Tene
contra?” “Si tiene. Pero no puedo ver tuavia.” Piscoya
took up the dance again and the song. But this time, the
verses were more emotional and plaintive:

Taitito San Cipriano,

caballerito,

con Idgrimas te ruego

ese tu yerbita milagrosa.

Finally, San Cipriano was moved; and the sorbedor Miguel
Peche, amid hiccups and sobs, communicated to the maestro
the happy news: “Yd vide la yerbita. Yd lavide...” “Onde
esté?” shouted Piscoya. “En el montoncito, junto a mi
Senora del Carmen. . .”

Rapidly, Piscoya extended his arm toward the indicated
place. There were the pajas and yerbas mds apreciadas:
the huachumas, the hdrnaimos, and the céndores of Yana-
huanga; the hualmis, the huamingas, and the simoras of the
Gran Guaringa de Huancabamba. He took the first which
came to his hand: a small branch musty and spiny, covered
with the varnish common to the bushes of the puna. Don
José Miguel was saved. The medicine which would cure him
had been found; it was only necessary to apply it immedi-
ately. (P. 185.)

Love magic is practiced by brujos, according to
my sources. The brujo with whom I worked sells
love potions to unrequited lovers. This business
involves no seance. If a husband has left his wife
for another woman, the brujo can bring him back,
provided the other woman has not been “segurado”
by another brujo. The brujo desiring to reunite
the spouses works with hairs of the wandering hus-
band. My brujo told me one case in which he brought
the man back simply by writing him a letter, unknown
to the wife, of course. The magical discovery of the
whereabouts of a missing lover consists of setting
up a mesa, but without alzadores. Directly under the
saints’ pictures on the mesa is some of the hair or
other intimate property of the missing man. After
imbibing jasmine perfume and spraying it over the
mesa and the token of the man, the brujo proceeds
to work with his rattle, asking the mesa a series of
place names where the man might be. If the answer
is negative, a road appears in the saints’ pictures.
When the brujo says the name of the right place,
the road disappears and the face of the man appears.

A cure recommended for female infertility is the
powdered flowers of a plant named pacra infused in
water from boiled potatoes, to be taken each morn-
ing after breakfast. Nothing can be done about in-
fertility unless menstruation is natural.

EVIL WITCHCRAFT

Whether “good brujos” also practice evil witch-
craft and the casting of spells I am unable to say

with certainty. The brujos themselves say they do
not. Many laymen think they do, or that some do.
My data on their operations are all second-hand.
It is said that they cause harm to a person by making
a doll (mufieca) representing the person. Then a
stake, a nail, or a pin is stuck through the part of
the doll which represents the part of the body of the
person which is to become sick. The doll is then
buried or hidden away where it cannot be found.
Countervailing magic consists of the procedures
previously described. In Moche itself I have heard
of no systematic procedure for discovering these
dolls and destroying them, other than through reve-
lation to the curing brujo in the seance. This does
not often occur, however.

The shapingos are believed to be the evil spirits
at the command of the evil brujos. In Moche they
are visualized in the form of the European devil, with
horns and tail. They are the shadowy shapes which
try to break up the curing seances, and are sent out
by their “master,” the evil brujo, to do his bidding.
They are said to appear to women now and then,
nude, and with the intention of having sexual inter-
course. If a woman is once conquered by one of
these spirits, she becomes the servant or dupe of the
evil master; if she resists, there is danger that the
evil brujo will cast a spell upon her, and cause her
to fall sick.

It is not entirely clear in some informants’ minds
whether or not the shapingos are the same beings as
the ‘‘messengers of the devil.” Properly speaking,
the latter apparently represent another concept stem-
ming from medieval Europe. It is they who per-
suade men to sell their souls for money.

Evil brujos are believed to have the power to
change themselves into animals and birds. Thus
disguised, they are able to visit farms and houses to
work their evil without the knowledge of the resi-
dents.

One account, illustrating the supposed power of
evil brujos to change themselves into animals, has
been given in the section ““Sustenance and Basic
Economy.” Following is another.

C. was renting a piece of his chacra to another man and
one night about sundown he stopped by to ask his tenant
how things were going. The tenant said that everything was
all right, except that for the last hour a large hawk had
been making a noise in the chacra, hopping about, flapping
its wings, and that he was on the point of going out to chase
it away or kill it. The two of them went out to the field,
the tenant with a stick, and they saw a large hawk hopping
about and making a commotion. The tenant sneaked around

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 129

through the bushes on the field border, sprang on the hawk,
and struck it with the stick, breaking the left wing. Immedi-
ately the bird yelled out, “Don’t hurt me, compadre, Iam A.
(one of the known brujos). I am doing nothing to your
chacra.” The two men drew back and the bird scurried into
the bushes and disappeared as if by magic. It did not fly
‘away and C. claims that he and his tenant could not find it
(although he admits that they were somewhat afraid and
not very enthusiastic in the search). At all events, some
neighbors found old A. a few hours later in the night at a
spot between the site of this event and A.’s house. His left
arm was broken, as if by a sharp blow, and it was bleeding.
He was taken to his house, speechless, and a short time later
died of his wound.

When I ask why brujos, if they have the power
to transform themselves into animal shapes, cannot
ward off attacks of this sort, or at least cure them-
selves afterward, my informants say that once a
brujo has been surprised and wounded in this way,
he is lost. If they see a man about to attack them,
they can frequently transform themselves quickly
enough to save themselves, but when taken by sur-
prise and real damage is inflicted upon them, there
is no hope. Many other anecdotes tell of supposedly
personal experiences in which individuals have been
about to beat some stray animal and drive it away,
when, before they can begin, it disappears and a
*known human being appears in its place. In some
cases this has been the first intimation that the ob-
server has had that the individual in question is a
brujo. In order to start a whispering campaign
against an individual, all that is necessary is to tell
a story of this sort. “Last night I was about to
kick a duck out of my garden when it suddenly
turned into Fulano. I had no idea that Fulano was
a brujo.” The persons to whom such a story is told
will say, “‘Oh, so that’s it, is it? I thought Fulano
was behaving queerly lately. He must have studied
to be a brujo.” And thereafter everyone will keep
a sharp eye out for Fulano and suspect his move-
ments.

Horgamo is an herb which is ground to a powder
and thrown on the doorsteps of a house by evil
witches. It is supposed to make everyone therein
fall sick. The evil witches likewise are said to
possess a full armory of herbs and stones, com-
parable to those employed by good witches, except
that their effects are deleterious to the health and
peace of mind of victims. These are given to clients
with instructions for slipping them into the food and
drink of intended victims. Toads seem to be a
favorite spell-casting animal used by the evil brujos
or used with their advice.

When an evil witch wishes to ascertain who is
working countervailing magic against his spells, it
is said that he sets up a “mesa negra’’—black table.
This resembles the mesa of the curing brujo except
that everything which is white in the latter is black
in the evil mesa. Thus black bottles are used instead
of white, a black cloth instead of a white one,
powdered charcoal instead of white maize, etc.

Finally, an evil witch may work harm against
his victim by blowing a “bad air” (mal aire) at him.
I am by no means clear how this is supposed to be
done. In the seances of the good brujos the patient
is sometimes asked if sometime before falling sick
he did not feel a draft or aire, followed by a chill.
With all due respect, this seems to be a sure-fire
question for the diviner, because it is seldom that
the patient cannot recall such an occurrence. Of
course, the diviner still has to give an answer to the
question, “Who did it and why?”

Any cold draft or sudden chill is suspected of being
a mal aire, and in the list of remedies (pp. 139-142)
will be found a number of items used by laymen to
ward off the evil effects.

CURANDISMO
A CURANDERA

Most of my information on the practice of
curandismo in Moche comes from an old lady
about 68 years old, acknowledged to be the out-
standing curing woman of the community. She is
now married to her second husband, who cultivates
with her help a small chacra, and they live in a small
adobe house, not very well kept up, on the outskirts
of the pueblo. The house has the arbor or ramada
in front rather than behind and here she receives
her patients. Directly behind this is a semiopen
room containing the kitchen and the usual large
wooden table. There the brews which she uses in
her cures are prepared.

When I first visited her, she was sitting on a petate
on the ground under the front arbor with two cholo
women who had journeyed to her from outside the
community. She was engaged in the cure of susto
in their respective babies, and the ladies were loud
in praise of her knowledge and technique. None-
theless, her appearance was somewhat forbidding,
and, during the following months of our acquaintance-
ship, I learned to know that this first impression was
typical. She was wearing a dark-gray cotton skirt,
somewhat patched, very ragged, a once-white blouse,

130 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

and a straw hat of the Mochero type. Her hair was
not cared for. and hung about her head in a some-
what matted mass. She has a heavily pock-marked
face with inward slanting eyes with small bags under
them and a good many wrinkles and crows’ feet
around their edges. Her mouth is wide and the
upper incisor teeth are worn off at the roots. Her
hands were dirty, with long, black-rimmed finger-
nails. In general, she looks, on first appearance, a
good deal like the proverbial “witch” of the fairy
tales. But when in a good humor she is capable
of a wide, easy smile that transforms this forbidding
visage into a map of merriment, and she is ready
with a comfortable chuckling laugh when she is con-
vinced one is her friend.

After we had become acquainted on the first day,
it was, of course, incumbent upon me to partake of
her hospitality in the form of chicha and causa, and
during the refreshment I told her that we had no
such methods of curing in the United States and
that I was convinced that she probably knew things
of which our medical men had never heard. I in-
vited her jokingly to come to New York with me,
and told her if she would teach me some of her
methods we would set up an office together. To
this she agreed readily in high good humor and
promised that, at all events, before I went back she
would give me a complete course in curing. We
discussed various cures superficially and I went
away well pleased, because I had been warned on
all hands that I would never succeed in getting her
“secrets” from her. Then, however, I made a series
of mistakes. Not having heard from her, after a
week I sent an intermediary to ask if I could visit
her and start the “course.”” The answer was evasive.
Then I bethought myself to enlist her professional
interest. My voung son was ill in Trujillo with what
was thought to be rheumatic fever, and I asked
her to come and examine him, saying that I thought
he might have susto. She did not reply positively
but said to send for her on the coming Friday. I
then asked one of her compadres to go on Friday
to remind her. When she did not appear in Trujillo,
I got in touch with the compadre and discovered that
she had driven him out of the house, saying that
she would not be ordered about by him and that if
Don Juan (meaning me) wanted her, he could come
personally, bringing the child. I then got in touch
with her daughter and son-in-law and we went to
see her. She told me to stop fooling around with
intermediaries, that she would not be treated that

way, that she knew very well I would not entrust
my own child’s cure to her, and that anyway she
did not want to go to the hotel in Trujillo and have
everyone laugh at her. I then told her that she
was right and that I had only acted as I had because
I did not understand her. Now, I said, if she would
talk to me as one “doctor” to another, we would
exclude all other persons from our meetings, and
I would give her 50 soles as a token of my esteem,
provided she was frank with me. If I could find
out that she had used a certain method in a cure
which she had not told me about, I would deduct
10 soles from the total for each such concealment.
She was somewhat taken aback by this approach,
but shortly agreed, we drank chicha together again,
and became friends. For several months thereafter
I consulted with her on all matters of curandismo and
found no reason for deducting anything from her
gratuity. Even so, I am sure, of course, that I have
not learned all about this art in Moche. The photo-
graphs reproduced herewith are, so far as I know,
the first published series of photographs of certain
of her curing methods.

The following discussion is in terms of locally
recognized symptom groups or disease entities.

SUSTO

Susto, an abbreviation of asustado (past participle
of asustar, to frighten), is a term widely used
throughout Peru (Valdizan and Maldonado, 1922,
vol. 1, pp. 61-90) to refer to a generally and
popularly recognized type of syndrome believed to
be caused by or associated with soul loss. In some
parts the term “espanto” is used. The latter term
also occurs in Central America, but there the symp-
toms and alleged etiology differ in some details
(Gillin, Ms.). The wide distribution of this complex
must be fully studied, but here I can only attempt
to deal with it in the local situation. Valdizan states
that susto was very prevalent among the “ancient
inhabitants of Peru” and that it not only represented
an individual nervous upset, but also reflected a
“true state of collective anxiety.” (Valdizan, 1915,
1917; Valdizan and Maldonado, loc. cit.)

In Moche susto occurs in the following forms:
(1) Adult, of which there are two varieties, (a)
nearby and (b) distant; and (2) infant.

Adult susto is always precipitated by a sudden
fright of some kind. Frequently the patient is
frightened by an animal, sometimes merely by a
sudden gust of wind, a reflection in an irrigation

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 13

ditch, a sudden fall, etc. This is believed to scare
the soul out of the body. The difference between
the nearby (de cerca) and distant (de lejos) variety
is that the former usually takes place in or near the
house, and the soul of the person which has been
jarred loose nevertheless remains near him. If the
fright has taken place in the field or some distance
away, however, the soul stays at the site of the
fright and special methods must be used to get it to
come back.

No one, even a strong man, is ashamed of being
asustado. It is regarded as something beyond the
control of the individual. Men pride themselves
on their physical courage when facing other men or
dangerous physical situations, but they do not re-
gard it as childish to be “frightened” in the technical
sense of susto. Several Moche men have served as
conscripts in the armed services in the jungle and
during the “incident” with Ecuador, but claim they
had never been asustado in this sense, although they
are willing to admit that on occasion they have been
asustado (frightened) in the ordinary sense of plain
physical fear. Women do not fall ill of swsto during
childbirth nor at the monthly crisis. Although in-
dividuals are frightened by nightmares, one does not
get susto from them. It is thus clear that susto
involves special psychological complexes which are
not well translated by the English words “fright”

or “fear” in their ordinary North American con-
texts.

The symptoms of importance to a curandera are
as follows. The armpit and lobe of the ear are
white and the inside skin of the arm does not show
any veins and is often wrinkled. There is a low
fever and the patient is “nervous” and hypersensi-
tive to sudden sounds. Physically he is weak, and
he often has diarrhea. A man does not lose potency,
but he will do harm to a woman if he tries to have
intercourse with her. Urine is yellow; when it
turns white, the cure is successful. Aside from
hypersensitivity to loud noises or interruptions, the
patient seems to be in a depressed state, saying little,
often with the eyes closed or cast down to the ground.
Some patients have an abstracted or dreamy attitude,

gazing off into space. I have personally seen only
three adult patients in the first stages. All of them
were depressed and quiet but contactable and well
oriented in time and space. I was able to obtain
some detailed history on seven cases in all. I dis-
cussed nine other cases from the experiences of my
informants. One man in Moche died, allegedly of

susto, during my work there, although the immediate
cause of death was recognized as tuberculosis. There
were no newly developed cases of adult susto
handled during my work in Moche, but I had an
opportunity to see something of three new cases
brought for cure from outside the community and
four old cases from the community itself (including
the fatal one just mentioned). Full case histories
were not obtained from any of these patients, but
the following features appeared in all histories: (1)
A debilitating illness, usually malaria, had appeared
some time before the susto attack; (2) all patients
seemed to be emaciated or wasted physically; (3) all
but one case gave a history of some emotional crisis
preceding the fright which had precipitated the susto
itself. The four women all had a “love” or sex
crisis, such as a man leaving them for another; two
of the men had had trouble with their sweethearts,
while a third had had a row over inheritance rights.

Dr. Pedro F. Castillo Diaz, chief of the women’s
section of the Trujillo general hospital (Hospital de
la Beneficiencia Publica), has handled a good many
cases of alleged susto in his service. He emphasizes
that he is not a psychiatrist, but rather an internist.
However, his impression is that susto is a hysterical
manifestation based on general debility usually
caused by malaria or tuberculosis. He says that he
has practically never seen an alleged susto patient
who is not run down; the patient usually has a low
fever, is poorly nourished, usually has anemia, and
is in a “delicate and irritable frame of mind.” He
does not rule out the possibility of such cases appear-
ing in families with a history of psycopathology, but
has no records which would show this. In Lima
I discussed this matter with two young psychiatrists
attached to the Hospital Loyaza, Dr. Arnoldo Cano
J. and Dr. Valega. They expressed the opinion
based on their experience that so-called susto usually
turns out to be either hysteria or tuberculous menin-
gitis with an underlying history of malnutrition,
malaria, or tuberculosis, or all three.

Certainly the medical and psychiatric aspects of
this condition should be more thoroughly studied,
and I await the opportunity to carry out more in-
tensive investigations of this interesting problem.
The present tendency of the medical profession seems
to be to pooh-pooh the business, because it does not
fit neatly into the textbook definitions of diagnostic
symptoms.

It is my tentative opinion that susto is somewhat
similar to the “nervous break-down” among North

132 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Americans. Both phrases may cover, in their re-
spective cultural contexts, a variety of psychopathic
and physically pathological conditions, considered
from the strictly diagnostic point of view. Both,
however, are culturally defined escapes for the
individual from the pressures and tensions of life.
When a North American “‘can’t take it any longer,”
he has a “nervous break-down;” when a Peruvian
cholo “can’t take it,” he gets susto. Actually, de-
pending upon the configuration of the case, one
patient may have hysteria, another a depression, a
third possibly an anxiety attack. Susto also be-
comes a mechanism for calling the group’s attention
to the individual by his assumption of a culturally
patterned configuration of “symptoms.” At all events
it seems to represent at least a temporary collapse
of the psychic organization of the individual and
consequently of his ability to deal normally with his
life problems.

The treatment of nearby susto by the curing
woman already mentioned proceeds as_ follows.
Three treatments are required, on Tuesday, Friday,
and Tuesday. The materials used are as follows:
(1) The seven herbs of susto—yerba de gallinazo
negra, de gallinazo blanca, Santa Maria, ajenjo,
chocha, ruda, and campana; (2) the four waters of
susto—agua de la reina de Hungria, agua de azahar,
alcohol de melisa, agua de Buda (some curers use
five “waters,” and among them, other types of waters,
as indicated in the list of remedies) ; (3) San Mério,
an incense powder. The steps in each session of
the cure are the following. (1) The curer or the
patient, if the latter is able, strips the herbs of their
leaves and mixes the leaves together in a pile on
the ground. (2) When the “pajas” have all been
stripped, the pile of leaves is kneaded in the hands.
(3) A double escapulario is made with needle and
thread from unbleached cotton cloth; it consists of
two square bags or sacks each about 2 inches square
with two cloth connecting strips each about 18
inches long. These are called almohaditas (little
pillows). The two small sacks are stuffed with
the mixed leaves of the herbs, then sewn shut. Then
the sacks are well moistened with the mixed aguas
de susto. The patient puts his head through the
two connecting strips so that one sack of leaves hangs
over the chest, the other on the back between the
upper corners of the shoulder blades. The waters
of susto have been previously mixed together and
are kept in an ordinary pop bottle. (4) An earthen
pot of about 2-quart capacity is heated over the fire

and the remainder of the kneaded and mixed herb
leaves are placed in it and well sprinkled with the
mixed waters of susto, and kept on the fire long
enough so that the whole mass becomes lukewarm.
(5) A retiring room is made by placing an estera on
the ground or floor and leaning esteras against the
wall, so that privacy and freedom from drafts are
provided. (6) The patient goes into the retiring
room and removes his clothing and the curandera
follows with the pot of lukewarm herbs and a fry-
ing pan or plate of hot coals from the kitchen fire.
The curandera takes a handful of the moist herbs
and begins the massage (frotacién). In the first of
the series of three treatments she begins with the
feet, in the second with the back of the head, and
in the third with the feet again. In any case, with
her hand full of herbs, she makes the sign of the
cross, muttering an invocation, “En el nombre de
Dios, de la Virgen Santisima y del Rey del Cielo.”
If she is beginning with the head, she squeezes some
juice into the right ear, then into the left ear, then
rubs the back of the head, the scalp, and the face
with the wad of moist herbs. Then she works down
over the whole body. If she begins with the feet,
the massage proceeds in the opposite direction, cover-
ing all parts of the body. (7) San Mério is sprinkled
on the hot coals of the plate or frying pan, producing
a sweet-smelling smoke. The patient drapes himself
in a sheet and stands up with feet spread apart over
the coals, allowing his whole body to be smoked.
(8) The patient lies down inside the retiring room,
wrapped in a sheet and blanket. Shortly he begins
to sweat and goes to sleep. (9) The curandera
takes in her hand one of the garments removed by
the patient. This is used to call the patient’s spirit.
Waving the garment through the smoke, the curan-
dera makes the sign of the cross in the air, then calls
out in an animated voice, “Vdmonos, Juancito [or
whatever the patient’s name may be] ; vdmonos. No
te dejas. Vdmonos con nosotros; no quedas solito;
ven, vaémonos.” This calling is repeated three times,
after which the article of clothing used is placed under
the patient’s neck. (10) The curandera closes up
the retiring room tightly so that drafts cannot enter,
leaving the patient inside. (11) She then takes the
remains of the herbs and the incense to an isolated
spot. First she buries the herbs in a hole, then
spreads the ashes of the incense and coals over it
and makes the sign of the cross; then she scatters
rubbish over the spot, so that it will be unnoticeable.
If anyone digs up the herbs, harm will befall the

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 133

patient. (Pls. 22, lower (center and right), and 23
show various stages in the process of the cure.)

In case the patient has lost his soul at some distant
place, e.g., in the field, the curing ceremony just
described must be gone through at the site of the
fright. Some curers walk through the streets and
the lanes, carrying the patient’s clothing in hand
and calling loudly for the return of the soul. The
curing woman with whom I worked disapproves of
this, because it may attract the attention of evil
brujos and shapingos (evil spirits or devils).

After a treatment, the patient must be kept in bed
fora day. He is not to take milk, cow meat, plantain
or banana, or oranges. The patient can take sheep
broth or chicken broth and can eat pldtano de la isla,
sancochado. Tea made from the gratings from the
stem of the valeriana should be given frequently.
Otherwise he should eat only rice, noodles, and
“cold” foods, but plenty of them.

It should be noted that no internal medication is
given during the curing session itself.

Some curanderos use a cock’s comb instead of the
herb-stuffed escapularios mentioned in step No. 3
of the above-described treatment. The comb is cut
off the living bird, and a cross with the blood is
made on the forehead and on the base of the neck
of the patient with a verbal invocation. Then the
patient is rubbed with agua de florida sprinkled on
brown cotton, after which the comb is strung on a
string with a needle and suspended around the neck,
hanging down on the chest. This is supposed to be
especially good in the treatment of women.

If the patient recovers his normal personality and
health, it is believed that the spirit has returned to
his body. However, it is sometimes impossible to
call back the spirit and the patient dies, for it is be-
lieved that it is impossible to live with a permanent
susto (i. e., to live without one’s soul). While I
was working in Moche, a young man named H.,
about 32 years of age, died. It was widely believed
that the basis of his trouble was an uncured susto.
About 4 years previously, he had fallen down and
hurt his hand, and in the process had sustained a
violent susto. Although he received treatment, it
was impossible to secure the return of his soul, and
he continued to decline until he contracted tubercu-
losis, which killed him. This case, incidentally, is
complicated with brujeria. Many persons agreed
on the following version. He became enamored of
a certain girl, who was said to be very determined
(bien guapa; guapa here does not mean “good look-

ing” as in some other parts of Latin America, e. g.,
Guatemala): She became pregnant by him and was
resolved that he would marry her. He was working
as a collector on a bus, but she persuaded him to
give up this job so that he could be with her more.
Although other work was offered, such as road
work, she would not allow him to take it because he
would have to be away from Moche part of the time.
He became restless, would not marry her or care for
the child she bore him, and had affairs with other
women. Therefore she bewitched him or had him
bewitched. After this he became much attracted to
her and settled down with her, but shortly thereafter
fell ill of susto. He left her with three small children
at his death. It is believed that the bewitchment
prevented the return of his soul, which had been
captured by his enamorada or the brujo she had
employed. I cannot vouch for this series of events,
of course. The story is only “‘what peoole say.”

Another case was told me of a woman who fell ill
with susto and died within a year, “because she did
not believe in curandismo and would not take the
cure.’

Susto in children seems to occur most often at
about the time the child is beginning to walk and
to be weaned, about 1 year of age. The locally recog-
nized symptoms are fretfulness, low fever, “colic,”
diarrhea, pale shriveled armpit, and bloodless ear
lobe. It is of much more frequent occurrence than
susto in adults. One cannot pass over the sugges-
tion that the difficulty, whatever it may be from the
medical standpoint, seems to occur at a period of
crisis in the infant’s life, i. e., when it is making a
readjustment from the complete dependency of its
mother’s arms to the increased necessity for self-re-
liance of the toddler. There is no forcible weaning
among the Mocheros, but one child is frequently
supplanted by a younger one at his mother’s breast,
so that sibling rivalry may be one of the factors in
infantile susto as well as dietary readjustment. The
treatment session follows exactly the same steps as
those outlined above for the adult, including the
calling of the spirit, except that the child is usually
held in its mother’s arms. Plate 24 shows a series
of scenes in the treatment of infant susto. The
condition may also befall older children as well, in
which case its onset coincides with a_ specific
“fright.”

PHYSIOLOGICAL WEAKNESS

It is believed that the physiological system is at its
lowest ebb about midnight, and this is the time when

134 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

most people are said to die. The reason for this is
said to be that the world has revolved on. its axis with
the effect that at midnight in Moche everyone there
is hanging head downward, a position which upsets
the normal functions of the body and weakens it.
The bodily system is at its best just before dawn,
between 3 a. m. and 4 a.m. At this time one can
do his best work, especially intellectually, a belief
which reinforces the early rising pattern of the
Mocheros and coastal cholos in general. (It is
superfluous to point out that this early morning
period is the time when most deaths occur among
ourselves and when the body forces are at their
lowest. )

UMBILICAL HERNIA OR QUEBRADURA

Ouebradura, or umbilical hernia in infants, is re-
garded as a serious condition which must be corrected
before the child is 2 years of age at the oldest. It
is believed to be caused if either a pregnant or
menstruating visitor to the house picks up the child
in her arms. This will produce “empuje,” a strain-
ing and coughing of a particular type which induces
quebradura. Treatment may be given any day of the
week and proceeds as follows, to describe one of
several treatments I have witnessed. The mother
brings the child to the house of the curandera, bring-
ing along a pad of white surgical cotton previously
purchased in a pharmacy. The cuwrandera then goes
with the mother and child to the house of a woman
in whose garden grows a /tigarén tree. This woman
charges 50 centavos for the use of the tree. Some
twigs are broken so that they exude a white, sticky
sap, which turns brown after a period of exposure
to the air and which has a strong astringent action
on the skin. Curing takes place in the open air in
the huerta itself. It is also possible for the mother
to obtain the twigs previously and for the cure to
take place in the house of the curing woman. A flat
pad of white cotton about 4 by 6 inches in size is
thoroughly moistened on one side with the higarén
juice. A hole about 2 inches in diameter is made
in the center of the pad, which is then placed, moist
side down, on the child’s abdomen, so that the um-
bilicus appears through the perforation. Then the
curer massages and pushes down the protruding
umbilicus with her index finger so that a reflex con-
traction of the muscles of the abdominal wall is
produced and the umbilicus retracts somewhat. Then
she pours into the umbilical depression about a table-
spoonful of a white powder made from the feces of

the small lizard. This is a secret remedy not made
known to the client. Then strips and tufts of
moistened cotton are stuck onto the remaining surface
of the abdomen in more or less haphazard fashion.
Next, a pad of moistened white cotton is placed over
the umbilicus itself, but only after it has been thor-
oughly smoked in the incense of Sax Mério, pro-
duced by sprinkling this powder over live coals in
a plate. Then a binding of cotton cloth is wrapped
around the abdomen two or three times and tied to-
gether tightly in front. Usually three treatments
are given, one every other day. Then the binding
is kept in place for 15 days. When it is removed,
if the hernia is not well reduced, a final treatment
is given.

INGUINAL HERNIA OR ESTIRADURA

The curing woman cures inguinal hernia, involving
descent of the hernia into the testicles, as follows.
The condition is called estiradura, and treatment may
be given any day of the week. A pomade is made
of cebo de macho and menthol with which the groin
is first thoroughly massaged. Then the testicles
(companones), with the penis protruding, are-placed
in a suspensory bandage made of unbleached cotton
cloth, together with a paste made of matica and
compana. Next, the testicles are massaged gently
until the hernia is drawn up. The suspensory
bandage is tightened. Then a pad of white surgical
cotton well moistened with higardén is placed over
the lower abdomen or groin, and another on the small
of the back, and the two are bandaged firmly into
place with cloth which is also wrapped around the
suspensory bandage, with the penis left protruding.
The whole produces a fairly firm truss. Several
men of the community tell me that they have been
cured in this manner. One treatment is said to suf-
fice in some cases, several treatments in others. In
the latter case, the bandage is removed and treat-
ment repeated about once a week.

DISLOCATION OF THE RIBS OR TRONCHADURA
DEL PECHO

Tronchadura del pecho usually occurs in children
or infants. In the cases I have seen a lump appears
on the chest near the sternum. One has the im-
pression that it may be bowing or enlargement of
the heads of the ribs due, possibly, to rickets, but
the local explanation is that the head of a rib has
slipped out of its articulation with the sternum.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN alesis"

Treatment may take place on any day of the week.
A paste is made from cebo de macho, agua de caranga,
resin, arnica, menthol, and paico. The patient takes
a bottle in his mouth and alternately sucks and blows
hard according to the directions of the curer. This
is supposed to help bring the bone back into place.
In the meantime the curer manipulates the swelling
with her hands, attempting to reduce it. When she
has reduced it (“the bone back into place’), the
aforementioned paste is spread over the affected part
with a cloth that has been smoked in San Mério
and a tight cloth bandage is wrapped around the
chest and tied in front over the site of the swelling.
Other sprains and dislocations (tronchadures) are
treated with the same medicaments. The sprain or
dislocation is first reduced by massage and manipula-
tion, after which it is bandaged. The curing woman
does not believe in reducing such swellings by pulling
the joints by force as is done by some curanderos.

EVIL EYE ‘OR OJEO

Ojéo, or sickness caused by the evil eye, is prac-
tically always a children’s ailment. It is caused by
a glance given the child by an adult who possesses
the power to “ojear” children. Some persons have
this unfortunate power and others do not; those who
do, have it functioning at certain times and not at
others. The power is entirely involuntary and the
persons possessing it are not held accountable. One
of the respected men of the community has this
power and he cannot help himself. He is well liked
in other respects, and both he and parents take care
to keep children out of his way. Some say that this
fluctuating power is due to a “bad humor” (mal
humor) in the body which arises only on certain
days. Others say that it is due to “electricity.” At
any rate if a person thus endowed looks directly into
the face of a child, the latter falls ill with ojéo. If
the adult and the child laugh together when the
event takes place, the result is said to be much worse.

The distinctive physical symptom is that the back
of the neck and head pulsate (brincan) ; this is not
a symptom in susto. Also, the child may be hot and
feverish and restless. There may also be nausea and
vomiting. The diagnosis is made by the curandera’s
placing thumb and forefinger on the back of the head
and neck to feel the pulsating.

Medicaments which may be used are brown cotton
(algodén pardo), willow leaves, a pinch of salt. half
of a cigarette, yellow pepper (aji amarillo), cerraja,
fruit of lime, a pinch of white sugar, and water.

The treatment, which may take place only on
Tuesdays or Fridays, is as follows. (1) First the
seeds are taken out of the cotton, if not already re-
moved, so that they will not scratch the body. A
good handful of cotton bolls may be bought from the
owner of a cotton bush for 10 centavos. The seeded
cotton is made into a pad which is held in the hand,
and inside the pad is placed a yellow pepper. (2)
The curandera takes the child on her lap and says,
“En Nombre de Dios, de Jesucristo, y del Espiritu
Santo. Amen.” Then she begins to massage the
back of the head and the nape of the neck with the
cotton held in her hand. Then she proceeds to a
careful massage of the abdomen, mostly in a circular
motion, then the small of the back, then the arms.
The child’s clothing is not removed, but the massage
is given underneath it. The cotton is now stringy
and is thrown out. It must be thrown out toward
the north. (3) With the heel of the hand the curan-
dera next massages the forehead, the back of the
head, nape of the neck, and the whole face. (4) If
the child is feverish, a small can of menthol is heated
on a dish of hot coals and the contents poured into
the bare hand of the curandera who then uses it to
massage the crown of the head, the back of the neck,
and the whole body. After this, if there are no other
symptoms, the child is wrapped in a blanket and put
to sleep. It sleeps, sweats, and loses its fever and
fretfulness. (5) If the child is nauseated or is
vomiting, a special massage of the abdomen is given.
A handful of willow leaves, a pinch of salt, and half
of a cigarette are all made into a sort of wad which
can be held in the hand. It is first heated in a dish
of live coals, then used to massage the abdomen in a
circular motion. (6) For nausea a small time is cut
at one end with a knife; the incision has the form
of a cross. The lime is not squeezed. It and a
handful of cerraja leaves, well chopped up with a
knife, are boiled together in one-half cup of water.
When this mixture cools, a pinch of white sugar is
added and the liquid is given to the child internally.

Some curers precede the massage with brown
cotton by an egg treatment. An egg is broken into
an earthen pot full of water and is beaten alternately
with the right hand and the left (bare) foot of the
patient, until it coagulates. Then it is thrown out to
the north. What the purpose of this procedure is,
I am unable to say, unless in terms of homeopathic
magic the egg is taken to represent the eye which has
caused the ojé0. Informants are unable to provide
a verbal explanation.

136 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

HEART PAIN

Orange flowers, lemon flowers, and ftoronjil are
placed in a cup. Boiling water is poured over them,
after which white and red carnation petals (clavel
blanco y negro) are put into the mixture and two
drops of agua de florida are added. After the mix-
ture has cooled, a pinch of white sugar is added.
The liquid is given to the patient every morning for
a week.

VENEREAL DISEASE

Syphilis and gonorrhea do not seem to be clearly
recognized among the Mocheros, nor have I seen
much evidence of them among the people. However,
it is recognized that men sometimes get sores (dlagas )
on their sexual organs. As a treatment for this
condition oil of canime (aceite de canime) and
hydrogen peroxide (agua oxigenada) are used.
First the sore is washed with the peroxide, then the
oil is applied and a bandage tied on.

COLIC (COLICO)

The symptoms are extreme abdominal pain, some-
times in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen.
The idea of appendicitis is not clear either to curers
or to lay informants. “Colic” probably covers indi-
gestion, liver and gall bladder trouble, appendicitis,
and all abdominal pains. Treatment is as follows.
(1) Three stalks of the leaves of the yerba santa are
washed in a basin of water and wrung out. The
water itself, by now green, is thrown away, but the
pulpy leaves are placed in a bottle. (2) Two corn-
cobs of the red variety (tusas negras) are burned or
toasted until they are carbonized. They are then
put in a pot with water and boiled, stirred meanwhile
with a spoon. The resulting water is then poured
into the bottle on top of the yerba santa pulp. (3)
Then a tablespoonful of sugar—one-half raw, one-
half burnt white sugar—is added. (4) About two
tablespoonfuls of the liquid is administered to the
patient. (5) The first result is vomiting. (6)
After the patient has vomited, a whole cupful of the
liquid is given; the result is a strong purgative action.

Apparently the Mocheros do not suffer much from
infected appendixes. Otherwise I would have heard
more about conditions resembling peritonitis as an
aftermath of this treatment.

PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH

These matters are not necessarily handled by curers
who treat susto, ojéo, and the like, although some

women who specialize in curandismo are also mid-
wives. The profession of midwife (partera or
curiosa) is, however, more generalized and less
esoteric than that of curandera. Nevertheless it is a
speciality in Moche, and it is not customary for
women to be delivered by untutored, unspecialized
members of their families.

It is well-known among Mocheros that sexual in-
tercourse is the cause of pregnancy and that the stop-
page of menstruation is an indication of its onset. It
is popularly believed that a male child is born 8
months and 8 days after conception, whereas the term
of a female child is 9 months and 9 days. According
to a partera who explained her calling to me, it is pos-
sible to determine the sex of the child after the seventh
month. The midwife palpates the head of the foetus
in the woman’s abdomen; if the head is hard, the child
will be a male; if soft, it will be a female. Neither
parteras or lay informants have any theory of pre-
determination of sex. This is purely a matter of
chance (‘‘casualidad’”’), and there is no other ex-
planation.

I did not witness a delivery in Moche, and the fol-
lowing information concerning midwifely techniques
was obtained from midwives and from women who
had passed through the experience.

After a woman knows that she is pregnant, or at
least after the seventh month, she retains a midwife,
who advises her for a period before childbirth. In
general, there seem to be no stringent rules for preg-
nant women. They go about their usual duties, nurse
their latest child, and have sexual intercourse, even
during the last months. They are not supposed to
bend over or lift heavy loads during the last 2 months,
and it is advisable, although not required, to eat only
“cold foods.”

When the labor pains begin, the midwife is called
and the patient lies on her back either on a bed or on
a mat on the floor. The midwife massages the abdo-
men from above downward, but does not have the
patient sit up. No ropes or poles are provided for
the patient to pull on, nor are any instruments used
by the midwife, although a tight band is usually bound
about the upper abdomen. During labor the midwife
palpates the abdomen in order to determine the type
of presentation. If it appears that a breech presenta-
tion, or some other abnormality is in the making, a
member of the family is sent at once to the telephone
office to call an ambulance from Trujillo. Some mid-
wives claim to be able to work a transverse foetus
around into the proper position with their hands, but

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN ilLs¥e

all agree that only a hospital can handle a breech
presentation. A typical attitude toward antisepsis
is reflected by my conversation with one midwife.
Since her hands always appeared dirty, I asked her if
she washed them before delivering a child. She
smiled and tossed her head, saying “Si, si” as if it
were a matter of small importance. This same mid-
wife claims, however, never to have lost a patient in
childbirth and that puerperal fevers are unknown in
Moche. The latter claim is doubtful on the basis of
lay information. Some cases were mentioned of mid-
wives extracting dead foetuses with their hands, but
apparently most such cases are handled in the hos-
pital.

In order to ease the labor pains, agua de albahaca
and port wine are given by mouth, as much as a glass-
ful. A punch made of port wine and chicha is also
said to be helpful. Camphor oil is massaged on the
stomach to hasten the birth. On the whole, there
seem to be few magically colored attitudes involved
in childbirth; both patients and midwives proceed in
a strictly businesslike and secular manner.

It is said that most women bear relatively easily ;
midwives say that the average labor of multiparous
women is 5 hours. Several cases of primaparas stay-
ing in labor for over 20 hours were mentioned to me,
however. If labor lasts 24 hours without delivery,
the patient is usually taken to the hospital. The mid-
wife seeks to avoid a dry birth by administering by
mouth an infusion of jerania flowers.

The birth takes place in bed or in a reclining posi-
tion. To start the child crying and breathing, the
midwife picks it up by the feet and pats it on the but-
tocks. In stubborn cases, she lays it on its stomach
and places a newly hatched chick on its buttocks.
When the chick pecks the babe invariably comes to
life, according to the parteras. The umbilical cord
is cut with unsterilized scissors the width of four
fingers from the child’s abdomen and is tied with
cotton sewing thread. The mother is then required
to stand up, spread her feet out, and shake herself
until the placenta is expelled. It must then be buried
in the floor of the kitchen by the midwife. If it is
touched or dug up by anyone else, “the mother will
die.” The umbilical cord falls off eventually. No
attention is paid to it. The child’s abdomen is bound
with a bandage of cotton cloth. To clear the eyes of
the newborn child, the midwife bathes them with
white cotton moistened with drops of boric acid solu-
tion. The ears are cleaned with a toothpick and cot-
ton, but very carefully, to avoid breaking the drums.

653348°—47—10

The newborn is given a cloth nipple to suck for 3
days after birth. This contains a starch compound
(amid6n compucsto) mixed with powdered sugar and
is said to have the dual virtue of providing nourish-
ment and cleaning the infant’s system. If the child
has colic, it is given a few drops of agua de anis de
estrella.

To stop uterine hemorrhage, rumilanche and a few
drops of iodine are mixed in boiling water and in-
jected hot into the vagina with a douche bag and noz-
zle. A preventive of recurring hemorrhages is tara
boiled in water. To this infusion are added jerania
flowers well cut up. The liquid is given by mouth.
Eight days is the standard lying-in period, although
some women habitually get up after 3 days and others
lie in as long as 2 weeks. Only “cold” foods should
be eaten. Chicha helps to increase the mother’s milk.
A wet nurse is used, if necessary, usually a relative or
acomadre. This is seldom required.

The Peruvian Ministry of Health has been carrying
on a campaign against infant mortality, and attempts
to persuade women to have their children delivered
in hospitals. This service may be had free or at a
nominal charge, and a number of women in Moche
have been converted to this method and always go to
Trujillo. In cities, certified, registered female mid-
wives, who have passed an officially approved short
course are available. Asa sidelight on the impression
made by these modern facilities, I quote from my
notes the substance of a conversation with a woman
who is not a Mochera but who has lived years in
Moche and is married to a Mochero, whom she met
while he was working in Lima. Although she comes
from a cholo working-class family in Lima, she is
well acculturated to Moche ways.

Two men and I dropped into this woman’s house for some
chicha and causa one afternoon. The woman received us
heartily and told us the news that the woman next door had
just given birth to a robust male infant. This provided an
opening for the discussion of childbirth customs, and the
sejiora, who is the mother of six, was far from bashful. In
fact, her frankness in discussing such matters with three men
was surprising to a North American. It was as if this were
one subject on which she, as a mother, was a clearly recog-
nized authority and concerning which no one present could
easily contradict her. We shall skip over her remarks about
the technique of childbirth, which have been abstracted, to-
gether with information from other informants, in the
material which has gone before. She said that the midwives
charge about what the traffic will bear within a range of
from 3 to 15 soles. She herself has never paid more than
10 soles in Moche. One time in Lima, however, she said she
had a terrible experience. She fell into the hands of a
profesora (an officially qualified midwife). Our friend was

138 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

scandalized by the requirements and the costs which this
expert laid upon her. First and last it cost her about 100
soles ($15.30) to have her baby, and the profesora was always
coming around before the birth, prescribing clean sheets for
the bed, a mountain of paraphernalia for the delivery (which
took place in the house), many “useless” medicines, and so
on. In the opinion of the sefiora such fussiness is entirely
unnecessary and nothing but an affectation and excuse for
getting money out of poor women. If she ever allows her-
self to get involved with a profesora again, she knows that
she will be ready for the manicomiio (insane asylum). The
Moche midwives are quite good enough tor her or for any
self-respecting woman, she says.

LAY CURING

Many of the remedies in the list (p. 139) are used
by ordinary laymen and women just as North Ameri-
cans use household or old wives’ remedies. We shall
omit further description of these therapeutic meas-
ures, contenting ourselves with a brief discussion of
chucaque and secretos.

CHUCAQUE

A certain complex of rather vague symptoms is
called chucaque. In general, it is a feeling of “being
out of sorts”; one feels a slight stiffness in the mus-
cles, may have an upset stomach with a feeling of
nausea, a slight headache, and the like. It generally
appears after a shock of some sort which produces ego
deflation or an upset of the emotional balance. For
example, one of my informants fell off his horse while
riding with me and some other men back from a visit
to the campiia. This embarrassed him. Next day he
felt bad until given the treatment for chucaque.
Although it is described in the literature as precipi-
tated by “shame” (vergiiensa) ,°3 the word was never
used in describing or discussing the condition by my
friends in Moche.

In Moche all adult men are able to cure chucaque,
although some are better at it than others. The
treatment which might be called the native version of
chiropraxis or osteopathy is as follows: (1) The
patient is given a general massage of the face, back

®3 Camino Calderon (1942, p. 201) states: ‘In Arequipa they call
Trocadura that which in the north is called Chucaque. It consists in
the malaise (malestar) produced by a feeling of shame (vergiienza).””
In Lima it is called pavo (fear). According to Valdizin and Maldo-
nado (1922, vol. 1, p. 102), chucaque is especially widespread in the
north, in the Departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and
Cajamarca. They speak of it as a syndrome found in a person who
has suffered strong shame (vergiienza): vomiting, diarrhea, pains in
the stomach. They give the treatment as follows. Head is massaged
with open palms of the curer. He spits on the hair of the patient
several times in several directions. Then he rolls a lock of hair in
thumb and index hair and pulls it out with a cracking noise, which
“breaks the chucaque.’”” Then both ears are jerked downward. After-

ward the patient drinks an injusion of the leaves of chileno and the
ashes of tocoyu dissolved in water.

of the neck, shoulders, arms and trunk, without
removing his clothes. The curer uses only his bare
hands. (2) The patient’s arms are folded across
his diaphragm tightly, so that a hand protrudes on
each side. The operator stands behind the patient.
With his right hand, he grasps the patient’s left, and
with his left hand grasps the patient’s right hand.
Now he pulls hard with both arms so that the
patient’s folded arms are pulled tightly across his
trunk. Then with a swift series of jerks the patient
is lifted off his feet and bent backward sharply by the
operator. Usually the operator places his knee in
the small of the patient’s back and continues jerking
until there is a cracking sound in the patient’s
vertebral column. (3) Next the operator, still
standing behind the patient, places his right palm
open against the lower right jaw of the patient and
his left hand is held in position to steady the patient’s
head while, in a series of quick jerks, the right hand
rotates the patient’s head sharply several times to the
left until a cracking noise comes from the neck. This
is repeated in complementary fashion on the other
side until the “neck cracks.”

Brutal as this treatment may sound, it has a sooth-
ing and relaxing effect, as I can personally testify.
Psychologically speaking, I can only surmise that the
treatment serves to shock the patient out of his

‘feeling of inferiority or anxiety by reducing his

internal tensions. Whatever may be the internal
neurological and physiological mechanisms involved,
the patient usually loses his physical symptoms as
well as his anxiety feeling. He drinks a glass or two
of pisco with his curer and the whole thing is for-
gotten. Men perform these cures for each other
without payment. However, it is believed that
chucaque must be cured without delay; otherwise it
will persist and become worse.

SECRETOS

Secretos are of two types, children’s and adults’.
They are made of woolen yarn. Small babies have a
red yarn tied around the left ankle. It is believed
to prevent empujes, such as those which produce
umbilical hernia. Such strains are caused by a
particular type of evil influence which menstruating
women, especially, exude, and the secreto prevents
the entrance of this power into the child’s body.
Cords of any color are worn by grown persons on the
wrist or above the elbow to prevent “cramps” (ca-
lambres), and it is stoutly maintained that they are
very effective.

GENERAL REMEDIES USED IN CURING

Below, I have itemized a selection of the plants,
remedies, and apparatus used in curing in Moche.
Not being a botanist, I do not vouch for the scientific
names, which I give only so that readers unfamiliar
with the local terminology may have some clew for
identifying the plants or substances mentioned. The
scientific names have been determined by comparing
the common Moche names with common names
given by Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2), by
following a similar process in certain other literature,
and by consulting with Dr. Nicolas Angulo, who, in
addition to an extensive medical practice, teaches
one course of botany in the University of Trujillo.
Dr. Angulo is the favorite médico of the Mocheros.
He will come at any time of day or night in response
to a call, his charges are reasonable, and he does not
press for collections. All this, in addition to his
skill as a physician and his geniality as a man, has
made him the most trusted of the scientific medical
men with whom the Mocheros are in contact. Dr.
Angulo is also a scientist of wide interests in anthro-
pology and botany, in both of which fields he has
published a number of papers. Up to the moment,
however, he has not had sufficient time to complete
his studies in ‘‘popular medicine,” a project in which
he is much interested. I hereby express my appreci-
ation to Dr. Angulo for his many kindnesses, includ-
ing his placing at my disposal such information as he
possessed concerning botanical identifications of
plants used in native curing.

I also wish to express my appreciation to Sefior
Juan Llontop, proprietor of one of Trujillo’s leading
drug stores, who furnished the information incor-
porated in the following notes concerning the
pharmaceutical preparation of certain items habitu-
ally obtained by the Mocheros from the drug stores
of Trujillo. Sefior Llontop, although he received his
professional training in Lima, was reared in the
northern ‘‘Mochica” community of Monsefu, and his
family name is one of the oldest and most dis-
tinguished among the genuine natives of that com-
munity.

Except when otherwise noted, scientific botanical
names in the list given below are those given by
' Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2).

The bulk of the articles used in the mesa de bru-
jeria are listed and explained in the section with that
title.

In every market in the Sierra there are several
stalls or places on the pavement occupied by sellers

1

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 139

of herbs and simples, with the various products set
out before them in small cloth sacks with their tops
open and rolled down. In the Sierra these medicine-
sellers are called callahuayas and in Arequipa, arro-
ceros. There are no such vendors in the Moche
market. In the Trujillo market some of these
products can often be obtained, but the variety and
selection is not as wide as in a typical Sierra market
or in the market at Chiclayo. The supplies used by
the curers and brujos of Moche are mostly obtained
in Trujillo, in Chiclayo, and from itinerant peddlers,
called médicos bolivianos, who visit Moche about
once or twice a year.

The following list of remedies can only be con-
sidered a set of notes which, haply, may serve to
round out the picture of folk medicine in Moche until
such time as the material at hand can be more fully
studied and until further investigations can take
place. It would be very helpful to have a thorough-
going pharmaceutical study of the materia medica.

Aceite de aleanfor. Camphor oil, used for massage. Ob-
tained in pharmacies.

Aceite de camine. Obtained in pharmacies and used in
treatment of sores, particularly venereal lesions.

Agua de azahar. A pharmacy preparation, orange-flower
water, one of the “waters of susto.”

Agua de espanto. A pharmacy preparation, distilled water
of rosemary (romero). One of the “waters of susto.”

Agua de la Reina de Hungria. A pharmacy preparation,
one of the “waters of susto.” Distilled water of lavender.

Agua de melisa. A pharmacy preparation, “water of
balm,” (distilled water of toronjil) which is one of the
aguas de susto (waters of susto).

Agua florida. A patent preparation obtainable in the phar-
macies; something like eau de cologne, alcoholic and
heavily scented. One of the “waters of susto” and also
essential in the brujeria seance. Original is manufactured
in the United States. A Peruvian imitation is now on the
market; brujos and curanderos claim that the national
product does not have the power of the original.

Agua oxigenada. Hydrogen peroxide, obtained in phar-
macies.

Ajenjo. Apparently a species of wormwood (Artemisia
sp.). Some persons grow it in huertas for curing purposes.
Dried stalks may also be purchased in the pharmacies.

Albahaca. Grown in gardens and used as a pain killer in
childbirth.

Angelote, peje perro. A large fish egg, sometimes about
the size of a goose egg. Consists of a mass looking like
egg yolk enclosed in a tough membranelike covering. Small
quantities are given with food. Each specimen sells for
3 to 4 soles, depending on size.

Altamis. When one has “cold bones,” leaves of this plant
are heated and bound onto the leg or arm where com-
plaint is.

Algodon pardo (Gossypium sp. ?; not definitely identified
in literature). In Moche this variety of cotton is grown

140 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

in huertas and sometimes along roadsides. Those who own
bushes sell the cotton to those who need it. The cotton is
light brown in color, streaked or uneven in tone, ranging
from almost yellow to dark brown. After being separated
from the seeds, it is rolled into strands or loose rolls about
as big as the little finger and these in turn are made into
a small pad or mass used for massaging the body, in ojéo.
The cotton is also used by curers and frequently by
witches, in other types of curing. It is not moistened or
medicated, but is believed to have a special power in
removing magically caused ailment.

Amor seco (Bidens sp.). In Moche is taken as an infusion
to cure inflammation of the stomach and liver, especially
after heavy drinking. It is said to reduce “inflammation”
of these organs.

Anis estrellado, or agua de anis de estrella. A pharmacy
preparation, one of the “waters of susto.” Anis seeds
are mascerated and infused in water.

Arnica. Made in the pharmacies; a tincture of the mas-
cerated flowers steeped in low-grade alcohol for 10 days.
Used for sprains, etc.

Balsamo de Buda. A standard pharmaceutical formula,
also known as balsamo fioravanti. Used in cure of susto.

Borico. Boric acid powder obtained in the pharmacies.
Made into solution at home and used as an antiseptic by
some curers.

Brocamelia. Flowers made into infusion, which is drunk
for cough.

Campana, floribundo. A small tree with lilylike leaves;
flowers are rubbed together in the hands and bandaged
over an inflammation.

Carafa. Officinal preparation of the pharmacies, composed
of essence of turpentine, beeswax, Burgundy pitch (pez de
Borgona), and coloring matter. Used as an application
for curing umbilical hernia and gumboils.

Cebo de macho. Fat extracted from mules; a pharmacy
preparation; used in cure of sprains and bone breaks.

Cebolla, onion (Allium cepa, identified by Angulo). An
infusion is made for pneumonia, composed of three pieces
of ollin and three heads of the white onion, to which is
added a cup of cognac. Taken by mouth.

Cerraja (unideftified). Infusion of the stems used in
Moche as a cure for colic. Leaves also may be used for
making infusion, although they are said not to contain the
medicinal element in large quantities.

Clavel, carnation (Dianthus sp., identified by Angulo).
Flowers as an infusion for cardiac trouble.

Cola de caballo (Equisetum xylochaetum, E. giganteum).
Given as an infusion for kidney trouble in Moche. In
other parts of Peru, according to Valdizan and Maldonado
(1922, vol. 2, p. 37), used as follows: As a decoction for
washing old rebellious ulcers; decoction used as a collusive
in all affections of the mouth and for washing stubborn
acne of the face; the infusion enjoys prestige as a con-
strictor and is used for combating all kinds of hemor-
rhages; also used as a dissolvent of renal calculus and as a
diuretic and emmenagogue, in the Department of Lima.
Used as a stimulant and for illnesses of the liver in Ica.

Congona (Peperomia congona sidro, identified by Angulo).
Given in infusion for heart trouble.

Corpusuay (Gencianacea sp.?, according to Angulo).
Given by mouth as infusion for malaria and also for
kidney trouble.

Culen (Psoralea glandulosa, according to Angulo). Used
in Moche as a stomachic. Valdizan and Maldonado (ibid.,
pp. 78-79) give following information concerning medici-
nal use of P. lasiostachys and P. pubescens: The ancient
Araucanians cured their wounds with culen, according to
Guevara; nowadays is given by mouth as an infusion for
diarrhea in Ambo, Huancayo, Hualgayoc, and Loreto; re-
ported as a decoction with celery and burned bread ad-
ministered by mouth for diarrhea in Ambo; reported as a |
decoction for foot baths in Arequipa; as an infusion by
mouth as a carminative and vermifuge in Lima, Cajamarca,
and Piura; as a sudorific in Cajamarca and Piura; as an
infusion with bread and burned sugar by mouth for indi-
gestion in Cajamarca; as an infusion by mouth in infantile
enteritis in Huaylas; in infusion as an astringent and in
decoction as a purgative in Santiago de Chuco; in infusion
by mouth as a stomachic and carminative in Cailloma.

Cuncuna (Vallesia dichotoma, according to Angulo). In
Moche said to be used for bubonic plague. Poultices are
made with it and salt of ammonia (sal de amoniaco) and
applied to the buboes, while enemas are administered made
of an infusion of the leaves.

Chamico. A weed, the dried leaves of which are smoked
in cigarettes as cure for asthma.

Chicoria (Hypochoeris sp., according to Angulo). In
Moche used in infusion as an antimalarial; in a warm
bath as an emollient.

Chilco macho (unidentified). In Moche used in cure of
tronchadura (dislocation of-joint or sprain). Leaves are
bound hot onto affected part with bandages. Also bound
over a broken bone “to keep out the cold.” Sometimes
single leaves are stuck on as a form of sticking plaster
without bandages. According to Valdizan and Maldonado
(1922, vol. 2, p. 394), it is used in Piura in decoction as a
bath in cure of tumors and exuberances created by the
cold.

Chocho. Unidentified green plant used in curing.

Flor de arena (unidentified). In Moche used in infusion
externally as an emollient in inflammations and boils.

Flor muerta. A yellow flower which is cooked into a paste
and stuffed into an aching tooth.

Flor de overo (Cordia rotumbifolia, according to Angulo).
The flowers in an infusion are given internally for liver
trouble.

Grama dulce (Cynodon dactylon, according to Angulo).
Infusion of the leaves administered internally as a diuretic.
Valdizan and Maldonado (ibid., p. 45) say it is widely
used for same purpose, also that freshly squeezed juice is
used in drops to remove “clouds” from the eyes, in
Arequipa.

Higer6én. White cotton is moistened with the sap after .
which it is applied to the abdomen of child with umbilical
hernia.

Huanarpo (Jatropha macrantha). Powder used in wine
and other drinks as a love charm and aphrodisiac.

Jerania. Flowers used to prevent hemorrhages.

Llantén (Plantago major, and other species). Used ex-
ternally in decoction for pimples in Moche; also, infusion

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 141

of leaves mixed with aceite rosado is applied to inflamma-
tions. According to Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2,
p. 330), is used in decoction as an astringent wash for
wounds in Arequipa; as astringent in ocular affections in
Loreto and Huancayo; leaves fried in oil as an analgesic
in earache in northern Peru; infusion or maceration of
leaves given in enemas for bloody stools; decoction with
barley, yedra (ivy), verdolaga (purslane), and altea (mal-
low) in pulmonary hemoptisis (Arequipa); decoction
made with leaves of rosemary, to which, when cool, beaten
white of egg is added, taken by mouth to stop bloody
vomit (Arequipa) ; widely used against hemorrhages of
all kinds and against inflammations.

Maichill (Thevetia nerufolia). In Moche an infusion is
used for bathing wounds and pimples. According to
Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. 283), the seeds
are poisonous and are used in some parts for killing dogs;
in the jungle regions the stringed nuts are used as cascabels.

Maiz blanco, white corn kernels. Used in setting up a
brujeria mesa. White corn is specified.

Malva real. A roadside green plant, used in enemas.

Marrajudia (unidentified). A drop of the milk is used in
the eye to remove film.

Matico, yerba de soldado, cordoncillo (Piper angustifol-
ium). Taken as an infusion of the leaves for cough and
as a douche for inflammations of the vagina. According
to Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, pp. 130-132),
the pulverized leaves are widely used to cicatrize the
umbilicus of the newborn child and an infusion of the
leaves is generally used to bathe wounds. Also reported
as a pectoral from Santiago de Chuco.

Menthol. “Mentholatum” or a proprietary imitation of this
mentholated salve. Obtained in the Trujillo pharmacies
and also in the Moche tiendas, usually in small tin cans
about the size of a half dollar.

Molle (Schinus molle). A small berrylike fruit growing on
a bushlike tree native to Peru. In Moche the leaves are
bound on sprains, in hot form, so that “cold does not enter
the bones.” Fruit is sometimes eaten; in other areas
chicha is made from it, but only rarely in Moche.

Nogal (Juglans regia, J. neotropica). The first species was
apparently introduced by the Spanish after the time of
Padre Cobo, as he does not mention it. Professor Weber-
bauer has found J. neotropica growing wild in the valley
of the Utcubamba and the jungles of the Montafia, accord-
ing to Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. 135). In
Moche an infusion of the leaves is used internally as a
pectoral and in douches for vaginal baths, also as a bath
for all types of inflammations. It is also reported as an
astringent in uterine baths in Arequipa and Lima, as a
wash for wounds in Lima, and as a cough remedy in the
Department of Lima and, with boiled milk, for the same
purpose in Arequipa. A decoction made of scrapings of
the wood is taken internally to reestablish menstruation, in
Arequipa. And in the south, leaves are placed under the
pillow as a cure for insomnia (Valdizan and Maldonado,
loc. cit.).

Paico (Chenopodium ambrosioides). In Moche the leaves
are removed, heated moist, and bound in a poultice on any
painful part of the body. According to Valdizin and
Maldonado, Cobo gives the following information of

aboriginal uses: Leaves were applied in the form of a
poultice to any tumor to reduce it; this species was also
used to reduce flatulency, for which purpose it was eaten,
or cooked with mua, drunk hot before breakfast with
some aji; paico eaten with much salt reduces the swellings
of gouty legs. In modern Peru, according to Valdizan and
Maldonado (vol. 2, pp. 146-147), the leaves are eaten as
seasoning in food; leaves also eaten as a vermifuge;
cooked root is applied as an astringent to bleeding wounds;
it is given internally as an infusion for susto in Huancayo;
cooked leaves mixed with borraja (Borago officinalis) in
cure of “caracha’’; it is said that roasted leaves are eaten
to counteract chills and “aire” in Trujillo; also, the juice
is taken to stop diarrhea; in Cutervo, an infusion of three
hearts of paico, taken 3 mornings successively with a Pater
Noster each morning, is believed to increase intelligence.

Pez, resin. Obtainable in the pharmacies.
Pie de perro. In Moche used in infusion as emollient and

diuretic.

Polvo de lagartija. Pulverized, dried, white feces of the

small lizard; used in cure of umbilical hernia and placed
on navel of newborn child to hasten healing and to prevent
rupture.

Rabo flaire. Roots are mashed up and used as infusion,

mixed with infusions of chicoria and verbena in enemas.

Romero, rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), In Moche an

infusion of the leaves is taken internally for heart trouble;
also appears as a pharmaceutical preparation, agua de
espanto, one of the “waters of susto.” For inflammations,
especially of the eyes, an infusion of the flowers. Accord-
ing to Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. 291), this
plant was brought to Peru in 1579 by Alonso Gutierrez
from Spain.

Rosa de castilla (Rosa indica, according to Angulo). The

infusion of the leaves is administered internally as a purga-
tive and in douches for vaginal baths.

Ruda (Ruta graveolens). In Moche the plant, minus the

roots, is used in raw form to give massages in the cure
of susto. The stalks which have been used in curing are
then placed on the ground under the growing plant. Ifa
brujo wishes to do harm to the person who has been cured,
he kills the growing plant. This causes the susto to
return, as well as the appearance of other symptoms. Also
used in decoction as an agent to promote menstrual flow
and as an abortifacient. Used also against brujeria, to
attract women, and also for good luck and good times.
Elsewhere in Peru, say Valdizin and Maldonado (1922,
vol. 2, p. 221), the temples are massaged with the leaves
for “aire” in Arequipa and Ambo; an infusion or powder
of the leaves is used internally for dismenorrhea and as
abortifacient ; a decoction is administered in enemas as a
vermifuge; the stems are used to stop the nosebleed of
serroche (mountain sickness); infusion of the stems in
southern Peru for palpitations, hysteria, and in general
as an antispasmodic; infusion of the leaves drunk for
epilepsy in Loreto, etc.

Rumilanchi. Used as an infusion to promote menstrual

flow and as an emollient.

San Juan. A creeping vine with a yellow flower. Body of

an asustado is rubbed with the whole raw plant.

142 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

a

San Mério. <A type of incense powder obtained from the
pharmacy, composition unknown to me. In Moche the
smoke is used for magical fumigation in various cures,
including that of susto and quebradura. Sr. Llontop tells
me that it is taken internally by the criollo public of
Trujillo to cure pneumonia, dissolved in weak alcohol and
mixed with a small quantity of white kerosene. Also, it
is used in the form of plasters on the chest, mixed with
boiled onions and lard.

San Pedro (family of the Cactaceae, according to Camino
Calderén, 1942, p. 205). Used in Moche in brujeria
seances. It is a fluted cactus stem and must have at least
four flutings ; the more flutings, the more power.

Santa Maria (family of Liliaceae, according to Angulo).
In Moche the leaves are heated over the fire, and the
whole body is massaged with them in cure of susto. Also
taken internally in infusion for correcting menstruation,
according to Angulo. Also, leaves used to make a tea
drunk with meals as a beverage.

Savila (Aloe vera, A. abyssinica). In Moche it is believed
that when a brujo enters the house, the savila hanging over
the door will turn red and even, in some cases, exude
drops of blood. According to Valdizan and Maldonado
(1922, vol. 2, p. 199), this plant was brought from Spain
in the first years of the Conquest. In addition to its power
to protect from brujeria, which is general throughout
Peru, these authors say that it is in use as a general
antidote for poison.

Sombrerita. A lilylike low-growing ground plant; an in-
fusion is drunk for kidney trouble (dolores de los rifiones).

Tamarindo. Fruit used as a purgative.

Tara (Caesalpinia tinctoria). In Moche an infusion of the
vine is used as a vaginal douche to cure white discharge
and uterine hemorrhages. Valdizan and Maldonado (1922,
vol. 2, pp. 209-210) indicate that it has a general use in
Peru as an astringent.

Toronjil (Melissa officinalis). In Moche used as a sto-
machic and in heart trouble; also as a pharmaceutical
preparation, one of the “waters of susto.”

Turre. In Moche a cure for scurvy. The root is mashed
up and a bit of bicarbonate of soda and some drops of
lemon mixed with it, to which is added boiled water.
Taken internally.

Valeriana. Used in susto and as a heart remedy.

Veneno. A plant used for curing in Moche. The leaves

are mascerated and mixed with or moistened with agua
de florida. The whole mass is sewn into a cloth scapular
and hung around the neck as a protection against susto,
especially in children.

Verdolaga, purslane (Portulaca peruviana, P. oleracea).
Infusion of stems as diuretic in Moche. Valdizan and
Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. 151) report the following
uses in various parts of Peru: Applied as a plaster to
the abdomen in certain dysenteries, in southern Peru;
seeds used as emmenagogues and vermifuges; trunk or
stem as infusion for liver trouble in Loreto; decoction
given as refreshing enema in burning fevers (Piura);
also as cooling agent, sedative, and antiscorbutic (Cuzco).

Verbena (Verbena littoralis, according to Angulo; V.
bonariensis, according to Valdizan and Maldonado). Root
only in infusion used as an antimalarial and emollient in
Moche. Elsewhere, according to Valdizan and Maldonado
(1922, vol. 2, p. 228): Decoction for pernicious ulcers in
Arequipa; for malaria in Ayachucho and Loreto; as a
poultice of the leaves to relieve pain and superation in the
liver (Ica); powder drunk in old wine for liver trouble
in Arequipa; decoction taken with salt and lemon as a
purgative in the north; decoction taken as mouth wash
for toothache in Cajamarca; poultice of leaves as hemo-
static in small wounds; decoction in enemas during typhoid
fever in Loreto; decoction by mouth for colic in Puno;
decoction by mouth as a febrifuge in Huaylas.

Yedra, ivy. Leaves and stems are mascerated and made
into an infusion which is used to bathe irritations of the
skin. Not mentioned by Valdizan and Maldonado.

Yerba de gallinazo (Chenopodium opulifolium; C. murale,
according to Angulo). Leaves and stalks in raw form
used for massage by curanderas in Moche, in cure of susto,
especially in adults.

Yerba mora. A small plant with long white flowers, used
in enemas.

Yerbaliza, yerba Luisa (Andropogon schoenanthus). Used
as a standard beverage in Moche, also believed to have
stomachic properties. WValdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol.
2, p. 113) say that this plant is native to the north and
center of India and was unknown in Peru until introduced
by the Spanish. They report that it is used as a carmina-
tive in Lima, Arequipa, and Loreto.

Yerba santa. Leaves are boiled and bound onto a wound
in a poultice, especially good also for boils and pimples.

RELIGION

THE VARIOUS RELIGIONS OF MOCHE

Strictly speaking, the “religious” parts of a cultural
system are those complexes—orientations, trends, and
objectives—which invariably involve symbolic pat-
terns dealing with the supernatural. In other words,
“religion” in cultural anthropology refers to cultural
beliefs and practices based upon notions of super-
natural or extranatural power and/or beings. In this
broad field, Moche culture is a mixture or mosaic as in
so many other areas.

In the foregoing section on

Native Medicine and Magical Curing much of the
“religion” of Moche has been described. In this sec-
tion I shall deal briefly with certain religious beliefs
and practices associated with the Roman Catholic
Church. Before opening this subject, however, it is
worth noting several divergent trends in Moche re-
ligious culture and thus in the religious thinking and
acting of the typical individual. Underlying all is a
common body of rather generalized and amorphous
ways of thinking which we might call the substratum

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 143

of folk magic. These can be classified into the two
hackneyed categories of sympathetic and contagious
magic. For example, the fact that the aphrodisiac
huanarpo looks like the human sexual organs is an
important fact of sympathetic magic, whatever its
pharmaceutical properties may be. The use of a
garment of the patient in the cure of susto is, on the
other hand, based upon concepts of contagious magic.
Both of these types of concepts, if not universal, are
at least very common among peoples in all parts of
the world.

In Moche these basic magical beliefs, together with
later accretions and concepts of “higher religion,”
have been organized into at least two cultural orien-
tations or institutions. These are (1) the institution
of witchcraft which has its (a) white and (b) black
subdivisions, related to each other in opposition ; and
(2) the institution of the Roman Catholic religion
which, as we shall see, aside from the central body
of approved doctrine, is manifested in a number of
subsidiary or peripheral patterns, and which also has
its opposition aspect in a number of beliefs surround-
ing the Devil. Although witchcraft in its “white”
aspect, at least, has made some concessions or bows
to Christianity (e.g., use of saints’ pictures in divin-

‘ing, the invocations, presence of the cross on the mesa,
etc.), nevertheless witchcraft as a cultural institution
is functionally entirely separate from institutionalized
Christianity. Thus there are at least two fairly well
organized bodies of religious beliefs and practices
which function in a “parallel” fashion in Moche and
are not functionally interrelated, even in the sense of
being opposed to each other. On the whole, witch-
craft tends to be individualistic and divisive, socially
speaking, and anxiety-raising, psychologically speak-
ing, while Christianity tends to be unifying in its
social effects and anxiety-reducing in its psychological
results.

Historically each of these systems is in itself de-
rived from various cultural backgrounds. The com-
plexity of Christian history is familiar to all, and in
Moche is further heightened by cultural changes
wrought in the institution of the church since its im-
portation at the time of the Conquest. The tracing
in detail of the various historical components of witch-
craft must wait for another publication, but it is
obvious that Moche witchcraft at present is a fusion
of both coastal and Sierra elements, which originally
belonged to entirely separate cultural traditions. The
recognition of this historical diversity of the religious
orientations of Moche—and other Latin American

communities—is important from a functional point of
view, if it prevents us from falling into one of the
common errors of identification. We cannot merely
dismiss the diverse patterns in this kind of situation
by saying without qualification that the Mocheros are
“Christians” or that they have “Inca” witchcraft, or
“Chimu” magic, or something relatively simple of that
sort. In religion as in respect to its cultural system
as a whole, Moche is not “European,” nor is it “In-
dian.”

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

There are said to be about 30 Protestants (“Evan-
gelistas”) among the Mocheros, apparently Seventh
Day Adventists. They have no chapel at present, and
they hold their meetings in private homes. Other-
wise everyone in Moche is nominally Roman Catholic.
The Mocheros take pride in being “very religious”
and they have this reputation in Trujillo and else-
where. Specifically, “very religious” and “very de-
voted” mean that the community makes a good
showing in the performance of the various religious
fiestas.

The dogma and rituals of the Roman Catholic
Church are, so far as I know, faithfully followed by
the local priest, who also serves the port town of
Salaverry.

Our discussion is limited to certain selected aspects
of the religious picture in Moche.

The position of the church in a community is de-
pendent to a large extent upon the methods and man-
ner of approach of its ministers. In Moche in 1944
the active priest was a young Peruvian, trained in a
Lima seminary, who had been in charge only a year
or two. He lives in the small semiruined former
monastery (convento) on the plaza, which was ap-
parently erected to house the members of the Merce-
darian order who seem to have founded the Moche
church. The former priest, a Spaniard, is now re-
tired, but still lives in Moche in a house of his own,
and intends to spend the rest of his days there. He
is a genial and affable old gentleman with a good
many personal contacts among the Mocheros, but he
no longer takes an active role in the church, other than
to say an occasional mass when the cura is absent on
some other mission.

INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION

Generally speaking, it is only the older men, among
the male element, who take an active and continuing
interest in the church itself (as distinguished from

144 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

the fiestas). Most men of adult age take the posi-
tion that they, of course, are members of the church,
but that the devotions are mainly an affair of women.
Most men questioned could not remember when they
had confessed last or had taken communion. Many
men over 35 years of age had confessed only once or
twice in their lives. All of them know the Pater
Noster (Lord’s Prayer), but that is all that many of
them know. Strings of rosary beads are possessed
by some women and old men, but the average man
never uses them. Several men did not know what
they were. Apparently, confirmation does not as a
rule involve the organized study and memorization of
the catechism, and most of my informants report that
they have been confirmed without effective examina-
tion at about the age of 12 in a body of boys, when
the bishop of a “mission” of friars had come to the
town for that purpose. Parents are, of course, en-
joined to provide religious instruction in the home,
but perhaps the majority fail to provide anything ef-
fective. I found it quite impossible to obtain a
coherent explanation of church doctrine or “what
the church stands for” from any Mochero, or, in fact,
from the forasteros. One concludes that the church
to the typical individual represents not a body of
verbal teachings and precepts, but a body of personal
and group experiences. The most devout Catholics
among men whom I could contact were a few older
men, retired from active life, who spent a good deal
of their time reciting prayers, taking communion, and
confessing. It seemed to me for a time that I must
have involuntarily associated with only the very
secular-minded or indifferently minded section of the
male population, but attendance at services in the
church tended to confirm the picture. On ordinary
Sundays, it is common to see only a handful of adult
Mochero men in the church, amounting to about one-
tenth the number of the women present, and very few
taking communion. The men are usually at the back
of the church, sitting on stone benches along the sides,
or standing. They go in and out during the service,
indulge in a certain amount of conversation among
themselves, and, although respectful in attitude, do
not give evidence of strong attention or emotional in-
volvement.

Apparently the true definition of “devotion” in
Moche consists in participation in the mayordomias
which operate the various fiestas. A man who gives
contributions to these organizations is a devoted and
respected man, and one who participates is even
more so. Many men seem to have an attachment to

one of the saints whose days they celebrate. They
pray to the saint and believe that he takes a personal
interest in their worldly welfare. Many, if not the
majority, of persons thus devoted to saints know
nothing of the saint as an historical personage, but
are devoted to the image itself. In conversation they
admit that the image is representative of a saint, not
the saint itself, but the ideas of who or what is repre-
sented by the image, are vague. On the other hand,
an individual takes an active interest in the physical
welfare of the image to which he is devoted, helps in
keeping it clean, dressing it, refurbishing its paint,
and so on. One of the best ways of showing one’s
devotion to a saint is to provide at one’s own expense |
a sudario or some other ceremonial garment or
ornament for the image. There is a qualified em-
broiderer in the town who makes most of his living
from preparing these gifts, usually made of velvet,
richly embroidered with gold and silver thread and
ornamented with glass brilliants, sequins, and other
bright decorations.

Women seem to participate more often and more
earnestly in the rituals of the church than do men.
They attend confession and take communion, on the
average, much more frequently than men. Also,
they are organized into groups which meet occasion-
ally in the church in the afternoon or at night to sing
novenas for a departed relative and in adoration of
various saints. The average woman is_ better
acquainted with the prayers and rituals. For this
reason, the priest apparently has more contact with
the women than with the men of the community.
Women are also devoted to saints, but they do not
participate formally in the mayordomias. One of the
richer women, as a sign of her devotion, presented
one of the images of the Christ with a sudario in
October of 1944 which cost 700 soles.

In Moche there is no organization of laymen
similar to the Knights of Columbus or the Catholic
Action groups which endeavor elsewhere to some
extent to interpret and to apply the precepts of the
church for the benefit of laymen to the affairs of the
world and of the community.

SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS IN MOCHE

From the psychological point of view an im-
portant aspect of the church’s function in Moche is
that it does not create a load of anxieties for the
individual. The Mocheros do not have “consciences”
of a type with which so many North Americans and
North Europeans are equipped and from which they

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 145

are so continuously suffering.*4 The “conscience” is,

.of course, a complex of “acquired drives” of a pun-
ishing sort © which are created within the individual
by cultural (frequently religious) training. Such
training usually also includes learning of responses
(habits or customs) which, if performed by the
individual, will lower the anxiety drives and thus
relieve him of their punishing effects. In Moche,
the “average person” is ignorant of many of the
anxieties.

Fear of hell is not a particular obsession with
Mocheros. The living worry somewhat about the
condition of the souls of their departed relatives in
purgatory, an anxiety which is connected with the
potential willingness of such souls to intervene on
behalf of the living, but such anxieties can be easily
lowered by offerings and masses for the repose of
the dead. And it is always desirable that burial
should be in hallowed ground with benefit of clergy.
Finally, many of the problems of everyday life can
be referred in a familiar manner to the saint to whom
one is devoted.

Although the church offers fairly simple ritualistic
means for quieting the anxieties which it creates,
most of these rituals cost money in themselves and
also for the peripheral expenses. Funerals, for
example, are classified into first, second, and third
class, each with its set fee. In a first-class funeral,
the priest officiates at the church, at the house, and
at the cemetery. In a second-class funeral, he offi-
ciates only at church and house, and in a third-class
burying only at the church door. Because of the
inhibition on approaching the priest for a service of
this kind without having the fee in hand, several
individuals are said to have been buried without the
services of the priest, simply because the family could
not raise the money.

I have never heard women express verbal aggres-
sive attitudes toward priests, but they are very
common among men, to whom the priest does not
occupy a generally respected social status, although
his status as a religious officer is never questioned.

SOCIALIZING FUNCTIONS

In Moche, religion has certain socializing func-
tions. In the first place, the fact that practically all
Mocheros are Catholics provides practically the only
generally accepted basis of real, if somewhat vague,
unity present in the community.

Slelithis (zeneralization is based on notes of numerous conversations

and discussions.
© See Gillin, 1942, and references cited there.

In the second place, the fiestas celebrated in con-
nection with the various images in the church build-
ing itself, are occasions for general community partic-
ipation as well as for effective organization and
group activity in the responsible mayordomias in
charge of the respective fiestas.

In the third place, the church looks with a tolerant
eye upon the recreational features of the cere-
monies—the feasts, parades, dances, drinking, fire-
works, and displays—which, with the passing of
time, have become as much a part of the life crisis
ceremonies and saints’ day celebrations as the per-
formance of the holy offices themselves. Puzzled
outsiders are often at a loss to understand the hold
which the church has over the population of Latin
American countries. However, it should not be
forgotten that in Moche one may “enjoy himself” at
the same time he is “being religious.”” Devotion and
recreation, one might say, are combined, rather than
separated into distinct areas of experience. In
Moche the religious fiestas are the only activities in
which all members of the community may spon-
taneously participate and are therefore of importance
in promoting a certain degree of social unity. And
the fact that they are accompanied by a feeling tone
of satisfaction and enjoyment accounts, I believe, for
much of the strength of the church among the
population. In psychological terms, it is more re-
warding to be a Catholic than not to be one or than
to be a practitioner of puritanical Protestant patterns.

RELIGIOUS FIESTAS

Although there is not a large attendance at Sunday
mass, the templo is full of people on the days when
the fiestas are celebrated. In general, each fiesta is
in charge of a mayordomia, organized as previously
explained in the section on Economics (p. 75). A
few fiestas, such as that of Nuestro Sefior de la
Misericordia (which was held on October 20-22),
are a charge of a permanent group called an herman-
dad, although these groups are gradually dying out.

The general pattern of a fiesta is, in outline, as
follows. Some days before the central date of the
fiesta, the encargados (those in charge, members of
the mayordomia or hermandad) pass through the
streets, taking up a collection. (See p. 75.) In the
night previous to the day of the fiesta, the priest
performs the rite of the vispera in the presence of a
large crowd. After this the mayordomos, followed
by a musical band and carrying paper lanterns, lead a
parade out of the church through the streets of the

146 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

town. At each corner they stop while at least two
individuals dance the marinera, usually in costume,
disguised as Negroes or Indians, while the mayor-
domos set off a few rockets. The parade winds
through the town, returning to the central plaza,
where a barrage of rockets is set off. Then the
mavyordomos and the band go to the house of a
devoto, who awaits them. They dance and drink
chicha and hard liquor until about dawn when they
return to their own houses. Shortly after sunrise on
the day of the fiesta, everyone comes out of his house,
shooting off rockets while the band starts up the
music at the house of the chief mayordomo. Then
the mayordomia proceeds with the band to the
church to prepare for the mass, which is usually
supposed to start about 9 a. m., but does not cus-
tomarily get under way until about 10 a.m. The
mass lasts about 2 hours, punctuated by the discharge
of rockets just outside the church door and by the
rather dissonant music of the band, which has been
installed in the choir loft in the back of the church.
After mass, the invitados go to the house of the chief
mayordomo, preceded by the band, and a feast takes
place. From the house, plates of food are sent to
certain devotos or contributors who are unable to be
present. In the afternoon, the party, well fed and
somewhat drunk, goes to the templo and takes out on
parade the image which is being venerated that day,
passing through the streets of the town, preceded by
the band, at a pace so slow that it is nightfall before
it returns to the church. Another feast usually
follows in the evening, accompanied by the usual
drinking and dancing. The following Sunday there
may be a mass of the Adoracion and afterward the
mayordomos and the contributors go to the house of
another devoto where the eating and drinking of the
previous Sunday are continued. Often during these
feasts fights and family arguments develop, which
are said to be an invariable accompaniment of a
fiesta. The majority of the celebrants, however,
enjoy themselves and suffer nothing worse than
hangovers and “‘liver colic” after the fiesta is past.
The drinking and merrymaking aspects of the usual
fiesta are said to be absent from the fiestas of Holy
Week, beginning on Holy Thursday.

The religious fiestas which are most actively cele-
brated in Moche are the following: Epiphany, with
the lowering of the home altars of the Nativity, Janu-
ary 6; Fiesta del Sefior de Ramos (Palm Sunday) ;
Semana Santa (Holy Week) ; San Isidro, patron of
agriculture, May 15; Corpus Christi; SS. Pablo y

Pedro (SS. Peter and Paul), June 29; Santa Rosa
de Lima, August 30; La Exaltacion de la Santisma.
Cruz, September; Sefior de la Misericordia (Our
Lord of Mercy), October; Fiesta del Cristo Rey
(Christ the King), October; Todos los Santos and
Todos los Animas (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days),
November 1 and 2; Santa Lucia de Moche, “La
Mocherita,” patroness of the church of Moche, De-
cember 13; La Pascua de la Navidad, December 24
and 25.

In addition, a number of fiestas of various images
which adorn the church are celebrated somewhat ir-
regularly, depending upon whether a mayordomia is
organized or not, during a particular year. The cele-
bration of the fiestas of certain of these images brings
out especially clearly the importance of the image
cult. Thus, the image of Nuestro Sefior del Calvario,
celebrated on September 14, 1944, does not represent
a historical personage distinct from Nuestro Senor de
la Misericordia or Nuestro Sefior de Ramos, for ex-
ample. To be sure, the images in each case represent
Jesus, but the attention of the people is fixed on the
image itself, and people speak of the images as dis-
tinct beings, rather than as representations of the one
and only historical and sacred person of Jesus Christ.
The same is true of a number of images of Virgins
and Sefioras, each of which, unless otherwise specif-
ically named, it may be presumed is derived from the
historical and holy person of the Mother of Jesus.
Yet people have fallen into a way of thinking as if
the image were an entity or being in itself. The near-
by village of Huaman possesses a famous Sefor.
Mocheros compare their several Sefiores with that of
Huaman, as if speaking of distinct persons. Certain
images have exhibited powers of curing and healing
which other images have not shown and are therefore
the more venerated, better dressed, and so on. It
is perhaps too much to label this “‘cult of the images”
idolatry, because the devotees are usually willing to
admit that a vague higher power stands back of the
image itself, but it represents a type of cultural orien-
tation in which the material object (the image) has
lost much of its function as a mere representation of
a character or of a concept in church history and in-
stead has come to represent a power and a goal in it-
self.

The same is true in many cases of the images of the
saints, but with them it ig always possible to argue
that the image is a mere representation of a historical
personage now present in spiritual form on the right
hand of God. For example, Santa Rosa de Lima, be-

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 147

ing the national patron saint of Peru, is still fresh as
a historical woman who lived and wrought miracles
in Lima. No doubt many individuals are more de-
voted to her material representation than to her spirit-
ual personality, but the image is not everything. With
the other type of images, however, the idea of the
image itself as a personality or embodiment of super-
natural power seems to overshadow any notion for
which it might stand.

New Year’s is always celebrated, but not always
with a religious observance.

Following is an inadequate translation of the cele-
bration of the Fiesta de Ramos (Palm Sunday) as
written for me by a true Mochero, Manuel Nique, a
young man who shows considerable promise as a
writer. It portrays one of the outstanding fiestas of
the year, as seen through the eyes of a representative
of the younger, progressive, and educated element of
the Mocheros.

This movable fiesta takes place the Sunday before Holy
Week and is an annual event. The narrow streets of the
town are filled with people who come from surrounding
places. Amid the crowd, which can be counted in the
thousands, we can distinguish two types of pilgrims. Some
are manifestly Catholics and others only attend the fiesta
in order to enjoy the popular diversions. The fiesta begins
the previous Saturday. On this day the vespers are cele-
brated and the day has both a religious and a profane phase.
Thus we may note a general activity and a sudden growth
in the number of houses serving food and chicha. Also
booths for refreshments and amusement are set up in the
plaza. Each tries to present the most attractive menu.

When the afternoon is well along, the ancient devotee of
the Sefor de Ramos, Don Juan Ascencio, is very busy, for
the altar of the Sefior must be ready by 7 o'clock in the
night. The altar where the image will be placed from
Saturday night until 4 o'clock the following afternoon is
located in the park where the water tower is, near the rail-
way tracks. At 7:30 the bells of the church begin to ring,
calling the faithful and announcing to the town that the
religious fiesta has begun. Inside the church the liturgical
hour proceeds in the midst of a profuse illumination, and the
priest makes plain in suggestive form how The Savior
entered Jerusalem. Once this ceremony has been terminated,
the mayordomos proceed to carry out the Sefior de Ramos
(a life-sized image of Jesus) in their arms, taking him to
the outdoor altar which they have erected for this occasion.
The procession moves via the Calle Grau, continues via
Espinar and Salaverry, and finally via the Calle Galvez to
arrive at the place where is erected the altar. Along the
streets, the people give their adoration and with profound
devotion prolong the procession. Once the image has been
placed in the spot where it will pass the blessed night, those
who have not had opportunity to adore it proceed to do so.
As the hours of the night advance, the crowd begins to
diminish until the only ones left with the Sefior are those
who pass the night guarding the image, and receiving alms

in the early morning from those who leave early for their
chacras to milk their cows. The youth of Moche mixed
with forasteros in a compact living mass occupy themselves
with the traditional dance which the Junta de Progreso Local
or one of the sport clubs has organized in the plaza. The
dance continues until nearly 5 o’clock in the morning. How
many couples will be from this moment inseparable lovers,
how many will have been deceived by illusory promises, and
how many will have felt they could have better spent the
time preparing for the following‘day! But the gaiety began
on Saturday and will not depart until Holy Monday.

The town arises very early, and with the arising, begins
Palm Sunday. The earliest risers have already visited the
altar of the image. Amid rustic aromas and surrounded by
flowers, the happy image of Christ Triumphant distributes
his benedictions to his adorers. Again the bells sound forth
their merry tones and groups of people fill the streets. The
temple is filled with Christian people from town and campiiia,
from port and city, from hacienda and chacra. The mass
begins with the rituals of the cult. The padre, from the sacred
pulpit, begins the sermon, turns his eyes to heaven, and
blesses in the name of God the crowd in the temple. A few
minutes later the music stops with the distribution of palms
and olive branches. Shortly afterward begins the renactment
of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. For this the padre,
followed by the faithful, goes forth from the temple, and
they proceed to cover the streets to the image with palms and
olive branches.

After this the people begin to look for a place to eat
lunch, some searching among the booths for those with the
best dishes and music, while others go to visit the houses
of their comadres. In many cases these visits are occasions
for household fiestas for hair cutting or ear opening of the
small children.

In the afternoon begin the kermes and the dance. There
near the booth where they are selling cabrito, yuca, and
sweetpotatoes, the people are indulging in criollismo without
equal. Here others are eating sopa tedloga and other typical
dishes. Over there is a merry party quaffing chicha. In
other booths lively maidens offer, in addition to food and
drink, the temptation of ruby lips. The orchestra and the
band animate the dance and there is no place to sit quietly.
Everywhere is movement, agitation, and music. The minutes
slip away, the hours. The moment of the procession draws
near. The merry throng thins out as people go to the place
of the image.

The tradition is displayed in this procession. A white
female ass is present in front of the altar. [This white
donkey roams the town freely during the rest of the year
and is fed and watered by whomever she visits.] The mayor-
domos divide into committees, one to direct the band of music
and the other to put the saddle on the “little donkey of Our
Lord.” Here is the band of the Maestro Antonio Sachin
with his justly famous musicians. The image of The Sefior
is placed on the ass, and then begins the majestic procession
of Palm Sunday to the temple.

The view which this transcendental procession affords is
magnificent. Palms and candles, music and faith, confounded
together in the most remarkable act of the year in the town
of Santa Lucia de Moche. Along the line of this procession
have been erected various altars, and the people along the

148 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 :

streets have been stirred by the explosions of numerous
rockets. The bystanders carpet the pathway of God with
flowers they throw from their hands. In front of the
temple, the image of Christ Triumphant is lowered from the
saddle and carried in the arms of the mayordomos to the
main altar of the church. After a few words by the priest,
the religious fiesta is terminated.

It is 7 o'clock in the evening and almost the entire crowd
which took part in the procession begins to dance again.
Merriment reigns supreme and there are no sad faces.
People dance, they drink, they enjoy themselves and forget
their troubles. This dance continues until late in the night.
The omnibuses are working overtime until the next dawn
carrying home the visitors from other towns, while other
visitors accept hospitality in local houses.

Silence begins to enter the town with the beginning of
Holy Monday. The village will again sink back into the
peacefulness of other days. The streets will be empty and
one will no longer meet the strange face. Once again con-
versation will return to the gossiping of the comadres and
compadres. The gossip will rotate about the events of the
fiesta. Palm Sunday and its merriment will not return for
another year. Holy Week with its mantle of grief will cover
the town with an aching pain, silence, and sadness.

PACTS WITH THE DEVIL

There is a well-developed belief that mortals can
and sometimes do make pacts with the Devil or his
erhissaries. The Devil and his minions are in general
considered to be the arch enemies of Christianity. It
is said that the Devil or his deputy usually appears
in the form of a man to a person who Is in difficulties
of a worldly sort, needs money, is in trouble with
the law, etc. In return for the worldly aid required
by the individual, the Devil demands the delivery of
the person’s soul, and sometimes the souls of other
persons under the orders of the individual in ques-
tion. The Devil is simply called “El Diablo,” or “El
Principe de Mal.” If one wishes to make a pact of
this kind, he invokes the Prince of Evil, by con-
centrating his mind on it and calling out in private
or inaudibly. It is believed that the Devil or one
of his minions is always hanging about, waiting for
such a call, so that one does not have to shout very
loudly. Once one has sold himself to the Devil, there
is no way he can renounce his pact nor is there any
help which the church can give. The souls of such
persons, of course, are believed to reside permanently
and inexorably in hell. The case of a certain man
is told who repented of his pact with the Devil. He
confessed and even went to Spain where he took
Holy Orders and later became a missionary father
in Peru. However, the Devil kept after him, tor-
menting him, until he died.

f

)

Such beliefs seem to be clearly derived from Euro-_
pean sources. The shapingos, familiar spirits of evil
brujos, are the native analogy of these beliefs, and
some individuals tend to confuse the Devil and the
shapingos in their thinking, but most persons are
quite explicit that the Devil is something entirely
different. The evil witches and their spirits are not
thought to be in competition with God, whereas the
Devil is considered to be a competitor of God and
the church. Following are some incidents illustra-
tive of the belief in the Devil and his nefarious
schemes.

T., the woman of J. A., disappeared from her coffin. The
priest, who had been called to say responses over the cofhn,
surprised the family filling the box with adobes in order to
simulate the “weight of a Christian.” A few days later the
woman’s son found the naked body of his mother in the
chacra. It was buried there secretly so that people would
not know. The disappearance of a body from its coffin is,
of course, irrefutable proof that the individual had formerly
made a pact with the Devil, who has come to foreclose on
it; for once a person is buried in hallowed ground, he is
beyond the power of the Devil.

Another case is said to be that of A. S. On his death
bed a person came to him, in the presence of his family.
This person was clothed in white and rode to the house
mounted on a white horse. The person said, “Come with
me,” and disappeared. The moribund man tried to get up
and follow him. It was almost impossible to keep him in
the bed. He raved and shouted and his tongue swelled up
so that he could not talk coherently. He had to be restrained
by force. Finally he died. During the night following his
death, his body disappeared. It was never found and a coffin
filled with adobes had to be buried to avert suspicion. Of
course, the mysterious visitor was the Devil, come to claim
his own.

M. R. S. had a startling experience with what he takes to
be the Devil. Behind the mountain to the east is a valley
where, in wintertime, men sometimes take their animals to
graze off the short-lived grass. One day M. happened to be
in this region and came upon a rock which looked much like
a dining table. More surprising was the fact that it was set
with a complete silver service, which also included silver
plates and cups. M. picked up the silver and took it home
with him. He estimates that it was easily worth 5,000 soles.
That night, as he was sleeping in his house, he was awakened
by a stern voice which commanded him immediately to get up
and to return the silver service to the place where he had
found it. He lay awake frightened all night, and the first
thing in the morning he took the silver back to the table
rock. It is supposed that it was a table set by the Devil
for the entertainment of someone who was invited to make
a pact with him.

The I. house in Trujillo, a large old colonial mansion, is
said to have a long subterranean passage in it, connecting the
house with the same spot (mentioned above) behind the
mountain. Through this passage peons in the old days dis-
appeared, so goes the story, never to be seen again. They

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 149

were delivered to the Devil in return for silver plate, of
which formerly this house possessed a great deal.

Young R. is said to have died after having met the Devil.
S. C., his cousin, was in an argument with him about land.
Young R. was in the disputed chacra on Good Friday. This
land he had acquired from S. C., but they were having an
argument about it. S. C., unknown to R. at the time the
deal was consummated, had previously promised the land to
the Devil in return for money which he had received some
years previously. On this Good Friday the term of the
pact with the Devil was ended and the Devil came to
obtain the land from S. C. Instead he found young R. on
the land and young R. saw him. He appeared in the form
of a well-dressed man. As soon as R. realized who it was
who was asking him for the land and why, he fell down
with a susto. He was sick for a long time thereafter. None
of the regular cures for susto did him any good, and in the
end he died.

G. worked for J. A. as a herder and had taken some
animals to the winter pasture on the other side of the
Cerros. There is a water hole there which has to be dug
out repeatedly. One day G. started to dig for water in a
new place, only to find that the ground was solid rock.
Suddenly he looked up and saw an elegantly dressed white
man before him. G, was ashamed because he was so poorly
dressed in comparison with the stranger. The newcomer
told G. that he could not expect to find water there, but
that if G. would deliver to him his soul, he, the stranger,
would arrange ample water and pasture. G. realized that
he was talking to the Devil, and immediately rounded up
his animals and took them back to the Moche campivia.

DEATH IN MOCHE

HARBINGERS OF DEATH

The hooting of an owl near a house is an omen of
an impending death. “Le cantéd la pacapaca’’
(Quechua, owl) is a way of saying, “His hour has
struck.” The Spanish word lechuza is also used.
The firefly (luciérnaga) is likewise believed to
announce that someone is dying or is about to die.
The black cat, the toledo bird, the chichy bird, and
the sparrow are also regarded as harbingers of death
or disasters. Apparently the association of the owl
with death goes back to Mochica times, according to
the material on display in the Museo Arqueolégico
“Rafael Larco Herrera.’”” Numerous vases with
representation of owls associated with what seem
to be cadavers are extant.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUNERAL

When a person succumbs, there are a number of
things to be done at once, and the relatives and
compadres of the deceased gather at the house to
assist. Death is announced by tolling the doble from
the bells of the church—two short strokes together,
repeated over and over for about an hour. Small

boys do this without pay. The word runs about the
town and countryside that so-and-so has died, and
those who feel obligated or wish to help gather at
the house. The body must be laid out. It is usually
not bathed completely, but the face, feet, and hands
are washed. It is laid on a wooden table in one of
the interior rooms of the house, on its back, either
dressed or wrapped in a blanket, feet together, hands
folded on chest, a white cloth over the face. A small
cross made of carrizo is placed upright in the folded
fingers of the hands. Embalming is not practiced in
Moche, and by law the dead must be entombed
within 24 hours after death. Next, word must be
sent to Don T., one of the local carpenters who
specializes in coffins and funeral trappings. He has
a supply of black hangings and coffin ornaments. A
good coffin in Moche costs about 80 soles. They can
be had as cheap as 30 soles. Don T. acts as funeral
director, and usually appears in a fresh white ill-
fitting cotton suit. As soon as the coffin is brought
to the house, a few old clothes are placed in the
bottom of it, the body is lifted in, and the coffin is set
on the table. It is no longer customary to bury all
the deceased’s belongings with him as in former
times. By this time a fairly large group of friends
and relatives has gathered for the velorio or wake.
A black cloth with silver stars on it hangs on the wall
at the head of the coffin and eight candles are set
up on the table and lighted, one at each corner of the
coffin and one in the center of each side. The female
attendants have long since begun a monotonous
weeping and wailing. There are no professional
mourners (lloronas) in Moche, but older women
who come to wail will be provided with food and
drink.

The next thing to plan is that the male relatives
and compadres organize themselves in a mtinga to
dig the grave or to prepare the tomb, if an adobe or
cement tomb belongs to the family. The surviving
spouse, or responsible head of the deceased’s family,
has obtained a burial certificate from the Municipali-
dad (2 soles for adults, 1 sol for children), and will
provide food and drink for the gravediggers. ' The
night following the death the velorio is held in the
house. The guests speak of the character and per-
sonality of the dead person and imbibe chicha and
food. Sometimes the affair becomes rather animated.

THE FUNERAL

Next day at the hour the procession to the
cemetery is to take place, the doble is tolled once

150 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

more for about an hour. If it is a first-class funeral,
a coffin and hearse from Trujillo will be involved,
and the padre will accompany the procession to the
cemetery. If it is a second-class funeral, the coffin
will be carried by relatives and ceremonial kinsmen
of the deceased. Ina second-class funeral the priest,
accompanied by a cantor to sing the responses and
an altar boy with a censor and a portable holy water
font, comes to the house at the appointed time. He
annoints the body with holy water dipped from the
font with a small wand. He repeats the Latin of the
service and the cantor intones the responses. During
the whole ceremony the wailing of the women con-
tinues, so that the words of the service are usually
inaudible. It is bad form for the male mourners to
wail; if the dead person is a close relative a man may
allow tears to run down his cheeks, but he does not
“carry on” as do the women.

The religious service in the house lasts about 10
minutes, after which the padre and his assistants
precipitously leave. Then the coffin is lifted to the
shoulders of the bearers—usually only four at a
time—and they carry it out of the house and up the
street, around the plaza to the door of the church,
followed by the mourners and those attracted by
curiosity. The general wailing ceases when the
coffin leaves the house. Frequently there is quite a
wait for the priest to come out of his dwelling.
During the whole time the sorrowful tolling of the
doble continues. Finally the padre appears, the right
half of the church door is opened, and he reads,
book in hand, a few words over the coffin. During
the whole time the box has not touched the ground.
Then the procession starts off down the street for
the long walk to the cemetery. If the person is of
ordinary good reputation, there may be a crowd of
150 or more persons. Some people wear their better
clothes, others only workaday garments. The older
women wear black shawls around their shoulders
(nothing on their heads). The cross which will be
set up at the head of the grave is carried by relays
of small boys at the head of the coffin. It is a
wooden cross, painted black; on the upright arm is
painted the date of death, and on the cross arm the
name of the deceased. Four dots at each point com-
plete the ornament. Various men, relatives and
compadres, alternate as bearers of the coffin.

In these processions, humble and quiet, one is
struck by the humility of manner, a certain stoicism
in the face of death, and a lack of expressed emotion,

especially by the men. They are simple people fol-
lowing the coffin of one of their companions in life
to its final resting place. To be sure, there is usually
at least one female relative who keeps up a ritual wail-
ing: “Mamacita, ay-y-y, q’he perdido mi mamacita,”
or “Papacita, porque te has ido?” —a sorrowful phrase
repeated over and over again.

At the graveside there is no ceremony, but there
is considerable delay while the carpenter removes all
the silver and tin adornos from the coffin. These
usually include a metal crucifix on the top, an embos-
sed tin plate on the side reading, “Descanses en Paz,”
and 14 or 15 embossed tin plates of angels, doves, and
stars, and silver-looking handles on the sides. These
are used on other coffins, ad infinitum. This task
completed, the coffin is lowered into the grave. Two
men stand inside the grave and receive it from the
bearers. They cross themselves, set the box on the
bottom of the hole, and, with a hand offered from
someone along the margin, hoist themselves out.
Then everyone moves up and tries to cast a handful of
dirt on the coffin from the two piles lying on either
side of the excavation. After a few minutes the com-
padres get to work with their shovels and the humble
people straggle out of the Campo Santo, which the
priest did not visit. Some families have adobe or
cement vaults above ground, so that the grave digging
part of the sequence is not necessary. The older
vaults are in disrepair, with not a few loose bones
scattered about. (See pls. 25, lower (right) ; 26, cen-
ter, upper and lower (right), lower (left), for pic-
tures of funeral and cemetery.)

AFTER DEATH

Survivors who can afford it usually pay for a mass
in the church on the eighth day following death.
There are few who pay for masses at regular intervals
thereafter, although some do.

On the eve of All Souls’ Day, November 1, the
survivors of the dead gather in the cemetery at the
respective graves to hold a velorio. Wreaths of
flowers are placed on the graves, candles are set up,
and the night is spent in eating, drinking, and re-
calling the virtues of the departed. Although souls
are supposed to go to purgatory after death, in accord
with Catholic doctrine, not a few of the Mocheros en-
tertain somewhat hazy beliefs in the persistence of
the soul in the neighborhood after death. The house
is cleaned out, the walls brushed down or white-
washed, and the intimate articles of the deceased

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 151

washed or destroyed. Frequently dogs bark inex-
plicably in the night, a sign that the ghost 1s returning
to its former habitation. Persons out in the dark are

occasionally troubled by whisperings, nudgings, and
odd sounds, which are attributed to the disembodied
spirits still extant in the neighborhood.

THE CULTURAL POSITION OF MOCHE

nak CONCEPT OF THE CREOLE CULTURE

There is a romantic appeal in considering Moche a
living museum of the ancient culture of the Mochicas,
a culture which was developed in this very region and
which, as we have seen, came to an end, according
to the most conservative estimates, not less than 900
years ago. It is true that Moche, like every other
healthy society, is not a static structure as of today
only, Its culture is in part the product of its history. If
we consider the historical aspects, the past, we are at
once convinced that the present-day culture of Moche
is a composite, a conglomerate or fabric, as you wish,
composed of elements derived from many sources,
some of them now almost unrecognizable. And
among the contributions out of the past, those of the
Mochicas are undoubtedly of considerable importance.

However, if Moche’s culture is a product of its his-
tory, it is no less the foundation of its future. It
seems that we shall be more realistic if we regard
Moche, not as a survival from antiquity, but as one
of the seedbeds from which is growing the new Pan-
Peruvian or Creole culture, the culture of today and
tomorrow, which characterizes a nation of living
human beings seeking and finding a place in the world
community. I submit that, taken as a whole, the
mode and organization of life in Moche at present is
more characteristic of this new synthesis than of any
of its ancestral sources in their functioning forms.

I do not believe that we are jousting with straw
men when we say that one of the reasons for the
failure of North Americans to understand completely
the Latin Americans is our failure to recognize or
identify properly the cultures of Latin America as
cultures in their own right. Our tendency and that
of most Europeans has been to identify the modern
way of life either with some indigenous configura-
tion or with European civilization in one or other of
its European national traditions. We have persisted
in seeing the Latin Americans either as latter-day
Indians with an impoverished native culture or as
tainted Iberians fumbling with the traditions of Spain
and Portugal. It is as if, since an “angel food’? cake
contains appreciable amounts both of eggs and of
sugar, we should refuse to recognize it as an angel

food cake, but insist on considering it-either an omelet
or a chunk of candy.

The new culture, for want of a better name, may be
called Creole (criollo). Since the early days of the
colonization, this term has signified a mode of life
and a type of person of Spanish antecedents, in part,
but developed in and as a product of the New World.
It seems to be a better term to apply to culture than
the word “Mestizo,” which implies racial mixture.
Although genetic hybridization has everywhere paral-
leled the development of the Creole culture, it is not
a necessary cause for the latter, and the use of the
term “Mestizo” tends to confuse biological and cul-
tural processes. At present, some pure Indians on the
one hand and some pure’ whites on the other hand,
as well as most Mestizos, participate in the develop-
ment and performance of the Creole culture, and
there is no reason to believe that biological mixture
does or will proceed at the same rate as cultural mix-
ture and development. In fact, most of the indica-
tions are that the Creole culture, at the present time,
is growing toward an integrated configuration more
rapidly than the Mestizo race.

The Creole cultures of Spanish America (leaving
Brazil out of consideration for the moment) have a
common general framework and a common tone which
enables them to be spoken of collectively as the Creole
culture and to be compared with the North American
culture, for example. The similarities in the cul-
tures are apparently due to the Spanish elements
which are common to their composition and which
were involved in their development during three cen-
turies or so under Spanish Colonial control. Thus all
are nominally Catholic and many of the details of
content and organization are those of Iberian Catholi-
cism as distinguished from the North European type.
Of course, the Spanish language itself with sundry
modifications has become part of the Creole culture.
Ideologically, the Creole culture is humanistic, rather
than puritanical, if such a contrast is permissible.
Intellectually, it is characterized by logic and dialec-
tics, rather than by empiricism and pragmiatics; the
word is valued more highly than the thing; the man-
ipulation of symbols (as in argument) is more culti-

152

vated than the manipulation of natural forces and
objects (as in mechanics). Patterns of medieval and
16th century mysticism are strong in the culture, and
these patterns show no inconsistency with those of
argumentation, for, as with the medieval scholastics,
the worth of the logic lies in the manipulation of con-
cepts, not in the empirical investigation of premises.
It is partly for this reason, I believe, that ideas have
been more readily accepted as part of the content of
the Creole culture than artifacts and their associated
techniques. The use of modern medical words and
the manipulation of verbal legal concepts, even in
Moche, for example, are more advanced than the
“practical” techniques associated with them in certain
other cultures. If we were to analyze the intellectual
content of Creole culture as a whole, we would find a
vast variety of ideas, derived from numerous sources
—ideas from the Enlightenment, from the French and
American Revolutions, and, more recently, from
Marxism, etc. The content of the ideas themselves is
in many cases not Spanish, but the patterns of argu-
mentation probably represent heritages from Spain.
In the more mundane level of life, we see other
Spanish or Spanish Colonial patterns fixed in the
Creole culture—for example, in town planning (the
“plaza plan” rather than the “main street” plan), in
family organization (official male dominance, double
standard, and patterns of ceremonial kinship), in the
preeminence of the ox and the ass as traction and
transport animals, in certain features of domestic
architecture (e.g., the “patio” or courtyard in some
form; the barred window; the house front flush with
the sidewalk, and the absence of “front yard”), in
the broad-brimmed hat either of felt or straw, in the
use of a cloth head covering by women (mantilla,
head shawl, decorative towel, etc.), in the preference
for the one-handled plow in agriculture, in concepts
of “personal honor” and emphasis upon form in in-
terpersonal relations, in certain political statuses still
persisting from the colonial system, in the patterns
of Roman law, etc.

It should be clear that these remarks are not to
be taken as a substitute for a formal analysis of the
Creole culture, a task which is beyond the limits of
this monograph. But they are intended to suggest
that Creole culture is a synthesis of elements drawn
from various sources and that the Spanish stamp
gives to this general mode of a life a certain external
uniformity, at least.

Although the Creole culture is to be found in all
nations of Spanish America, its areal, regional, and

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

local forms vary and are distinguishable among
themselves. This seems to be primarily because the
natural environments of the various regions and
localities differ among themselves and, even more
important perhaps, because the indigenous com-
ponents of the regional Creole cultures derive from
aboriginally distinct configurations. Thus it is, that
the Creole cultures of Guatemala and Peru, for
example, while sharing a common set of Iberian
elements, are nonetheless distinguishable, because the
one contains many patterns of Maya origin while the
other is colored by its Inca heritage. And within
each such area of Creole culture one recognizes
present subconfigurations associated respectively
with regions and_ localities.
Inca culture of the Empire covered both the coast
and the highland of Peru, one recognizes a Creole
culture of the coast and of the highland at the present
day. On the coast, again, it is possible to distinguish
local differences between Moche, for example, and
Canete.

Added to these two historical components, the
Creole culture since Independence and, particularly
during the present century, has received increasing
increments in the form of patterns contributed by
the cultures of North America and northern
Europe—from the mechanical, industrial, empirical,
Protestant, democratic, secular phases of Western
Civilization—which Spanish culture was incapable of
transmitting or which Spanish policy endeavored to
bar from the New World.

In Peru at the present time it is probably correct
to say that there are two types of cultures, generally
speaking: the Republican Native cultures and the
Creole cultures. I use the term “Republican Native
culture” in the sense in which Kubler speaks of the
Republican Quechua.°® These cultures, of which the
most prominent are those of certain Quechua- and
Aymara-speaking groups of the highlands, but which
also include various native groups of the Montafa,
are not aboriginal as they were before the Conquest.
Each has absorbed elements from Western Civiliza-
tion (if nothing more than dependence on certain
types of trade goods, such as factory-made cloth
among the Campa of the Montajfia, for instance), and
the organization of each of these “native” cultures
has been affected by the impact of European political
and social controls, either directly or indirectly.
Nevertheless, the Republican Native cultures are still
predominantly indigenous both in content and in

© Kubler (1946); this culture is described by Mishkin (1946).

Thus, although the |

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 158

emphasis. Although there is not space to demon-
strate this fact in the present paper, it may be
appreciated by consultation of published sources (e.
g., Kubler, 1946; Tschopik, 1946; Mishkin, 1946).
In Peru it is generally recognized by the public that
an individual has ceased to practice a Native culture
when he no longer lives in a tribe or communally
organized group (ayllu, etc.), no longer wears a
“native” costume, and when he no longer speaks
some indigenous language either exclusively or as his
primary language. These are the generally recog-
nized status marks, although, like all symbols, they
suggest rather than describe the differences between
the cultures which they represent.

The Creole culture in general (ignoring for the
moment its regional and local subtypes) is still in
process of consolidation. The society which it serves
is a class society and the Creole culture manifests
itself in various forms that are related to the various
categories of the society, as well as in geographical
peculiarities. Thus, many members of the “sophisti-
cated,” “cosmopolitan” set in Lima might perhaps at
first deny any Creole content in their culture, for
much of their prestige depends upon their having
assimilated the manners and mode of life of such
“cultural centers” as New York or Paris. Yet, it is
probable that a careful study would reveal the
presence in the higher social strata of certain cultural
common denominators of the Creole culture of Peru,
and that this will become a matter of local pride.
For our hypothesis is that the Creole culture, which
may some day justly be called Peruvian culture, is
not a servile copying of either foreign or indigenous
models, but a new and vigorous expression of
national life. This is what is actually meant by the
word Peruanidad, in addition to its purely national-
istic and political significance. The Peruvian Creole
culture is a new synthesis. If it is still in process
of integration, it is nevertheless the framework of the
future ; if it is not yet universal to all citizens of the
nation, the chances are that, in one form or another,
it will be. It is at least a tenable hypothesis that
both the present Republican Native cultures and such
importations from abroad as still persist in the
country will eventually either be absorbed by the
Creole culture or be crowded out of national life.

Moche is merely a case in point. A generation
ago it apparently was classifiable as a Native culture,
more indigenous than Creole. But by 1944 it had
swung over to the other side of the line; it is now
more Creole than Native. The same change is

653348°—47—11

taking place every year—subtly, slowly, almost im-
perceptibly, to be sure—in scores of Peruvian com-
munities throughout the coast and the Sierra, and
even in the Montafia (e. g., Tingo Maria, Pucallpa,
Pantoja, etc. ).

A number of “movements” have arisen whose
object has been to halt this trend of creolization and
whose publicity has occasionally confused the foreign
observer. Thus, ‘‘Indigenismo” believes that the real
future of the bulk of Peruvians lies in strengthening
and preserving the Republican Native cultures and
even in fortifying the indigenous elements thereof.
The proponents of Hispanismo see the true cultural
future of Peru in a return to the fundamentals of
classic Spanish culture.6* And the partizans of
“Modernismo” would do away with indigenous and
colonial elements alike, and convert Peru into a
Spanish-speaking United States (or a Spanish-
speaking version of some European country of their
predilection).

It is doubtful that any of these movements will
ever completely attain its objective in the sense that
any particular set of cultural elements for which the
proponents respectively argue will become exclusive
in the culture of Peru. But, if they will examine the
emerging Creole culture, they will see that something
from each of their favorite cultures has been woven
into the fabric of Peruvian life.

To turn once again to Moche, it is clear that the
Mocheros conform to the common Peruvian defini-
tion of a Creole: they have no tribe or organized
community, they wear European clothing (except for
a few old women), and they speak Spanish exclu-
sively. The style of their clothing and the style of
their life may be somewhat “quaint,” but they are
fundamentally neither aboriginal nor foreign. Yet
the indigenous elements, often in modified form, are
numerous.

If we attempt to sort out the elements of Moche
culture which seem to be derived from indigenous
sources, most of those in actual function at the present
day appear to be referable to a “Pan-Peruvian” in-
digenous base rather than specifically to discrete cul-
tures of antiquity known from the chronicles and from
archeology. This conclusion must be qualified by the
admission that historical and archeological records are
too incomplete to permit a more precise tracing of
aboriginal antecedents in many cases. Also, we must
“et The late Dr. José de la Riva-Agiiero was a leading exponent of
this point of view in some of his historical writings. See particularly

the essays, “En el dia de’ la raza” and “Algunas reflexiones sobre la
€poca espafiola en el Pertti”? (Riva-Argiiero, 1938).

154 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

acknowledge the general leveling and diffusing in-
fluence of the Inca conquest which rubbed out and
blurred numerous items of local origin and which had
the effect of transforming many cultural features of
formerly restricted distribution into “Pan-Peruvian”
or “Inca” elements of culture.

MOCHICA ELEMENTS

We may briefly compare the present culture of
Moche with that of the Mochicas as we know it from
the archeological record. Certain of the basic ways
of life current at the present time were undoubtedly
characteristic of Mochica culture as well. It seems to
me, however, that this merely shows that certain pat-
terns date back to Mochica times (say 1000 A.D.) in
this region. Most of them are general to those parts
of the coast where they are environmentally suitable,
and it is difficult to prove a persistence to modern
Moche of the really distinctive features of Mochica
culture, features which would lead us to see Moche
as a community more “Mochica’”’ in character than
other communities.

Then, as now, irrigated agriculture, on the one
hand, and fishing, on the other hand, provided the
economic bases of life and presumably formed the
central core of interests of the society. Some of the
irrigation ditches built by the Mochicas, for example,
the Mochica, are still in use. Although in the Moche
campinia the present water gates and dams are of
modern construction, the straight ditches, the system
of pozas, and the meandering ditches (surcos de
caracol) of Mochica times are still employed.

How does a modern Mochero resemble, in his mode
of life, the ancient Mochica? He lives in a house of
adobe with a dirt floor, supported by an unsawed
wooden framework similar to Mochica. Although the
majority of roofs are now low-sloped, they are still
made of mud plastered over a framework of cane and
estera (p. 37). Pitched roofs occur (pl. 12, upper
(left) ), and the use of an inclined roof of estera mat-
ting as a sunshade is quite common. Open work in
the house walls below the roof (pls. 11, upper
(right) ; 12, lower (left) ) seems to come down from
Mochica times, as well as the half wall and broken
wall of plastered adobe (pl. 11, middle (right) ).

Our Moche friend rarely eats a meal without boiled
green corn (choclo) and yuca, which were two of the
stand-bys of the Mochicas. In his field or garden he
cultivates the following plants, which were also cul-
tivated by the Mochicas:* Maize (Zea mays),

® See Larco Hoyle, ms. b, for plants cultivated by Mochicas.

—

chirimoyo (Annona cherimola), guanabana (Annona ©
murcata), palta (Persea americana), beans (Phaseo-
lus vulgaris), pallares (Phaseolus lunatus), peanuts
(Arachis hypogaea), pacae or guaba (Inga feuillet),

yuca (Manihot utilissima), cotton (semiwild brown
cotton is the only type occurring‘ at present in

Moche), papaya (Carica papaya), guayaba, red and

white (Psidium guayava), licuma (Lucuma obo-

vata), camote or sweetpotato (Jpomoea batatas), aji_
pepper (Capsicum annuum), small wild tomato which

grows half wild around the edges of fields

(Solanum lycopersicum), potato (Solanum tubero-

sum), although not much cultivated in Moche at

present, caigua (Cyclanthera pedata), three kinds of
pepino (Solanum muricatum), zapallo of several

varieties (Cucurbita maxima), and gourds of various

kinds. Coca is not grown here at present, but ac-

cording to Stiglich,®® was so grown in the 1890's, and

it is chewed by modern Mocheros occasionally and on

special occasions.

Of course, our Moche friend also cultivates a long
series of subsequently introduced plants, but those
mentioned above have come to him from the Mo-
chicas. He uses a modern broad-bladed iron spade |
for cultivating his fields, but the technique seems to
be the same as that employed by the Mochicas with
their narrow-bladed copper and bronze spades or
metal-tipped digging sticks. Corn is still hilled up
(with the spade) by hand, even by many farmers
who own plows and oxen. The hooked knife or
“calabazo” (pl. 5, lower (right); 6, center) also
was possibly a Mochica tool.”

Our Mochero usually eats his food and drinks his
chicha from containers made of gourds in various
shapes, and with a whittled spoon of wood. Gourd
containers, chicha, spoon are all Mochica traits. He
usually has a good many items on his menu which
the ancient Mochicas never heard of, such as rice,
coffee, beef, pork, chicken, but a considerable
part of his food was also known to the Mochicas.
His wife cooks the food in earthen pots, which, to be
sure, are no longer made in Moche, but acquired in the
market from other Indian potters; but this appears
to be a survival of a Mochica, or at least an Indian,
custom, because metal and china vessels could be
easily, and just about as cheaply, obtained. She still
prepares aji and green corn kernels on the batdn and

© Stiglich, 1922, p. 688: ‘Desde el afio 1891 ha comenzado la
prosperidad de este valle donde sélo se cultivaba coca y fruta. La coca
siempre es llevada 4 Trujillo por arrieros.”’

70 Several specimens of copper exist in the Museo Arqueolégico

“Rafael Larco Herrera’ which are surely pre-Conquest, but may be
Chimnu.

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 155

mano (grinding stones) and also uses the mortar
and pestle of stone. Although the batdn is now a
simple, flat-topped grinding stone (without the rim
of Mochica times), the persistence of the custom is
worth noting. Although the common adobe stove is
probably a later elaboration, faggots and manure (in
Mochica times, presumably llama manure) are still
used for fuel in place of newfangled possibilities, such
as kerosene. Likewise, the fireplace of three or four
stones on the ground is not uncommon (pl. 14, lower
(left) ), although such arrangements were found also
in the Sierra.

Fish as a prominent article of diet in Moche seems
to be derived from the Mochica ancestors. Although
seviche (raw fish prepared with lemon or lime juice)
in its present form could not have been a Mochica
preparation (for lack of limes and lemons), it is
entirely probable that raw fish was eaten in some
form anciently and that its present prominence is a
carry-over. (At present, in the absence of citrus
juices, seviche is prepared with chicha vinegar.)
All deep-sea fish seemingly caught by the Mochicas
are fished today and eaten. Of special notice is the
still prominent use of shrimps and crabs, by no
means common to all fish-eating peoples, even on this
coast. The practice of sucking the meat out of the
shell of the mwy-muy, or sea shrimp, seems to be
illustrated in several Mochica ceramic paintings.
Likewise, the use of this shrimp as bait on hooks
may well be a Mochica survival.

Although nothing definite is known of the nets
used for fishing by the Mochicas, it is probable that
the chinchorro type of net was used for sea fishing.
Something very similar seems to have been used on
land for hunting deer, as illustrated in painting on
specimen No. 2054 in the Museo Arqueoldgico
“Rafael Larco Herrera.” The use of a globular-
shaped gourd as float on the espinel (setline) and
also as floats on the chinchorro, seems to have been
a definite Mochica trait (Larco Hoyle, ms. c, ch. 10),
likewise the use of large hooks without barbs,” al-
though in modern times they are made of iron and
imported. The Museo Arqueoldgico “Rafael Larco
Herrera” possesses a large collection of Mochica
wooden objects very similar to the netting needles
now in use, although without the “eye” and “hook.”

The eating of lizards and iguanas seems also to
have been a Mochica trait (Larco Hoyle, ms. c, ch.
10), as well as the totora-roll trap still used.

7 A large collection, unnumbered, exists in the Museo Arqueoldégico
“Rafael Larco Herrera.”

The use of gourds (potos), not only for drinking
and serving chicha, but as dishes (mates) and bottles,
seems to be a well-established Mochica trait.
younger persons at present claim that the chicha
tastes better when drunk from a poto.
tion of gourd containers by incisions and fire is
practically lost in Moche at present, but is main-
tained in Monsefu, although new techniques in-
volving acids and inks have also been introduced.

Ieven

The decora-

The Mochero prefers to sleep on a mat of totora
(estera) ; and he uses mats of carrizo (petates) for
sitting on the dirt floor, as roofing for his arbor and
even for the houses, and as temporary partitions.
The use of these materials, the techniques of manu-
facture, and the customary uses of the finished
article all go back to the Mochicas.

In the field of dress and ornament the Mochero
preserves little from his Mochica ancestors. The
preference, often shown and put into practice, for
going barefoot may well be a survival from the
barefoot Mochica culture. The piercing of women’s
ears and the wearing of long earrings ‘* were present
among the Mochicas, but the earrings themselves
show little influence in detail on the designs current
in Moche today.

Spinning of cotton and weaving of coarse cotton
cloth (bayeta) are almost extinct in Moche today, but
were fairly common until recently. Older women still
spin the yarn of algodon pardo (brown cotton)
which they work into their hairdress, and one doubt-
ful case of full-scale weaving is reported, although I
have not seen the loom. The northern village of
Monseft’ maintains weaving in a_ well-developed
state. The belt loom and the calabash-whorled
spindle could be derived, in form, either from Mo-
chica or Sierra cultures.

The binding of babies’ arms to their sides may be
a Mochica trait, although in the ancient culture it
was combined with a cradle of carrizo. The scene
involving a baby sitting upright on its mother’s lap
and nursing from her breast hanging over the upper
border of her blouse or dress, as illustrated in
specimen No. 1054 of the Museo Arqueolégico “Ra-
fael Larco Herrera,” for example, is frequently seen
in present-day Moche.

74Tilustrated, for example, is specimen No. 30737 in the Museo
Arqueolégico ‘Rafael Larco Herrera’; the piercing of women’s ears
and the use of earrings were not customary among the Inca, according
to Rowe (1946).

73 Actual cradles and clay models (e. g., No. R-4400) of children
bound onto cradleboards exist in the Museo Arqueolégico “Rafael
Larco Herrera.”

156

Until recently, wooden combs of the Mochica type
were in current use in Moche, and the use of cactus
spines as thread picks, etc., is still fairly common.

Probably a good many features of modern curan-
dismo and brujeria go back to Mochica times, al-
though later elements have obviously been grafted
onto said base. In the Museo Arqueoldgico “Rafael
Larco Herrera” is a modeled vase (No. 340)
apparently depicting a curandero massaging the body
of a child, as in the modern cure of susto. The
spiny-backed shells (Spondylus pictorum) of the
mesa de brujeria are found in large quantities in
Mochica deposits. Among other herbs used at the
present time, Larco Hoyle has identified in the
Mochica culture various varieties of cactus, ashango,
maichil, habilla. Doubtless, much of the philosophy
of curative magic in Moche comes down from the
Mochicas. On the other hand, the Mochica surgical
techniques seem to have been lost.

The art of making ftapias and something very
similar to quincha walls are also Mochica traits.
Panpipes, used infrequently in Moche today, and
still occasionally made there, were used also in Mo-
chica times. (Vase No. J-356 in the Museo Arqueo-
légico “Rafael Larco Herrera.’’)

The considerable art talent (most of it unin-
structed) which appears in Moche may possibly be
a vague inheritance of the more than ordinary talent
so successfully exhibited by the Mochicas, although
at the present time the forms and the media have
changed completely. Interest in depictions of the
human face, however, still survives.

Although it is possible that further investigation
of the two cultures would reveal a few further simi-
larities between the ancient Mochicas and the modern
Mocheros, the review just made of Mochica survivals
in Moche is sufficient to indicate, perhaps, that a
considerable part of the cultural equipment and cus-
toms of the modern community were at least present
in the Mochica culture.

LATER ELEMENTS

But we should not fall into the romantic error of
seeing modern Moche as an unmodified survivor of
Mochica culture. So far as we can tell, for all its
similarities, life in Moche today is very much dif-
ferent from that in the same region under the sway
of the Mochicas. A few of the aspects of Mochica
life which have disappeared are mentioned below.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

The archeological documents speak eloquently of an.

elaborately developed religion, centering about a
supreme deity of feline cast, who appears in various
incarnations, according to Larco Hoyle’s material.
Associated with this was a large amount of material
equipment in the form of temples, adoratorios,
priestly costumes, and the like. Nothing of this
remains today, except possibly certain “primitive”
elements in religious thinking and beliefs. All of the
old-time religion has been superseded by or absorbed
into the local version of Catholicism. The image cult
in modern Moche Catholicism may well be supported
by an age-old symbolic pattern of reverence for
images, but image cults are so common in rural Latin
American Catholicism’! that the image cult in
Moche cannot be regarded as a specific Mochica
survival.

Likewise, all formal governmental patterns of Mo-
chica times have disappeared,” and, apparently also,
practically all of the social organization, both of
graded and kinship types, which, by inference, prob-
ably existed formerly. War patterns and artifacts
have likewise passed out of the picture. The elabo-
rate and differentiated costumes and headdresses,
functionally connected with the religion and the
social organization of the Mochicas, have left hardly
an echo in Moche. Practically all of the industries
and handicrafts of the Mochicas have disappeared,
including pottery making, metalworking, weaving
(with exception of traces noted above), and wood,
stone, and bone working. Burial customs are over-
laid with traditions from other cultures. Houses
now, in the majority, are Spanish colonial design,
despite the Mochica traces noted previously. The
llama has disappeared, as well as the use of the tump-
line as an aid to human transport. Although the
Mochica underlying base is still visible, life has
changed in Moche during the last 900 years. And
this is as we should expect.

To sum up, Moche still preserves a general orien-
tation of the common man’s life and activities, de-
rived possibly from the Mochica civilization. But
Moche is not Mochica. It is a composite culture.
It is a culture which has passed through numerous
periods of change, and one which is undergoing at
present probably the heaviest pressure for change in
its entire history.

7 Little difference is found in Guatemala. See Gillin (Ms.).

7° For succinct summaries of Mochica culture, see Larco Hoyle
(1946).

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN

TIAHUANACOID AND CHIMU ELEMENTS

It is difficult to place one’s finger precisely on ele-
ments of contemporary culture which may have been
derived from the period of Tiahuanacoid influence
revealed in the archeological record. The only trait
which stands out clearly is the small balsa, or caballito
del mar, which, because of its similarity to certain
types of reed balsas used on Lake Titicaca, may pos-
sibly have been introduced to the coast through
Tiahuanaco influence.

The culture of the Chimu which dominated the
region until well into the 15th century when the King-
dom of the Grand Chimu was conquered by the Inca
was apparently in part glossed over by Inca culture
and in part absorbed into what is now known as the
culture of the Empire. At all events, the present
Moche culture shows little exclusive either to the
material culture of the Chimu (as revealed in the
numerous museum collections and the nearby ruins,
such as those of Chanchan) or of the social, political,
and religious culture (as described by Calancha
(1638) and other chroniclers). Traditions and lore
current under the Chimu seem to have persisted into
modern times in the region of Lambayeque (Baran-
darian, n. d.), but nothing significant of this sort
remains in Moche.

SIERRA INFLUENCES

Not a few elements of culture in Moche seem to be
ultimately derived from the Sierra. Although most
of them were probably remolded and worked over
by the Inca culture during the all-pervading dominion
of the Empire, some of them doubtless antedate the
Inca Empire and even the spread of the Quechua
language. It is clear from the archeological material
that the coastal region was in contact with the Sierra
even during Mochica times, and contacts of one sort
or another between the two areas have continued to
the present. We lack the information to be able to
say with certainty in many cases exactly when a given
element was introduced from the Sierra to the coast,
and therefore shall merely mention a number of traits
seemingly originating in the Sierra. Identification of
certain traits is admittedly tentative.

The practice of having an assistant to break the
clods turned over in plowing suggests the similar
practice in the Sierra (even though the plow itself is
animal-drawn in Moche), as well as the minga system
of work sharing. The cloth saddlebag (alforja) is
probably derived originally from pack bags used with

157

llamas in the Sierra. Except for maize, the indige-
nous crops grown in Moche are not those characteris-
tic of the Sierra, because of the environmental factor,
but in the diet a few Sierra products, obtained in
trade, are eaten when available. Chicha is, of course,
characteristic of the Sierra, but it was probably also
known on the coast during Mochica times, and I have
no definite information concerning the region of its
origin. Among Sierra food products are “Sierra
lentils” (/entajas de la Sierra), white potatoes, wheat,
chochoca, hams, quinoa, ullucos, guinea pigs. On the
whole, however, it does not appear that Sierra ele-
ments have entered into either the agriculture or the
diet to a large extent. The occasional use of coca is
apparently a trait derived ultimately from the Sierra.

In women’s costume of the “old” type there are a
few suggestions of Sierra influence: the woolen cloth
itself is imported from the Sierra or (in former
times) woven from imported Sierra wool, and it
seems probable that the wrap-around skirt, the rebozo,
and the woven belt supporting the skirt are Sierra
styles, although their present form was not character-
istic in all details of the female costume of the Inca
Empire (cf. Rowe, 1946).

The influence of the Quechua language in place
and family names is very strong, and seems to have
submerged almost completely Mochica or Chimu
toponymy and patronymy which may have been pres-
ent formerly. We have already seen that the word
Moche itself may be a corrupted Quechua word.
Many Quechua words are in common use, just as they
are in the general Spanish of Peru: shuaca, chacra,
minga, and the like. Place names are divided be-
tween Quechua, possible coastal languages, and
Spanish. For example, Giierequeque (an irrigation
ditch) is Quechua, Su and Choc Choc, possibly
coastal, while Esperanza, Los Muertos, etc., are
Spanish. Nearly 20 percent of the 44 family names
studied (p. 102) are definitely Quechua, while one
other may be Aymara. In all names, either of places
or people, however, Spanish predominates.

The celebration of the child’s first haircut and first
nail cutting was a standard feature of the Inca culture
(Rowe, 1946). In Moche this ceremony has been
made into two, they have been robbed of their name-
giving function, and the child’s uncle has been dis-
placed by a padrino as sponsor.

The ultimate sources of the many native elements
in brujeria and magical curing may never be known.
It seems not improbable, however, that most of those
now identifiable in Moche derive immediately from

158

the generalized ‘‘Inca” culture present in this region
at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and several
elements seem to have been current in the Sierra
during the Empire. The practice of brujeria itself,
both in ‘‘good” and “bad” forms, was well established
in the Empire. With the exception of articles pre-
viously noted as having been used by the Mochicas,
the bulk of the curative herbs and objects seems to
have been derived from the Sierra. All non-Spanish
names for such articles are Quechua, which would
possibly indicate that, whatever their ultimate source,
they had been taken into the Inca system. Many
individual items used are also to be found in Inca
practices, e. g., white maize and white maize meal
for purifying, numerous herbal remedies and terms,
sacred stones from the huacas, etc. Certain forms
of sickness seem to have been similarly recognized in
the Inca configuration, especially susto and mal
aire.*® The concept of soul loss involved in susto is
probably aboriginal. The practice of evil witchcraft
through the employment of homeopathic magic on
dolls and images of the victim was current in Europe,
but was also definitely practiced among the Inca.
The use of amulets for protection against evil influ-
ences seems to derive more from the native pattern
than from Europe.

Relatively few, if any, specifically identifiable Inca
traits are to be found in Moche Catholicism. How-
ever, it is probably no accident that the official re-
ligion now, as in Inca times, combines worship with
features of social relaxation and merrymaking. It
appears that about the middle of the 17th century,
the church took a more tolerant attitude toward such
features as well as to the parallel persistence of
“native superstitions,” provided they did not violate
the doctrinal definition of heresy (Kubler, 1946).

Several remnants of Inca belief seem to survive in
the notions of death. For example, the owl was a
harbinger of death among the Inca as it is among the
Mocheros, and the presence or songs of a number
of other birds were regarded as evil omens among
the Inca, as in Moche today (Rowe, 1946). The
alcoholic and gustatory features of the wake (ve-
lorio) in Moche remind one of similar practices
among the Inca. The wake in the cemetery on the
eve of All Souls’ Day recalls the interest in the dead
manifested in Inca times and nearly coincides with
a special ceremony for the dead said by some authori-

7 The belief that sickness is caused by “bad air’ was, of course,
also present in European culture, and can be traced back at least to
the time of the Greeks.

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

wr

ties to have occurred at this time in the Inca calen-_
dar. The hazy beliefs in ghosts and spirits of the
dead may be influenced by the Inca tradition, or, on
the other hand, may also derive from European folk
belief.

Many of the “Inca” elements also had their par-
allels in the Spanish culture of the Conquest, and
their presence in Moche may indicate a Creole con-

solidation of these parallel traits.

EUROPEAN ELEMENTS

A complete recapitulation of the European ele-
ments in Moche culture will not be attempted in this
place, because a reading of the descriptive material of
the text will make these sufficiently clear to the
modern reader.

However, one point is to be borne in mind in con-
sidering the European components of Creole cultures.
These components have come from two European or
Western contexts, generally speaking: Spain of the
Colonial Period and modern Western Civilization.
The first type of European cultural element is usu-
ally numerous and has an important influence in the
coloration and orientation of Creole culture, especially
in its rural or peasant phases. Much of the im-
pression of “‘quaintness” which a modern North

American or North European receives from the -

Creole culture is, I believe, to be explained by the
presence of these Colonial Spanish aspects of be-
havior and belief, with which such an observer is
usually quite unfamiliar.

It must be remembered that the Renaissance and
the Enlightenment reached Spain much later than
other nations of western Europe, and that their
Spanish forms were somewhat attenuated when they
finally appeared. The Reformation, of course, made
no headway in Spain, and modern mercantilism and
capitalism have not become dominant influences in
Spanish culture even today. In short, the medieval,
feudal, Catholic cast of European culture persisted
in Spain during most of the Colonial Period in Peru.
Furthermore, the monopolistic and restrictive policy
followed by the Crown with respect to the Vice-
royalty of Peru prohibited the export to the colony
of many of the innovations and “modernisms” which
finally did take root in the culture of the “mother
country.” The result is that for nearly 300 years the
emerging Creole cultures of the colonies were on the
receiving end of a steady inflow of European culture
patterns funneled out of Spain, but the funnel, we
might say, was equipped with several strainers which

' MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN 159

served to select only certain elements for trans-
mission to the New World. Spain itself rejected
much of the newly developing modern culture of
the rest of western Europe, and its official policy
restrained the flow to the colonies. Thus it is that
the European elements absorbed into the Creole cul-
ture were on the whole more characteristic of 16th
century Spain or medieval Europe than of 20th
century western Europe and North America. The
free chance to borrow from the latter cultural sources
came only with Independence after 1821, and, for
Peru, has been effective only during the past 30 years
or so, at the beginning of which period the opening
of the Panama Canal first provided relatively rapid
and frequent import of shipments, travelers, mail,
and cultural influences in general to Peru from
Europe and North America. Succeeding develop-
ment of air communication and radio reception has
placed the Creoles in even closer touch with
“modern” European and North American culture,
while the development of good highway communica-
tions within the country itself has served to diffuse
these innovations throughout the Nation.

If we consider those aspects of Moche culture
which are derived from European sources, we shall
find that they are still dominated and outnumbered
by the Spanish culture of the Colonial Period. Let
us mention only a few—the ox and the ass, the one-
handled plow, domestic and public architecture of
the pueblo, the preference for old Spanish weights
and measures, the town plan, broad hat, women’s
modified costume, the Spanish language itself, basic
ceremonial kinship system, the basic orientation and
most details of Catholicism, practically all of the non-
indigenous features of the witchcraft and curing com-
plexes (evil eye, for example), etc. Added to tan-
gible traits of culture is a certain trend toward rustic
mysticism and animism—a tendency to believe in
supernatural experiences (e.g., those involving pacts
with the Devil), to see ghosts and spirits in material
things, and to discuss on the basis of unverified
premises. These tendencies of thought and attitude
were, of course, characteristic in some degree of the
aboriginal cultures as well, but they are reinforced
by the persistence of the Spanish semimedieval
Weltanschauung.

Although traits of modern culture are being rapidly
introduced to the Mocheros, few have yet become
integrated parts of their culture. The machine, for
example, has not yet become an essential part of
their life, even though, in the form of autobuses, it is

regarded as a convenience. The mercantile complex,
with bookkeeping, credit, stocks of goods, and all the
rest of it, has not yet fastened itself on Moche, despite
all the trading activity of the women and the fact that
they have become thoroughly familiar with money as
a medium of exchange. The constant search for
novelty has passed the older Mocheros by. Political
democracy, either as a complex of concepts or in
practice, is little understood.

However, it seems that the younger generation is
responding to the presentation of modern culture.
Literacy and the use of the written and printed word
should be all but universal within another generation.
The motion pictures and the radio are beginning to
exert their appeal in their own right and also as
purveyors of new ideas and usages. Modern styles
in clothing and hats are affected by the younger
generation. Factory-made cloth and artifacts of
metal and glass are universally accepted. They are
organizing cultural and community societies to
promote “progress.”” The church is losing some of
its influence over private lives and even the laymen’s
organizations are declining (hermandades, mayor-
domias). An increasing number of both men and
women are seeking advanced education and seeking
employment either in the professions or as wage
earners. Lima is no longer another world, but an
actual city which may be visited in reality and in
which one may live and seek a living. Modern
political arguments are beginning to interest even
middle-aged persons. Modern sports (European
football and North American basketball) have already
become part of the culture of the younger set. The
news of the outside world is followed with interest.

In short, Moche is becoming a part of the modern
world, and judging by the progress of events in the
past, this is taking place at a fairly rapid rate. Moche
is now a rural or peasant exhibit of the Creole cul-
ture of Peru, and it demonstrates many features of
creolization characteristic of the country as a whole.

Although Moche is broadening its contacts and
“modernizing” its interests, I do not anticipate that
it will ever become completely “modern” in terms
of North American small-town life, barring a radical
upset in the processes of cultural change and reinte-
gration. I venture to predict that as the Creole cul-
ture approaches greater stability and integration it
will still embody recognizable traces of its indigenous
and Spanish Colonial ancestors, interwoven, worked
over, and intermingled with contributions from
abroad. The time is already at hand when it is prac-

Te)

|

160 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3 Y

tically impossible to take any complex of traits from
Moche culture, figuratively nail it to the wall, and
label it as an unmodified survival or borrowing from
any other culture, indigenous or foreign, ancient or
modern. The time is doubtless approaching when
most of the foreign and indigenous elements will be
so firmly imbedded in the Creole matrix as to resist
isolation, even for analytical purposes. Their in-
fluence will still be felt, however, and the forms and
directions of the Creole culture will remain in their
debt.

The forasteros who live in Moche at the present

4

time also practice a variety of the Creole culture,
although it might be called a provincial urban
variety rather than the rustic type of Moche in all
its details. The mutual exclusiveness which exists
between forasteros and Mocheros, as previously
shown, is not due to any great cultural gulf which
separates them, but rather to economic and social
factors which have already been discussed. There
is good reason to believe that the two groups will
eventually be integrated into one community, al-
though this event may take place on a class basis
and with further disruption of Moche patterns.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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GLOSSARY

Since practically all Spanish or other non-English
words used in the text are defined or synonymized
in English at their respective first appearances, only
those words which appear repeatedly or those whose
sense in Moche differs from that of standard Spanish
dictionaries are included in the following list. The
glossary is to be regarded primarily as an aid to
the reader, and not as final authority for definitions
and other matters of linguistic or semantic interest.

Acequia, an irrigation ditch.

Acomodado (a), well-off, well-to-do, financially speaking.

Agua bendita, holy water.

Agua de socorro, holy water used to anoint a child who
appears to be about to die without baptism in the church.

Aguardiente, strong liquor, usually made from sugarcane.

Aguja, needle, netting needle for making fish nets.

Ahijado, godchild.

Aji, red and yellow pepper plant and fruit.

Albanil, mason, or adobe layer.

Alcalde, mayor, municipal executive officer.

Alforja, a woven saddlebag or shoulder bag.

Algodén pardo, native brown cotton.

Atarraya, casting net.

Baja policia, garbage collector.

Barranca, ravine or gorge; a section of the Moche country-
side.

Barrio, a ward or subdivision of a town; does not exist in
Moche.

Barro, bar or club of wood for breaking clods.

Barro de hierro, crow-bar of iron.

Baston, a roll of material; in Huanchaco, a roll of reeds
embodied in the reed raft; scepter of image of San Isidro.

Batan, grinding stone.

Batea, carved one-piece wooden vessel used as a container
for liquids, for washing clothes, etc.

Bayeta, coarse-woven cloth.

Bocadita, custom whereby a small morsel of food is passed
from mouth to mouth.

Botica, drug store or pharmacy.

Botija, large earthenware container for chicha, originally
imported from Pisco with native brandy.

Brujeria, witchcraft.

Caballito del mar, literally, “little horse of the sea,” a small
cigar-shaped raft made of a species of reed.

Cabecera, “head,” as of a fish net.

Cabo de manila, Manila rope.

Cabresta, colloquial for cabrestante, capstan, winch; spe-
cifically in Moche, the ropes which are tightened around
the boards of the wooden forms in making tapia.

Cabrito, young goat, kid.

vey

MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY—GILLIN a)

Cahuan, dip net for catching shrimp, crabs, etc.

Caja, box or hole; in Huanchaco, the place on the reed raft
where the operator sits.

Cajon, a large box; the wooden form into which tapia walls
or fences are molded.

Calabozo, heavy knife with hooked blade, for cutting brush
and weeds.

Calcal, fishing net used with reed raft in Huanchaco.

Callana, earthenware cooking pot.

Camal, slaughterhouse, place where animals are slaughtered ;
also gunny sack or any large coarse sack made of any
material.

Camaron, shrimp.

Campina, irrigated countryside as distinguished from the

- pueblo or town.

Cana brava, cane or reed.

Cana de azucar, sugarcane.

Cana de Guayaquil, bamboo.

Canan, small lizard, caught for eating in dried form.

Canaso, beverage made of flavored sugarcane alcohol.

Carreterra, main highway.

Carrizo, stiff reed or cane.

Casado (a), person married by church ceremony.

Casamiento, marriage formally sanctified by church cere-
mony.

Catastro, property list or register.

Catedratico, university professor on permanent appointment,
one who occupies a cdtedra (“chair”) in a_ university
faculty.

Causa, form of lunch or light meal.

Cerro, mountain; Cerro Blanco, Cerro Cumunero (“White
Mountain,” “Community Mountain”), near Moche.

Chacra, agricultural landholding or small farm.

Chancaca, unrefined brown cake sugar.

Chicha, native fermented alcoholic beverage.

Chinchorro, two-man net for fishing in surf.

Chochoca, maize flour.

Choclo, green corn on the cob; an ear of green corn.

Cholo, mixed-blood inhabitant of Peru.

Choza, a rustic house.

Chuno, a float made of a globular gourd, used on fish lines,
and boat lines.

Chuo, sprouted maize kernels.

Cohete, rocket, firecracker.

Cojodito, small globular gourd for drinking chicha.

Colegio, high school; in Moche refers also to any school,
primary grades included.

Compadrazgo, co-godparenthood.

Compromiso, commitment.

Copita, small liquor glass; by extension, a drink.

Cosecha, crop or harvest, also called siembra.

Cuadera, light rope forming part of the setline for fishing.

Cuarto, quarter; a quarter-bottle of pisco brandy.

Cuerda, cotton three-ply line with hooks forming part of
the setline for fishing.

Culambra, colloquial, supernatural snake guardian of a
garden.

Curandero (a), magical curer, but not a witch (brujo).

Destajo, task work, job of work to be done.

Encomienda, grant of land and Indians in trust to Spanish
colonists.

Enguayanchar, to bewitch by love magic.

Espinel, setline with hooks for fishing in surf.

Estera, mat made of reeds tied together in parallel fashion

Estiradura, inguinal hernia.

Fanegada, measure of land area, equal to about 3 hectares,
or 7.77 acres.

lorastero, a stranger; in Moche, a Peruvian who is not
native to Moche or who is not culturally identified with
Moche.

Fulano, “so-and-so” (anonymous personal name).

Garwtia, drizzle or mist, characteristic of winter season on
Peruvian coast.

Granja, a poultry or stock-raising enterprise, small scale.

Hacha, single-bladed European-type ax.

Hacienda, plantation; influence of haciendas on culture and
social life of Peruvian coast, on Moche.

Haciendita, “small hacienda,” a land-holding in the District
of Moche.

Hectarea, hectare, 2.59 acres.

Helada, colloquial, a cold night.

Hermandad, semircligious organization of laymen.

Horea, wooden pitchfork.

Huaca, Quechua, “holy place”; in Moche, the Mochica ruins.

Huanarpo (Matropha macrautha), an aphrodisiac.

Huangana, binding for reed raft.

Huerta, garden or orchard; in Moche, usually surrounds
dwelling house and contains kitchen vegetables and fruit
trees.

Intencionamiento, process of asking for a woman's hand in
marriage.

Jora, mash made from sprouted grains of maize.

Lancha, motorboat used in fishing.

Llano, plain or flat place.

Machete, a one-handed knife or cutlass for cutting brush
and weeds.

Madrina, godmother.

Malero, literally, “evildoer,” usually applied to an evil witch
or practitioner of evil witchcraft.

Mallero, wooden block used in making fish nets.

Mano, hand; grinding stone held in hand; “hand of ba-
nanas”; a procedure employed by the assistants in a curing
seance of brujyeria.

Marinera, a social dance.

Mate, large, shallow, platelike gourd container.

Mayordomia, a group of laymen organized to celebrate a
saint’s day or other religious feast day.

Médico, scientific physician.

Médico boliviano, itinerant herb peddler.

Melgar, plot or subdivision of a field, usually for alfalfa.

Mesa, table.

Mesa de brujeria, sort of altar laid out on the ground used
in witchcraft cures; by extension, the seance itself.

Minga, a voluntary or semivoluntary work group demo-
cratically organized and involving recreational features as
well as labor; a mechanism for exchanging labor.

Mocheros netos, real or true inhabitants of Moche, persons
identified with the community of Moche.

Mondongo, animal intestines eaten as meat.

Muy-muy, sea shrimp.

Nasa, conical trap of cane for fishing in streams or irriga-
tion ditches.

”

164 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 3

Novio, fiancé, lover, or suitor.

Ojéo, Moche colloquialism used in place of mal ojo, evil eye.

Padrinazgo, godparenthood.

Padrino, godfather.

Palana, shovel or spade; used in agriculture.

Patron, protector, master; e. g., patron saint, master of a
plantation, master of a sailing boat.

Peén, manual laborer or servant, usually an agricultural
laborer.

Pescado, fish.

Pescador, fisherman.

Petate, a mat made of flat elements by checkerboard or
twill weaving.

Picante, hot seasoning of various types.

Pico, pick-ax, used in agriculture and irrigation.

Pisco, a type of brandy originally made in Pisco, Peru.

Playa, the beach or seashore.

Playero, one who lives on the beach or is identified with that
section of the community.

Porongo, long-necked, gourd chicha bottle.

Poto, a drinking cup or bowl of gourd.

Poza, puddle, a form of irrigation.

Pozo, water well.

Pueblo, town; the pueblo of Moche.

Quebradura, umbilical hernia in infants.

Quincha, a type of wattle-and-daub wall construction used
for houses and fences.

Quirana, binding with which the reeds composing a roll or
bundle is bound in the reed raft used for fishing in
Huanchaco.

Rastro, garden rake.

Raya, target or mark at which to throw in quoits game.

Rebozo, shawl.

Red, net, for fishing.

Regante, one who irrigates or uses irrigation water.

Remada, outdoor vine arbor.

Revendadoro (a), an individual who makes a business of
buying country products and reselling them in the city
market.

Saca, sack; in Huanchaco, the crab net or trap.

Sala, sitting room of a house.

Salon, commercial refreshment parlor.

Sancochado (referring to a food preparation), cut up in
small pieces and boiled.

Seviche, dish of raw fish prepared in various ways.

Shapingo, familiar spirit, or spiritual messenger and/or
servant of an evil brijo.

Sorgo, sorghum.

Surco, furrow, types of planting furrows.

Susto, a form of illness believed to be associated with loss
of the soul.

Tapia, wall and fence construction of earth laid up in
wooden forms.

Tejos, quoits game.

Tienda, retail shop or store.

Tocayo, namesake.

Totora, a wild reed growing in swamps, used for making
estera mats and fishing rafts (caballitos del mar).

Vergiienza, embarrassment or shame.

Vestido, costume, clothing.

Yapa, small good-will extra given by a merchant with a
purchase.

Yunta, yoke; by extension, a yoke of oxen.

Yuyu, sea weed, water plant.

INDEX

Adobe making, 37-38.

Agriculture, 12-26; religious and magical aspects, 26-28; 154,

157.
Alforyja, 80.
All Souls’ Day, 150, 158,
Aphrodisiacs, 95-96.
Archeology, 4, 11-12, 154-156.
Art, 87-89, 156.

Bands, 86-87.

Baptism, 106-110.

Basketball, 85.

Beer, 4849.

Betrothals, 111.

Births, statistics, 9; customs, 136-137; birth control, 95.

Boats, 31-36.

Borrowing, 75-76.

Brujeria (witchcraft), 117; table of, 119-125; procedures of
“good” witchcraft, [25-128; evil witchcraft, 128-129;
Mochica elements, 156; Sierra influences, 157-158.

Brujos (witches), 116-117.

Budgets, family, 77-79.

Busses, 81-82.

Business dealings, 72-75.

Catholicism, Roman, 142-151, 158.

Census, 7-9.

Chicha, 4649; recipe for, 53.

Childbirth, 136-138.

Children, numbers, 10; care, 98-99, 137; games, 86; dress,
63; in the family and household, 98-100.

Chimu, elements, 157.

Chucaque, 138.

Cinema, 86.

Class, 113.

Clocks, 91.

Colic, 136.

Communication, 80-82.

Compadrazgo, 104-112.

Confirmation, 110,

Constitutional type, 9-10.

Cost of living, 77-79.

Courtship, 96-97.

Creole culture, 151-154.

Crops, rotation, 15-16;
Mochica elements, 154.

Cultural position, 151-160.

Culture, Creole, 151-154; Mochica, 154-156; Tiahuanacoid
and Chimu, 157; Sierra, 157-158; European, 158-160.

Curanderos (curers), 116-117; 129-130.

Curers (curanderos), 116-117; 129-130.

Curing, magical, 115- 142; Mochica elements, 156; Sierra
influences, 157-158.

Dancing, 86-87.

Death, 149-151, 158.

Devil, 148-149.

Disease, venereal, 136; others and cures, 115-136.

Distribution of economic goods, 75-77.

Dress, men, 61; women, 61-63; children, 63; Mochica
elements, 155; Sierra elements, 157,

Drink, 46-49; preparation of, 49-51; consumption of, 54-60;
as recreation, 82-84; Mochica, 154.

Drugs, 49.

techniques, 18-20; plants, 18-24;

Ear piercing, 110, 155.
Earrings, 155.

Eating, as recreation, 82-84.
Economics, 66-79.
Education, formal, 89.
Environment, 5-6.
Epigrams, 89-91.

Estiradura, 134.

Etiquette, 44-46, 48.

European, elements, 158-160.

Evil, eye, 135; spirits, 119-121, 128, 148.
Eye, evil, 135,

Family, budgets, 77-79; familial and pseudofamilial relation-
ships, 93; and household, 98-100; larger family relation-
ships, 101-102; names, 102-103.

Farming, 12-26,

Fiestas, 89; religious, 145-148.

Finance, 72-75; incomes and cost of living, 77-79.

Fishing, 28-30; in Huanchaco, 30-37; Mochica elements, 155.

Food, preparation of, 49-51; miscellaneous dishes, 52; “hot”
and “cold,” 53-54; consumed, statistical study of, 54-60;
effect on illness, 53-54; Mochica, 154-155.

Football, 84-85.

Forasteros, 8, 112; comparison on food with Mocheros, 54—
60; element in the community, 112-113.

Foreigners, 8, 112.

Funerals, 149-150.

Furnishings, of houses, 41-43.

Ghosts, after death, 150-151;
Gourds, 155,

Guinea pig, in witchcraft, 125-126.
Guitars, 87.

Sierra elements, 158.

Haircutting, 110.

Heart, pain, 136.

Hernia, umbilical, 134; inguinal, 134.
Highways, 81.

Historical tradition, 91-92.

History, 10-12.

Households, 98-100.

Houses, 37-43, 154.

Huanchaco, fishing village, 30-37.

Illness, effects of foods, 53-54.

Implements, agricultural, 17-18; house building, 37-38; culi-
nary, 44-53.

Inca culture, 157-158.

Incest, 96.

Incomes, and cost of living, 77-79.

Industries, 64-66.

Inguinal hernia, 134.

Instruments, musical, 87.

Investments, 73-74.

Irrigation, 12, 16-17.

Kinship, 101-112.

Labor, division of, 66-67;
male, 67-69.

Land, 10; ownership of, 69-72.

Language, 7, 89-90.

Learning, 89-92.

Lending, 75-76.

Literary treatment of Moche, 7.

Longevity, 9.

Lore, 89-92.

Love magic, 95.

specialties, 67; distribution of

Magic, love, 95; in marital situations, 100-101;
142; beliefs, 142-143.

Maintenance, 12-37.

Market, public, 75-77.

Marriage, 97-98

Mats, 155.

Measures, 91.

Meat, butchering, 51-52.

Medicine, native, 115-142.

curing, 115-

165

166 _ INDEX

Method, 2.

Midwife, 136-138. ;

Mochica, archeology, 4, 11-12; modern villages, 6-12; ele-
ments, 154-156.

Music, 86-87.

Nail cutting, 110.

Names, family, 102-103; namesakes, 112; forastero, 112;
Sierra influences, 157.

Narcotics, 49.

Neighborhoods, rural, 14.

Nets, fishing, 28-30, 33, 155.

Newspapers, 81-82.

Ojéo, 135.

Orchestras, 87.

Ornament, 63-64; Mochica elements, 155.
Owls, 149, 158.

Padrinazgo, 104-112.

Peddlers, ambulatory, 75, 77.
Physical type, 9-10.

Physicians, 115-116.
Physiological weakness, 133-134.
Piano, 87.

Pig, guinea, in witchcraft, 125-126.
Plants, 18-24, 154.

Political controls, 92-93.
Population, 5, 7-9.

Pregnancy, 136-138.

Prestige, 113-115.

Priest, 143.

Property, 69-72.

Prostitutes, 94.

Protestants, 143.

Proverbs, 89-91.

Punctuality, 91.

Ouebradura, 134.

Railroad, 80-81.
Rainfall, 4, 6.
Reading, 81-82.
Recipes, 52-53.
Recreation, 82-87.

Religion, 142-151; in marriage, 97-98; in the family, 99-100;
in ceremonial kinship, 104-112,

Religious organizations, economic aspects of, 75.

Remedies, used in curing, 139-142. '

Ribs, dislocation of the, 134-135.

Roman Catholicism, 142-151, 158.

Saloons (salones), 75-76.

Sanitation, 41.

Séance, in magical curing, 119-123.

Secretos, 138.

Seventh Day Adventists, 143.

Sex, 93-96,

Shapingos (evil spirits), 119-121, 128, 148.

Shops, 75-76.

Sierra, influences, 157-158.

Singing, 87.

Social forms and organization, 92-106.

Socializing, religious functions of, 145-148.

Spinning, 155.

Spirits, evil, 119-121, 128, 148; after death, 150-151; Sierra
elements, 158.

Sports, 84-86.

Sustenance, 12-37.

Susto, 130-133.

Tejos, 85-86.

Tiahuanacoid, elements, 157.
Time, 91.

Tools, agricultural, 17-18.
Transportation, 80-82.
Tronchadura del pecho, 134-135.

Umbilical hernia, 134.

Venereal disease, 136.
Vital statistics, 9.

Wakes, 150-151; Sierra influences, 158.

Weaving, 155.

Weddings, 111.

Wells, 41.

Witchcraft (brujeria), 117; table of, 119-125; procedures of
“good” witchcraft, 125-128; evil witchcraft, 128-129.

Witches (brujos), 116-117.

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FISHING IMPLEMENTS AND CRAFT, MOCHE AND HUANCHACO.

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Py I Del Midd At): Fishing fleet putting to sea, Huanchaco
] ; , : " neha vy eft. Moche

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Lower (left): Crab trap (saca) used with cabaititos del mar, Huanchaco. Lower (right)

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 3 PLATES

HUANCHACO FISHING

Upper (left): Cab on the beach. Upper (right): Left, Felipe Carranza, chief pilot of the fishing fleet: right, Lino Seguro, chief of the port and first ser
of fishermen Caballito del d with three crab traps; owner, with paddle of split bamboo, forth: beach is at low tide
(right): A fisherman’s house er (left) ng to launch a caballito del mar. Lower (right): Part of the torboats in foreground, sailboats

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Upper (left): House with walls of tapia. Upper (center): The plaza, from the northwest corner Direc
to the left is the government building with the entrance to the girls’ school and the Municipalidad
of the government building is the public market. Upper (right)

v behind the bandstand is the former Mer

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on one side with the Gobernacion on the other side. To the left
House with three types of wall construction; lower part
of “cut-out” construction. Middle (left): House with two t
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woman stands by with gourd of chicha for worker

of side wall to left is tapia, upper part
s of wall construction; main room at right ts of
totora. Lower (right), Tapia making in min

tapia, kitchen to lefe is of quincha,
shoveling moisrened earth into sack;

ft): Dwelling with walls

IAL ANTHROPOLOG ¥ PUBLICATION NO. 3) PLATE 12

INSTITUTE OF SOC

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION IN MOCHE
\ i pitche { 1 window ir 1 w Upper (right): House entirely of gquincha. Middle (/eft): Back-yard view in puebl«

text. Middle (center): Typical doo vuthor for interview purposes
n flags as I ineous token esidential elections in the United
f Mochiea construct

view, showing rafters, canes

: fenc va Ni : sawed lumber. Lover

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO 3 PLATE

FOOD PREPARATION AND UTENSILS

or or ramada, used as dining room. Upper (right): Botyas for chicha. Middle (left): Water stor

t ge jar and tin can used as ladle. M
er): Grinding stones. Middle (right): Earthenware pitcher of the type frequently used in Moche houses, purchased i

outside markets er (left): Wooden
and cooking pot. Lower (right): Woman heating wash water on outdoor fire To her left are two gourd mates, used as wash tubs; in front of her is a metal
milk can

Upper (left): Typical outdoor ar

(Neil De coc RIE ANTE earoLocs PUBLICATION NO. 3. PLATE 14

EATING AND DRINKING

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MANUFACTURES: BASKET MAKING, WEAVING, AND ROCKET MAKING

Upper (left): Baskett g: splitting and scraping carri ips with knife. Upper (right) and Middle (Jeft): Basket making. Middle (right): Grinding powde kets
Lozwer (left): Y n weaving in Monsefa, using type of loom said t loyed in Moche until r Lower (right): A w tr

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO 3 PLATE 18

DESIG
ROADS AND TRAILS; RECREATIONS

): The Da for automobiles, entering the campina. Note the tapia fences made with peaked tops so that they cannot be used as feotpaths. Upper

W earth t n irrigation ditch. Middle (left): Foot and animal lane graded up with tapia wall. Middle (right): Trophies and diplomas

w tt he Lejos Clat left) let and drum player with “American Indian” headdress, modern singlet, motorcycle g¢ es in procession of
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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 3) PLATE 20

PAINTINGS BY PEDRO AZABACHE

Upper: “Salida ala Pesea” (Going Out to Fish}. A painting of Huanchaco. (Property of Dr. Miguel Capurro.) Lower: “También las Campesinas chismean”’ (Also the
Country Women Gossip). A painting of Moche life. (Propercy of Carlos Salazar Southwell.)

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 3) PLATE 21

PAINTINGS BY PEDRO AZABACHE

Upper (left): “Pescadores {frente al Mar” (Fisherfolk at the Seaside). A painting of Huanchaco. (Property of St Enrique Dammert Elguera.) Upper (right): “La
Comadre Manonga.” A painting of a Moche type. (Property of Sra. Mercedes Gallagher de Parks.) Lower (deft): “La Minga (The Minga). A painting of Moche
life. (Property of Sr. Luis Bentin Mujica.) Lower (right): “Callejuela de Moche” (Little Street of Moche.) A painting of Moche life (Property of Sr. Carlos
Blondet G.)

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLO¢ PUBLICATION NO. 3° PLATE 22

REF TABLE (MESA DE BRUJERIA) AND SUSTO CURE

t c { plece ‘ Pedr Upper (right): View of the table
124-] ‘ ‘ Widdle (right): ( cul partof the rable. Lower (left): Operator in position
( j? ent l t ‘ tet t her left are her blanket nd change { clothe

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION No.3 PLATE

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CURE OF ADULT SUSTO

Upper (left): Patient sews double escapularto whil dera continues to knead leave Upper afl aio With leaves. Upper (right): Cura
dera prepares shelter of esterays for patient; herbs, moistened with “waters of t he gain f ft): Patient has entered shelter and
disrobed except for her shift and has put double escapuldarto around neck, front bay of wh is § rais beginning massage of head, squeezing juice
intoear. M er): Cura a massages patients’ h herbs mixed wit wa r ht): Curandera massages patient’s legs and feet
Lower (left) raped in blanket, patient stands over pat ils be smoked by incense « Lower (center) Patient, wrapped in blankets ir
shelter to left, while cnrandera with garment in hand calls spirit atient will be left to sweat ove ht): ¢ ra buries herbs and incense 1

in cure

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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO.3 PLATE 25

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Upper (left): The church of Santa Lucia de Moche. Upper (right): Interior of the church with main altar le (center): Haircutting ceremony for male child; madrina
cutting first lock. Middle (right): Amas carrying children to church for baptism. Lorver (left): A mayordomo rearranging the clothing and ornaments of an image
during a pause in the parade through the streets. Lower (right): Tombs

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